Developing countries, with the support of multilateral institutions, the bilateral development assistance community and civil society organisations, are focusing as never before on the development priority of reducing poverty by half by 2015. Country-led and country-owned poverty reduction strategies focusing on local needs and priorities as determined by stakeholders are now the focus of all development assistance efforts. The DAC Guidelines on Poverty Reduction provide practical information about the nature of poverty and best practice approaches, policies, instruments and channels for tackling it. They also break new ground in setting out the parameters for building effective partnerships with governments, civil society, and other development actors, and in describing how institutional change and development within bilateral agencies themselves could be undertaken for mainstreaming poverty reduction, partnership and policy coherence.
Table of contents:
-Acronyms and Abbreviations -Rising to the Global Challenge: Partnership for Reducing World Poverty -Policy Statement by the DAC High Level Meeting Upon Endorsement of the DAC Guidelines on Poverty Reduction, Paris, 25-26 April 2001 Executive Summary 1. Concepts and Approaches -Introduction -What is Poverty? -Who are the Poor? -How Can Poverty Be Measured and Monitored? -Why Does Poverty Persist? -Which Policy Actions are Required -Conclusion 2. Forging Partnerships for Reducing Poverty -Introduction -Fundamental Principles Governing Poverty Reduction Partnerships -The Challenges Posed by Working in Partnership -Strategic Approaches for Overall Development Assistance Allocation and Programming Decisions -Helping Partners to Develop Sound National Poverty Reduction Strategies -Priority Actions for the Bilateral Community 3. Frameworks and Instruments for Country Programming -Introduction -The Evolving Partner Country Strategy Framework -Development Agency Strategies -Policy Areas for Poverty-Focused Cooperation -Key Instruments of Financial and Technical Cooperation -Special Focus Instruments --Debt Relief --Assistance for Conflict Prevention and Humanitarian Aid --Support for Regional Cooperation -Conclusion 4. Towards Policy Coherence for Poverty Reduction -Introduction -Globalisation and Policy Coherence -How Can Policy Coherence be Enhanced? -Lessons from Experience in OECD Countries -Policy Areas --International Trade and Foreign Direct Investment --International Finance --Food and Agriculture --Natural Resources and Environmental Sustainability --Social Issues --Governance and Conflict -Annex: An Illustrative Checklist on Policy Coherence for Poverty Reduction 5. Institutional Change and Development for Mainstreaming Poverty Reduction, Partnership, and Policy Coherence -Introduction -Why Look Inside Our Own Institutions? -Getting Definitions and Concepts Right -Making Sense of Diverse Institutional Setups -The Way Ahead: Mainstreaming the Poverty Reduction Agenda Throughout the Agency -The Way Ahead: Working as Partners -The Way Ahead: Improving Institutional Capapcity to Promote Policy Coherence -Conclusion Appendix. Millenium Development Goals (MDGs)