PRSPs: A 10 year Retrospective on Results

Replies to This Discussion

Permalink Reply by Hannah J Cooper on September 24, 2010 at 3:54pm

Dear Wali,

Thanks for your prompt reply.

To follow up: why do you think that the contributions of the CSOs and NGOs in the PRSP process were negligible? Was it the format/mechanism of the consultation process?

Secondly, you can find members from your country by clicking on the Members tab at the top of the homepage and then click on Search for Colleagues. We have all AfCoP members listed by country. You can also find your country specifically by clicking on this link: http://copmfdrafrica.ning.com/profiles/members/search?country=SD

Maybe you know some of the AfCoP members from your country already?

Best,

Hannah

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Permalink Reply by Mugunga Matabaro on September 25, 2010 at 3:00pm

COMMUNICATIONS AND OUTREACH.
- Yes, PRSP Rwanda has a communication strategy and it looks to be effective.
Since it passes through local existing structures. From the National level to the village level there is a well designed strategy that gives opportunity citizens to learn more about PRSP and their roles as well.
- The government has made clear efforts to develop dialogue with the civil society Organizations, which are growing slowly by slowly and is viewed with some scepticism a decade after the genocide. The Participatory Poverty Assessment [PPA], for example, borrowed traditional Ubudehe methods of mutual assistance to fund poverty reduction projects which were planned, implemented and monitored at a village level....This approach was an opportunity to bridge relations between civil society sector and government, and within the donor community. The Ubudehe techniques were popular and effective amongst the general public....[O]pportunities present themselves for the future in three main areas: First, the linguistic homogeneity within Rwanda could make radio a powerful instrument for informing the public on PRSPs. Second, the PPA has established a well informed and extensive network of civil society groups at a community level which could act as champions for further communication approaches. Finally, the infrastructure for donor coordination has been improved, enabling the donor community to communicate their concerns, for example about the participatory process, to government more effectively.

- I think the members of the AfCOP can be used as part of the PRS consultation mechanism but they have to seek for advise before any step is taken from the concerned parties.
Regards,
Mugunga Matabaro
Govt Capacity Building Specialist,Rwanda office

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Permalink Reply by Mugunga Matabaro on September 28, 2010 at 7:55am

Additionally to what have been said before, Rwanda has set a participatoty planning using the existing Planning Techniques in Rwanda:
1) Accountability day, started in 2007,, at the district and level level, held quartely.
All local government departments have an' open house" where citizens, NGOs representatives or Businesses can meet with the government officials and ask questions and at the same time present what been achieved which, is linked to the vision of the MDGs.
2) Ubudehe ( Citizens Priorities): Started in 2006, tageting poverty reduction and it is linked with the Vision 2020 at sector level.
3) Vision 2020 Umurenge Program (VUP): Started in 2006, to achieve the objective of the VUP (Millennium Development Goals).
Initially focused on the poorest geographical sector in each district (30 districts). In the seond year the program targeted two sectors in each district. Current focused on 4 sectors in each district. Implies more funding for the sectors.
4) Umuganda: part of Rwandan culture, the last saturday of each month, at the village village (umudugudu) level. All citizens get together in the village and undertake a community activitiy such as filling potholes, street cleaning, roads, houses for vulnerable people, etc...
After the activity is completed (usually several hours in the morning) there is some information sharing between the village chief and citizens and discussions about community priorities for the Umuganda.
An implementation and formulation/decision-making tool.
5) Imihigo: Started in 2006, at district level, annual performance contract between the district and the president of the republic, where the district promises to meet certain indicators within its budget constraints.
A Minister is specified to support, supervise and evaluate each district plan.
Districts are ranked every year based on meeting their objectives. The top three are given recognition awards. Priorities are selected from MDGs and PRSP and all of them aligned to Vision 2020.
6) Joint Action Development Forum (JADF): Started in 2006, one in each district, forum is held quar
quartely. A forum for CSOs, LGs and Private Sector Federation to meet and harmonize their activities based on available finances.
Create synergies and avoid overlapping activities.
It was chaired by the Vice Mayor of Economic Affairs but now it is chaired by someone out side of government.
All these are contributing effectively to the communication of PRSP and Vision 2010. Because of these existing sysyems , it si very easy to communicate and make a clear follow up.
More to come next.
Mugunga Matabaro, Millennium Challenge Corporation (MCC), Gov't Capacity Building Specialist

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Permalink Reply by PHILIP F. JOHNSON on September 26, 2010 at 1:34pm

Thanks Hannah for this very interesting discussion on PRSP. First of all, with regards to preparation and implementation, I think countries had diverse kinds of experiences in the preparation stages as well as implementation depending on the level of socio, economic and political development of the country.

