THIRD ANNUAL PRSP-LG MEETING CONCLUDES THAT ALIGNMENT OF DONOR POLICIES REMAINS WEAK

Addis Ababa, 6 December 2003 (ECA) -- The third annual meeting of the African Learning Group on Poverty Reduction Strategy Papers (PRSP-LG) organized by the Economic Commission for Africa (ECA) from 3 to 5 December 2003 in Addis Ababa, Ethiopia, concluded that PRSP must reflect country realities and foster further country participation.

Senior policy experts from about 22 African countries, representatives of the African Development Bank, the World Bank, the Strategic Partnership with Africa (SPA), UK-DFID, and the European Union attended the meeting. Also in attendance were representatives of five African civil society organizations.

• While the PRSP is an important conceptual shift in development thinking, there is still a lack of symmetry between the objectives and priorities of the PRSPs and sectoral plans and strategies. In particular, macroeconomic projections in some PRSPs appear to be too optimistic and inconsistent with country realities. In a number of cases, the growth strategies are not country-specific. There needs to be greater focus on prioritization and costing of the specific programmes to be implemented under the PRSPs.

• Country-ownership of the PRSPs is becoming increasingly entrenched. In many countries, the PRSP is increasingly being seen as an important subset of the strategies for economic growth and human development, especially within the context of meeting the Millenium Development Goals (MDGs).
• Participation in many countries is still shallow and it remains unclear as to how much the participation process has influenced the policy and programme content of the PRSPs.
• African governments are fully aware of the developmental impact of the HIV/AIDS pandemic but this concern is not reflected in the PRSPs.
• Africa's partners have been very slow in changing and adjusting their aid policies to the PRSP approach. African governments need to systematically make their voice heard on that issue.

Background

The PRSP-LG is an ECA initiative designed to promote African ownership of the poverty reduction strategies. The main objective of the Learning Group is to promote and enhance the exchange of ideas and lessons learned on the PRSP among African countries, and to serve as a platform for the articulation of an African voice on the PRSP process. It proposes actions to be taken by Africans and donors in order to tap the full potential of the PRSP process in transforming the partnership between African countries and their donor partners.

The Learning Group has held three annual meetings to date: November 2001 in Addis Ababa, November 2002 in Brussels and December 2003 in Addis Ababa. A key feature of theses meetings the candor and openness in which participants share their experiences and, at times, their frustrations with the PRSP content, process and implementation.
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Kasirim Nwuke, Senior Economic Affairs Officer, Tel: 251-1-443375; Fax: 251-1-514416; Email: nwuke@un.org, knwuke@uneca.org
Meeting documents and presentations as well as country background papers and reports are available at www.uneca.org/prsp
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