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Rough Diamond: PRSPs and the 60th Anniversary of the World Bank and IMF
By World Vision International on 21 Sep 2004
 | | "Rough Diamond" was released in September 2004 |
The Poverty Reduction Strategy Paper (PRSP) concept has now been rolled out in 53 countries, with the first PRSPs some three years old. This new WV report asks: What have we learnt? Are PRSPs the new form of ownership and development tools as advertised some five years ago when launched by the World Bank and International Monetary Fund (IMF)? Have PRSPs become the Trojan horse of development: allowing the Bretton Woods Institutions to continue to control policy formation in developing countries under the guise of giving ownership to those same countries?
Given the importance of the PRSP process in development, the international community cannot allow the current underperformance to continue. The failure of the World Bank and IMF to understand the PRSP concept, and their bypassing of the PRSP process through continued application of top-down policies, means the international community may fail to meet its poverty reduction targets. The international community cannot let this happen. Therefore, the UN needs to oversee the PRSP process and undertake monitoring and evaluation of the process at the global and national level. The UN, working in partnership with civil society at the national level, should lead yearly reviews of the PRSPs and the process. Ultimately, the international community, through the UN, needs to take control of the process and create an independent office to co-ordinate the PRSP process so that it can be a truly effective instrument to achieve the MDGs.
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