The Drum Beat 317: Part II - Addressing Poverty: Communication, Participation, PRSPs?

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This issue of The Drum Beat is the second of two exploring a document emerging from The World Bank and Department of International Development (DFID)'s work to support the strategic use of communication in the Poverty Reduction Strategy Paper (PRSP) process. The first issue in this 2-part series examined the strategic communication components shaping the Poverty Reduction Strategy (PRS), as outlined in the publication "With the Support of Multitudes: Using Strategic Communication to Fight Poverty through PRSPs" [PDF], published in 2005 and edited by Masud Mozammel of The World Bank mmozammel@worldbank.org and Sina Odugbemi of DFID S-Odugbemi@dfid.gov.uk Please click here to access the first part of this Drum Beat series.

For a February 2005 Factsheet, additional background, and online access to the PRSPs themselves, please visit the International Monetary Fund (IMF) website. For background information and relevant PRS documents, please consult the World Bank.

This second issue calls readers' attention to the detailed Case Studies shared in Part II (and the Appendices) of the publication. While detailed examination of the particular Case Studies is beyond the scope of this Drum Beat, we will focus on the portion of the document that examines emerging lessons for strategic communication for each of the PRSP stakeholders - "Chapter 7. Emerging Lessons and Summary of Good Practice", by Amy Pollard, Ruth Driscoll and Robert Chapman - to the end of highlighting how the strategic principles explored in Part I look when put into practice in particular contexts. The text of this two-part Drum Beat is excerpted from this publication, with the permission of the editors and their respective organisations.

Click here to download the full paper in PDF format.

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CASE STUDIES
Please visit the full publication to view the detailed information; brief excerpts from each case study follow:

* Country Case Studies (pps. 33-66)

1. Ghana
The Ghana Poverty Reduction Strategy (GPRS) set in motion a process of communication between government, [civil society organisations, or] CSOs and donors on public policymaking. This involved a broad consultation with national stakeholders culminating in events such as the National Economic Dialogue and the Civil Society Forum. The media stimulated some national interest in the GPRS....Despite a comprehensive strategy there will need to be considerable capacity improvements in the government if the proposed communication activities are to be carried out effectively. If they are not, the challenges of a tight timetable and limited resources are likely to reassert themselves...

2. Moldova
...Overall, communication in the Moldovan PRS has generated some innovative and successful approaches; Poverty Forums bringing together representatives from key ministries, donors and civil society groups; online feedback forms to send comments directly to the central government working group; and a clustering of participation activities which build momentum over a short period. Donors have provided effective support, working closely with ministries and providing technical support to broker dialogue between government and civil society groups.

3. Tanzania
...Overall, there were three particularly notable successful communication initiatives: First, the Tanzania without Poverty booklets which had an extensive print run, were widely distributed through CSO networks and were explained alongside workshops, posters and other communication activities. Second, the Poverty Policy Week event was very effective in bringing together key stakeholders, including donors, civil society groups and government officials, and has become a regular annual event. Third, a policy and service satisfaction survey managed to establish baseline indicators for gauging the level of public satisfaction with the PRSP, drawing on widely gathered data to compare various policy initiatives, including the PRS....In the future, it seems that the need for broadbased working groups must be balanced with the need for consistent attendance which enables an ongoing dialogue and follow-up activities to develop...

* Short Case Studies from Five Countries (pps. 83-112)

4. Bolivia
...The Bolivian government as a whole has long-term problems with clientalism and corruption, and an acrimonious relationship with a very vocal and internally-divided civil society sector. Steps towards bridging these gaps through the PRS process have been made in three ways. First, by conducting consultation processes and participative monitoring at the relatively stable and coherent level of municipalities. Second, an independent consultation on the PRSP was conducted by the Catholic Church - an organisation which cuts across disparate civil society groups - and run in parallel to the government-led National Dialogue. Finally, think tanks such as ILDIS have worked to mediate between government and the general public by promoting more informed and constructive debate....There is, however, room for improvement in the links between donors and other stakeholders...

5. Cambodia
...With weak state capacity in the government overall, organising the PRS and integrating it with budgetary processes had been hampered by chaotic relations....Increasingly, however, the PRS has become widely recognised across government, and has become a shared reference point around which tentative cooperation now develops....Communications around the Annual Progress Report were a marked improvement...as Ministers have specifically invited CSOs to comment, and organised a series of open meetings on the implementation phase. CSOs worked together to coordinate their feedback, and plans were formed for a wide programme of communication materials and activities targeted at the general population. Even amongst the donor community communication is improving...

6. Kyrgyz Republic
...From the inception of the initiative, the government formed a working group on the PRS which included numerous and varied civil society representatives....In this post-soviet republic, the general population have tended to be wary of government and officials....Working around this problem, an independently commissioned participative poverty assessment did manage to gather very candid views from poor people by capitalising on the good communication links between [non-governmental organisations, or NGOs] and ordinary citizens. Facilitating feedback on implementation and monitoring is more challenging, as the dissemination of information is hampered by poor communication infrastructure, and although online versions of documents have been produced in English and Russian these are only available to less than 2% of the population....donors are well placed to help bridge the civil society and governmental sectors.

