| United Nations | A/50/396 |
General Assembly
Distr. GENERAL
6 September 1995
ORIGINAL:
ENGLISH
Fiftieth session
Item 97 (i) of the provisional agenda*
SUSTAINABLE DEVELOPMENT AND INTERNATIONAL ECONOMIC COOPERATION:
INTERNATIONAL COOPERATION FOR THE ERADICATION OF POVERTY IN
DEVELOPING COUNTRIES
Report of the Secretary-General
INTRODUCTION
1. The present report is submitted in response to General Assembly
resolution 48/184 of 21 December 1993, entitled "International cooperation
for the eradication of poverty in developing countries". In that
resolution, the Assembly, inter alia, requested the Secretary-General "to
urge the organs, organizations and bodies of the United Nations system, in
the framework of the help they give to developing countries, to strengthen
their institutional capacities for implementing their poverty eradication
programmes and to adopt a coordinated and integrated approach that
includes, inter alia, the role and needs of women, with attention to social
services, income generation and the increased participation of local
communities".
2. The Assembly also requested the Secretary-General to submit an updated
report at its forty-ninth session focusing, inter alia, on the development
of appropriate inputs to country programmes by relevant agencies and
organizations of the United Nations system, based on exchange of
information on and analysis of the operations of actual programmes and the
identification of constraints and weaknesses of operational and
coordinating capacities owing to a lack of resources, as well as focusing
on elements for the elaboration of multisectoral strategies.
________________________
* A/50/150.
95-27055 (E) 231095/...
*9527055*
3. The submission of the present report was deferred to the fiftieth
session of the General Assembly as the organizations of the system were,
until this year, actively engaged in the preparations for the World Summit
for Social Development and the outcome of the Summit was expected to have a
substantial impact on the orientations and priorities of their programmes.
4. This report has been prepared in consultation with and on the basis of
information provided by the organs, organizations and bodies of the United
Nations system. The information on programming and coordination issues at
the country level has been gathered from a few resident coordinators and
the field missions carried out in preparation for the triennial
comprehensive policy review of operational activities, as well as from the
work undertaken by the Consultative Committee on Programme and Operational
Questions (CCPOQ) of the Administrative Committee on Coordination (ACC) on
poverty eradication.
5. It is useful to bear in mind that the issues addressed in this report
are closely related to a number of other issues that will be considered by
the General Assembly in the context of the International Year for Poverty
Eradication, follow-up to the World Summit for Social Development, the
coordinated follow-up to major United Nations conferences and the
comprehensive policy review of operational activities. This report should,
therefore, be seen together with the reports submitted under the agenda
items concerned with those subjects.
I. POVERTY ERADICATION AS A COMMON THEME OF MAJOR
INTERNATIONAL CONFERENCES
6. Poverty eradication has figured prominently as a priority objective of
all the major United Nations conferences convened over the past five years.
The report of the Secretary-General on the coordinated follow-up to major
international conferences in the economic, social and related fields,
submitted to the Economic and Social Council at its substantive session of
1995, identified poverty eradication as one of 12 common themes emerging
from these conferences (see E/1995/86, para. 57 and table 1). For the
purposes of the present report, however, the outcomes of the United Nations
Conference on Environment and Development (UNCED), the International
Conference on Population and Development (ICPD), the World Summit for
Social Development (WSSD) and the Fourth World Conference on Women have
particular relevance as these have a direct bearing on the activities of
the United Nations system at the country level. In the following
paragraphs, the main highlights of UNCED, ICPD and the Fourth World
Conference on Women are summarized. Since the World Summit for Social
Development addressed poverty eradication comprehensively as one of its
three major themes, the outcome of WSSD is dealt with separately in the
next section.
Agenda 21
7. At UNCED, the international community recognized that combating poverty
was an indispensable requirement for sustainable development. 1/ It
underscored that the problems of poverty, development and sustainable
resource management were to be tackled simultaneously. This was translated
into the long-term objective set by Agenda 21 to enable all people to
achieve sustainable livelihoods. 2/
8. To achieve this objective it was necessary to give greater priority to
policies promoting integrated human resource development. Agenda 21
called for cross-cutting measures in the areas of basic education, primary
and maternal health care, and the advancement of women, but also for
increased access to resources in the context of sustainable development,
with a special focus on the urban poor, women, children and rural areas.
Measures to ensure that women and men are enabled and have the same right
to decide freely and responsibly on the number and spacing of their
children are also called for under the objective of poverty eradication.
9. Agenda 21 aimed at promoting a community-driven approach to poverty
reduction and sustainability. It therefore called for measures to enable
local and community groups to contribute to alleviating poverty and
developing sustainability. 3/
10. Poverty-stricken areas were to be targeted by integrated strategies
and programmes in the areas of poverty eradication and alleviation,
employment and income mobilization, resource mobilization and the
environment.
11. Country-specific programmes directed at eradicating poverty,
international efforts supporting national efforts and creating a supportive
international environment were all crucial for eradicating poverty. UNCED
called for cooperation by all States and all people in eradicating poverty.
4/ The United Nations system was invited to make poverty eradication a
major priority. This included, inter alia, assisting Governments in the
formulation and implementation of national action plans on poverty
alleviation and sustainable development, strengthening coordination of
actions relating to poverty eradication 5/ and ensuring that the
international economic framework and policies of international
organizations addressed social and environmental concerns. 6/
International Conference on Population and Development
12. ICPD marked the recognition that persistent and widespread poverty
influences and is influenced by demographic parameters. It highlighted the
complementarity and the positive synergies that exist between efforts to
reduce poverty and strategies to slow down population growth, achieve
economic progress, improve environmental protection and reduce
unsustainable consumption and production patterns. 7/ Strategies for
sustainable development, population strategies and efforts to reduce
poverty are thus to be designed and conducted in an integrated manner.
13. As did UNCED, ICPD reaffirmed the objective of poverty eradication as
an indispensable requirement for sustainable development. 8/ It also
clearly reaffirmed that poverty was irreconcilable with the concept of
development, as the rights and aspirations of women and men were at the
centre of development. Also as did UNCED, ICPD called for the right to
development to be fulfilled. 9/ But ICPD also affirmed the right of human
beings to an adequate standard of living for themselves and their families.
10/
14. ICPD called for priority to be given to investments in human
resource development, with a special focus on underserved members of
society. Eliminating all forms of discrimination against women was a
prerequisite to poverty eradication, as well as to environmental protection
and conservation, sustained economic growth and population goals. Actions
to strengthen food security at all levels and to facilitate the creation of
environmentally sound and productive jobs also pertained to poverty
eradication.
15. ICPD, as did UNCED, called for the cooperation of all States and all
people in poverty eradication. It drew attention to the importance of a
supportive international economic environment, to the special needs of
developing countries in the area of poverty eradication, and to the
situation of countries with economies in transition. 11/ Governments were
urged to devote an increased proportion of public sector expenditure and
official development assistance to the social sector and, in particular,
poverty eradication. 12/
Fourth World Conference on Women
16. The persistent and increasing burden of poverty on women was one of
the critical areas of concern identified in the draft platform for action
of the Fourth World Conference on Women as requiring strategic action by
Governments and the international community. 13/
17. The World Conference highlighted the fact that while women bore a
disproportionate burden of poverty, macroeconomic and social policies
failed to reach them due to a too-exclusive focus on the formal sector and
the failure of those policies to consider the differential impact on men
and women. It was emphasized that empowering women was a critical factor
in the eradication of poverty, as women contributed to the economy and to
eradicating poverty through both their remunerated and unremunerated work.
18. The Conference called for action by Governments to review, adopt and
maintain macroeconomic policies and development strategies that address the
needs and efforts of women to overcome poverty within the framework of
sustainable development. 14/ This included analysing from a gender
perspective all policies and programmes, and action by multilateral
financial institutions and development institutions to assess and minimize
the negative social and gender-specific effects of macroeconomic policies.
19. Action to recognize women's rights to economic resources and to ensure
women's access to economic resources was also called for. This included
revision of laws and administrative practices found to restrict women's
rights. The Conference also called for action to provide women with access
to savings mechanisms and institutions and to credit, and for research on
methodologies and statistical data to integrate a gender perspective into
all policies and programmes and to enable women to overcome poverty.
