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Strategies: A Guide
Influencing Poverty Reduction Strategies: A Guide
Contents
Introduction ....................................................................................................... 2
Section one. Background: Participation in Planning and the PRSP process 3
Section two. Participation by Civil Society in Policy Monitoring and
Implementation.............................................................................................. 8
Participation .................................................................................................... 8
Section three. Influencing the Content of Policy .......................................... 13
Influencing policy content: promoting policy choices...................................... 13
Influencing policy content: gender and diversity............................................. 14
How to maximise policy influence .................................................................. 15
Section four. Monitoring the Implementation of Policy ................................ 22
Implementation; critical for the credibility of the PRSP initiative ..................... 22
Monitoring policy implementation: gender and diversity................................. 23
Monitoring policy implementation: the role of budgets ................................... 23
Beyond budgets: monitoring outcomes.......................................................... 30
Annex one. Influencing Policy Content: Reform debates in low-income
countries ...................................................................................................... 32
Annex two. Links to other sources of information. ...................................... 48
1
Influencing Poverty Reduction Strategies: A Guide
Introduction
Use of document
This document is intended as a resource for Oxfam staff and for other organisations
concerned with influencing and monitoring national policy making in developing countries
to the benefit of the poor. The document will focus on policy making in low-income
countries, because current donor conditionality demands civil society participation in
planning and in the implementation of plans under the new Poverty Reduction Strategy
Paper programme (PRSP) introduced by the World Bank and IMF. However, many of the
areas covered will be useful to organisations working in middle-income, or even
developed countries.
2
Influencing Poverty Reduction Strategies: A Guide
Recent changes
Over the past few years this position has changed slightly. There has been increased
donor emphasis on government ownership and leadership, and on civil society
involvement in the design and implementation of policies and plans.
During the past decade substantial experience has also developed with poor women and
2
mens participation in project design, particularly through PRA/RRA techniques. These
approaches have been further developed into Participatory Poverty Assessments (PPAs),
which have the potential to become an extremely useful tool for poverty reduction
planning and implementation.
At the same time, partly through the recognition by donors of the failure of structural
adjustment programmes to make sufficient inroads on reducing poverty, and partly
through moves towards linking increased debt relief to poverty reduction (as a result of
the Jubilee 2000 debt campaign), there has been a renewed emphasis on poverty
reduction as the central theme of government action in low-income countries. This move
has also been influenced by the widespread agreement to achieve the international
development goals for 2015 (see box below). The goals have been adopted by the
World Bank, the International Monetary Fund, the members of the Development
Assistance Committee of the OECD, and many other agencies. They found a new
expression in the Millennium Declaration of the United Nations, adopted by the General
Assembly in September 2000. As such they are the key targets towards which all
3
development planning should aim.
1
Participatory Rural Appraisal (PRA)/Rapid Rural Appraisal (RRA)
2
Participatory Rural Appraisal (PRA)/Rapid Rural Appraisal (RRA)
3
Further information on the IDT can be found at www.developmentgoals.org
3
Influencing Poverty Reduction Strategies: A Guide
4
77 countries with 1999 per capita GNP below $885.
4
Influencing Poverty Reduction Strategies: A Guide
5
These six core principles are taken from the World Bank Overview of PRSPs
www.worldbank.org/poverty/strategies/overview.htm#core_principles
6
Developed by the World Bank President, Jim Wolfensohn in early 1999. Currently piloted in West Bank and
Gaza, and 11 countries: Bolivia, Cote dIvoire, the Dominican Republic, Eritrea, Ethiopia, Ghana, Kyrgyz
Republic, Morocco, Romania, Uganda and Vietnam.
7
World Bank Development Committee Communiqu, September 27th, 1999.
8
All JSAs are published, and are available on the IMF and WB websites together with a number of other
country documents.
9
This fear is increasingly being validated as full PRSPs are beginning to be completed. For all PRSPs there has
been minimal change in terms of the macro-economic policy core, which continues to mirror the PRGF
arrangement held with the IMF.
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Influencing Poverty Reduction Strategies: A Guide
Lastly there is a concern that the short/ medium term cycle of PRSPs undermines
commitment to longer term planning and especially the development of National
Sustainable Development Plans that mean that longer-term environmental concerns
are being avoided.
Policy advice and lending from the IMF and World Bank are supposed to be derived from
the country owned PRSP. This alters the design of IMF and World Bank support.
