Popular participation and PSIA

1
Popular participation and PSIA

• Olivia McDonald
• Christian Aid, March 2006

2
Christian Aid and PSIA

• Input into the Users Guide
• Steering committee for EURODAD report Open on
  Impact with Save the Children and Trocaire
• HIV and PSIA in Downward Spiral
• Country programmes and partners

3
PSIA Good Practice Principles

• PSIA should
• play a central role in the policy process at the
  start (to inform policy choice), during (to
  improve monitoring) and at the end (for lesson
  learning).
• provide a multi-dimensional and disaggregated
  view of poverty (using qualitative and
  quantitative information from a range of
  disciplines).
• be country-owned and lead.
• facilitate broad stakeholder engagement.
• foster greater transparency and accountability.
• build on national processes and support capacity
  development.
• be pragmatic and appropriate to purpose.

4
Process participation

• Selection of PSIA
• Questions to be analysed
• Research team and design of TOR
• Participatory research methodologies
• Participation in analysis and report drafting
• Receive information about PSIA results
• Input into consequent policy debate
• Monitoring implementation

5
Open on impact?

• Looked at World Bank and IMF performance
• Popular participation in PSIAs
• Transparent dissemination
• Facilitation and country ownership
• Policy options
• Use of social analysis
• PSIA on macroeconomic frameworks

6
Recommendations on participation and transparency

• There should be a presumption of disclosure of
  all in-country analysis that is carried out
  unless there is a clearly stated and justifiable
  reason for not doing so

7
Recommendations on participation and transparency

• Policy research processes should be transparent
  from the beginning of the process and clear
  communication strategies should be designed and
  budgeted from the outset. This includes
  circulation of concept notes, terms of reference,
  presentation and draft reports. All PSIA concept
  notes must outline the proposed dissemination and
  feedback process

8
Recommendations on participation and transparency

• Draft documents should be shared with relevant
  national stakeholders to be properly scrutinised.
  Internal sign-off procedures within the World
  Bank and IMF aimed at quality control should be
  relaxed so as to not delay document release

9
Recommendations on participation and transparency

• The media newspapers, FM radio stations, local
  televisions etc should be used to ensure that
  study conclusions are disseminated and debated.
  Internet posting is not sufficient
• The Bank and Fund should both make their work
  plans for PSIA publicly available

10
Case study Ghana

• Managed by the National Development Planning
  Commission with temporary steering and technical
  committees for each study
• Initial workshops to discuss PSIA opportunities,
  GPRS as starting point, involving relevant
  ministries and departments to come up with
  initial list of 16 topics
• Five studies selected two additional to the
  list
• Weak involvement of and communication to
  parliamentarians, CSOs and the media
• Problems of dissemination and donor support

11
Progress on process?

• Potential
• Generate appropriate policies
• Transformative process that can increase
  participation and build capacity an end in
  itself
• Break the analytical monopoly of the World Bank
  and IMF and encourage open process that utilises
  strengths of different stakeholders
• Current perceptions of civil society
• Good commitments, slow progress