In case of my country, Liberia, which became one of the poorest countries in the world with GDP per capita at US190 as a result of years of conflict and mismanagement, poverty is invasive, particularly acute in rural areas of the country;

Methods of Measuring Poverty and Sources of Data

When Liberia developed its interim PRS (iPRS) in late 2006, there was little reliable information on poverty across the country. In preparation for the full PRS in 2007, three new sources of data became available. First, the Liberian Institute of Statistics and Geo Information Services (LISGIS) carried out a Core Welfare Indicator Questionnaire (CWIQ) survey in collaboration with various partners.3 The CWIQ surveyed 3,600 households, covering every region, demographic group, income level, and household type.

It gathered detailed information on both objective measures and perceptions of poverty. It focused primarily on consumption, and collected complementary data on household composition by size and age, education levels, occupation, and access to basic services.

Second, the 2007 Liberia Demographic and Health Survey (LDHS) collected data from a nationally representative sample of over 7,000 households between December 2006 and April 2007.4 The LDHS focused on population and health, and included information on fertility levels and preferences, family planning practices, sexual activity, nutrition levels, maternal and child health, domestic violence, and awareness and prevalence of HIV and AIDS.

Third, a Participatory Poverty Assessment (PPA) survey was conducted,5 which elicited perceptions of poverty based on direct information provided by the Liberian people themselves. The PPA complements other surveys by providing a basis to qualitatively define poverty across its entire regions of the country.

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Permalink Reply by Hannah J Cooper on October 7, 2010 at 12:26pm

Dear Colleagues,

Mugunga – thank you for all of the information that you provided – I am particularly happy that you brought up Imihigo. I was luckily enough to see a presentation about it at the Hanoi Roundtable on Managing for Development Results. Do you have any more updates on how implementation is going?

Also – it would be excellent if AfCoP members could be involved in PRS consultation. Please let us know if you have additional thoughts on this and how we can help to support this.

Philip – thank you for sharing information about Liberia’s PRSP work. What about communications around your PRSP? Does your PRSP have a communications strategy? If so, how effective do you think it has been?

Colleagues – we have now arrived at our final question for this ediscussion:

We want to know about your experiences with the AfCoP and the knowledge and lessons learned that have been shared through this platform. As results managers we are always interested in learning about the longer term impacts of our work:

Could you share any evidence that your used your enhanced knowledge on “results” orientation gained through the AfCOP platform in the national PRS process?

Really looking forward to your thoughts on this!

Hannah

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Permalink Reply by Mugunga Matabaro on October 8, 2010 at 2:48am

Thank you Hannah for your feedback, we are lucky to have had this important opportunity for learning and sharing experiences with AfCop.
For sure, the knowledge and lessons learned that have been shared through this platform are tremendously immeasurable and it is increasingly rise as long as we are implementing our daily activities.
I personally considered and put it into practice the element of proving and improving effectiveness with measurable indicators of success drives both internal management and external support of a sustainable initiative. These resources offer strategies for results-based decision-making and evaluating outcomes.
Basically, on the side of PRSP, I enjoyed how the PRSP implementation is monitored, communicated, evaluated to the extent that reaches the local communities and citizens in puts with the purpose of ownership.
The most important lesson is based on outcome measurement as implemented in a number of many governments and some private nonprofit service organizations engaged in outcome measurement.
Additionally, I was so excited about how the contributions of the CSOs and NGOs in the PRSP process could be very important even if some governments are not considering and recognizing its added value into the development process.
I have been touched by a practical thought "how to" guide for community, government, and non-profit performance and accountability. It addresses results-based planning, decision making, performance, and budgeting. At this point, it is linked with my daily work, where we work with local government officials to use participatory planning and budgeting, to consider citizens priorities, to set community development goals using those participatory approaches. I have really appreciated the way this e-learning was organized. I have learnt much, moreover, I have been starting to use the AfCoP experiences learnt.