II. WORLD SUMMIT FOR SOCIAL DEVELOPMENT AS THE FRAMEWORK FOR
INTER-AGENCY COOPERATION FOR THE ERADICATION OF POVERTY
20. Coordination and cooperation by the organizations of the United
Nations system in the eradication of poverty has been the subject of
previous reports as well as of intergovernmental discussions. Most
recently, in 1992 the Economic and Social Council devoted its coordination
segment to this issue on the basis of a report by the Secretary-General
(E/1992/47). The report put forward a broad and positive concept of
coordination that would result in a coherent continuum of activities to
achieve a common purpose. Indeed, it noted that effective collaboration
could exist only when there were common purposes which in turn must be the
product of consultations and agreement among the organizations of the
system on major priorities and the responses to them. This would require
as a sine qua non the setting of political priorities for the system by the
central intergovernmental bodies. The United Nations system would then use
the overall strategies and approaches thus developed as a framework and
operational guide in developing harmonized plans and programmes as well as
a joint evaluation of their results and impact.
21. The required common purpose and the requisite commitment by the
international community at the highest political level to the eradication
of poverty has evolved from recent major United Nations conferences
including UNCED, ICPD, the Fourth World Conference on Women and, in
particular, the World Summit for Social Development, which addressed
poverty as one of its three major themes. More specifically, the national
and international approaches and strategies have been described in the
Declaration and Programme of Action adopted by the World Summit for Social
Development. The outcome of the Summit thus provides a coherent framework
for system-wide action in this area. The Copenhagen Declaration and
Programme of Action reflect an international consensus on the principles
and goals, the commitments undertaken and the actions required to eradicate
poverty and provide the benchmarks against which system-wide activities can
be developed and assessed. Poverty eradication has clearly emerged from
the Summit as a key development priority.
22. At the Summit, heads of State and Government committed themselves to
"an improved and strengthened framework for international, regional and
subregional cooperation for social development, in a spirit of partnership,
through the United Nations and other multilateral institutions". They
accordingly agreed to enlist the support and cooperation of the United
Nations system, international development agencies and multilateral
development banks "to take appropriate and coordinated measures for
continuous and sustained progress in attaining the goals and commitments
agreed to by the Summit. The United Nations and the Bretton Woods
institutions should establish regular and substantive dialogue, including
at the field level, for more effective and efficient coordination of
assistance for social development". Governments also decided to "adopt the
appropriate measures and mechanisms for implementing and monitoring the
outcome of the [Summit], with the assistance, upon request, of the
specialized agencies, programmes and regional commissions of the United
Nations system, with broad participation of all sectors of civil society".
15/
23. Strong emphasis is placed in the Copenhagen Programme of Action on the
formulation of integrated strategies to eradicate poverty. These
strategies should be based on promoting sustained economic growth, in the
context of sustainable development, and social progress, requiring that
growth be broadly based and offering equal opportunities to all peoples.
In the context of national plans, the Programme of Action stresses the need
to give particular attention to employment creation as a means of
eradicating poverty, giving appropriate consideration to health and
education, assigning a higher priority to basic social services, generating
household income and promoting access to productive assets and economic
opportunities. Governments are urged to integrate goals and targets for
combating poverty into overall economic and social policies and planning at
the local, national and, where appropriate, regional levels. The Programme
of Action further calls for the empowerment of people living in poverty and
their organizations by involving them fully in the setting of targets and
in the design, implementation, monitoring and assessment of national
strategies and programmes for poverty eradication and by integrating gender
concerns into the planning and implementation of policies and programmes.
24. The Copenhagen Programme of Action sets among the requirements
specified for the promotion of an integrated approach at the national level
the formulation or strengthening, by 1996, of comprehensive cross-sectoral
strategies for implementing the outcome of the Summit and national
strategies for social development, including government action, action
taken by States in cooperation with other Governments, international,
regional and subregional organizations, and action taken in partnership and
cooperation with actors of civil society and the private sector, with
specific responsibilities to be undertaken by each actor and with agreed
priorities and time-frames.
25. Each country is requested to develop a precise definition and
assessment of absolute poverty, preferably by 1996, at which time the
General Assembly will review the effectiveness of the steps taken to
implement the outcome of the Summit with regard to poverty eradication as
part of the activities relating to the International Year for the
Eradication of Poverty (further information on the International Year will
be provided in a separate report). The Copenhagen Programme of Action also
recommends that the General Assembly, at its fiftieth session, should
declare the first United Nations decade for the eradication of poverty
following the conclusion of the International Year for the Eradication of
Poverty in 1996, with a view to considering further initiatives in this
area.
III. AN OVERVIEW OF POLICIES, MULTISECTORAL STRATEGIES
AND PROGRAMMES RELATING TO POVERTY
A. Typology of activities of the United Nations system
for the eradication of poverty
26. Given the complexity of the issue of poverty and the wide range of
related activities undertaken by the organizations of the system, it may be
useful to group these activities according to the goals that each activity
is designed to achieve. Indeed, such an effort has been made recently by
CCPOQ 16/ to facilitate its review of the policies and programmes of the
system relating to poverty eradication.
27. CCPOQ classifies the work of organizations of the United Nations
system into the following categories:
(a) Analytical work focusing on the problem of definition and
determinants of poverty, the methodology for the assessment of poverty and
the development of corresponding indicators. A subject of particular
interest over the past decade has been the impact on poverty of
stabilization, structural adjustment and economic and social reform
programmes adopted by a large number of countries with the advice and
assistance of the International Monetary Fund (IMF) and the World Bank.
The result of this research has had an important influence on the design
and content of more recent adjustment programmes;
(b) Income-generating activities seeking to increase the incomes of the
poor through employment creation and productivity-enhancing measures and
focusing on sectors in which the poor are largely concentrated;
(c) Labour-intensive public works. The labour-intensive approach to the
production of assets, goods and other services involves the use of working
methods and systems that optimize labour content, usually through a cost-
effective combination of labour and the use of light equipment;
(d) Access to basic services. Many agencies of the United Nations
system are involved in activities to develop or strengthen the access of
the poor to basic services including low-cost safe water supplies,
sanitation and hygiene, primary health-care facilities and basic education;
(e) Social funds and safety nets. Several United Nations agencies are
increasingly involved in providing funds or technical assistance to
establish various forms of social funds and safety nets to protect
vulnerable groups;
(f) Participation of the poor. There is an increasing tendency to
introduce a participatory approach in the programmes and projects of
several agencies. Participation is regarded by some agencies as desirable
in its own right linked to the empowerment of the poor; other agencies view
participation as a means to promote economic efficiency and the
sustainability of anti-poverty projects;
(g) Anti-discrimination activities. Agencies help to reduce
discrimination in various ways, including the collection, analysis and
dissemination of information on discriminatory practices; the establishment
of international standards; the improvement of conditions in the labour
market and the prevention of child labour;
(h) Monitoring poverty changes. A number of agencies are involved in
either the measurement of, or reporting on poverty, and a few are directly
involved in poverty-related data collection. At the inter-agency level,
measurement of poverty is undertaken by a task force of the United Nations
Statistical Commission. The ACC Subcommittee on Rural Development has been
examining various aspects of poverty alleviation strategies.
B. The policies of the United Nations system
and multisectoral strategies
28. Within the framework of the global consensus reflected at the World
Summit for Social Development, most organizations have articulated broad
policies and multisectoral strategies which provide the basis for
developing specific anti-poverty programmes. CCPOQ notes, 17/ in this
context, that the view is now widespread among the organizations of the
United Nations system that the best way of alleviating poverty is to
implement successfully a development strategy that pursues sustained
economic growth with equity. More equitable growth almost invariably
implies more employment-intensive patterns of growth which increase the
demand for labour, the major asset of the poor and are more equitable. The
employment-generating capacity of growth can be enhanced by investing in
the more labour-intensive sectors of the economy (in particular
agriculture) by increasing investments in human capital (basic education,
primary health care, nutrition and population programmes) and by reducing
or removing distortions in relative factor prices that arise from a
malfunctioning of the labour market or of the market for credit. The
sustainability of development is a dimension that has acquired increased
importance in this regard. Following is a brief overview of such policies
and strategies.
29. The United Nations Children's Fund (UNICEF) considers that the
delivery of basic social services is one of the most effective and cost-
efficient ways to combat the worst manifestations of poverty. It therefore
focuses the bulk of its operational support and resources on the provision
of basic social services for the survival, protection and development of
children and women. In the context of the 20/20 initiative, as reflected
in the outcome of the World Summit for Social Development, basic social
services are taken to comprise basic education, primary health care and
family planning services, low-cost water and sanitation services and
nutrition programmes. UNICEF pays special attention to children in
especially difficult circumstances, particularly street children and child
labour.