IMF support
The IMF renamed its concessional lending facility, from the Enhanced Structural
Adjustment Facility (ESAF), to the Poverty Reduction and Growth Facility (PRGF). The
PRGF has seven key features:
Broad participation and greater ownership
Embedding the PRGF in the overall strategy for growth and poverty reduction
Budgets that are more pro-poor and pro-growth
Ensuring appropriate flexibility in fiscal targets
More selective structural conditionality
Emphasis on measures to improve public resource management/accountability
10
Social impact analysis of major macroeconomic adjustments and structural reforms
Loans under the PRGF are for three years, and carry an annual interest rate of 0.5
percent, with repayments made semi-annually, beginning five-and-a-half years and
ending 10 years after the disbursement
The IMF is currently carrying out a review of the 35 PRGFs in place to date. Independent
assessments have shown that although there has been some progress in areas such as
streamlining conditionality (reducing the number of conditions attached to PRGFs) the
overall core of macroeconomic prescriptions remain unchanged. There has been virtually
no entertaining of alternatives or choices in terms of macro-economic policy in the PRGFs
11
to date The fact that most PRGFs have now been negotiated in advance of full PRSPs
does not help this, and rather than following the PRSP, the opposite seems to be more
the norm with the PRSP macro-economics policy in most cases mirroring the PRGF.
10
'IMF Lending to Poor CountriesHow does the PRGF differ from the ESAF?' IMF, April 2000
11
PRGF Stocktaking Exercise on behalf of DFID Adam, C and Bevan, D Department of Economics Oxford
University October 2001
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Influencing Poverty Reduction Strategies: A Guide
12
OP. According to the draft Guidelines on PRSCs , the PRSC would be presented to the
Board of the World Bank simultaneously with or shortly after the PRSP/I-PRSP, JSA and
CAS.
12
Interim Guidelines for Poverty Reduction Support Credits, World Bank, April 10th 2001
http://wbln0018.worldbank.org/html/eswwebsite.nsf/PRSC/Guidelines+PRSC
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Influencing Poverty Reduction Strategies: A Guide
Participation
Oxfams view is that poor women and men have a right to be heard and that voice
poverty, the denial of peoples right to influence the decisions that affect their lives, and
the lack of accountability of decision-makers, are central causes of impoverishment and
suffering in the world. We have three central concerns:
Where people living in poverty are systematically excluded from institutions, decision-
making processes, and resource allocation decisions, they are less likely to benefit
from development investments.
Systematic denial of peoples right to participate erodes the accountability and
effectiveness of organisations, institutions, companies, and governments, making
these much more prone to poor decision-making, and the corruption, malpractice and
malfeasance that exacerbate poverty.
The exclusion of women and marginalised groups from policy making leads to an
imbalanced perspective on development priorities, and to exclusion from the benefits
of development for significant sectors of the population.
The World Bank also highlights voicelessness and powerlessness as one of the four
main dimensions of poverty, as defined by the poor themselves:
those materially deprived feel acutely their lack of voice, power and independence. This
helplessness subjects them to rudeness, humiliation, shame, inhumane treatment, and
13
exploitation at the hands of the institutions of state and society
This lack of voice can only be countered by empowering the poor women and men to
participate and become involved in influencing the structures and institutions that have
power over them.
13
World Bank World Development Report 2000-2001: Attacking Poverty.
14
Organising Participatory Processes in the PRSP, S.Tikare, D.Youssef, P.Donnelly-Roark, P.Shah, World
Bank, April 2001
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Influencing Poverty Reduction Strategies: A Guide
Assessing participation
In influencing PRSP processes, the aim is to maximise the level of participation,
particularly by groups that are most often excluded from policy formulation. There are
often significant differences as to what different stakeholders mean by participation, and it
is important that Civil Society Organisations are clear on what level of participation they
expect and also that they assess what level actually is the case.
It is essential that Civil Society Organisations have the tools to give a comprehensive and
critical assessment itself of how participatory the process has been. This is particularly
true given that the Guidelines for the Joint Staff Assessment currently do not require
IMF/WB staff to assess the quality of the participatory process in producing a PRSP, only
to describe it.
The following sections outline first the four levels of participation, and then go on to look
at specific criteria that need to be fulfilled if we are to reach the higher levels of
participation during PRSP processes. Both can be used as resources when calling for
greater participation or giving an assessment of how good participatory processes should
be.
Varying levels or intensities of participation in policy and practice can be described in the
17
following way :
Information sharing:
A basic requirement for participation and increased transparency, but limited in many
contexts from access to information regarding a World Bank loan to government
budget analysis. A key issue is when access to information is given in the policy
15
Development Committee Communiqu, World Bank September 27th, 1999. Both these definitions can be
used as tools to challenge the Bank/ IMF and Governments when participation does not achieve these levels
(i.e. most cases to date).
