Poverty Reduction Strategy Paper

Poverty Reduction Strategy Papers (PRSPs) are in many ways the replacement for Structural Adjustment Programs, and are documents required by the IMF and World Bank before a country can be considered for debt relief within the HIPC programme. According to the IMF:

Poverty Reduction Strategy Papers (PRSP) are prepared by the member countries through a participatory process involving domestic stakeholders as well as external development partners, including the World Bank and International Monetary Fund.

Critics argue that the criteria used to judge PRSPs by the World Bank and IMF are actually used to impose neo-liberal policies along the lines of the Washington Consensus, and that these policies tend to increase poverty rather than decreasing it.

See also

• Poverty reduction

Further reading

• Jeremy Gould (ed), The New Conditionality: The Politics of Poverty Reduction Strategies, Zed Books 2005
• Caillods, F. Hallak, J. 2004. Education and PRSPs: a review of experiences. Paris: IIEP/UNESCO.

External links

• A selection of up to date resources on the PRSP approach and its implemetation in developing countries can be found in the Governance and Social Development Resource Centre's topic guide on poverty reduction strategy papers
• PRSPs at the IMF
• PRSPs at the World Bank
• Jubilee Research (formerly Jubilee Plus; successor to Jubilee 2000 UK)
• Third World Network Paper on PRSPs
• Alana Albee et al (2005) Decent Work and Poverty Reduction Strategies (PRSs): A reference manual for ILO staff and constituentsIncluding over 500 web-links to resource material