Guidelines for preparing PRSPs require that these strategies be prepared with extensive input from a broad range of stakeholders and that countries provide detailed explanations of processes used to secure such participation. Evidence to date indicates that PRSP mechanisms to promote participation often emphasize stakeholders that are urban-based, with relatively sophisticated analytical capabilities, and exclude organizations representing largely rural constituents, especially indigenous peoples.
Governments have sometimes barred stakeholders critical of their policies from participating in PRSP consultations (Waldman et al. 2005). Moreover, governments, NGOs, and international donors often have very different ideas of what constitutes “participation.” Some governments have sought to limit participation merely to dissemination of information to NGOs and other stakeholders, rather than substantive input. NGOs and some donors have pressed for more authentically democratic exercises in which civil society has opportunities to shape the agenda and contribute meaningfully to the design of PRSPs (PRSP Monitoring and Synthesis Project 2002:2-6). The PRSPs reviewed here varied considerably with respect to the efforts made to involve environmental stakeholders and to incorporate input from civil society.
One of the stronger efforts was that of Cambodia, which devotes an entire chapter of its PRSP to describing its participatory processes, including four national workshops. The chapter also describes consultations held by sector and line ministries, provincial consultations, a forum on monitoring and evaluation aspects, an NGO forum, meetings with the private sector, donor involvement, meetings with parliamentarians, and consultations with trade unions. It also acknowledges the need for ongoing consultations as it prepares subsequent versions of the plan (Cambodia 2002:8-12, 164).
Ghana presents an appendix that lists specific comments offered on various drafts of the PRSP and indicates how these comments were addressed. For instance, environment-related issues that were addressed in response to outside input include: the need for greater mainstreaming of environment in the PRSP, the imperative to improve natural resources management as a prerequisite to sustainable production, the role of tenure insecurity as a cause of poverty, the importance of small-scale irrigation and access to land to support farmers, and the need to develop alternative sources of energy (Ghana 2003:216-225).
In Rwanda and Vietnam, dissemination of key documents in local languages helped improve awareness of the PRSP process (Bojö and Reddy 2003b:26).
Addressing disparities in women’s rights and access to land and other productive assets has been shown to be a fundamental aspect of effective poverty reduction strategies. A few of the PRSPs reviewed presented detailed analysis of the impacts of gender on environmental income opportunities as well as detailed proposals for remedying gender-based inequities in countries where women traditionally have not been accorded equal rights and access to ecosystems.
Cambodia notes that, with women accounting for 65 percent of agricultural labor and 75 percent of fisheries production, poverty reduction cannot succeed unless it addresses the roles and needs of women (Cambodia 2002:127). The PRSP sets an explicit goal of ensuring that women and girls receive full legal protection and education about their legal rights to access to land and natural resources. Equal numbers of women and men are to be included in all consultative processes and on all monitoring and evaluation teams (Cambodia 2002:vii). Cambodia sets a goal of ensuring that women, the primary collectors and users of water, ultimately make up half of all members of wateruser associations, and at least 20 percent of such members within three years (Cambodia 2002:113, 128). The government also pledges to address gender disparities through budget allocations as well as policies and programs (Cambodia 2002:136).
Sri Lanka highlights plans for legal reforms to ensure women’s equal rights to inherit land and proposes to encourage women’s self-employment in small-scale fishing through training and extension activities (Sri Lanka 2002:200,213).
Zambia proposes to mainstream gender in its land policies, including the introduction of legal reforms to provide equal land rights for women and ensure women’s access to natural resources. Women’s traditional knowledge of sustainable resource use and management will be integrated into the development of environmental management and extension programs, and 30 percent of all land allocations will be reserved for women applicants (Zambia 2002:54, 114).
