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6.
FROM FRAMEWORK TO ACTION
The Framework defines a setting in which the poor are enabled and empowered to take
advantage of a pro-poor growth strategy; are provided a set of effective and efficient
social protection services; and are increasingly empowered to give voice to their
collective concerns. Concerted and co-operative action by a wide range of stakeholders
will be needed to transform the vision and strategies outlined in this Framework into
meaningful action.
Government is but one of many actors involved in the poverty reduction process. The
private sector, NGOs and community-based organizations will undoubtedly play a key
role in poverty reduction efforts. Where at all possible, the Government will encourage
the involvement of the private sector, NGOs and community groups to achieve the
objectives outlined in this Framework.
The Framework defines a poverty reduction trajectory in which the poor increasingly take
advantage of the opportunities created in a private-sector led market economy.
Government will continue to provide essential infrastructure, social services and social
protection services to poor communities. The aim is not to eliminate poverty through
direct public intervention---past experience suggests that this is unlikely to succeed---but
to facilitate a process in which the poor become active participants in a rapidly growing
market economy.
As important as what Government and its partners in civil society will do to realise the
vision outlined in this Framework are the measures that Government will not pursue.
With the possible exception of small and episodic public works efforts, public
employment will not be pursued as a strategy for overcoming impoverishment. The use
of Government employment to create jobs for the poor exacerbates an already difficult
fiscal burden and degrades the quality of services provided by the state to the poor.
The Government can enable and encourage the participation of the poor in a private
sector led growth process, but the Government cannot and will not attempt to direct this
process. Within the limits posed by fiscal and administrative constraints, the poor will be
provided the skills, market access, enabling policy environment, social protection and
institutional empowerment necessary to prosper in the market economy. Bearing in mind
the need to continually enhance competitiveness, the Government will avoid unnecessary
interference in the operation of private markets.
The Framework for Poverty Reduction provides a broad consensus on a rational, effective
and pragmatic set of policies for poverty reduction. As a result of a wide-ranging
consultative process, difficult strategic choices across and within sectors have been made,
and a fundamental reorientation of efforts in the public, private and non-governmental
sectors will need to be induced. Within Government, the Framework will have to be
translated into sectoral policies and programmes, while existing ones will have to be
reviewed in the context of the Framework.
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The Framework, as presently prepared, envisions a difficult public sector resource
outlook for at least the decade to come. The actual resource envelope available for
poverty reduction efforts will depend on a number of variables that are difficult to predict,
such as the realization of a lasting peace, the willingness of the private sector to support
infrastructure investment and the international economic environment. More detailed
sectoral and sub-sectoral strategies, programs and policies will need to be formulated,
consistent with the strategic choices outlined in the Framework. The availability and
suitability of these complementary efforts will also influence the pace and breadth at
which the Framework can be implemented. The annual budget and the public sector
investment programme will be formulated to ensure that the costs of the various public
initiatives identified in the Framework are within the range of the public sector resource
envelope. National plans can indicate the likely distribution of poverty reduction costs
amongst the public, private and non-profit sectors. National and sectoral plans could also
specify poverty reduction targets, defined spatially and by many of the multiple human
and social dimensions of impoverishment.
There is a need to harmonize poverty reduction efforts with the many important initiatives
underway to enhance the quality of economic management. Greater regard for poverty
reduction measures will need to be incorporated into other exercises regularly undertaken
by the Government. Efforts to review and reorient public expenditures to deliver results,
to rationalize the role of Government, to mainstream gender considerations and to address
structural impediments to growth and development will need to be designed in a manner
consistent with the pro-poor initiatives outlined in the Framework.
The Framework itself will also need to be harmonized with initiatives that are likely to
have a major impact on either poverty conditions or on the opportunities available to
reduce the ranks of the poor. The most important of these is undoubtedly the progress
made in ending the nation’s protracted ethnic conflict. In particular, it is anticipated that
the parallel RRR framework process will define a strategy for national reconciliation and
reconstruction that will complement the initiatives outlined in this Framework. In light of
the evolving security situation, and the initiatives outlined in the RRR, both the Poverty
Reduction Framework and the pace at which it is implemented may need to be modified.