30. UNICEF has espoused the concept of "adjustment with a human face" -
encouraging the redesign of adjustment programmes to allow the poor to
participate more effectively in the process of economic and social
development and to ensure their protection during periods of economic
stagnation and fiscal austerity. Of particular importance has been its
insistence that the debate needed to shift from an excessive focus on the
macro policy framework to the meso level - the policy instruments that
govern the allocation of resources within a given macroeconomic policy
framework. These instruments include public expenditure allocation, aid
utilization, credit allocation, income and pricing policy, taxation, etc.
UNICEF will continue its collaboration with the United Nations Development
Programme (UNDP), the United Nations Population Fund (UNFPA) and other
agencies to conduct public finance analysis in order to encourage greater
allocation of resources for basic social services.
31. UNICEF's experience in the area of poverty eradication has drawn it
into special areas of programme support. The feminization of poverty and
especially the preponderance and rapid increase of female-headed households
constitutes one of the primary areas of concern for UNICEF's work in both
rural and urban areas. Programme interventions targeted at this group,
albeit predominantly curative in character, have proved particularly
effective in mitigating the worst effects of poverty. Preventive and more
self-sustaining programmes include those aimed at the girl child. UNICEF
works with Governments and communities to help equip girls through early
health and education interventions. On the broader societal level UNICEF
works towards promoting the elimination of gender biases in families and
social programmes. The work of UNICEF is guided by the outcome of the
World Summit for Children, at which Governments agreed to achieve, by the
year 2000, a one-third reduction of the infant and under-five mortality
rate, a halving of maternal mortality and malnutrition rates, a halving of
the adult illiteracy rate, universal access to clean drinking water and
safe sanitation, universal access to basic education and the improved
protection of children in especially difficult circumstances.
32. At the country level, UNICEF contributes to the analysis of poverty
through the preparation of the situation analysis of children and women.
In addition, the national programmes of action for the survival, protection
and development of children in the 1990s take a broader focus on the
poverty problem and provide the programmatic and institutional framework
for achieving national goals. UNICEF works to ensure consistency between
the situation analysis, the national programmes of action and the country
strategy note.
33. The mandate of the World Food Programme (WFP) is to seek hunger and
poverty alleviation. Its assistance programmes are designed and
implemented on the basis of broad-based participation, with a particular
focus on women and their children. It has developed project guidelines
which specify the nature and type of collaboration with other actors in the
United Nations system for the preparation and implementation of its
projects. WFP has begun the process of preparing country strategy outlines
(CSOs) for the assessment of the comparative advantage of using its
resources for poverty eradication. CSO preparation involves an assessment
of the poverty and food insecurity problem, understanding the policies and
strategies of the national Governments in addressing these issues, and
examining the relative roles of other agencies, donors and NGOs in poverty
eradication and food insecurity reduction. CSOs examine the role and needs
of women, the provision of social services, opportunities for assisting
income generation and scope for community participation. Sectoral aspects
such as the feminization of poverty, rural poverty and urban poverty are
part of this examination.
34. WFP's General Regulations are being revised to enable it to adopt a
programme approach based on country-specific strategies. Country
programmes (CPs), which would be based on CSOs, would be in line with the
requirements of General Assembly resolution 47/199. WFP considers that the
advantages include increased operational flexibility and a higher degree of
predictability for recipient Governments. These in turn portend better
allocation mechanisms, and hence more effective use of resources rather
than for gap filling. The flexibility, in particular, could be put to use
not only in responding to unforeseen needs for intraprogramme changes, but
also in responding to demands from multi-agency coordination and
integration efforts. The guidelines for CSO/CP preparation include
provisions to ensure that they are linked to the country strategy note.
35. UNFPA contributes towards the eradication of poverty through the
promotion and implementation of population and sustainable development
programmes. UNFPA-supported activities have been primarily oriented towards
less developed countries and to low-income groups both in rural and urban
areas, with emphasis on women of reproductive age. In this regard, all
UNFPA-supported programmes are ultimately addressed to the poor and
conceived to foster social and economic development which lead to poverty
eradication. Its approach to social development includes the provision of
social services (education, health, family planning), employment generation
and community involvement in development efforts. UNFPA country programmes
place a heavy emphasis on gender equality and equity in formulating,
implementing and evaluating all population programmes. Priority is assigned
to the integration of population inputs into broader development policy
frameworks such as the country strategy notes, rolling development plans,
structural adjustment programmes and sectoral policy frameworks. These
include the empowerment of women - the participation of women in all
development activities at all levels, from health and literacy programmes
to income generation and job creation.
36. The fundamental objective of the World Bank is to assist countries to
reduce poverty and raise living standards. The poverty reduction strategy
that the Bank encourages countries to follow is multidimensional,
encompassing broad-based, labour-demanding economic growth, human resource
development and provision of safety nets for the poor and vulnerable. It
defines its assistance to a country through the country assistance strategy
(CAS). The findings of country-specific poverty analysis, public
expenditure reviews and other economic and sector studies form the main
input to the CAS; thus, the CAS is an important instrument for tailoring
the Bank's assistance -whether policy advice, technical assistance, project
lending or loans in support of policy reforms - to the specific
circumstances of each country. The Bank uses household survey data in
undertaking detailed poverty analyses. Increasingly, the Bank is adopting
a participatory approach to poverty analysis; it involves the poor
themselves in the identification of their problems and needs and also in
the actual design and implementation of projects.
37. IMF policy advice has increasingly emphasized the social dimension of
adjustment and has paid greater attention to social issues in the context
of surveillance and members' economic policies, financial support to member
countries implementing adjustment programmes and technical assistance. It
stresses the importance of a high-quality growth strategy, which implies:
pursuing economic policies that foster macroeconomic stability;
implementing structural policies designed to allow market forces to
allocate resources and create an enabling environment for private sector
activity; implementing sound social policies, including social safety nets
to protect the poor and vulnerable groups during the adjustment period; and
strengthening economic governance. In this context, the Fund's policy
advice emphasizes macroeconomic implications, cost-effectiveness and the
financial viability of social policy choices.
38. IMF indicates that it is continuously seeking to improve its policy
advice and programme design based on past experience. It will continue its
advice on sound macroeconomic policies aimed at high-quality growth -
growth which fosters employment, poverty reduction and greater equity -
and, in so doing, it will strengthen its attention to social issues. It
considers that there is a need to help Governments analyse the existing
inequalities, in particular unequal access to education, health and
economic resources such as credit and land. Second, there is a need to
help Governments improve the equity content of public expenditure by
reducing unproductive expenditures, including military spending, and by
increasing the level and quality of expenditures on primary health,
education and rural infrastructure. It is important for budgetary policies
to be consistent with the Government's stated social goals, to be
transparent and to be supported by donor aid policies. Moreover,
Governments should be helped to address structural weaknesses - including
lack of financial institutions - in the rural areas where most of the poor
live. Finally, through policy discussions and technical assistance IMF
could contribute further to improving Governments' capacity to monitor
social developments and pursue transparent social policies.
39. Rural poverty alleviation in the developing world is the sole mandate
of the International Fund for Agricultural Development (IFAD). All its
activities - the field projects for adaptive research and institution-
building - focus on this single goal. While the primary objective has been
to assist smallholders to increase food production and income and to expand
the opportunities for the rural landless to engage in income-generating
enterprises, attention has also been given to improving the quality of life
of the poor. IFAD encourages and supports the active participation of
people in all phases of the development process, from project planning to
implementation and monitoring and assessment. To facilitate this
participation, essential support is provided in the form of credit,
extension services and training as well as appropriate technologies, along
with ongoing efforts to ensure a policy environment that favours the rural
poor.
40. IFAD's special programming missions have been the analytic mechanism
for the articulation of the Fund's country policy and investment strategy.
The missions are meant to provide clear indications of priority target
groups and activities for IFAD project assistance within a long-term
development strategy for the country. The missions have involved a
thorough review of the nature and impact of policy instruments affecting
the production capacity, employment opportunities, income generation and
standards of living of the rural poor. To respond to specific requirements
for strategic guidance on national strategy and project development,
country strategy studies have been developed as a supplementary mechanism.
