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Good Governance and Poverty Reduction: The African Experience Fantu Cheru

Good Governance and Poverty Reduction: The African Experience Fantu Cheru. Conference on the Political Dimensions of Poverty Reduction- the case of Zambia' organised by the University of Zambia (UNZA, Lusaka) and the University of Duisburg-Essen (Germany) Holiday Inn, Lusaka

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Good Governance and Poverty Reduction: The African Experience Fantu Cheru

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  1. Good Governance and Poverty Reduction: The African Experience Fantu Cheru Conference on the Political Dimensions of Poverty Reduction- the case of Zambia' organised by the University of Zambia (UNZA, Lusaka) and the University of Duisburg-Essen (Germany) Holiday Inn, Lusaka 9-11th March 2005

  2. Contextualising PRSP Approach in Africa • Examining 6 years of experience with PRSPs • What is really new? Does it add value? Does it create ownership? • Broader political economic process onto which PRS is grafted has to be considered • Economic globalisation • Question: in what respect is Africa integrated/marginalised in the global economy? • More policy space or autonomy in Africa? • Africa is navigating without a compass • PRSP: lofty ideals/goals in an envt where policy space is shrinking

  3. Response to the Challenge and PRSP ‘Gambles’ • Response to challenge in Africa • 1) Embrace economic globalisation • 2) Muddle through: do everything by accident • 3) Guided embrace of globalisation: environment of shrinking political space and autonomy to act independently • Four major gambles in the PRSP Approach: • Government will take poverty more seriously (political will) • Promises to enhance gov – civil society interaction • Promises to increase gov accountability • Democratise donor-recipient relations

  4. Managing expectations: PRSP is not a ‘magic bullet’ • 1) Politics • Considerable consensus that PRSP approach provides unique opportunity to reduce poverty, increase service delivery, etc. • 2) Expanding space for broad range of social actors • BUT: experience shows poor timeframe for consultations: not about joint decision-making • 3) Process is complicated and time intensive • Translating policy commitments into indicators, plans and goals • Did not emerge from comprehensive analysis of poverty (issues of analysis) • 4) No visible re-orientation of lending policies

  5. Managing expectations: PRSP is not a ‘magic bullet’ • 5) In no country has there been a broad debate about alternate policies • Content remains the same (growth, stability, etc) • Policies of redistribution are missing • 6) Given magnitude of challenge, external pressure for reform not been matched by resource flows • Harmonising and simplifying donor support has been disappointing • Principle of national ownership: being undermined by the separate reporting requirements of different donors.

  6. National Ownership • Is national ownership equivalent to national empowerment? • Real national ownership is an outcome of a number of factors • 1) Political dimension: • Real political commitment from the top to push public sector reform, decentralisation, etc. • However, ownership tends to be narrowly defined resulting in ownership concentrated at the top. • Need for similar commitment at lower levels of government and across sectors (broadening and deepening - mainstreaming). • All phases of policy process require leadership at the top changing system of governance from the top; • 2) Most governments do not allow citizens to participate in policymaking • Prior engagement with government. • Government suspicious about engagement with civil society: constraint on opening up space. • Civil service resistance to participation and consultation (view it as a pain on the neck)

  7. National Ownership • 3) Technocratic/institutional dimension: capacity to implement state reforms: • High quality PRSPs with donor funding • Regulatory/legal capacity: produces • Technical capacity: specialised abilities • Extractive/taxation capacity • Administrative capacity • Capable state • Capacity is clearly lacking in many states • Domestic accountability in public financial management: difficulty of linking to budget • Accountability in a weak state: capacity issue • Hypocritical to talk about ownership in donor-gov relations • Loan conditions, SAPs • Need “policy space”: increasing policy options

  8. Concluding thoughts • Where to from here? • Hinges on improving efficiency and effectiveness of state • Institutional machinery needs to be revisited • Priorities • Civil service reform: low capacity due to low wages, poor working conditions - affects responsiveness. Should focus on using existing capacity. • Judicial reform • Public expenditure • Decentralisation: getting closer to local level critical for legitimacy • Conclusions • PRSP does offer opportunity BUT requires strong state – a capable state • Problem in Africa: development never really started – have a confusion of agendas • Are opportunities BUT requires development of state capacity

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