MORE INFORMATION ABOUT Poverty Reduction Strategies

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Poverty Reduction Strategy Papers (PRSPs) are three-year, rolling plans that the World Bank and IMF require of countries like Tanzania seeking to access concessional loans and receive debt relief under the Highly Indebted Poor Country (HIPC) Initiative.  Simply put, the PRSP explains how Government intends to use its money (particularly that freed up from debt-cancellation) to improve the lives of poor people. 

Launched by the World Bank and IMF in September 1999, PRSPs replace the Policy Framework Papers (PFPs) previously demanded of the world’s poorest countries.  PRSPs are intended to:

• Ensure that macroeconomic, structural and social reforms are coherent and poverty-focused

• Be formulated through a government led process involving civil society

• Provide a means for coordinating World Bank and IMF assistance.  Ultimately, it is envisaged that PRSPs will become the country-specific strategies around which all donors plan and coordinate their development activities.

Seen in this light, PRSPs are indispensable to Tanzania’s short-term economic health.  Yet, due to their pragmatic content and unique emphasis on participatory policymaking, PRSPs can be much, much more.  Indeed, in coming years, they are likely to become one of Government’s top tools for working with others and coordinating effective plans to fight mass poverty.

This outcome is far from certain since putting PRSPs into practice will require many changes in conventional development planning and assistance.  For example:

• Donors – including the World Bank and IMF – will have to loosen control of the policy agenda and become more cooperative in relation to the Government of Tanzania and each other

• Government policymaking processes will have to become more inclusive and transparent so that local government officials and representatives from civil society and the private sector can participate in shaping Poverty Reduction Strategies

• Civil Society will have to quickly adapt if it is to take advantage of new opportunities and responsibilities to influence pro-poor public policies

For more information about the Tanzania Poverty Reduction Strategy, click on the following:

	The Tanzania Poverty Reduction Strategy
	"Tanzania Without Poverty: A Plain Language Guide to the PRSP"
	"First Progress Report on Tanzania Without Poverty: A Plain Language Guide to the PRSP"
	Important DATES in national Public Policy Processes

For more information about Poverty Reduction Strategies in general, click on the following:

	ActionAid: "Are we getting lost in exclusive anti-poor, adjustment lending policy cycles?  A rapid review of preliminary ActionAid engagement in Poverty Reduction Strategies in Kenya, Uganda, Vietnam, Nepal, Rwanda and Malawi"
	ActionAid: "New strategies, old loan conditions: Do the new IMF and World Bank loans support countries' Poverty Reduction Strategies?"
	Alternative Information and Development Centre (AIDC, South Africa), Information, Capacity Building & Strategizing Workshop on the World Bank Poverty Reduction Strategy Programmes, Kampala, Uganda 10-12 May 2001."
	Assessing Participation in Poverty Reduction Strategy Papers: a Desk-based Synthesis of Experience in Sub-Saharan Africa
	Bretton Woods Project
	Christian Aid, "Ignoring the Experts: Poor People's Exclusion from Poverty Reduction Strategies"
	European Network on Debt and Development (on PRSPs)
	IMF PRSP Pages
	Institute of Development Studies, Sussex: Participation in PRSPs
	Oxfam-GB, "Making PRSPs Work: The Role of Poverty Assessments"
	Oxfam-GB, "Influencing Poverty Reduction Strategies: A Guide"
	Save the Children, UK Submission to the IMF/WB Review of PRSPs
	World Bank PRSP Pages
	World Bank PRSP Sourcebook
	World Bank, Participation Group
	The Panos Institute: Reducing Poverty.  Is the World Bank Strategy Working?
	Bretton Woods Project: Blinding with science or encouraging debate?  How World Bank Analysis Determines PRSP Policies
	Bread for the World: Beyond the theory. Practical experiences and positions of involved Civil Society Organisations
	The IMF's Poverty Reduction and Growth Facility (PRGF)
	Link to the "HakiKazi Catalyst" (a Tanzanian NGO) Web-site on the IMF and World Bank