16
Engaging with the World Bank and the IMF: a report for the Gender and Development Network Terry,
Geraldine 2001
17
Participation in Poverty Reduction Strategies: A synthesis of experience with participatory approaches to
policy design, implementation and monitoring, R McGee and A Norton IDS Working Paper 109, 2000.
9
Influencing Poverty Reduction Strategies: A Guide
19
Below is a checklist that contains some issues that should be addressed within any
20
participatory process . It provides a basic resource to assess participation in policy
formulation, implementation and monitoring.
18
From Oxfam experience and numerous sources: Participation in Poverty Reduction Strategies: A synthesis
of experience with participatory approaches to policy design, implementation and monitoring, R McGee and A
Norton IDS Working Paper 109, 2000 (which pulls together many sources and is available on the net- see
annex two for links); Uganda Debt Network, Malawi Economic Justice Network, Tanzania Coalition on Debt and
Development, Maarifa/Tanzania Education Network, NGO Forum in Cambodia, ASONOG in Honduras, CCER
in Nicaragua, and Jubilee 2000 in Bolivia.
19
From Oxfam experience and numerous sources: McGee/Norton (which pulls together many sources);
Uganda Debt Network, Malawi Economic Justice Network, Tanzania Coalition on Debt and Development,
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Influencing Poverty Reduction Strategies: A Guide
Maarifa/Tanzania Education Network, NGO Forum in Cambodia, ASONOG in Honduras, CCER in Nicaragua,
and Jubilee 2000 in Bolivia.
20
Given that all processes will be context specific, it will be important to look beyond this list to issues that may
be relevant in a particular national context. However, these give a basic starting point for reference.
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Influencing Poverty Reduction Strategies: A Guide
Experience to Date
Currently participation in PRSPs has generally ranged between mixed and poor, and Civil
21
Society Organisations around the world have raised this as a major issue . This is due to
a number of reasons.
Firstly the time frame, and in HIPC countries, the carrot of debt relief, has meant that
many countries have gone through the process extremely quickly. This is partly
influenced by the nature of existing reforms and policy-making approaches; where
governments believe that substantial progress has been made previously then they have
felt able to move forward quickly.
Secondly, contrary to the initial guidance given by the IMF and World Bank on the nature
of Interim PRSPs, numerous governments have developed substantial interim
documents. Given that IPRSPs did not require participation, the end result in some
countries has been that substantial policy-making has been undertaken with no
participation at all, and the opportunities to modify the IPRSP and develop the full PRSP
have now become severely constrained in many countries.
Thirdly, many civil society organisations have been ill prepared for strong engagement in
the development of PRSPs; in many countries, Parliaments have also played a marginal
role.
Lastly these above reasons are further compounded for womens groups and those civil
society organisations concerned with gender. They have found it particularly difficult to
be involved in the PRSP formulation processes, and the PRSPs currently completed a
22
very poor in terms of addressing gender in policy planning and formulation .
Despite these problems, the PRSP still represents an opportunity for policy influence by
civil society, however small. Civil society should commit to doing its utmost to exploit this
opportunity whilst continuing to push for greater participation and involvement at all times.
The following section looks at how to maximise the use made of this opportunity to
influence policy formulation and implementation.
21
See for example Ignoring the Experts Christian Aid October 2001 (available on the internet- see links in
annex two)
22
Gender in PRSPs: A Stocktaking World Bank PREM August 9th 2001
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Influencing Poverty Reduction Strategies: A Guide
23
The opportunity is indeed unprecedented, but nevertheless a very long way from ideal.
24
Governance, Administration and Development: Making the State Work Turner, Mark and Hulme, David 1997
London Macmillan.
25
Ibid.
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Influencing Poverty Reduction Strategies: A Guide
discussion over genuine policy choices. Central to this is calling on the major donors
and country governments to carry out assessments of the policy options available and
their potential impact on poverty.
In recent years the bank and the fund have come under increasing pressure to agree to
carry out Poverty and Social Impact Assessments (PSIA): these are assessments of the
social and poverty impacts of policy reforms they are proposing.
These assessments can be backward looking (ex post) where they assess the impact of
previous reforms, and also importantly they can and should be forward looking (ex ante)
where they examine the possible impact on poverty of reforms that are being proposed.
They can be carried out by the donor directly, or by governments and/ or civil society with
donor support. The important point is that any major policy reform should be openly
debated and more than one option entertained.
The commitment to carrying out and supporting PSIA by the World Bank and IMF can be
used when advocating around particular policy reforms in your country. They have
committed to carrying these out and as such they can be asked when and how they
26
intend to do them and how they will involve all stakeholders .