They serve to review the general thrust of IFAD's activities in the country
in relation to major bottlenecks in the development of smallholders and the
rural poor. They assess the significance of implementation issues for both
general strategy and project design and formulate guidelines for IFAD's
operations. IFAD's operational strategy targets beneficiaries, focusing on
smallholders and poor rural women farmers, with the aim of increasing their
agricultural production; landless and marginal farmers, with the aim of
increasing their off-farm incomes; and those other rural poor delinked from
the development mainstream such as remote, indigenous or culturally
isolated people, as well as refugees, so as to integrate them into the
development process. The strategy is also aimed at expanding the access of
the poor to basic resources and to market opportunities, and at enhancing
people's participation and institution-building at the grass-roots, local,
regional or national levels. In order to fulfil its mandate, IFAD has had
to develop a specific knowledge of rural poverty that goes well beyond the
macro-data available on the situation and involves the systematic
collection of micro-data to capture the highly diversified realities of the
rural poor.
41. IFAD reports that it has participated, and will continue to
participate, in a number of task forces and coordination efforts within the
system regarding follow-up to the major international conferences. As a
member of the Joint Consultative Group on Policy (JCGP), IFAD took a
leading role in establishing a working group on environment and sustainable
development, and as Chair for 1995-1996 it will make every effort to work
towards inter-agency collaboration on this and other essential issues
regarding the contribution of the United Nations to the alleviation of
hunger and poverty.
42. The Declaration of Principles and Programme of Action of the World
Conference on Agrarian Reform and Rural Development has been the frame of
reference of the activities of the Food and Agriculture Organization of the
United Nations (FAO) on poverty eradication since 1979. Various services
of FAO have been reoriented to better support the efforts of Governments to
address the problems of the rural poor and other disadvantaged groups,
including the landless, rural women, tenants, non-farm rural workers and
pastoralists. Under its programmes FAO collaborates with Governments in
undertaking the institutional and structural transformations that would
facilitate easy access of the rural poor to natural resources and to
production inputs such as credit, and to reinforce their productive
capacity through training and cooperative action. The revised FAO Plan of
Action for Integration of Women in Development (1996-2001) and the FAO Plan
of Action for People's Participation in Rural Development provide the
institutional frameworks and mechanisms for promoting and facilitating
efforts to overcome constraints and to increase the involvement of rural
women and men as contributors and beneficiaries of economic, social and
political development. With specific reference to women, FAO strives
towards promoting gender-based equity in the access to and control of
productive resources (land, labour, capital and technology) and services
(extension, credit, marketing, etc.); in enhancing the participation of
women in decisionand policy-making processes at all levels; and in
promoting actions to reduce the workloads of women and enhancing their
opportunities for income-generating activities and remunerated employment.
43. At the country level FAO has collaborated with the agencies of the
United Nations system in fielding inter-agency policy advice missions to
over 30 countries in Africa, Asia and the Pacific and Latin America to
advise on the adoption of national policies and strategies to ensure
sustainable poverty eradication through growth with equity and people's
participation.
44. The International Labour Organization (ILO) considers that the
creation of productive employment is the most effective approach to poverty
eradication and should be the main theme underlying an integrated approach
to development including, inter alia, the role and needs of women, the
provision of social services, income generation and the increased
participation of local communities. Its activities in the area of poverty
eradication place considerable emphasis on the unorganized sectors, women
and vulnerable groups, and the participatory approach. In order to
increase its effectiveness in providing assistance to its constituents and
to ensure that this assistance responds to real needs in a timely fashion,
ILO has in recent years considerably strengthened its field structure by
creating multidisciplinary advisory teams in various developing regions.
The ILO area offices, with the assistance of these teams, prepare country
objective statements following extensive consultation with Government,
employers' and workers' organizations, United Nations agencies and donors.
These multidisciplinary teams have specialists on employment and income
generation and several of them include specialists on women in development
to ensure that this dimension is fully reflected in all ILO activities at
the country level.
45. The World Health Organization (WHO) considers that poverty is the
world's leading cause of illness and death. All of its work in
international health, particularly its technical cooperation with
countries, aims at overcoming the root causes of poverty and ill-health.
WHO has established a Global Task Force on Health and Development which
analyses the evolution of health determinants, especially those which are
poverty related, identifying relevant health strategies and advocating for
change. It is actively promoting the development of national health and
service monitoring and evaluation, including health indicator development.
As countries have endorsed and are implementing the Health for All strategy
through primary health care, the importance of monitoring and evaluating
its implementation has been brought to the forefront. As part of WHO's
efforts to implement the World Declaration and Plan of Action for
Nutrition, it has intensified its technical cooperation with countries by
assisting them in developing and implementing national plans of action for
nutrition.
46. Operationally, most WHO programmes for technical cooperation with
developing countries have focused on expansion of coverage and access to
essential health services and health promotion, especially those meeting
the needs of women and children. Control of communicable diseases,
ensurance of proper nutrition and provision of safe water supply are key
programmes that will promote health and contribute to the eradication of
poverty. A special initiative of Intensified Cooperation with Countries
and Peoples in Greatest Need, launched by WHO a few years ago, aims to
enable poor countries to establish equitable and sustainable health systems
tailored to their specific needs. Following situation assessments, plans
of action are developed and additional resources mobilized through better
use of local resources and improved aid management. The UNDP Round Table
or the World Bank Consultative Group processes have been extensively used
to achieve better aid coordination in this regard.
47. Follow-up by the United Nations Educational, Scientific and Cultural
Organization (UNESCO) to the World Summit for Social Development,
especially under commitment 6, will continue to place emphasis on meeting
the goals and objectives of the Education for All programme as an integral
approach to eradicating illiteracy - one of the root causes as well as an
effect of poverty. The aim of this strategy is to close the gap between
literate and illiterate populations and to devise sustainable educational
development that responds to present societal, individual and collective
life-long needs as well as to the needs of future generations, with
emphasis being placed on girls and women, particularly in rural areas. A
number of ongoing activities are geared to improving the policy knowledge
based on the nature, causes and consequences of poverty. At the global
level, comparative studies sponsored under UNESCO's Management of Social
Transformations Programme will examine the differential effects of the
accelerating process of globalization, especially the social impact of
economic restructuring on employment equity within and among countries with
special focus on providing a better understanding of the causes and
consequences of poverty in cities.
48. In accordance with the need expressed in the Copenhagen Programme of
Action, UNESCO will support Governments, inter alia, in carrying out
country-specific studies on causes and consequences of poverty, on the
impact of structural adjustment on the poor, and on the effectiveness of
anti-poverty strategies. UNESCO will also facilitate the sharing of
experience on innovative actions, with special focus on the role and needs
of women in combating poverty, related to how communities set their
development priorities, allocate resources, and establish partnerships
between individuals, communities and Government in addressing pressing
social problems. With reference to specific country programmes, UNESCO's
cooperation with UNDP within the framework of the Technical Support
Services (TSS-1) mechanism has progressively addressed the question of
poverty eradication.
49. Three out of seven priority themes identified by the United Nations
Industrial Development Organization (UNIDO) for the 1996-1997 biennium
directly focus on poverty in industrial development: small and medium
enterprises, rural industrial development and the linkage between industry
and agriculture, with a focus on Africa and the least developed countries
(LDCs). It considers that once the role of specific agencies is delineated
in the country strategy note, inter-agency support programmes could be
launched, based on agreed situation analyses around specific themes, such
as in the case of food security which offers great potential for FAO and
UNIDO to work together.
50. The International Telecommunication Union (ITU) indicates that its
development arm, the Telecommunication Development Bureau, could be
involved with other players in the United Nations system on poverty
eradication through integrated rural development in developing countries,
which is another top priority programme for the LDCs in the Buenos Aires
Action Plan for Global Telecommunication Development. Its integrated rural
development programme includes gender issues and addresses vulnerable
groups, such as children and the elderly. ITU also addresses urban poverty
by focusing on the provision of transport and telecommunication facilities.
51. The United Nations Conference on Trade and Development (UNCTAD) is
concerned with the effect of international economic relations on poverty.
Its preliminary research indicates that dualism and marginalization within
developing countries can be expected to grow as a result of the greater
emphasis on market forces, but the widening of the income gap between the
poor and the non-poor could be tempered in countries which exploit their
comparative advantage in low-cost labour. There could also occur
intertemporal effects: initially medium-term negative effects on poor and
vulnerable groups, followed possibly by generally beneficial results. The
negative effects could be especially marked for countries which liberalize
their economies and expose themselves to globalizing influences before they
have achieved basic improvements in their fiscal and balance-of-payments
positions.
