Reducing poverty

Abstract

Since the early 1970s, the World Bank has recognized that economic growth alone will not reduce poverty. Yet it has not fully accepted the fact that effective poverty reduction requires a ‘learning process approach’, rather than the ‘blueprint approach’ commonly used by development agencies. To facilitate the learning process approach, the Bank should consider using qualified intermediary, grass‐roots, and non‐governmental organizations (NGOs); stimulating pluralism and competition; and encouraging cooperation between central and local institutions. However, helping the poor is going to require more administrative resources than heretofore provided, making funds available for careful and flexible project design, staff exposure to poverty conditions and programmes, training in and recruitment of appropriate interdisciplinary fields, monitoring and evaluation, and continual project revision.