7. Pakistan
Communication in the Pakistani PRS has been highly problematic; marred by poor institutional links and a lack of trust between government, donors and civil society groups....In the midst of all these problems, civil society organisations united to reject the PRS process as a whole, arguing that the participation process had been woefully inadequate. At this stage of breakdown, civil society groups succeeded in involving donors, who shared their concerns and put the brakes on the process until the issue was properly tackled. Their role as brokers though has been compromised by repeated suggestions that donor agendas are at odds with interests of the long-term interests of Pakistan itself, and a wide perception amongst both civil society representatives and government officials that the PRS is a donor-driven process.

8. Rwanda
...The government has made clear efforts to develop dialogue with the civil society sector, which remains weak and is viewed with some scepticism a decade after the genocide. The Participatory Poverty Assessment [PPA], for example, borrowed traditional Ubudehe methods of mutual assistance to fund poverty reduction projects which were planned, implemented and monitored at a village level....This document was a rare opportunity to bridge relations between civil society and government, and within the donor community. The Ubudehe techniques were popular and effective amongst the general public....[O]pportunities present themselves for the future in three main areas: First, the linguistic homogeneity within Rwanda could make radio a powerful instrument for informing the public on PRSPs. Second, the PPA has established a well informed and extensive network of civil society groups at a community level which could act as champions for further communication approaches. Finally, the infrastructure for donor coordination has been improved, enabling the donor community to communicate their concerns, for example about the participatory process, to government more effectively.

* Further Case Studies and Additional Material
(pps. 114-148)
A. Bolivia
B. Cambodia
C. Kyrgyz Republic
D. Moldova
E. Niger
F. Pakistan
G. Rwanda
H. Tanzania
I. Uganda
J. Vietnam

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DISCUSSION

To discuss strategic communication and issues involved in participation and PRSPs, please join the discussion at drumbeatchat! Archived comments are available - click here. ***

EMERGING LESSONS FOR STRATEGIC COMMUNICATION...
(pps. 67-82)

This chapter sets out to identify emerging lessons for strategic communication both within and between each of the three main PRSP stakeholder groups - government, donors and civil society. Information is drawn from case studies and examples of practical experiences from the...countries profiled in the appendices....Based on the learning from country case studies the chapter concludes with a list of emerging good practices on integrating strategic communication in the PRSP process.

9. Communication within government
...First, clear lines of communication need to be established between the central PRS unit and other parts of government, particularly line ministries and local government....Second, clear links must be articulated between the PRS document and process, and other national plans and processes....Several approaches are proving their worth in addressing these challenges:

• The location of the PRS unit in a place where it is able to exercise influence over and facilitate joint working between different parts of government is proving crucially important...[Examples: Pakistan & Cambodia]
• Working groups around particular sectors or themes in the PRSP are also proving effective...[Examples: Uganda & Tanzania]
• High quality core documents are important touchstones for discussion on the PRS...[Examples: Rwanda & Cambodia]

10. Communication within civil society
The PRS approach challenges CSOs to move beyond their traditional role of service delivery in poor countries and towards engagement in policy debates....On the one hand, horizontal relationships need to be established between organisations with very different constituencies, interests and structures....On the other hand, vertical relationships must be forged between urban elites and poor people, especially in rural areas....Several approaches are proving to be especially effective at addressing these challenges:

• Strategic information-sharing between CSOs about the PRS process....Many CSOs have produced translations of key documents into local languages, engaged the media in discussing the PRSP in ways that ordinary citizens can understand, and pro-actively disseminated information...[Examples: Tanzania & Rwanda]
• National networks and sub-committees on either the PRSP or particular policy themes...have helped transcend differences between organisations and allowed the development of joint policy positions and the pursuit of coordinated advocacy and monitoring strategies...[Examples: Bolivia & Pakistan]
• Participatory processes within civil society itself have also proved an important means of overcoming weak representation of poor people and other marginalised groups...[Examples: Rwanda & Bolivia]

11. Communication within the donor community
...Before coordination can take place, donors need to build lines of communication around common interests in a certain sector or theme, but this is extremely difficult in a context of proliferation and fragmentation....Nevertheless, there are some signs of emerging good practice...:

• Joint donor groups...allow donors to share information in a systematic way, engage in joint dialogue and coordinate their support for government and civil society actors engaged in the PRS process. They are however, proving to be extremely time-consuming...[Example: Bolivia]
• International partnerships...are increasingly acting as fora for dialogue between donor headquarters on different dimensions of the PRS approach...[Examples: Cambodia & Rwanda]