52. The United Nations Environment Programme (UNEP) considers that
poverty eradication and environmental sustainability both have social roots
and are interdependent. It works to counteract forces - rapid population
growth and prevailing poverty - that increase pressure on environmental
resources, often forcing communities into unsustainable practices for the
simple purpose of obtaining the food, fuel and shelter needed for daily
survival. UNEP feels that its comparative strengths exist in: (i)
scientific analysis of the development-environment nexus and dissemination
of information on the state of the environment; (ii) analysis, elaboration
and provision of policy tools for environmental management, as an integral
component of development planning; and (iii) promotion of public awareness
and mobilization of environmental actions, including empowering women and
enhanced participation of non-governmental organizations and a wide range
of industry sectors.
53. The United Nations Centre for Human Settlements (Habitat) is concerned
with urban poverty, recognizing that any meaningful solution to this
problem must be based on increased community participation. As women
constitute between 70 and 90 per cent of the active residents in any low-
income community, efforts are aimed at strengthening their participation at
all levels of the community development process. Habitat also undertakes
activities, in collaboration with other organizations of the United Nations
system, to create employment opportunities in the non-formal sector and
empower the poor and disadvantaged.
54. The programme of work of the Economic and Social Commission for Asia
and the Pacific (ESCAP) in the field of poverty eradication is under the
jurisdiction of the Committee on Poverty Alleviation through Economic
Growth and Social Development, one of the three thematic committees
subsidiary to the Commission. The Commission had convened in 1994 a
regional conference in preparation for the World Summit for Social
Development; the Manila Declaration on the Agenda for Action on Social
Development in the ESCAP region which emerged provided the regional policy
perspective for the Copenhagen Programme of Action. In facilitating the
implementation of the regional Agenda, work is under way to assist
Governments in preparing guidelines for developing national programmes of
action and setting up indicators and mechanisms for monitoring and
evaluating the progress made. The regional Inter-Agency Task Force on the
Agenda for Action on Social Development collaborated in the formulation of
the Agenda and will continue to ensure coordinated action towards its
implementation.
55. ESCAP is undertaking, in collaboration with other organizations of the
United Nations system, activities relating to the participation of the
poor, promoting increased awareness of the linkages between poverty and
high population growth rates, changing family structures, the role and
status of women, rural poverty and rural-urban migration. Work is under
way in the area of poverty measurement through coordination with the
Economic Commission for Latin America and the Caribbean (ECLAC), United
Nations Headquarters and the United Nations Statistical Commission, and in
developing on-line information. The Commission has recommended the
establishment of an interorganizational subcommittee on population and
development and an inter-agency subcommittee on poverty alleviation to
promote a coherent regional approach for the United Nations system.
56. The Economic Commission for Africa (ECA) considers that the regional
commissions are well placed to exploit in an integrated and coordinated
manner the inherent synergy in the linkages among the sectors that
contribute to the eradication of poverty given the region-specific
conditions of poverty. It has developed a number of critical activities
around the nexus of interrelationships between food supply, population
dynamics and environmental and human settlements concerns. Its also
focuses attention on the feminization of poverty as well as on urban and
rural poverty. Overall direction is provided by the Conference of African
Ministers Responsible for Economic and Social Development and Planning; the
subsidiary organs review progress in the implementation of regionally
agreed and internationally supported strategies or plans of action and
programmes which address poverty eradication directly. These have proven
useful in concerting the support of agencies of the United Nations system.
ECA considers that coordination at the regional level can be further
improved through the system of medium-term planning and the biennial
programme budget exercises, as well as by greater use of system-wide plans
and inter-agency task forces and working groups, which can be given added
practical expression in coordinated follow-up to global conferences.
57. The declining growth of gross domestic product (GDP) and slow recovery
rates in most member States of the Economic Commission for Europe (ECE),
accompanied by rising unemployment rates and cutbacks in social
expenditures, have resulted in the appearance or growth of relative
poverty, particularly in countries in transition. The feminization of
poverty is a concern in this region. Coherent national gender-sensitive
policies need to be devised, possibly in the form of national reports based
on statistical data or national assessments. ECE is undertaking
statistical work relating to the distribution of income and the consumption
and accumulation of households, which encompasses poverty statistics. It
notes that the Copenhagen Declaration and Programme of Action state that
the regional commissions, in cooperation with regional intergovernmental
organizations and banks, could convene on a biennial basis a meeting at a
high political level to evaluate progress made in follow-up to the Summit,
exchange views and adopt appropriate measures. ECE suggests that, in this
regard, a set of guiding principles and methodologies for monitoring should
be established, including poverty indicators and indices, reported by the
Interagency Task Force on the measurement of poverty, established by the
United Nations Statistical Commission in 1994. Finally, the regional
meetings planned for 1997 to follow up the World Summit for Social
Development could also determine and provide inputs for poverty
eradication.
58. The United Nations Research Institute for Social Development (UNRISD)
has undertaken research in recent years for the enhancement of social
integration, focusing primarily on the preparations for the World Summit
for Social Development. While this research did not take poverty
eradication as a central theme, it did indicate that national social
policy, however well intentioned, was everywhere at risk. The rapidity and
depth of technological and social change, encouraged by global market
forces, make it increasingly difficult for nations adequately to protect
vulnerable and marginalized groups. UNRISD is also carrying out a project
to strengthen national capacity to undertake gender analysis and to
integrate gender into mainstream development policy. In addition, it is
pursuing studies on crisis, adjustment and social change which examine
individual and collective coping strategies and the dynamics of social
change at the sectoral and macro levels.
59. The International Research and Training Institute for the Advancement
of Women (INSTRAW) undertakes research and training on issues relevant to
the advancement of women, addressing poverty eradication among women in
developing countries. It considers that the general framework of research
strategies or policy and programme designs require reliable and timely
statistical data which, in the case of women in particular, are lacking.
INSTRAW is currently collaborating with several organizations of the United
Nations system in addressing the gap in information with regard to women's
actual and potential contributions to economic development. It focuses its
efforts with respect to women living in poverty on access to water,
sanitation and energy, the migration of women and access to financial
resources, including credit.
60. The United Nations Relief and Works Agency for Palestine Refugees in
the Near East (UNRWA) addresses poverty eradication among Palestinian
refugees by enhancing their skills for raising income, facilitating finance
access for micro and small business development, developing individual and
group income- generating projects, and training in starting businesses and
transfer of skills, technology and information on alternative approaches
and strategies of poverty alleviation for the promotion and development of
sustainable and communitymanaged programmes and activities. Palestinian
refugee women have specifically been targeted under these interventions.
Under its Special Hardship Assistance Programme, UNRWA provides direct
relief to approximately 180,000 persons, the most needy and the poorest.
In addition to basic food rations, families also receive cash assistance in
emergencies and financial support for the repair and reconstruction of
their shelters based on individual family needs and the availability of
financial resources. More than 17 per cent of these families have women as
head of household. UNRWA has also developed a database on the socio-
economic status of the poorest refugees, aimed at developing more
integrated and multisectoral approaches in poverty eradication programmes.
UNRWA indicates that its activities are implemented in close coordination
with other actors in the United Nations system, as well as with
international non-governmental organizations and local voluntary groups.
IV. POVERTY ERADICATION PROGRAMMES AND COORDINATION
MECHANISMS AT THE COUNTRY LEVEL
61. Seven case studies of the experience gained in developing and
implementing poverty-eradication programmes and in coordination at the
country level in developing countries are presented below. These have been
drawn from the work of CCPOQ referred to above as well as from some field
missions carried out over the past year in preparation of the triennial
comprehensive policy review of operational activities to be carried out by
the General Assembly at its fiftieth session. The examples, drawn as they
are from countries at various stages of development and located in
different regions of the developing world, give some indication of the
scope and range of the poverty-eradication programmes and the coordination
efforts undertaken by United Nations agencies in this area. They also help
identify the main problems and obstacles in the way of mobilizing a fully
effective and well-coordinated response to the challenge of poverty.
A. P4K programme in Indonesia for poverty reduction
62. Indonesia has reduced absolute poverty from 60 per cent in 1960 to 14
per cent in 1994. The United Nations system has made a contribution to
this through an income-generating project for marginal farmers and landless
people.
63. The project identifies small homogenous groups of 8 to 10 members from
households identified as being below the poverty line, defined as per
capita income equivalent to the value of 320 kg of rice per year, and
provides opportunities to enhance their income-generating capacities
through (i) financial intermediation; (ii) the purchase and supply of
inputs; and (iii) marketing. Altogether, 3,395 groups involve 350,000
families. In the first phase (1979-1986), with $2.7 million from UNDP and
technical support from FAO, an institutional mechanism in agricultural
extension and rural credit was established and capital assistance to
businesses provided.
