Implementation of poverty reduction strategy paper in Armenia: issues of public participation and program administration

Abstract

In 1999 the World Bank introduced the concept of Poverty Reduction Strategy Paper for the developing countries. In Armenia the issue of poverty reduction took a momentum starting from September 2000, after the Millennium Summit, where the decision on financing less developed countries for the purpose of poverty reduction was made. Republic of Armenia officially recognized poverty reduction as a strategic goal. Although there is no doubt that Armenian government has done much in reducing extreme poverty since Millennium Summit, thousands of people are still poor. Thus, the purpose of this policy project is to: • present the current strategy applied to poverty reduction, • find out the role of civil society in successful implementation of this strategy, • identify issues of public participation and program administration impeding successful implementation of PRSP, • study the main reasons for slow implementation of PRSP, as well as • propose recommendations for increasing the effectiveness of Poverty Reduction Strategy. As it was found out, a number of issues are challenging poverty alleviation. In particular, issues like corruption, weakness and passiveness of CSOs, insufficient public participation, lack of transparency and accountability in decision-making and poor democratic traditions along with problems in administration of PRSP and monitoring of results hamper the successful implementation of this challenging program. Based on the findings a number of recommendations have been developed and proposed to the government and civil society.