The PRS as Entry Point for Improving Governance in Fragile States : A Case Study

Abstract

The issue note discusses the rationale for, and presents the initial results of an innovative method of governance support conducted through the preparation and implementation of Poverty Reduction Strategy (PRS) in fragile states. The experiment was conducted in the context of an action and learning program on governance in fragile and conflict affected countries. The note first examines the political economic framework prevailing in fragile states, and particularly the neopatrimonial dynamics which structure political agents behavior, as they have been studied, notably, by Chabal and Daloz; Douglass North, John Wallis and Bary Weingast; and Margaret Levi. The note looks at the relatively brief history of PRSs and notes that they have been reviewed from a classical economics perspective: whether the PRSs' proposed policies 'got it right.' It argues that an institutionalize perspective, on the other hand, will rather look at the institutional processes from which the PRSP is developed, and concludes that PRS support will be more effective if it is focused on issues of methodology and process facilitation rather than analytics. The last chapter describes, in operational terms, the type of PRS support that has been provided through the experiment in the Cote d'Ivoire case: methodological support and process facilitation were provided for the preparation of the PRS policy matrices and the design of its monitoring and evaluation system. It concludes by proposing a set of results that can be monitored to assess the impact of this type of approach, not only for governance in the meaning of the capacity of a state to develop and implement policies, but also for governance in its broader, more traditional meaning.