Poverty Reduction Strategies – Operational Approaches and Tools in Support of the Country-Driven Model

Drawing on recent experience and promising country examples, this course provided an overview of poverty reduction strategies, with a focus on those areas that have proven most challenging for clients, staff and other partners. The course was designed to complement existing and planned activities to support team-based approaches, and more specialized individual learning on poverty methods.

The objectives of the course were to convey an understanding of where the PRSP process stands five years into implementation, and emerging lessons; as well as to expose participants to practical analytical tools and methodologies to support work on poverty reduction strategies.

Papers and Presentations:

Session 1: Overview

• Poverty Reduction Strategy Papers — Progress in Implementation (190kb PDF)
• Summary of OED Review of Poverty Strategy Process
• Summary of Major Findings, Lessons, and Recommendations of IEO PRSP/PRGF Review
• The Poverty Reduction Strategy Initiative: An Independent Evaluation of the World Bank’s Support Through 2003, by Bill Battaile
• Evaluation of Poverty Reduction Strategy Papers (PRSP) and the Poverty Reduction and Growth Facility (PRGF), by Jeff Chelsky
• Recent Changes to the PRS Architecture, by Linda Van Gelder

Session 2: Choosing Indicators, Setting Targets, and Monitoring

• Poverty Monitoring Guidance Note 1: Selecting Indicators (37kb PDF)
• Poverty Monitoring Guidance Note 2: Setting Poverty Targets (39kb PDF)
• Global Monitoring Report 2005 (2.2mb PDF)
• Measuring Results: Improving National Statistics in IDA Countries (914kb PDF)
• PRSP Indicators, MDG Targets, and IDA monitoring: An Overview, by Erik Swanson
• Selecting Indicators and Setting Targets, by Quentin Wodon
• Private Schooling in Pakistan: Possibilities and Limits, Jishnu Das

Session 3: Public Spending for Poverty Reduction Goals

• Budget Reforms and PRSPs: The Vital Interaction, by Matthew Andrews
• Is There a Place for Virtual Poverty Funds in Pro-Poor Public Spending Reform? Lessons from Uganda’s PAF (292kb PDF), by Tim Williamson and Sudharshan Canagarajah
• Lessons in Pro-Poor Public Spending Reform: The Poverty Action Fund in Uganda, by Sudharshan Canagarajah
• PRSPs and Budgets: A Synthesis of Five Case Studies (196kb PDF), by Rosa Alonso, Lindsay Judge, and Jeni Klugman
• PRSPs and Public Expenditure — Management Reform: Experience from ECA Region, by Allister Moon

Session 4: Enhancing Analytic Underpinnings

• Good Practice Note: Using Poverty and Social Impact Analysis to Support Development Policy Operations (258kb PDF)
• Pro-Poor Growth, by Louise Cord
• Poverty and Social Impact Analysis: The Last Year, by Anis Dani
• Reforming the Malawi Agricultural Development and Marketing Corporation (ADMARC): Poverty and Social Impact Analysis (PSIA), by Antonio Nucifora

Session 5: Enhancing Domestic Accountability

• An Operational Approach to Assessing Country Ownership of Poverty Reduction Strategies
  • Volume 1: Analysis and Implications (27mb PDF)
  • Volume 2: Country Case Studies (27mb PDF)
• What Do We Mean by Country Ownership?, by Janet Entwistle
• Domestic Accountability and Governance for Poverty Reduction — From Document to Development: Opportunities and Challenges, by Katrina Sharkey

Session 6: Enhancing External Accountability

• Harmonization and Alignment: PRSs and the Harmonization and Alignment Agenda, by Chris Hall
• Paris Declaration on Aid Effectiveness: Ownership, Harmonisation, Alignment, Results and Mutual Accountability
• Poverty Reduction Support Credits: Experience to Date, by John Factora
• PRSC Design and Alignment, by Jan Walliser

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