Country Ownership of the Ghana Poverty Reduction Strategy Paper Joint Donor Staff Training Module 1 – Session 2 Zambia, September 2004 Federico Steinberg – World Bank

A case study in the political economy of the GPRS 1.Background: political and economic events 2.The CDF and the GPRS 3.Country Ownership of the GPRS 4.A role play on enhancing country ownership of the GPRS Presentation outline

I. Political and economic events Independence 1957 GPRS: Rawlings authoritarian government Rawlings democratic government Economic stabilization plan 1983 Kufuor´s presidency Real GDP growth averaged 4.5%

Poverty has declined…

… but progress in economic and social indicators has been uneven There has been substantial progress in education, water and sanitation, and on the fight against HIV/AIDS… But the infant mortality rate increased from 57/1000 to 56/1000 and the under-five mortality rate has increased from 108/1000 to 112/1000 between 1998 and 2002 Poverty in the northern regions and among farmers remains a challenge Efforts to diversify the economy and increase productivity have been disappointing

II. The CDF and the GPRS Ghana became a CDF pilot country in 1999 GPRS prepared between 2000 and long-term development vision - broad participatory process - Medium term targets compatible with MDGs (52 indicators) - Influenced by HIPC Financing: government, HIPC resources, and external assistance. (HIPC completion point July 2004)

GPRS main pillars macroeconomic stability production and employment human resource development protecting the vulnerable and the extremely poor governance and public sector reform M&E conceived as a shared task

III. Country ownership of the GPRS Leadership and coordination across the executive Institutional structure of participation Role and impact internal partners Role and impact of external partners

Leadership and coordination across the executive Government change did not handicap the process NDPC responsible for drafting and coordination Formation of Core Teams according to five cross-sectoral themes. Undefined priorities and insufficient interministerial coordination at the initial stages –Problems between NDPC, the MoF and line ministers –Insufficient technical capacity Key role of president Kufuor from late 2001 in strengthening coordination. –Regular meetings and discussion of priorities at ministerial councils –Improved coordination between the MoF and the MTEF secretariat

Institutional structure of participation NDPC´s core teams received input from a variety of stakeholders –Local government level consultations –Selective Civil Society Organization Participation (NED) –Members from think tanks and academia integrated NDPC´s Core Teams –Parliamentary committee on the GPRS Capacity constraints –Insufficient technical and financial capacity among regional governments and NGOs –Problems to clarify priorities and superficial discussions at consultations Emergence of a consultation culture –Positive steps towards consolidation of consultation –NED as a focal point

Role and impact of internal partners Civil society: substantial participation from selected NGOs - Umbrella NGOs based in Accra played a leading role (others excluded) - Specific input on health and agricultural productivity - Private sector satisfied with the strategy - Trade Unions: critical with the emphasis on “neoliberal” economic policies Parliament: limited participation - GPRS draft presented to Parliament in a plenary debate - Parliamentary committee formed in Superficial report Local governments: limited role - Presented local development plans to the Ministry of Local Government and Rural Development - Obtained an increase in financial resources for improving service delivery. (the percentage of tax revenues that government transfers to local governments increased from 5% to 7,5%)

Role and impact of external partners Strong support of the process without undermining government leadership Carried out analytical work in partnership with local institutions Facilitated and supported local capacity through training and advice Financed consultations Came together and established regular dialogue among themselves and with government Key role in financing implementation –MDBS –SWAPs in agricultural development, education, HIV/AIDS

Country ownership of the KCDF/NPRS Risk of forgetting the poor, especially women/farmers in the northern regions. Bottlenecks in government implementation mechanisms: –alignment between budget, MTEF and GPRS –prioritization –over-reliance on external resources –insufficient governmental capacity M&E and involvement of internal partners in implementation Improve coordination and harmonization between external partners and the government Open issues

IV. A role play on enhancing country ownership of the GPRS Break-out groups identifying 1-2 operational mechanism to foster partnership with other groups/stakeholders - A. Executive: how to involve civil society in M&E and evaluate impact of policy measures at grassroots level - B. Parliament: how to strengthen relations with the executive in monitoring and implementing the GPRS - C. Local government: how to get external partners’ support in the implementation of pro-poor policies - D. External partners: how to strengthen government’s leadership role in coordination What are the actions each group can undertake to deepen country ownership of the GPRS implementation?