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e assessed only in terms of low incomes but should be seen for what it is –
a combination of unfreedoms (lack of capabilities) of many kinds (Sen, 2002).
Moreover, real societal transformation is believed to enhance the likelihood
that the underlying policies and development strategies will be durable,
withstanding the vicissitudes sometimes accompanying democratic processes.
While development strategies are crucial in the process as catalysts of
society-wide change, it is the principles of participation and ownership that
dictate the pace of transformation. True ownership further entails (i) the
recognition that asymmetric relationships need to be addressed; (ii) the acceptance
that capacity development is essential for development; and (iii)
the necessity to move the debate on ownership from rhetoric to reality
(who owns the idea).
PRSP perspective of the discourse
As a response to the accepted shortcomings of structural adjustment, the
newly emerged focus on aid effectiveness, and the realization of the crucial
role of ownership, the IMF and World Bank (December, 1999) approved a
new policy instrument, PRSP, designed to serve as a framework document
on concessional finance for poverty reduction and sustainable growth. Initially,
PRSPs were intended as the basis for external debt relief under the
Heavily Indebted Poor Country (HIPC) Initiative. Subsequently, the World
Bank and the IMF have extended PRSP coverage from the 41 HIPCs to
some 30 additional IDA-eligible countries (International Development
Association). The PRSP process emerged about a year after the introduction
of the Comprehensive Development Framework (CDF), which was designed
as a background for the strategic orientation of government and development
partner interventions around countries’ main development priorities.
The concept of the PRSP is underpinned by a set of values that
emphasize policy dialogue coupled with national ownership and execution.
As such, PRSPs are increasingly becoming the main vehicle for donor support
to governments in developing programs.
PRSPs are intended to be nationally owned and developed in a participatory
manner. Accordingly, the recipient governments are supposed to take
on major responsibilities, including consultation between the various development
partners and national stakeholders. The operational deployment
of the CDF-PRSP system, therefore, requires long and complex dialogue
with a large number of partners, both local and external, including institutional
negotiating platforms such as Consultative Groups or Round Tables.
PRSPs, however, are also subject to scrutiny and approval by the IMF and
World Bank Boards, following a Joint IMF-WB Staff Assessment (JSA). Hence,
one of the ambiguities of PRSPs has been the fact that they are intended
both as a country-owned programming framework and as a basis for World
Bank/IMF lending scrutinized by their boards, which gives rise to a number
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