Support from Sri Lanka’s development partners will be required to help finance and assist
in the implementation of the measures outlined in the Framework. At present, the
Government is actively preparing country assistance strategies, and a poverty agreement
with the Asian Development Bank, other bilateral donors and the World Bank. These
near-term multilateral and bilateral efforts are aimed at defining more clearly poverty
reduction initiatives in specific sectors and programs. Depending on policy concerns and
comparative advantage of perspective donors, assistance for specific slices of the poverty
Framework will be secured. These and other external assistance efforts should be fully
cognizant of the priority accorded by Government to the strategies and initiatives for
poverty reduction provided in this Framework. Consistent with the decade-long vision of
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the Poverty Reduction Framework, the Government is committed to working with
multilateral donors on refining long-run strategies for poverty reduction.
Ultimately, any action taken by the public, private and non-governmental sectors will
impact on poverty. By definition, no poverty Framework can be fully complete, and most
certainly there are sectors, activities, and services which can be reoriented to make a more
effective contribution to poverty reduction. In areas not specifically discussed in the
Framework, the challenge is to draw on these strategic choices and directions to apply a
common, coordinated approach to poverty reduction.
Still, there are gaps in our knowledge and understanding of the causes, consequences and
strategies to be pursued in poverty reduction. Very little, in fact, is known about the
extent of poverty in the Northeast. The gender dimensions of poor households and the
best approach to overcome infant malnutrition are areas where more research is needed.
Until a lasting peace is restored, the appropriate strategy for rehabilitation and economic
reconstruction cannot be fully defined although planning efforts and minor rehabilitation
activity can be undertaken.
Similarly, the decentralization process is still unfolding, and it is intimately linked to farreaching processes of constitutional and administrative reform. Experience, analysis and
reflection is bound to provide valuable lessons about the path to decentralization most
suitable for Sri Lanka.
The Framework will certainly need to be periodically revisited, as progress is made, as
knowledge gaps are filled and as major, unanticipated changes in the setting for the poor
arise. In a rapidly evolving global environment, implementation of the Poverty Reduction
Framework must be flexible enough to adapt to changing circumstances. While strategic
choices have been made in this Framework, there is a need to learn more and to revise the
Framework based on new knowledge and understanding. Poverty research and analysis is
needed to fill knowledge gaps and to augment our understanding in areas where progress
is still lacking. After a span of some years, a revised version of the Framework should be
generated, taking into consideration new knowledge and the lessons learned from
implementation to date.
Better poverty monitoring efforts need to be put in place, for the extent, causes and
consequences of poverty will change over time. Improvement and standardization of
poverty benchmarks, the collection of better data sets and more timely monitoring of
poverty reduction---in its many dimensions---will be needed. The Government will
assess the degree to which core public services are reaching the poor. Moreover, the
Department of Census and Statistics, working together with development partners,
University researchers and NGOs, will be challenged to define an agenda for improving
poverty monitoring and analysis that is in addition to the five-year household
consumption and expenditure survey. Increasingly poor communities must play a more
direct and active role in monitoring and evaluating progress in poverty reduction
initiatives. Ultimately, they are best able to assess progress in poverty reduction.
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The consultative process that has generated this Framework has combined inputs from
Government, sector specialists, the donor community and a number of non-governmental
organizations. Broad-based participation has enriched this process with the lessons of
international and domestic efforts to reduce poverty. The consultative process should be
continued as the implementation of the poverty Framework proceeds. Active, critical and
co-operative participation by a wide range of stakeholders will be needed if the initiatives
outlined in the Framework are to be realized.
It was Albert Einstein who remarked: “If at first the idea is not absurd, then there is no
hope for it." To some, the notion that Government, its development partners, the private
sector, non-governmental and community organizations could join forces to devise and
act upon a Framework to combat poverty must seem like an absurd idea indeed. But if
this same spirit of open, positive stakeholder co-operation is continued in acting upon the
principles and strategies outlined in this Framework, then there is every reason to hope
that Sri Lanka’s poverty problem will be mitigated in the decades to come.
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