64. Based on good initial results, the Government of Indonesia, working
with IFAD, UNDP and the Government of the Netherlands, started phase II in
1989, covering 2,684 villages. Capital assistance is given in the form of
credit with interest of 22.1 per cent per year, without collateral.
65. A mid-term evaluation in October 1994 revealed that the beneficiary
selection process was rigorous enough to target the poor and that of the
groups identified, 35 per cent were all female against a target of 20 per
cent. Fifty-three per cent of the groups used the loans for the households'
main economic activities while 47 per cent used them for sideline
activities. The evaluation also showed that the poor seemed to opt, in the
beginning, for activities with lowest risk and that they graduated
subsequently to more profitable and higher capital-intensive activities.
The project has had strong social and community effects through the
increased self-confidence of the beneficiaries and their enhanced social
standing in the villages. It also increased the volume of production in 82
per cent of the groups and improved the quality of production in 65 per
cent. It aided employment agencies by increasing the working hours of
group members by 66 per cent. The increased total household income from
loan activities was 41 per cent.
B. United Nations Common Agenda for Pakistan
66. There has been close collaboration between the agencies of the United
Nations system operating in Pakistan at the policy/strategy level. This is
reflected in the United Nations Common Agenda for Pakistan and the draft
country strategy note (CSN) where commonly agreed positions have been taken
on a set of social and economic issues revolving around poverty
eradication. While the move towards joint programming is still in the
early stages, some initiatives have been taken to coordinate various parts
of the United Nations system in Pakistan around the objective of poverty
eradication.
67. A United Nations working group for the World Summit for Social
Development was established, which provided a forum where the agencies
could coordinate the
different forms of assistance being provided to the country-level
preparations. This inter-agency group is also involved in the support of
follow-up activities.
68. A series of coordination groups exist both within the United Nations
system and in the wider donor community. Subjects covered by such groups
include institutional reforms, population, basic education and rural
income/employment. These groups meet regularly to exchange information and
take collective action on different issues. They have spearheaded several
successful initiatives resulting in concrete changes or decisions.
69. Three projects were identified in 1992 as pilots for incorporating
Common Agenda themes. This exercise stimulated inter-agency cooperation at
the project level and resulted in a more integrated approach to
development. By drawing on the respective areas of expertise of a wider
group of United Nations agencies, issues of importance to poverty
eradication such as income generation, family planning and female literacy,
which originally had not been addressed through the projects, could be
added to their activities. There are also examples of joint programming in
smaller groups. For example, UNDP and UNICEF have jointly prepared and
funded programmes in the water and sanitation sector. Through the joint
efforts of UNDP and UNICEF community participation and the involvement of
women were integrated within the ongoing projects.
70. The United Nations agencies collaborated to provide assistance to the
Government of Pakistan in the design and implementation of the social
action plan (SAP). An Institutional Development Task Force was established
to identify sectoral problems and constraints inhibiting the realization of
the desired level of social sector targets and objectives. National-level
seminars focusing on identifying bottlenecks and policy reforms were
jointly financed by the United Nations agencies. Several agencies
participated in the 1995 United Nations Inter-Agency Mission on Basic
Education and endorsed the recommendations to integrate non-formal
education, especially for girls, into the formal education system.
71. The main areas of focus of the joint programmes/activities include
institutional reforms, implementation of the SAP, empowerment of women,
basic education and support for national preparations for international
initiatives. United Nations-system coordination structures consist of
regular meetings focused on development issues at the head of agency level,
and a set of United Nations inter-agency working groups dealing with CSN
themes. A jointly funded United Nations Inter-Agency Support Unit exists
to facilitate inter-agency programming and support the resident coordinator
in the discharge of his coordination role. One problem has been that while
the existing structures have been effective at the strategy level, they
have been too broad based to address all operational issues as effectively
as one would have hoped.
72. The country programme includes assistance to the SAP intended to
improve social service delivery and improve human development indicators.
The country programme also focuses on the need for institutional change for
successful implementation of social sector programmes. Information on the
content of the country programme is shared with the other United Nations
organizations through regular inter-agency meetings. However, there is no
systematic input by other United Nations agencies in the implementation of
the country programme. Joint monitoring of programmes, except under SAP,
is rare. One difficulty at present is that monitoring systems tend to
measure the progress of the project according to planned indicators which
do not necessarily indicate the impact on poverty. These indicators would
need to be developed and refined further to measure the effects on poverty
of a given project. The organizations of the system could collaborate in
such an exercise.
C. Sri Lanka
73. Rapid economic growth has not been equally accessible to all,
particularly the rural population. It is generally accepted that about a
third of the Sri Lankan population is "poor". Mass-scale poverty
alleviation was given a top priority in Sri Lanka in 1989. Poverty
alleviation was mainstreamed and participatory approaches were adopted in
the implementation of the development programmes. Since 1989, poverty
alleviation has continued to have the highest priority and several
additional measures have been taken to reduce, alleviate and cushion those
who are affected by poverty. A synopsis of these measures is given in the
table below.
ANNUAL COST OF POVERTY-RELATED PROGRAMMES
Cost
Programme No. beneficiaries (SL Rs
million)
1. Food stamps 1.5 million families3 100
Kerosene 1.2450
2. Janasaviya
Round 1 189 0006 614
Round 2 104 0003 640
Round 3 98 0003 430
Round 4 101 0003 515
Round 5 120 0004 200
Interest on capital
Round 1 119 000357
Round 2 104 000312
3. School meals 4.3 million2 000
4. School uniforms 4.3 million600
5. Infant milk 100 000125
6. Thriposha 600 000175
7. Disabled 400 000150
8. Emergency food 500 0002 000
(Excludes programme of Janasaviya Trust Fund and IRD programmes)
74. Sri Lanka has had poverty-alleviation programmes in the public sector
and in the NGO sector. A third series of interventions has been the
numerous integrated rural development (IRD) programmes. While there is
evidence that the incidence and severity of poverty have been reduced as a
result of the above- mentioned measures, there is still a serious problem
of poverty and a need to make the intervention programmes more coordinated
and cost-effective.
75. Despite the considerable efforts made so far, certain crucial gaps in
poverty-alleviation efforts remain: lack of integration between social
mobilization and developmental inputs; insufficient integration between
sectoral programmes; inadequate linkages of NGO-based mobilization with
government services; almost exclusive focus on the poor to the detriment of
holistic village development; and insufficient support to skills training,
enterprise development and marketing support.
76. The main coordination effort with regard to poverty alleviation work
was expected to emerge from the CSN exercise. This exercise, which
commenced in late 1993, reached a stage at which draft papers were
presented on four themes, of which poverty alleviation and employment was
one. This process was temporarily halted after the change of Government in
the middle of 1994. The Government has taken steps to reactivate the
process with a view to preparing a CSN for Sri Lanka by the end of 1995.
77. In order also to bring about greater coordination among the various
national poverty alleviation programmes and as a first step towards
conceptualizing a programme approach in poverty alleviation, UNDP has
developed a small-scale project to carry out a comparative study of the
existing poverty alleviation programmes. It is also worth noting that both
the major UNDP-funded poverty alleviation projects have been carried out in
partnership with two multilateral agencies, namely the World Bank and IFAD.
78. Technical assistance to the Janasaviya Trust Fund (JTF). The
Janasaviya Trust Fund was created as a pro-poor government institute. It
provides financial and some technical support to credit operations, rural
works, human resources and institutional development, and to nutrition
intervention activities of NGOs and government agencies. The novelty of
JTF is that it is designed to use NGOs as intermediaries (partner
organizations) to deliver poverty alleviation services. JTF manages four
funds: (i) a credit fund; (ii) a human resource development fund; (iii) a
rural works fund; and (iv) a nutrition fund. Special emphasis is given to
the role and participation of women at the programme level. UNDP provides
the technical assistance component of the project which is financed by,
among others, the World Bank.
79. The political situation has adversely affected poverty alleviation
efforts. The selection and fielding of technical assistance have also been
difficult as it has not been easy to find the consultants needed for the
envisaged tasks. There are several national poverty alleviation projects
which have not been brought under one programme. This is both wasteful and
causes unnecessary competition.
80. Second Badulla Integrated Rural Development Project (SBIRDP). A
project has been set up to meet the technical assistance needs of SBIRDP,
to be implemented with the assistance of IFAD funding the amount of SDR 9.9
million. Beneficiaries are the landless and micro holders. The project
envisages ambitious participatory techniques. Therefore, its progress is
slow. As is very common with most poverty alleviation initiatives, finding
technical expertise, both national and international, has been difficult.
