The Poverty Reduction Strategy (PRS) is a country-based process which leads to the formation of a

Poverty Reduction Strategy Paper Poverty Reduction Strategy Papers (PRSPs) are documents required by the International Monetary Fund (IMF) and World Bank before a country can be considered for debt relief within the Heavily Indebted Poor Countries (HIPC) initiative. PRSPs are als ...

. The paper is then presented to major donors such as the

International Monetary Fund The International Monetary Fund (IMF) is a major financial agency of the United Nations, and an international financial institution, headquartered in Washington, D.C., consisting of 190 countries. Its stated mission is "working to foster glo ...

(IMF) and the

World Bank The World Bank is an international financial institution that provides loans and grants to the governments of low- and middle-income countries for the purpose of pursuing capital projects. The World Bank is the collective name for the Inte ...

for approval. Approval allows foreign aid to be given to the country. Approval was given to Honduras on August 20, 2001. Honduras' goal was to reduce the rate of poverty in the nation from 70 percent to 40 percent by 2015. The PRS was a continuation of the "Master Plan for Reconstruction and National Transformation." The PRS had an annual budget of 4.4 million

Honduran lempira The lempira (, sign: L, ISO 4217 code: HNL;) is the currency of Honduras. It is subdivided into 100 centavos. Etymology The lempira was named after the 16th-century ''cacique'' Lempira, a ruler of the indigenous Lenca people, who is renow ...

s which was distributed in about 300 million lempira lots to each of 18 of the Honduran Government departments. The funds were to be used for specific projects aimed at benefiting communities.

History

In 1999, 66 percent of Hondurans were poor. At that time, it was expected that an investment of $2.6 million US dollars would reduce this figure by 42 percent. A broad framework for reduction of poverty in Honduras was developed in consultation with the Honduran people. It was felt that consultation with the people was essential for community ownership and this in turn was essential for the strategy's long term sustainability. The broad framework was developed through a participatory process between January 2000 and May 2001. 3,500 people representing community organisations participated. In many cases, the representatives brought with them mandates which were based on grassroots consultations with their members.

Strategies

The PRS covered a number of areas. In the area of education and literacy, the PRS aimed to have 70 percent of children completing year 10 (junior) at secondary school by 2015. In the area of diet and nutrition, the PRS aimed to reduce childhood

malnutrition Malnutrition occurs when an organism gets too few or too many nutrients, resulting in health problems. Specifically, it is "a deficiency, excess, or imbalance of energy, protein and other nutrients" which adversely affects the body's tissues ...

; and provide access to potable water to 95 percent of the population. In the area of communication, the PRS planned to provide electricity to eighty percent of the general population; and provide

landline A landline (land line, land-line, main line, home phone, fixed-line, and wireline) is a telephone connection that uses metal wires or optical fiber telephone line for transmission, as distinguished from a mobile cellular network, which uses ...

s to at least 15 percent of the population. The PRS also aimed for Honduras to reach a score of 0.77 in an index of relative human development with respect to

gender equality Gender equality, also known as sexual equality or equality of the sexes, is the state of equal ease of access to resources and opportunities regardless of gender, including economic participation and decision-making; and the state of valuing d ...

. Under the PRS, at least 20 percent of Honduran forest would be protected from clearing.

Finance

The PRS received an investment of US $2,666 million (53 billion

s) distributed over 15 years. That is, four billion lempiras per annum. Each department received about 300 million lempiras per annum. The funding came from the government and from the income of

privatized Privatization (also privatisation in British English) can mean several different things, most commonly referring to moving something from the public sector into the private sector. It is also sometimes used as a synonym for deregulation when ...

entities. A PRS advisory board administered the funds with 1.55 percent allocated to economic development, 2.35 percent to education, health and cultural projects and 3.10 percent allocated to the development of public institutions and governance. The funding was supervised by representatives of the executive branch of the Honduran government; the PRS advisory board; the Fund for the Reduction of Poverty (FRP); members of the technical support unit (UNAT); members of the National Management Evaluation System (SINEG); the National Institute of Statistics (INE); the Unit for Efficiency and Transparency (UPET); local government; private institutions; and non-government organisations.

Result

In 2011, the PRS had been ineffectual in reducing poverty and outcomes were worse than prior to its implementation. From 2011 to 2012, rates of poverty in Honduras rose by five percent.

Transparency

Initially, the PRS website documented the project's spending but in 2010, the website was removed.

References

{{Reflist

External links

Documents of the ERP

First quarterly report of 2004

Second quarterly report of 2004

Third quarterly report of 2004

First quarterly report of 2005

Second quarterly report of 2005
Honduran culture Economy of Honduras Education in Honduras Health in Honduras