Including experts from Ghana, Nigeria, Egypt, Ethiopia, Zambia, Tanzania, Sweden, Great Britain, the United States, and the World Bank the group composes the executive body or the ''steering committee'' of the ''African Plenary on Poverty Reduction Strategies and Implementation of the MDGs," scheduled for 26 to 28 March in the Egyptian capital. It is an ECA-led initiative for second-generation poverty reduction strategy papers (SGPRSPs), which will incorporate lessons learned from the first documents of its kind.

The steering committee meeting discussed among other items the agenda of the Plenary, its Overview session, an Issues paper, an Outcome draft document, and public information and communication.

The second generation PRSPs emerges from the 2001 ECA-led African Learning Group (LG) on the PRS, a regional forum for peer learning and information sharing on the design and implementation of national Poverty Reduction Strategies (PRSs).

Over the past five years, the LG has held three annual meetings, where Member States have discussed and shared experiences. As a result of these meetings, it is considered that second generation PRSPs must offer stronger potential for sustained economic growth, help address the economic transformation needs of low and middle-income African countries, and deepen partnerships around country-led approaches.

Participants of the African Plenary, with the support of ECA experts and the steering committee, are scheduled to agree in Cairo on a ''Consensus Statement'' that takes stock of what has been achieved, highlights the continent''s key outstanding challenges, and introduces an action plan for enhancing Africa''s PRSs, successfully aligning policy to spur sustainable growth, while achieving the MDGs.