In addition there is a range of other studies that the Bank and Fund already carry out
when assessing a country and devising policy prescriptions. They have a number of
models which they use both at a macro-economic and a sectoral level. A forthcoming
paper by the Bretton Woods Project will detail this process and the entry points for
advocacy. The overall point is that if you can influence the content of official studies you
are more likely to have an impact, whether through influencing the terms of reference,
who carries out the study and in what ways.
Although insider strategies such as this are very useful, there is also always a place for
good quality independent research to influence policy debates and generate policy
choice. Civil society has a pivotal role in generating such research. Tips on doing this
are contained in the section below.
26
For commitments from the Bank and the Fund see Poverty Reduction Papers: Progress in Implementation
Development Committee Communique April 18th 2001
(http://wbln0018.worldbank.org/DCS/devcom.nsf/(documentsattachmentsweb)/April2001EnglishDC20010010/$
FILE/DC2001-0010(E)-PRSP.pdf). Also at the recent PRSP review in Washington in January 2002 the
president of the World Bank, James Wolfenson told CSO representatives that Poverty and Social Impact
Assessments would be mainstreamed in three to six months.
27
Elson, Diane Gender Budget Initiative: Background papers Commonwealth Secretariat 2001
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Influencing Poverty Reduction Strategies: A Guide
Civil society can play a key role in raising these issues of gender blindness in the
formulation of policy. This can involve many actions, but are essentially about ensuring
gender issues are integrated into all national policies rather than simply regarding women
as a special interest group.
A gender-aware policy appraisal involves the development of an analysis which reflects
an understanding of a policys gender implications by:
Identifying implicit and explicit gender issues
Identifying the corresponding resource allocations
Assessing whether the policy will continue or change existing inequalities between
men and women and in what ways.
For example, in Mali Oxfam GB works with three NGOs (ADESAH, GARI and
TASSAGHT) alongside the Governments Programme Decennal de Development de
lEducation (PRODEC) (this is the organisation responsible for the reform of the
educational system in Mali in the context of decentralisation). The work is specifically
oriented at Gao, in the North of Mali (where the majority of people are nomads and where
the education statistics are among the worst in the world). Most of their work is advocacy
to increase girls education and change perceptions of policy makers and communities on
girls rights to education. One example is advocacy to see government policy
implemented to prevent very young marriages that are a major obstacle to girls
education.
Focus
There are in any policy debate many different issues to be discussed, and especially in a
PRSP which focuses on plans for the whole country. When faced with influencing an
entire national plan, it is easy to try to do too much. It is vital that civil society groups
focus down on areas that they believe have the most impact on the poor, or on areas
where they have the most expertise. Within any national or local coalition of civil society,
different actors can lead on different issues depending on their strengths and
weaknesses. Prioritisation is about picking 3-5 key issues and doing them well. This
means ignoring other issues, and making tough choices.
Firstly it is important to review the overall poverty reduction strategy with regards to the
impact of proposed strategies on the poor. Secondly, any strategy will be built on sectoral
strategies e.g. in education or roads, specialist civil society groups can scrutinise existing
sector strategies to review pro-poor measures and so on. Thirdly it is equally important to
examine the prioritisation within the strategy: do the sectoral and overall priorities
identified, including budget allocations look acceptable to civil society?
This kind of process will allow the identification and prioritisation of key issues. You
should then clarify why advocacy is necessary and appropriate for the issues.
Research
All too often Civil Society is accused of simply criticising without giving good arguments or
alternatives. This undermines the credibility of Civil Society, and the extent to which its
views are heeded. Although strong arguments do not guarantee success, nevertheless
you have to know what you are talking about if you are to successfully influence policy.
As such central to this is targeted research on the policy areas you are seeking to
influence.
Identify the purpose of the research, i.e. to change policy and implementation.
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Influencing Poverty Reduction Strategies: A Guide
Research done by civil society for advocacy is not the same as academic research. It
needs to be credible, but it should be research that helps you achieve your advocacy
objectives, and communicate your arguments well.
However, this does not mean that the research cannot involve Academics from the
country. Academia is very much part of Civil Society. Where you can identify
academics or researchers working in your country who are sympathetic to your cause
they can prove an invaluable resource.
Clarify how the information will be obtained. Use existing work where possible.
Ensure that research is informed by a strong analysis of gender and social relations.
How are women and men affected differently? What about age, ethnicity and other
aspects of social identity? Make every attempt to generate disaggregate information
that establishes the specific impacts on women and marginalised groups.