The project also operates in relative isolation and therefore does not
benefit fully from useful relevant work being done in other areas. Poverty
alleviation, though difficult, must be programmed at the national level.
Such programmes should take into account the inherent institutional
problems and the long time-frames necessary for development of the
necessary programmes, as well as difficulties in the provision of technical
assistance.
D. Philippines
81. The Government of the Philippines has set for itself the explicit
target of reducing poverty incidence from 40.7 per cent (1991) to 30 per
cent in 1998. During the period 1985 to 1991, the incidence of poverty in
the Philippines was reduced minimally despite some growth.
82. The United Nations JCGP Subgroup on Harmonization in early 1992 had
initiated a pilot effort at concerted action by United Nations agencies
(primarily UNDP, UNICEF, UNFPA and IFAD/WFP) to combat poverty in six
countries, including the Philippines. At about the same time the United
Nations JCGP initiative was launched, the Presidential Commission to Fight
Poverty (PCFP) was created by the President of the Philippines as a high-
level oversight body to coordinate all government programmes and projects
on poverty. The Commission demonstrated at the outset the need for and the
possibility of adopting a unified framework as a basis for drawing up
common priorities in the fight against poverty.
83. In support of this process, the United Nations agencies designed a
three-pronged agenda: (i) to pilot test a process-oriented approach in a
joint collaboration by United Nations agencies; (ii) to help shape the
Government's strategy in addressing poverty; and (iii) to act as a catalyst
for the establishment of an institutional structure and the mechanisms that
would be dedicated to the goal of poverty alleviation. UNDP served as the
convenor for the initiative.
84. The joint collaboration reviewed the various efforts at poverty
alleviation and assistance to the Government in the preparation of the
overall strategy framework for concerted action on poverty which was
envisioned to become an integral part of the National Development Plan.
The strategy framework or blueprint for poverty alleviation was intended to
provide comprehensive poverty assessment/mapping, a policy framework, an
overall strategy, action programmes, resource requirements and coordinating
monitoring mechanisms. The preparation involved a bottom-up process
through extensive consultations with NGOs and grass-roots organizations
from all parts of the country.
85. The outcome of the consultations was reflected in the strategic
framework document entitled "A Strategy to Fight Poverty" which contained
an analysis of the poverty situation, addressing the questions: What is
poverty and how is it perceived by the people? Who are the poor and where
are they to be found? What are the causes of poverty? How has the
Government attempted to solve the problem? How should the Filipinos as a
people solve it? The document proffers five principal strategies which
essentially call for sustainable economic growth anchored on appropriate
macroeconomic policies and structural adjustment, a focus on the minimum
basic needs (or human priorities) and capacity-building for the poor.
86. The next step for PCFP was to operationalize the strategy in specific
areas, choosing 10 of the poorest provinces as priorities for pilot testing
an integrated approach with the JCGP agencies. Using the bottom-up
approach, workshops with the provincial governments in the first five
priority provinces were conducted to evolve their own provincial plans of
action. Consistent with the reiterative learning approach, the plans for
the next five provinces will subsequently be prepared with modifications in
the approach based on the experience with the first set.
87. The JCGP agencies are currently programming their activities and
inputs in the pilot areas based on the provincial plans of action.
Assistance to the Government is currently aimed at the identification of a
poverty-focused policy research agenda, the design of a participatory
monitoring and evaluation system based on the minimum basic needs,
capacity-building at the grass-roots and among the local government units,
advocacy work and networking with people's organizations, and direct
support to the grass-roots in meeting minimum basic needs.
88. What has so far been the most challenging in the JCGP partnership with
the Government in this collaboration is the management of the change
process and the policy dialogue. What the emerging strategies call for in
operational terms are significant changes in the way programmes of the
Government are being managed. A shift to an area-based and target group-
focused approach calls for a synchronized programming of programmes and
projects. Equally important is the need to devolve the decision-making
processes to structures working closest to the grass-roots in order to have
a truly participatory or "people empowering" development.
89. It is hoped that the emerging issues could be addressed in the joint
Government-JCGP dialogue mechanism. Regular exchange at the technical
working group between PCFP and the JCGP agencies has served as a means to
involve JCGP in analysing the broad institutional changes necessary to work
out the process of change and to overcome bottlenecks in implementing
participatory development approaches. It has also enabled JCGP to have a
substantive input in the design of process interventions in an advisory
capacity. At the policy level, the dialogue and support of the JCGP group
serves as moral support and impetus for a continuing advocacy and change
within the Government for pro-poor policies and a continuing focus on
reversing poverty. The same mechanism has allowed the JCGP agencies to
identify operational bottlenecks to harmonization of the agencies'
programming of assistance in common areas of interventions.
E. Zimbabwe
90. Following the introduction of an orthodox economic stabilization and
adjustment policy package in the early 1990s, the Government of Zimbabwe
recognized that adjustment alone was insufficient to put the country on a
sustained, poverty-reducing growth path, and that there was an urgent need
for poverty-sensitive macroeconomic policies and development programmes to
tackle mounting poverty. Building on the experience of the 1991/92 drought
and the Social Dimensions of Adjustment policies, the Government requested
UNDP technical assistance to design a comprehensive poverty alleviation
action plan (PAAP). The PAAP, endorsed by the donor community at a
Consultative Group meeting in December 1993, seeks to reverse deteriorating
social conditions by broadening the overall scope, coverage and impact of
targeted social programmes, giving special emphasis to employment creation
and self-reliance activities. Its main components are: (i) implementation
of community-based activities in social welfare provision and
infrastructure rehabilitation through labour-intensive public works
programmes; (ii) implementation of sustainable livelihood initiatives in
selected disadvantaged areas, focusing on women, youth and vulnerable
groups; (iii) direct support to the informal sector and microenterprise
development initiatives; (iv) capacity-building and institutional
development to improve the delivery of social safety nets, with special
emphasis on food security, education and primary health care.
91. PAAP will strengthen the capacity of government agencies for social
policy analysis so as to develop long-term poverty-sensitive socio-economic
policies and monitor their impact on poverty. In addition to UNDP, UNICEF,
ILO, ADB and the Government of the Netherlands, the Danish, British,
Norwegian and Canadian aid agencies have already committed resources for
implementation of Zimbabwe's PAAP.
F. Malawi
92. In spite of a remarkable economic performance, Malawi has lagged in
terms of social indicators. In an effort to address this "development
paradox", a joint Government/United Nations "Situation Analysis of Poverty
in Malawi" was produced in 1993 and adopted by the Government as a basis
for attacking poverty in the country. The report was the first major
attempt to document key poverty factors in Malawi. It revealed that
poverty in Malawi is significant and widespread, affecting 60 per cent of
rural and 65 per cent of the urban population. The most vulnerable groups
include smallholders with less than one hectare of land holding, casual
labourers, estate workers and tenants, female-headed households and the
urban poor. The key poverty factors were identified as comprising low
agricultural productivity, low non-farm income, poor education and health,
rapid population growth and weak institutional structures. These
underlying poverty factors were found to be closely intertwined. The
report, which was endorsed at the December 1993 Consultative Group meeting
of donors, also highlighted a number of critical dimensions that cut across
all sectors and have important implications for poverty reduction. They
include widespread institutional weaknesses in administrative structures
and delivery systems, as well as the limited capacity of government
agencies and social organizations to support decentralized and
participatory development approaches. Based on these findings, the report
recommended that human development strategies in Malawi go beyond price-
oriented reforms and focus more on existing structural constraints and
institutional weaknesses in the design and implementation of anti-poverty
programmes.
93. Following the publication of the report, a national workshop was held
in March 1994 to initiate a process of collaborative programming for
poverty reduction. The workshop, organized by the Ministry of Finance with
the support of UNDP, UNICEF and UNFPA, is having a major influence on the
policy agenda of the newly elected Government. A national steering
committee has been created and charged with the responsibility for
providing overall guidance and direction to a national anti-poverty
programme. The Government has also created the Presidential Council on
Poverty Alleviation, which is overseeing the work of 10 sectoral working
groups and 24 district-level exercises on poverty reduction. UNDP and other
donors, in particular UNICEF and the World Bank, are now discussing the
modalities for supporting the Government in the design, implementation and
monitoring of the national poverty-reduction programme. A UNDP project
will provide assistance to the steering committee for the production and
publication of an annual poverty situation report, on the basis of which
more precise targeting mechanisms will be developed. The project will also
produce disaggregated district-level data for use in development planning
and dialogue with communities, and support policy and programme analysis
for the design of a national action plan for poverty elimination.