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Permalink Reply by PHILIP F. JOHNSON on October 8, 2010 at 12:01pm

Liberia’s PRSP Communication Strategy

Yes Hannah, indeed, Liberia PRSP has an effective communication Strategy referred to as Lift Liberia.
www.liftliberia.gov.lr In April 2008, the Government of Liberia launched an motivated communication strategy called the Lift Liberia Poverty Reduction Strategy (PRS). The Strategy has been able to mainstream the poverty-environment linkage in development policies and poverty reduction strategies at both local and national levels in Liberia. The Lift Liberia Communication Strategy has been able to raise awareness to stakeholders about the poverty environment linkage, to communicate the benefits of incorporating the poverty environment linkages into development policies and poverty reduction strategies, to communicate the deliverable of the PRSP.
The Strategy also communicates research findings from project consultancy studies so as to influence policy and planning.
The Lift Liberia PRS communication strategy has been very effective to the extent that it has influence policy and decision makers at local and national levels who have an impact or influence on poverty issues, environment, natural resource policy related issues, women, youth, farmers and indigenous people. It has also helped define government - citizens relations through information sharing, consultation, and it has led to active participation in debates surrounding the PRS by all stakeholders. The Lift Liberia program makes use of media(radio program in the local Liberian languages and simple Liberia English), communication technology such has several websites, social networks site (face book etc), interpersonal and face to face or group communication to help disseminate PRS to the various stakeholders in the country..
With regard to my experience with AfCOP so far, I think it is very interesting networking forum for knowledge sharing and experience exchanges. It is a place for obtaining best practices in.
Thanks once more for the excellent work Hannah as we look forward for discussions this topics and other development issues.

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Permalink Reply by Dr. Rosa Muraguri-Mwololo on October 8, 2010 at 1:53am

I have not been particularly active in the discussions but i have been following the interesting perspectives emerging fro the discussions. As we come to a close, I just wondered if we might want to explore how PRSP' s are ensuring gender is not isolated (into a small chapter in the PRSP as opposed using a gender lense in the planning all sectors), that expected gender results and indicators are explicit and specific, and that they are prioritised and budgetted for. Who is pro-actively responsible for the integration of gender in the PRSP

What have been the success factors in engendering the PRSP? which countries have the best practices and models. How are we achieving social equality in the changes the PRSP are targetting?

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Permalink Reply by Wilmot Reeves on October 8, 2010 at 5:19am

This is a very interesting discussion that has been brought to the fore. Since the introduction of PRSPs in 1999 after the age of the SAPs, it would be interesting to evaluate practical realities and lessons learnt of PRSPs in terms of success in countries that have initiated design and implementation.

As we explore this discussion, we should be mindful of the economic governance aspects of the discussion, as many countries still continue to be challenged by economic governance issues such as effective public financial management and the eradication of corruption from private and public life of their economies. The evidence that continues to show is that despite good PRSPs being designed and implemented, poverty continues to remain a major challenge in many countries. Could it be the question of leadership? I strongly believe that we can prepare the best PRSPs in a participatory process, so long the leadership question that continues to haunt many developing countries is not addressed and human development is not priority to many governments, poverty will continue to be a major challenge.

I would welcome discussions that will explore some of these crucial issues mentioned as we discuss the preparation and implementation of the PRSPs, data collection, monitoring and evaluation, etc.

regards,
Wilmot

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Permalink Reply by Hannah J Cooper on October 18, 2010 at 3:44pm

Dear Colleagues,

As you know, we are in the process of wrapping up this ediscussion to make way for our upcoming discussion on the MDGs.

Before we close however, I really wanted to thank you all for taking the time to contribute to this discussion. I think that we've managed to share some particularly valuable insights and ideas on PRSP implementation.

In terms of next steps - I'd like to explore the possibility of turning this ediscussion into additional analytic work on the subject. As we are now 10 years into PRSP implementation, your contributions tell a particularly rich and value story of the success and challenges taking place in your countries. I will follow up with you all individually if I manage to move this forward.

In addition, I will be writing a brief summary of this discussion to be shared with our French colleagues - who have been having a similar discussion on the Francophone platform and I will be posting a summary (in English) of their discussion as well.

Before we close completely, I'd really like to open the floor to Rosa's question on gender. We will have an opportunity to talk more about gender issues through the MDG discussion - but her question is an important one: How are your countries ensuring that gender is taken into account seriously throughout PRSP implementation rather than being relegated to a small sub-section of the strategy? What are your experiences and do you have any innovative approaches to address gender issues in your country's PRSP?