The research needs to identify how the poor could lose through proposed or existing
reforms or policy measures, and how this situation could be changed by introducing
alternative measures. Wherever possible these need to be costed and the economic
implications addressed.
Linking micro experience of civil society with macro policies and issues, and including
interviews with poor women and men concerning reform measures or existing
circumstances will enhance the strength of research. Clearly showing how policy
affects the poor, and highlighting how poor women and men feel about the effects of
certain policies provides an extremely convincing argument that everyone can
understand. Include quotations from the poor and case studies to further underline
your points.
Key Messages
Civil society organisations have substantial experience in opposing reforms and polices,
frequently in political and economic climates where there has been little room to promote
alternatives. With growing openings for increased participation, there is now more room
to propose alternatives. This requires developing different kinds of messages than in the
past.
Establish clear and simple messages stating:
What is good for poor women and men in current government action and proposed
reforms
What may be harmful for poor women and men, in particular from your experience
and analysis (this is where research is critical).
What alternative measures could be implemented instead, and why these would
benefit the target populations.
It is important where possible to simplify complex messages. The message should be
framed in a compelling way, to be convincing and win over policy makers, but also to get
the widest possible public support.
Briefings
Preparing written briefings on issues - short, clear and concise, with a few key
recommendations are vital (4 recommendations are better than 10). Briefings are an
important tool in influencing government officials, politicians, media etc. Again, with many
government officials or advisors, one of the most useful inputs are practical proposals for
change rather than criticism alone. Be critical, but be constructive too, and give praise
where it is due.
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Influencing Poverty Reduction Strategies: A Guide
Targets
For each objective, identify the targets: the decision-making institutions or bodies
concerning the policy changes or implementation sought. This could include the decision-
making body where power lies, but also other actors that could influence the decision-
maker. A useful approach is what is known as an insider/outsider strategy, whereby civil
society organisations develop close contacts inside the target in order to influence them,
but retain a tougher external or public position in meetings, in the media and in
campaigning. When combining advocacy with strong campaigning, this approach is
essential, but again, care is needed if relationships become too close you need to
always keep in mind your overall objectives and purpose.
In most countries undertaking PRSPs, the Ministry of Finance has generally taken over
management of the process, and thus poverty reduction has gained a higher profile and
higher importance within government (rather than being seen as some add-on in the
Ministry of Social Affairs for example). Clearly officials in the Ministry of Finance will
become key targets, but other line ministries are important too, the Cabinet, the President
and his/her office, key Parliamentary committees or other similar structures in the
legislature and lastly key donors. With increased decentralisation, district or municipal
authorities often become more powerful and are therefore also targets.
Research the decision-making processes in the targets, and identify individuals within
them.
Be aware of their constraints and problems, and the pressures on them from others.
Be clear where the power lies and who has influence (e.g. it may be more effective to
target the advisers rather than a minister); be aware of conflicts between actors or
ministries. Assess whether you are likely to be effective working internally through
direct advocacy or externally through campaigning and media pressure, or both.
Be prepared to negotiate, be clear about your bottom line.
Who influences the target? In some countries certain Parliamentarians, e.g. Finance
Committee, may have influence in the Ministry of Finance. Other targets may be
influenced internationally, as well as nationally, e.g. World Bank it may be useful to
ally yourself with civil society groups internationally who are seeking ensure that the
World Bank is genuinely pro-poor in its lending and policy advice.
Timing - what external opportunities exist for you to link your messages to? E.g. key
meetings, elections, national or international conferences etc.
Know your opponents in government, amongst donors, in the media.
Know your allies too in the media, politicians, academics, policy makers. Build
relationships, trust and credibility.
Remember both can change; your opponent on one issue could be a key ally on the
next; the IFIs can help put more pressure on for a longer consultation period for
example, but can also be targets in terms of issues such as excessive conditionality
or promotion of policies that are harmful to the poor. The thing to remember is no
permanent friends and no permanent enemies.
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Influencing Poverty Reduction Strategies: A Guide
Prepare well for meetings, think through persuasive arguments, think through
counter-arguments (most of which are predictable), be well briefed (youll be more
confident and persuasive), aim high, and seek firm commitments to act.
Before a meeting try to confirm the agenda, who will be there, how long the meeting
will be etc. Keep your message to only 3 short points, only use one third of the
meeting time to present them.
Meet the right people, frequently lower level civil servants are the ones working
directly on an issue, and could have substantial influence since they brief those
higher up. Try also to meet secretaries to ministers, key academics, influential media
etc.
Sometimes it may be appropriate to be tough in a meeting, but it is rarely appropriate
to be confrontational. Generally engagement is more effective than condemnation.
