In an annually repeated ritual the World Bank has “reaffirmed the central importance of poverty reduction” and identified two “new” ways to make its work more poverty focused.
The Bank’s annual report Poverty Reduction and the World Bank, released in early February, assesses progress in preparing poverty assessments and country assistance strategies; and looks at Bank lending for projects aimed at tackling poverty.
It recommends:
- “a shift from describing poverty to formulating strategies for reducing poverty linked to operational strategies in individual countries”; and
- “a shift from counting poverty-focused projects to assessing their impact on the poor”.
Poverty Reduction and the World Bank, Progress in 1996 and 1997, from the Bank.
