Background Paper Prepared For The Africa Regional Workshop On Mainstreaming Urban Poverty Reduction In Sub Sahara Africa

This volume represents a selection of papers presented at the Africa Regional Workshop on Urban Poverty, held in Nairobi, Kenya, in September 1998. The papers are the outputs of the regional programme supported by UNCHS (Habitat) and the Ford Foundation since 1992. The papers published in this volume analyse urban poverty trends in East and Southern Africa, and review different strategies that countries and cities have pursued to address urban poverty.

Using case studies from six sub-Saharan countries, illustrates improving practices in policy processes relating to poverty reduction. Highlights the importance of the constitutional, legal and governance frameworks, the structural configuration of consultation processes, and the role of instruments for obtaining and using information on poverty.

This timely report presents a comprehensive view of the challenges of reconstruction facing the Bosnian authorities during the next three years, acknowledges the considerable difficulties in implementing their agenda, and points to the actions requiring the most urgent attention in the coming months. The report, prepared for the second donors' conference jointly sponsored by the European Union and the World Bank in April 1996, serves two purposes. First, it presents a framework for understanding the challenges facing Bosnia in the critical period ahead as it attempts simultaneously to rebuild its economy, strengthen economic management, and make the transition from a planned to a market economy. Second, it outlines background information on the new state and entity structures that have emerged since the signing of the Dayton and Paris peace accords. The report describes Bosnia's current macroeconomic situation, policies, and recent economic performance and articulates policy options for structural reforms in the public sector and in the enterprise and banking systems.

Sub-Saharan Africa's turnaround over the past couple of decades has been dramatic. After many years in decline, the continent's economy picked up in the mid-1990s. Along with this macroeconomic growth, people became healthier, many more youngsters attended schools, and the rate of extreme poverty declined from 54 percent in 1990 to 41 percent in 2015. Political and social freedoms expanded, and gender equality advanced. Conflict in the region also subsided, although it still claims thousands of civilian lives in some countries and still drives pressing numbers of displaced persons. Despite Africa’s widespread economic and social welfare accomplishments, the region’s challenges remain daunting: Economic growth has slowed in recent years. Poverty rates in many countries are the highest in the world. And notably, the number of poor in Africa is rising because of population growth. From a global perspective, the biggest concentration of poverty has shifted from South Asia to Africa. Accelerating Poverty Reduction in Africa explores critical policy entry points to address the demographic, societal, and political drivers of poverty; improve income-earning opportunities both on and off the farm; and better mobilize resources for the poor. It looks beyond macroeconomic stability and growth—critical yet insufficient components of these objectives—to ask what more could be done and where policy makers should focus their attention to speed up poverty reduction. The pro-poor policy agenda advanced in this volume requires not only economic growth where the poor work and live, but also mitigation of the many risks to which African households are exposed. As such, this report takes a "jobs" lens to its task. It focuses squarely on the productivity and livelihoods of the poor and vulnerable—that is, what it will take to increase their earnings. Finally, it presents a road map for financing the poverty and development agenda.