Addis Ababa — The African Learning Group on the Poverty Reduction Strategy Papers (PRSP-LG) will bring together senior African policy makers from about fifteen countries, including the Sierra Leonean Minister for Development and Economic Planning, as well as Experts and the representatives of Civil Society Organizations from 18 to 19 November 2002 in Brussels, Belgium. The second meeting of the African Learning Group is being sponsored by the Economic Commission for Africa (ECA) and hosted by the European Union (EU).
The two-day dialogue among Africans will be followed by a Technical Group meeting of the Strategic Partnership with Africa (SPA) donor group from 20 to 21 November to which PRSP-LG participants are also invited. The SPA informally brings together bilateral and multilateral donors, including the World Bank, the African Development Bank, the International Monetary Fund, the United Nations Development Programme, and the Development Assistance Committee of the Organization for Economic Cooperation and Development (OECD) and the European Union, and aims to support poverty reduction programmes in Africa.
The African Learning Group on the Poverty Reduction Strategy Papers (PRSP-LG) is an ECA initiative designed to promote African ownership of the poverty reduction strategies. The Learning Group provides a forum for Africans to share experiences on how the PRSP process is unfolding in their countries, identify best practices that can be replicated, flag institutional and capacity constraints, recommend actions to remedy these constraints, and propose actions to be taken by Africans and donors in order to tap the full potential of the PRSP process in transforming the partnership between African countries and their donor partners.
The African Learning Group is instrumental in making Africa's voice heard on the challenge of reducing poverty in the continent, the PRSP process, and the aid relations between Africa and its development partners hitherto based on conditions imposed by donors on beneficiary countries. The back-to-back arrangement between the meetings of the African Learning Group and the SPA donor group facilitates dialogue on partnership approaches and modalities so that the PRSP process can better support an African-led agenda.
During the meeting, the African Learning Group will consider five practical aspects of the PRSP's implementation:
- Scope and nature of the growth strategies to ensure that they benefit the poor and cover both macroeconomic, social and cultural policies;
- Financing and expenditure management of the PRSP in national budgets to enable the PRSP to allocate the necessary resources to key poverty reduction sectors;
- National participatory process: a key element offering the opportunity to enhance African ownership of the national poverty reduction strategies and to reduce the gap between the needs of the poor population and the policies implemented by the PRSP;
- National capacity needs: both in terms of human resources, statistical data and budgeting methods to equip African countries with the necessary tools for the effective implementation of the PRSP; and
- Harmonization of donor aid practices.
ECA established the African Learning Group on the PRSP two years ago to put the perspectives and concerns of Africa at the centre of the PRSP process. The first meeting of the African Learning Group was held in Addis Ababa, Ethiopia, from 5 to 6 November 2001.
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For further information on the meeting of the African Learning Group on the PRSP please contact Kasirim Nwuke (knwuke@uneca.org) or Bénédicte Walter (bwalter@uneca.org). Documents for the meeting, including country reports are available at www.uneca.org/prsp
The ECA Communication Team P. O. Box 3001 Addis Ababa Ethiopia Tel: +251-1 44-50-98 or 44-31-61 Fax +251-1- 51-03=65 Website: www.uneca.org
