Poverty Reduction Strategy Papers (PRSP) have become an increasingly important tool for developing countries to articulate a medium term vision for growth and poverty reduction, as well as for donors to determine their assistance priorities. As of June 2005, 47 countries have completed their PRSP, an additional 12 have finalised their Interim PRSP (I-PRSP), and a further group of countries are at the beginning of the poverty reduction strategy (PRS ) process.
Of the countries engaged in the PRSP, the World bank considers 25 as conflict-affected, while many others have social and economic conditions that put them at risk of conflicts escalating into large-scale violence.
The World Bank, in collaboration with the British Department for International Development (DFID) and other partners, has embarked on a working program aiming to ensure effective poverty reduction in conflict-affected countries.
This program has four main objectives:
- To increase knowledge of the causes and consequences of violent conflict and how these can best be addressed within the framework of PRS processes;
- To develop good practice for PRS development and implementation in conflict-affected countries;
- To improve tools, techniques and guidance for PRSs to ensure they more conflict sensitive;
- To increase awareness of conflict issues increased through dissemination of lessons, good practice, and appropriate approaches to interested governments, stakeholders, and Bank and donor staff working on conflict-affected countries.
The program consists of three key components: (1) a retrospective study which will extend the knowledge base as to how PRSPs have taken conflict factors into account to date; (2) monitoring of selected countries as they develop or implement their PRSP to assess the extent to which they draw conflict analysis into their PRSP; and (3) the provision of support in selected countries, including development and testing of tools, to facilitate this further. The most recent product of the program is the report Toward a Conflict-Sensitive Poverty Reduction Strategy: Lessons from a Retrospective Analysis. This report is not final and will change based on feedback received.
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