BPRP Activities

Overview of FY 2006 Activities

This brief overview of the activities carried under the BPRP covers the period from July 2005 to June 2006 (Fiscal Year 2006 or FY06). The overview is based on the Annual report on the BPRP for FY06 (pdf). It covers the second year devoted to the implementation of the priorities agreed upon for the program in April 2004.

Data collection

As in FY05, important data collection efforts have been implemented in FY06 mostly through surveys in order to improve the information basis for poverty-related work. In Burundi and Mali, the field based poverty economists provided extensive support for the design and implementation of new nationally representative surveys. Data collection efforts also took place for Public Expenditure Tracking Surveys in education and health in Mali. In Niger, the first nationally representative household survey in 10 years was completed in FY06, and additional data collection focused among others on access to water and electricity. In the DRC, the BPRP contributed to the national 123 survey. In Rwanda, the BPRP contributed to the design of the Informal Sector Survey and the Industry and Manufacturing Survey.

Analytical work

Poverty diagnostic reports were completed and/or updated and presented through workshops in Burundi, the DRC, Mali, and Niger. The poverty diagnostics in the PRSPs for Burundi and the DRC are the direct results of the work conducted under the BPRP. In Mali and Niger, BPRP work is informing the revision of the PRSPs through a range of analytical and capacity building activities. The BPRP has been used to strengthen the work on growth in Mali, Mozambique, Niger and Rwanda. In the case of Mali and Niger (and to some extent in Rwanda), Social Accounting Matrices were created and used for a wide range of policy simulations, some of which were used in the Bank’s Country Economic Memorandums. The work on Medium Terms Expenditure Frameworks was emphasized especially in Mali and Niger, with a focus on the Ministries in charge of rural development. Other areas of analytical work have included the continuation of the West and central Africa poverty mapping initiative, as well as work on themes such as cotton sector reforms, utility tariffs, gender and time use, and migration.

Capacity building and support to PRSP processes

Efforts towards capacity building have taken place in part through sub-regional activities. The poverty mapping project, which now covers 14 countries, continued to provide training to staff from the countries’ National Statistical offices. Most of the poverty maps are completed, and the last four should be completed by December 2006. Work has also proceeded in the development and use of simulation tools, and in the preparation of a book on public finance and poverty with country case studies. Selected work has also been carried at the country level, such as an extensive program of capacity building on macro-modeling in Niger. In terms of direct support to the PRSP process for example in terms of advise given by the BPRP team for the implementation of country-wide consultation processes and sectoral consultations, a focus was placed on Burundi and DRC, two countries that are at the stage of finalizing their PRSP. In terms of support for the economic analysis of survey data, intensive one-week workshops were organized with WBI in Burundi, Mali and Niger. An important workshop on monitoring and evaluation of projects and policies was held in Mozambique.

Collaborations with international organizations

Collaborations with other international organizations continued in FY06. Afristat was a key partner in the poverty diagnostic work for Burundi and the DRC. Work with IFAD on the treatment of rural development issues in PRSP is leading to a joint publication. Additional support to UEMOA and ECOWAS for the finalization of their West Africa PRSP was given, with the African Development Bank also contributing. Work on extreme poverty was completed with the International Movement ATD Fourth World, a NGO with consultative Status I at the ECOSOC of the United Nations. New work is planned with the University of Laval (also funded by IDRC) especially in terms of training for poverty analysis. UNDP co-funded several projects with the BPRP, for example in Niger. Some activities were also conducted jointly with the European Union.

Selection of field-based economists

As in FY05, an open and competitive-based application process was used to select the field-based ETC poverty economists based in World Bank resident missions. In FY06, new ETCs took their positions in the DRC, Mozambique, Burkina Faso, and Rwanda (in the later case, for macro-economic work at the Ministry of Finance). Only in Rwanda did the position of field-based poverty economist remained vacant for most of FY06 due to the fact that the three leading candidates identified for the job took other jobs and declined the offer (one of them was hired under the BPRP as poverty economist in another country). The position for sub-regional work was moved to Ouagadougou to help for capacity building on the ground, in part together with UEMOA which is located in Ouagadougou. The group of field-based poverty economist remains diverse in terms of gender and nationalities, although most of them share a common profile with expertise in micro-economic work on poverty and an advanced degree in economists.

List of the ETCs under the BPRP as of June 2006

 

 

 

 

 

 

(*) Oscar Masabo is a macro-economist working with the Ministry of Finance. All other ETCs are poverty economists based at the World Bank’s resident missions.