G. Comprehensive poverty reduction programme in Jamaica
94. The Government of Jamaica attaches the highest priority to poverty
reduction. The organizations of the system have also emphasized the need
to prepare poverty-alleviation programmes. UNDP started, some two years
ago, a process of formulating a comprehensive poverty-reduction programme,
including the preparation of a poverty map for Jamaica, and bringing
together a broad range of United Nations agencies to address related issues
in an integrated and coordinated manner. The programme is to be finalized
in the light of a policy strategy paper under preparation by the
Government.
95. The main problems that have slowed the development of a coordinated
poverty eradication programme are the need for capacity-building within the
relevant government institutions, and the need to further strengthen field-
level coordination of the United Nations organizations in this area.
V. CONCLUDING OBSERVATIONS AND RECOMMENDATIONS
96. The brief overview of the policies, strategies and programmes pursued
by the United Nations organizations at the country level and the experience
of poverty-eradication programmes in the case studies presented show that
the need for a multisectoral and multidimensional approach to the
eradication of poverty is well recognized by all. It is also clear that a
multiplicity of actors have to be involved in a country's poverty-reduction
strategy. This makes coordination all the more necessary. The national
level of implementation and coordination is of key importance for the
overall effectiveness of the struggle against poverty. The primary
responsibility for coordination belongs to the Government. The United
Nations system can, however, assist in strengthening the capacity of the
Government for such coordination.
97. A number of coordination mechanisms are in place for both horizontal
coordination within the system at the country level and vertically between
the United Nations agencies and the relevant government ministries and
departments. As part of the process of implementation of General Assembly
resolution 47/199, the resident coordinator system is being strengthened,
the programme approach is being increasingly adopted by the United Nations
agencies and country strategy notes are being formulated in interested
developing countries. Many countries have established interministerial or
interdepartmental committees or economic coordination and planning
ministries. Similarly, field coordination committees have been set up or,
at a minimum, regular inter-agency meetings are convened by the resident
coordinators in most countries. Thematic groups, including on poverty
eradication, are also being used to coordinate action at the national and
local levels.
98. Clearly, any measures designed to strengthen these coordination
mechanisms and to promote greater coherence and integration among the
various sectoral interventions of the system at the country level will
enable the system to address better the challenge of poverty. The policy
recommendations contained in the report of the Secretary-General on the
comprehensive policy review of operational activities for development and
the guidance emanating from its consideration by the General Assembly are
therefore of direct relevance to the system's work in this area. Likewise,
equally relevant will be the outcome of the Assembly's deliberations on the
follow-up to the World Summit for Social Development. But, more
specifically, what is needed is to make use of the existing coordinating
instruments to formulate, in accordance with the framework articulated by
the Summit and in close consultation with the Government, and taking into
account the specific needs and situations of each country, clear and
coherent poverty-eradication strategies with specific goals and targets
which would be integrated into the overall national plans and programmes.
The resident coordinator system could clearly be used in assisting in the
formulation of such strategies in ensuring coordinated inputs by the United
Nations agencies in their implementation, evaluation and monitoring.
99. The steps that need to be taken to organize a well-coordinated attack
on poverty are also well understood. It is vitally important that the
Government demonstrate a firm commitment, at the highest political level,
to the goal of poverty eradication and be willing and able to mobilize and
allocate the required domestic financial and human resources for that
purpose. Equally vital is the will and the capacity of the Government to
take the lead in organizing a coordinated response to the challenge of
poverty. The strategy to be pursued has to be based on growth with equity,
full participation of all actors in development, including the civil
society, non-governmental and community-based organizations and the poor
themselves, and should involve a decentralized approach in which decisions
and resources allocations can be made at the local level taking into
account the specific conditions and needs of the target groups or areas.
100. The United Nations agencies can and must play an advocacy role,
provide financial and technical assistance and help develop coherent and
complementary poverty-eradication programmes. To this end, it is essential
that United Nations agencies work together to help build the capacity of
the Government to carry out its leadership and coordinating
responsibilities. United Nations agencies must also make determined
efforts to simplify, rationalize and harmonize their programming methods
and administrative and financial rules and procedures and, as far as
possible, to harmonize their programming cycles, so that the impact of the
limited resources, technical assistance and other inputs provided by them
can be optimized.
101. The effort at coordination should not be confined to the level of
broad policy or strategy formulation but should aim at achieving greater
compatibility and closer integration of programming approaches and project
formulation by such methods as developing common definitions of poverty,
working together on poverty indicators, common data collection,
identification of target groups and areas and shared assessment, evaluation
and monitoring of results and impact. Wherever possible and feasible, joint
programming could be pursued.
102. It must be recognized, however, that so long as there are line
ministries on the one hand and United Nations agencies with a sector-
specific mandate on the other, there is a great potential for fragmentation
in decision-making, as United Nations system-Government dialogue tends to
become compartmentalized and handled on a one-to-one basis by each
specialized agency with the concerned ministry. This need not be so, but
the risk is there and fragmentation has often tended to diffuse efforts and
dilute the overall impact. As individual United Nations agencies start to
address their own mandates from a broader perspective, instead of in a
narrow, sector-specific way, and as coordinated follow-up to major United
Nations conferences is developed at the country level, there is a great
opportunity and a better likelihood that fragmentation will decrease. But
there is still a long way to go. The strengthening of the role of the
Resident Coordinator and the adoption of the programme approach can greatly
enhance coordination and integration of United Nations system (and donor)
inputs by placing emphasis on intersectoral linkages and multi-
institutional actions in support of country priorities.
103. A key question in this regard is the relationship between the United
Nations, its funds and programmes and the specialized agencies on the one
hand, and the Bretton Woods institutions on the other. If economic and
social policy making remain disjointed, coordination - both policy and
operational - will be difficult no matter how much the United Nations-
system agencies come together under a common programming framework. There
needs to be close cooperation between the Bretton Woods institutions and
the rest of the system. An integrated poverty agenda can be moved forward
if the Bretton Woods institutions and the rest of the system can not only
develop common approaches, definitions, poverty-assessment indicators and
data collection but can also work towards greater complementarity and
integration between economic and social policies, including through their
policy framework papers (PFP) and the CSN.
104. The critical question of resources in meeting the challenge of
poverty eradication cannot, however, be overemphasized. Even the best
formulated strategies and well-coordinated programmes have to be backed up
with the required resources for them to be implemented effectively.
Determined efforts need to be made, at the national and international
levels, for the mobilization and reallocation of resources towards the goal
of poverty eradication. In this regard, the commitments and goals of major
international conferences, in particular the World Summit for Social
Development, should be fully adhered to and implemented by all countries.
Notes
1/ Report of the United Nations Conference on Environment and
Development, Rio de Janeiro, 3-14 June 1992 (A/CONF.151/26/Rev.1 (Vol. I
and Vol. I/Corr.1, Vol. II, Vol. III and Vol. III/Corr.1)) (United Nations
publication, Sales No. E.93.I.8 and corrigenda), vol. I: Resolutions
Adopted by the Conference, resolution 1, annex I, principle 5.
2/ Ibid., annex II, para. 3.4 and following.
3/ Ibid., annex II, para. 3.5.
4/ Ibid., annex I, principle 5.
5/ Ibid., annex II, para. 3.10 (c).
6/ Ibid., annex II, para. 3.10 (e).
7/ Report of the International Conference on Population and Development,
(Cairo, 5-13 September 1994) (A/CONF.171/13 and Add.1), resolution I,
annex, chap. III, para. 3.14.
8/ Ibid., chap. II, principle 7.
9/ Ibid., chap. II, principle 3.
10/ Ibid., chap. II, principle 2.
11/ Ibid., chap. III, para. 3.22.
12/ Ibid., chap. XIII, para. 13.23.
13/ See A/CONF.177/L.1, para. 46.
14/ Ibid., Strategic objective A.1, para. 60.
15/ Report of the World Summit for Social Development (Copenhagen, 6-12
March 1995) (A/CONF.166/9), resolution I, annex I, para. 29, commitment 10.
16/ The Work of the United Nations System in Poverty Alleviation:
report of the CCPOQ Working Group on Poverty (ACC/1995/POQ/CRP.19, annex).
17/ Ibid.
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