Resources

With the priority of poverty reduction and with accelerating change in many dimensions, up-to-date and realistically informed perceptions of the lives and conditions of people living in poverty have come to matter more than ever. At the same time, new pressures and incentives increasingly trap decision-makers in headquarters and capital cities, reinforcing earlier (1983) analysis of the attraction of urban 'cores' and the neglect of rural 'peripheries'. These trends make decision-makers' learning about poverty and from people living in poverty rarer and ever more important. One common means has been rural development tourism, the phenomenon of the brief rural visit from an urban centre. In 1983, six biases of such visits - spatial, project, person, seasonal, diplomatic and professional - against seeing, meeting and learning from the poorer people, were identified and described. Security can now be added as a seventh. Much can be done to offset the biases. The solution is to make more visits, not fewer, and to enjoy doing them better.

In addition, new and promising approaches have been pioneered for experiential, direct learning, face-to-face with poor and marginalised people. Examples are: UNHCR's annual participatory assessments by staff; SDC's 'views of the poor' participatory research in Tanzania; and various forms of immersion, most recently those being convened and organised by ActionAid International. In many immersions, outsiders become guests for a few days and nights, and live, experience and learn in a community. The question now is not how an organisation can afford the time and other resources for immersions for its staff. It is how, if it is seriously pro-poor, it can possibly not do so. This paper is a challenge to development actors to practice a responsible pro-poor professionalism; to be pioneers and champions, seizing and making space for themselves and others to offset the biases and traps of headquarters and capital cities; and to have the vision and guts to seek out direct experiential learning and so to be in touch and up-to-date with the realities of the people living in poverty whom they seek to serve.

This article introduces the 51st edition of PLA Notes, on civil society and poverty reduction. The PLA notes edition aims to capture the experiences of southern civil society organisations (CSOs) that are engaging in monitoring, evaluating and implementing poverty reduction strategy (PRS) processes. This introductory article describes how the authors involved in this edition of PLA notes came together for a writeshop in Nairobi, Kenya, July 2004. The key issues identified include the diverse nature of civil society; the conditional nature of poverty reduction strategies; the quality and degree of participation of CSOs; and the existing power dynamics that challenge the effective monitoring of poverty reduction funds and consequently the implementation of policy reduction policies. The article concludes by looking at issues of capacity building, shifting accountability relationships, and strengthening facilitatory partnerships between CSOs. In the final section, the authors look at how we can build on these reflections and move forward.

The article situates experiences of implementing poverty reduction strategies within the Kenyan socio-political context. It looks at different factors affecting these experiences and draws links with the challenges and opportunities involved. The author also looks at how the PRSP process and subsequent ERSP (Economic Recovery Strategic Paper) are inter-linked with political changes within the country. The article concludes with recommendations for institutionalising participation in the implementation, monitoring and evaluation of national poverty reduction strategies. Specifically, the author focuses on issues of political dynamics, governance and accountability in Kenya and suggests that strengthening these systems would work best if also done in conjunction with building citizen monitoring structures by a strategic combination of civil society action and foreign donor support.

This article focuses on the Poverty Eradication Action Plan (PEAP), which is a national development strategy of the Ugandan government that has recently undergone its second revision. The revision process involves government, donors, civil society, the private sector and poor-people. This article offers a description of the mechanisms of the PEAP and poverty trends in Uganda, and introduces two themed articles about monitoring, evaluation and implementation of the PEAP process (by the same authors). The first looks at these issues from a civil society perspective (Isooba); the second form a government perspective (Ssewakiryanga).

The article looks at the lessons learnt in the processes of implementing the Poverty Eradication Action Plan (PEAP) and Poverty Reduction Strategy Paper (PRSP) in Uganda, by looking at examples from the Participatory Poverty Assessment Process (UPPAP). The article argues that the PPAs are iterative processes that feed into all stages of the PRSP process. The author concludes with some areas for critical reflection, including the role of PPAs in the implementation, monitoring and evaluation of the PEAP/PRSP processes. While the author also suggests that the PPA process has been instrumental in introducing new ways of working between civil society, government and other actors, he argues that the success of this partnership depends on each of the actors understanding the role and purpose of that partnership.