AFRICA’S ECONOMIC GROWTH INSUFFICIENT TO MEET POVERTY

REDUCTION GOALS, BRUSSELS MEETING CONCLUDES

(Reissued as received.)

BRUSSELS, 19 November (ECA) -- Africa will not reach the 7 per cent growth

rate necessary to meet the Millennium Development Goal of reducing poverty

by half by 2015, so alternative options have to be found to tackle poverty.

This is one of the key conclusions of the second meeting of the African

Learning Group on the Poverty Reduction Strategy Papers (PRSP-LG), that

brought together high level government representatives, civil society

organizations and experts from 15 African countries.  The meeting was

organized by the Economic Commission for Africa (ECA) and hosted by the

European Union.

The PRSP-LG is an ECA initiative, designed to promote African ownership of

the poverty reduction strategies.  The focus of the work of the PRSP-LG is

on looking at the issues and challenges that African countries are

encountering during the implementation of the poverty reduction strategy

papers (PRSP), sharing of best practices and formulation of recommendations on

action to remedy the specific constraints of each African country.  The

African Learning Group also offers a forum for nurturing an African

position of the PRSP process and the transformed partnerships that this

process enhances.

The second meeting of the African Learning Group considered five practical

aspects of the PRSPs’ implementation:  comprehensiveness of growth

strategies; costing, budgeting and financial management issues;

institutionalization of participation; national capacity needs; and

harmonization of donor policies.

On the comprehensiveness of growth strategies, the African Learning Group

reiterated that growth has to be pro-poor to have an impact on poverty.  No

amount of growth will reduce poverty if it only targets a increase in the

average income and does not aim at reducing income inequality.  Growth

stimulation and increased access to basic social rights such as housing,

nutrition and health care have to be developed in parallel and are

complementary to a pro-poor growth strategy.  New sources of growth need to

be looked at, identifying which sector can have an impact on poverty reduction.

The social sector is not the only sector that can make a difference on poverty reduction.

On costing, budgeting and financial management of the PRSPs, the ten

countries studies commissioned by ECA showed that there has been a wide

array of experiences, varying from country to country.  A crucial point for

the African Learning Group as a whole was that the PRSPs should be linked

to the national budget if they are to be implemented and to benefit from

available resources.

The African Learning Group also stressed that the PRSPs represent a

process, not an end in themselves.  They generate a learning experience. 

They are above all, a development exercise and not a fundraising exercise

under the Heavily Indebted Poor Countries (HIPC) Initiative.

On institutionalizing participation, the African Learning Group came up

with a definition of participation comprising rights, stable structures,

legitimacy and capacity.  The participatory process within the PRSP process

is meant to support the democratic process in the countries, not to

challenge it.  The Group stressed that the support for participation of the

parliaments and the societal actors has to be reinforced.

On national capacity needs, it is clear that most African countries lack

regulatory and legal capacities, technical capacities, extractive or

taxation capacities and administrative capacities, leading to a weakness in

policy design, coordination and implementation.  The African Learning Group

stressed that whereas there is a need to build new capacities, such as

budgeting and costing, it is also crucial that African governments learn to

make proper use of existing capacities.

On harmonization of donor policies, the key outcomes were the call for

poverty reduction strategies to be turned into operational plans.  At this

stage, PRSPs are credible national strategies that describe comprehensively

the state of poverty, but need yet to be clarified to be able to change

government systems and procedures.  The progress in aligning donor

procedures to support the implemetation of poverty reduction strategies in

Africa has not lived up to expectations:  donors conditions have not

decreased, reporting requirements of donors are not harmonized and donor

funding remains unepredictable.  However, donors and governments alike have

shown a desire to change.

It is now up to the governments to ensure consistency of the PRSP with the

Medium Term Expenditure Framework (MTEF) and translate medium-term

indicators, targets and policy commitments into annual goals against which

progress can be measured.  From the donor side, there is  a need to support

the governments with capacity-building and technical assistance.

The African Learning Group meeting will be followed by a meeting of the

Technical Group of the Strategic Partnership with Africa (SPA) -- a donor

group -- from 20 - 21 November.  The African Learning Group participants are

invited to join in the deliberations of SPA.  The objective of this back to back arrangement is to share information between the two groups -- African policymakers and donors -- and is as designed to facilitate dialogue on partnership approaches and modalities so that the PRSP process can better support an African-led agenda.

ECA established the African Learning Group on the PRSP two years ago, in

order to place the perspectives and concerns of Africa at the centre of the

PRSP process.

The SPA informally brings together bilateral and multilateral donors and

aims to support poverty reduction programmes in Africa, financed by donors. 

The donors include the World Bank, the African Development Bank, the

International Monetary Fund, the United Nations Development Programme, the

Development Assistance Committee of the organization for Economic

Cooperation and Development and the European Union.

For further information on the meeting of the African Learning Group on the

PRSP, please contact:  Bénédicte Walter (bwalter@uneca.org).  Documents related to the meeting, including country reports, are available at:  www.uneca.org/prsp

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