At the end of the meeting, thank people for their time, summarise what has been
agreed and any follow-up. After the meeting, write a letter to confirm what has been
agreed, future actions etc.
Review whether you are making progress towards your objectives. Be aware of being
co-opted, and of becoming so close that you are unable to be critical.
Large meetings
With increasing participation, civil society gets invited to numerous meetings. It is
important to review whether such a meeting is useful in order to achieve your aims.
Many are not useful, and many are used to pretend participation or consultation
took place. If you do decide to go, then speak sitting quietly serves no ones
interests.
Before such meetings, it is often useful for civil society organisations to prepare
positions beforehand, or to pre-meet, and work out who will say what, on what issue.
Governments and institutions have the advantage that they are one body with a clear
hierarchy and position, in order to deal with them, civil society organisations need to
co-ordinate well together. If there are strong differences between various civil society
positions, be aware that divide and rule is an age-old tactic. Recognise and accept
differences in opinion as early as possible, and focus on common ground.
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Influencing Poverty Reduction Strategies: A Guide
Media Strategy
Unless your advocacy has to be carried out behind the scenes use the media as an
important ally to achieve your aims. What follows are a few tips on working with the
media.
Who are you trying to influence?
Where do they get their information from?
Be familiar with the media.
How can you get your message carried by the media?
Develop a relationship with key journalists; find out what they are interested in, what
they will cover.
In many countries, radio is the main media source for the poor. However, often it is
controlled by the state so there is a limit to what news it will cover. Here positive and
constructive criticism based on issues is most likely to be successful.
Think globally, international media can put pressure on your government or
international institutions and donors.
What do you want to say? - Draw up a press release (see box below).
Timing Think of when will you have most impact with your media work
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Influencing Poverty Reduction Strategies: A Guide
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Influencing Poverty Reduction Strategies: A Guide
SWOT Analysis
It is very useful to make an assessment of internal Strengths and Weaknesses, and
external Opportunities and Threats
Strengths & weaknesses of your organisation and the advocacy alliance:
Is the issue rooted in your experience - direct, or that of counterparts? How relevant and
important is it to your programme? Do you have the necessary resources and capacity to
influence? Do you have sufficient appropriate information to sustain advocacy work? Are
you respected by public opinion and/or decision makers? Are the particular skills of your
staff/organisation appropriate and sufficient? Do you have the necessary financial
resources?
Opportunities and threats in the external environment:
What are the risks?
What is the likelihood of successful achievement of objectives? Can you identify concrete
and realistic changes to propose? How much leverage is there? How fixed are current
positions? How will you counter the arguments of your adversaries? Are there particular
and sufficient influencing opportunities? Is the issue recognised by decision-makers or
public opinion as important? Can the issue be simplified sufficiently to gain necessary
public support without compromising the objectives?
Is there a sufficient movement for change? What allies could there be? Can a coalition
be formed? Is your networking good? How strong is public opinion? How strong are
social organisations that relate to the sector(s) affected by the issue?
Plan of Activities
Draw up timetabled outline of activities required to implement the strategies. Make sure
that the component parts interrelate:
Specify who will do what.
Bear in mind the particular opportunities for influencing - e.g. key governmental
meetings.
Be realistic about the time-scale. Allow flexibility.
Identify materials that you will use to further the strategy. Think carefully about
materials appropriate to the different targets - e.g. press releases or politicians'
briefings should be short (one page), pithy, accurate and convincing. Materials must
include thoroughly researched information, be well argued and objective.
Identify allies (beyond the coalition) who can be approached at different points in the
implementation of the strategy - e.g. individuals within the State apparatus?
Researchers?
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Influencing Poverty Reduction Strategies: A Guide
22
Influencing Poverty Reduction Strategies: A Guide
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Influencing Poverty Reduction Strategies: A Guide
these are important advocacy tools for influencing budget content. For example if free
primary education has been agreed as the policy choice and costed, then Civil Society
can call for the correct amount to be allocated in the budget to achieve this.
This process will also identify resource gaps, which can be a tool for advocating to
development partners for more budget support. For example in the case of Tanzania, the
PRSP includes an Education Sector Development Programme (ESDP) that has been
costed at US$969m over the three-year period ending in 2004. The Tanzanian
Government is meeting just over half of the cost, with an International Development
Association loan from the World Bank covering another US$150m. This leaves a
financing gap of US$92m per year to be met through donor contributions. At the Dakar
Education Conference in 2000, Donors promised that any country with a good plan for
education would be given the resources. This is a powerful argument to use with donors
to get them to commit more resources to the budget.
