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p. 3 of 9 BACK | NEXT I. Background II. ADB's Poverty Reduction Strategy III. Rationale for the Cooperation Fund IV. Objectives and Scope V. Outputs VI. Activities to be Financed from the Fund VII. Implementation Arrangements VIII. Funding Arrangements IX. Recommendation

Formulation and Implementation of National Poverty Reduction Strategies

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III. Rationale for the Cooperation Fund

8. To increase the relevance of development interventions in favor of the poor, a systematic format needs to be adopted to ensure poverty-focused analyses of government policies, public expenditure, and regulatory frameworks. Such analyses should be the basis for policy dialogue, consultation with stakeholders, and agreeing on NPRSs that are fully “owned” by the government and supported by civil society and the donor community. The latter should provide guidance in identifying and developing poverty reduction programs and projects, determining appropriate prioritization and sequencing of complementary interventions, and establishing a division of labor between the various donors. The country operational strategies of individual donors, including that of ADB (the CSP), should be based on the government-owned poverty strategy (NPRS). The NPRS needs to be formulated from a medium-term (about 5 to 10 years) perspective and supplemented with short-term (1 to 3 years) action-oriented programs for poverty reduction. A poverty-focused national strategy may not necessarily be a separate document but an opportunity to enhance the poverty focus in existing country documents, such as the economic strategy, national development plan, medium-term strategic framework or budget document, as the case may be.

9. DMC governments need assistance in preparing the NPRSs. A country-level conceptual framework for poverty reduction needs to be defined, refined, and individually applied. Although assessments of poverty are under way in most DMCs, they are incomplete, all need refining, and the impact of public sector programs and policies on poverty reduction often requires further analysis. Systematic approaches to prioritizing and sequencing poverty reduction interventions need to be developed and applied in all DMCs so that detailed plans of action and better programs to reduce poverty may be prepared.

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