I really look forward to your thoughts!

Hannah

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Permalink Reply by Hannah J Cooper on October 19, 2010 at 4:42pm

Dear Colleagues,

Ali Anwer, who is leading this ediscussion on the Francophone side has just shared the summary of their ediscussion. Please find the key findings below and don't hesitate to post your comments and reactions!

Members of the AfCoP Francophone platform discussed at length results achieved by PRSP in the last decade in several African countries. The ediscussion was launched on August 18 and involved 24 contributions from 14 participants from Mali, Niger, DRC, Senegal, Ivory Coast, Madagascar and Mauritania.

The ediscussion allowed participants to share their experience on how the PRSPs are implemented in their country, how it is monitored and on how results are evaluated. The main issues raised by the facilitator focused on: how PRSPs provide a framework and for a country’s overall development; how PRSP implementation is monitored and the role of PRSP units; PRSP design and implementation; lessons learned and best reporting practices.

Over the course of the ediscussion, the facilitator led the discussions through a series of questions focusing on PRSP preparation and implementation, M&E, risk management, and communication and awareness.

The discussion was particularly lively. Members participated with great enthusiasm and presented their contributions in an open and frank manner. Key findings that generated the most interest from members are as follow:

1. The importance of statistics: If everyone sees PRSPs as the main framework for social and economic policy for growth and poverty reduction, one of the shortcomings identified by a number of participants is the weakness of reliable statistics. It is important to plan PRSPs on reliable sectoral and macroeconomic data, as well as it is important to use reliable indicators in conducting M&E. The techniques developed by some countries to collect and process data from multiple sources, show the importance of a reliable system of data collection. It is still one of the major challenges for some countries. Others have made significant efforts to create their National Institute or Office of Statistics and tried to provide them with sufficient and competent staff to perform their work of collecting and creating. However, some problems of consistency of data remain because of the multitude of data sources, mainly at the sectoral level.

2. Capacity building: This is a recurring theme among most participants not only in this discussion on PRSPs but also in several other online discussions. Several members stressed the importance of capacity building program to improve the overall implementation and M&E of PRS. In addition, participants emphasized the need to take into account the five pillars of MfDR in the preparation of 2nd or 3rd generation of PRSPs.

3. The participatory approach: For most participants, PRSPs can not be seen as reliable roadmap for the economic and social development without an effective participation of all key stakeholders. Some countries have learned from the experience of the first PRSP (which had been formulated in order to access the HIPC initiative), without taking sufficiently into account a participatory approach.

In the second generation of PRSPs, most countries have established mechanisms that allowed the participation of a range of socio-economic actors, namely government, civil society, donors and organisations at the grass root level. They established a number of thematic groups in which each actor contributes to the debate. In addition to traditional channels of communication (regular media outlets), other means to facilitate people's access to information in local languages should be used so that participation and consultation are effective. It was only after this process that a diagnosis is established from which objectives and strategies at the sectoral level are identified. "Bottom-Up" approach should be systematically used in planning and implementing PRSPs.

4. The need to strengthen monitoring and evaluation: One of the most common weaknesses of the 1st generation of PRSPs is the inefficiency their M&E systems. Most members have learned from this first generation of PRSPs and emphasize the need to implement a M&E program with a real participatory approach, right from the start of the PRS. Moreover, M&E guides and manuals are developed immediately after the validation of the PRSP. Those guides highlight procedures for collecting, processing and disseminating statistical data and information, as well as the actors involved in the process and their roles. Therefore, several M&E Units have been established to coordinate and monitor the implementation of PRSs. Moreover, as noted by several participants, the need to use diagnostic assessments with extensive consultations and exchanges with the private sector, civil society, local communities and donors is essential to achieve effective M&E programs.

5. Risk monitoring: Risk issues and their monitoring have not attracted as much participation from the members. May be it is because these questions did not take up much space in the PRSP 1st and 2nd generation. Countries that are preparing their PRSP 3rd generation seem more concerned by this aspect. Senegal for instance, finds that taking into account risks of potential disasters is very important in order to maximize the chances of achieving goals. For example, invasion of locusts, floods and resettlement of affected populations, food and energy crises, are factors that, at one time or another, have an important impact on achieving PRSPs objectives.

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