As with the policy formulation process, Civil Society is far more likely to be successful if it
focuses on a few key policies and pushes hard on these for inclusion in the budget. This
has been done in some countries, with a focus on key priority poverty expenditures
28
grouped together in a virtual fund within the budget . The government should then
guarantee to provide the resources for these expenditures and equally important to
provide timely information and figures on each of them as the year progresses. Although
not ideal as they can divert attention from the rest of the budget, these mechanisms are
good in the interim for building capacity for monitoring by Civil Society and capacity for
good budgeting and expenditure management by Government whilst more wider reforms
are implemented.
28
This has most famously been done very successfully in Uganda with the Poverty Action Fund. A similar fund
has been proposed in the Honduran PRSP. The fund can also potentially focus on cross cutting expenditures
such as those policies within sectors that have a gender component. However, it is important to remember that
the aim should always be to eventually monitor the whole budget.
24
Influencing Poverty Reduction Strategies: A Guide
29
Short Changed: Women and Economic Policies Sharp, Rhonda and Broomhill, Ray 1998
25
Influencing Poverty Reduction Strategies: A Guide
Working with parliaments- especially with Budget and Finance Committees where
they exist, giving them information and analysis to feed into the debate.
Use your allies; academics in particular are very useful at this stage for providing
technical assistance.
Keeping it simple: do not be daunted by the size of the budget documents, the key
questions are still simple ones and so are the key messages (see box on doing
budget analysis)
A lot of potential resources and experience exist around the world on Civil Society
involvement in the budget process. See the links section at the end for more details.
26
Influencing Poverty Reduction Strategies: A Guide
30
There may be a separation into recurrent and development budgets that mean the figures simply need to be
combined. When the amount actually spent (revised figure) differs from the proposed figure this is due to
supplementary budgets passed during the year; these need to be monitored also.
31
To do this on a calculator simply type the proposed figure, then minus, then the percentage deflator, and
finally the percentage button to give you the real figure. To do this manually deduct the deflator figure from
100% (so if it is 30% this subtracted from 100% is 70%). Turn this into a decimal (so 70% becomes 0.7) and
then multiply the proposed figure by this decimal. (so say $100 million x 0.7). This will give you the figure in
real terms.
27
Influencing Poverty Reduction Strategies: A Guide
28
Influencing Poverty Reduction Strategies: A Guide
point here is to be very clear what you decide to include and why from the outset.
Again academics and particularly sectoral economists can help you here.
Overall success in monitoring inputs depends enormously (but not entirely) on success at
the formulation phase in getting a clear and accessible budget and a commitment to
release regular expenditure figures. Again this looks set to improve in the next few years
as governments come under considerable pressure from the IFIs in the context of
increased social expenditures due to HIPC.
Monitoring Budget Outputs
The output of a particular policy is what it actually produces; the actual activity on the
ground whether it be more books in schools, numbers of teachers trained or number of
extension visits carried out. Civil Society with its often-considerable outreach into rural
areas is uniquely positioned to give a regular and independent assessment of the extent
to which planned policies are actually producing planned outputs.
As with inputs, timely monitoring of outputs can result in a powerful set of advocacy
messages as the financial year progresses. If civil society can show that a policy is not
delivering and why half way through the year or at the beginning of the next this means
that the chances of having a positive impact are much greater. For example a Public
Expenditure Tracking Survey (PETS) in Uganda in 1995 discovered that only 30% of
allocated funds per student was reaching schools. Once this was made public the
32
government took action that led to this figure increasing rapidly to nearly 100% in 1999 .
What follows are some tips on monitoring outputs:
There are two comparisons you can make; between the amount allocated this year
and the amount so far spent, and between the increase from last year in the budget
and the actual increase in outputs. For example, 1. Given the resources transferred
this month for teaching and learning materials (TLM), what is the value of the TLM
actually received?, and 2. Given the increased allocation to TLM this year as
compared to last year, what is the actual increase in TLM experienced in schools?
Both with give you powerful conclusions.
Often HIPC money has led to a massive increase in the budget for certain items; this
can be a helpful starting point.
Keep your survey tools as simple as possible.
Use the existing outreach of those members of Civil Society involved. The Church
and Trade Unions in particular often have a significant outreach that can be drawn on
in carrying out a survey.
Having said this, try and keep your sample as statistically robust as possible; draw it
as far as possible randomly and from a spread that will cover regional divisions. The
more statistically valid your conclusions the more powerful they will be.
In addition however, do develop particular case studies to add further weight to your
case. For example if you can say we found that only 20% of books had reached
schools nationwide and then follow that up with a particular case of a school where
books are shared between 10 or more students then this will make the point very
powerfully.