12. Communication between government and civil society
...By strengthening lines of accountability, the approach seeks to overcome the tendency of much development aid to encourage national governments to focus outwards, on accounting to donors, rather than downwards, to their own domestic constituency....Many poor countries are prebendal or semi-democratised states, in which lines of accountability between citizen and state remain extremely weak....The scale of this communication challenge is enormous, but the PRS approach has catalysed a number of contributions...:

• Consultation processes led by government but engaging a range of civil society organisations...have worked best where governments have been genuinely committed to taking civil society views into account, and where CSOs have organised effectively to articulate these views...[Examples: Moldova & Tanzania]
• Partnerships between civil society and government have also been formed to good effect....In some countries, parliamentarians and civil society organisations have formed alliances aimed at holding government to account for delivering on its PRSP promises...[Examples: Kyrygzstan & Bolivia]
• Permanent spaces for civil society participation have been created as a result of the PRS process in some countries, through legislative reform....These legal changes create ongoing communication channels between government and civil society and augur well for strengthened accountability lines over time...[Examples: Bolivia & Cambodia]

13. Communication between government and donors
The PRS approach...implies not only that donors refrain from undermining national ownership through stepping back from intrusive conditionality, but also that governments stake their claim as leaders of the national poverty reduction process.... Several approaches are being tried and tested...:

• Joint donor assessments have...worked best where donors have succeeded in prioritising their concerns, and articulated clearly to government whether these are hard conditions for support or mere suggestions for improvement...[Examples: Cambodia, Vietnam & Ghana]
• Operational principles for donor support...are a conscious attempt by governments to articulate in writing some terms for their relationship by donors...[Example: Uganda]

14. Communication between donors and civil society
...[D]onors are understandably keen to articulate their support for civil society engagement by forging relationships around funding and other resource gaps....CSOs need to fulfil their need for financing and information, but maintain a sufficiently critical distance from international donor agendas. Several approaches appear to be helping...:

• Donor championing of the participatory process is another means of ensuring donors support civil society without undermining country ownership...[Examples: Moldova & Ghana]
• Civil society as a resource for donors to keep them informed of developments...[which] also provides forum for public views..[Examples: Bolivia & Pakistan]

...AND SUMMARY OF GOOD PRACTICE
(pps. 67-82)

15. Government
...National governments seem to be more successful where they build strategic communication into the core business of leading the PRSP....The communication strategies include a combination of media campaigns, consultations with stakeholders at different levels of government, and capacity building to assist groups in understanding and engaging in the process....The role of strategic communication is to create a dialogue between stakeholders and therefore implementing the communication strategy should be considered as an ongoing process that can improve the quantity and quality of the dialogue as it progresses. Without an effective team of communication specialists the activities in the communication strategy will be at risk of being implemented as a series of one-off events that have no cumulative impact on stimulating broad participation and ownership...

16. Civil society
...Civil society networks provide a good basis for communication on the PRS because they provide a link between groups with a shared common interest such as faith groups and political parties....It is often most effective if an independent consultation process can be organised by a civil society group....Local media are able to discuss the PRS in ways that are easily understood by relating it to issues of local importance and relevance....CSOs are able to disseminate PRS information widely and in a way that can encourage the type of ongoing dialogue that is needed for greater ownership and empowerment...

17. Donors
...Donor initiatives demonstrate that strategic communication can work to clarify the distance between actors, as much as bring them together....Conflicting messages from different donors or regularly changing donor priorities will make the government's task of developing an ongoing dialogue with a well informed public much more difficult than it already is. Joint donor groups are time consuming but have helped donors coordinate their support to the PRS process....Initially support is required to the government for the preparation of a PRSP Communication Needs Assessment that vonstitutes the preliminary research for the Communication Strategy. Capacity building for these activities is likely to require both training of national experts and funding for external communication experts....There is also a need to enhance the capacity across all the government departments that are responsible for the dissemination of information on government policy. Capacity building of the media is also likely to require long-term donor support....Donors have the capacity and resources to ensure that the central PRS documents...contribute to improved communication and transparency of the policymaking process rather than hinder it...

18. Practical applications
...In conclusion, the key components of a strategic approach to communication in the PRSP can be summarised as:

1. Develop a PRSP Communication Strategy and Action Plan...
2. Provide a core team of communication experts...
3. Encourage civil society networking...
4. Support NGOs and local media...
5. Ensure consistency of PRS approach...
6. Facilitate targeted capacity building...
7. Produce high quality core PRS documents...

19. Conclusion
...Strategic communication facilitates the involvement of all stakeholders in the PRS, allowing core PRS activities to be fully capitalised on as part of an iterative process for reducing poverty.

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PULSE POLL

In 2015, people will look back and say that the Poverty Reduction Strategy Papers (PRSPs) were a major reason for reduced poverty levels.

Do you agree or disagree?

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Click here to download the full paper in PDF format.

To request a printed copy of the publication, please contact Richard Rose at r-rose@dfid.gov.uk

Please click here for Part I of this two-part Drum Beat: The strategic communication components shaping the PRSP process...

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This issue was written by Kier Olsen DeVries.

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