Note on Monitoring of Country Poverty Reduction Strategies

Abstract

The assessment of the 'quality' of a process of development of a PRS poses many challenges. Ultimately qualitative judgements will have to be made based on matching appropriate criteria to the country context. The following is proposed as a map for assessing various dimensions of the process. It should be stressed that no 'actual situation' would be expected to score well (or even at all) on all of the criteria listed. The point of the list is to guide the thinking of donor agency staff on what dimensions of process may be significant in assessing any given example. The framework of issues can also be used to identify positive processes already ongoing within countries which can be built on. Following on from the checklist of thematic areas outlined below there is a discussion of some of the issues involved in assessing country situations according to the kinds of criteria outlined.