Wherever possible, do carry out these surveys during the financial year as this gives
more chance for the Government to rectify the situation within that current budget.
Try and focus on the positive and constructive as well as the negative; show how
things worked when they did, and make suggestions for how the performance could
be improved.
32
Do Budgets really matter? Ablo, E and Reinikka, R World Bank 1998
29
Influencing Poverty Reduction Strategies: A Guide
33
PRSPs: Desk Study of Good Practice in the Development of PRSP Indicators and Monitoring Systems
Booth D and Lucas H ODI 2001. For more information on PPAs see A Rough Guide to PPAs Norton, Andy
ODI 2001.
34
Oxfam has been particularly involved in Uganda, and also in Vietnam. See Norton et al A rough guide to
PPAs ODI 2001
30
Influencing Poverty Reduction Strategies: A Guide
35
policy processes..than final outcome monitoring can hope to be . This is an important
concern given the scarce resources available to CSOs and the need to maximise impact
and leverage in advocating for pro-poor policies.
35
Desk Study of Good Practice in the Development of PRSP Indicators and Monitoring Systems: Initial Review
of PRSP Documentation Booth, D and Lucas, H ODI
31
Influencing Poverty Reduction Strategies: A Guide
Macroeconomic
Growth
How will policies to promote growth Growth is necessary for poverty reduction; in poor Growth alone is not enough, but must instead be
benefit the poor? Who wins and who countries, poverty reduction is not possible without accompanied by equity. Programmes that address
looses from such policies? growth, since average incomes will not increase, and growth without addressing distribution reduce the
poverty focused public spending cannot increase. The potential for poverty reduction. In a significant number of
Can redistribution be achieved
question is what type of growth is best for poverty countries redistribution has had a greater effect on
Influencing Poverty Reduction Strategies: A Guide
Structural
Influencing Poverty Reduction Strategies: A Guide
Financial markets
Banking sectors in low-income countries are often The key challenge is to expand the coverage of micro-
Influencing Poverty Reduction Strategies: A Guide
Social sector
Education
Education is recognised as the single most powerful There has been a continuation of moves to shift costs of
weapon in the fight against poverty. It saves lives. It education onto the household. This is exacerbated by
gives people a chance to improve their lives. It gives decentralisation that provides decentralised responsibility
them a voice. for provision but insufficient resources. Costs to poor
households include official user fees, informal fees such
Pro-poor policy includes increasing basic education
as a desk charge or exam charge, indirect costs such as
expenditure, shifting expenditure from tertiary to primary
labour, uniforms, books etc. In almost every developing
level, where the poor benefit from public investment;
country it costs the poorest 40 per cent of the population
rapid elimination of all school fees (formal and informal)
over 10 per cent of annual income to send two children to
at primary and lower secondary level; measures to 36
primary school . The equivalent amount for the average
improve girls access to schooling, and completion of 37
family in the USA would be more than US$4000 .
schooling; measures to improve quality at primary and
36
Educating all the Children Chris Colclough, Institute of Development Studies 1993
37
Based on US census figures for 1999. More detail on Education Charges can be found in the Oxfam Policy Paper Education Charges: A Tax on Human Development Oxfam November 2001
(see links in annex two).
Influencing Poverty Reduction Strategies: A Guide
Public Expenditure
Management (PEM)
Reform of Public Expenditure
Systems All low-income countries need substantial reform of their Weak or non-existent MTEF and MIS in the majority of
systems of public expenditure. The World Bank and IMF low-income countries; long term reforms with little
are generally promoting two main key reforms. These political commitment in many cases.
are a move towards output based budgeting through the
Often there is no link between priorities stated in the
drawing up of Medium Term Expenditure Frameworks
countries plan (its PRSP in most cases) and proposed
(MTEFs) and the development of comprehensive
expenditures. Donors continue to provide project aid
management information systems (MIS).
frequently incoherent, disconnected from national
These system reforms are often complemented by priorities, high administration cost - particularly for
Influencing Poverty Reduction Strategies: A Guide
The following offers a selection of internet links to other information on each of the
sections and on PRSP and policy influence generally. Lastly if you cannot get a particular
document or are interested in a particular area then contact mlawson@oxfam.org.uk /
Max Lawson, Policy Advisor, Policy Department, Oxfam, 274 Banbury Road, Oxford UK
OX2 7DZ. These can be emailed to you where possible in ZIP format if you have trouble
accessing the web.
General
http://www.jubilee2000uk.org/
PRSP General
Oxfam GB www.oxfam.org.uk
PRSP Participation
Budgets
www.worldbank.org/participation/we
b/webfiles/cepem.htm