Southern Africa: A review of regional strategies addressing poverty

Strategies that governments in Sub-Saharan Africa have pursued over the last three to four decades have all sought to raise not only the Human Development Index but bring about comprehensive development as well. These strategies started with national development plans and inward looking import substitutions and protectionist policies. This review from the Malawi Economic Justice Network provides an overview of the process, outcomes and content, within the region's socio-political context, examining the pathways that were available to different stakeholders for engagement in the process, and how this participation and strategies are reflected in the policy outcomes. The paper further endeavours to catalyse thinking in analysing how the relationship between the conception and practice of the 'popular' Poverty Reduction Strategy Papers to previous initiatives such as the Structural Adjustment Programmes (SAPs), the advent of the New Partnership for Africa's Development (NEPAD), let alone the new opportunities offered for poverty reduction in Africa.