The PRSP initiative was launched in September 1999 as a condition for debt relief and concessional lending from the World Bank and IMF.  It was based on the Bank’s four CDF principles: (i) long-term, holistic vision; (ii) country ownership; (iii) country-led partnership; (iv) results focus.  Countries were given detailed guidelines for preparing PRSPs in the World Bank’s PRSP Sourcebook. 

From the outset, many observers pointed out the contradiction of using external conditionality to compel the production of a country-owned strategy.  Many questioned whether the first generation of PRSPs were genuinely country owned.  Furthermore, producing a comprehensive PRSP, based on realistic priorities and linked to the budget process, was an extremely ambitious undertaking for most developing countries.  Some feared that PRSPs would become nothing more than wish lists of development projects. 

Now that many countries have produced a second- or even third-generation PRSP, however, the nature of the debate has changed.  In countries like Vietnam, the principles of the PRSP have been incorporated into the regular planning process.  Donors have become less directive as to the form and content of national development strategies, to encourage greater country ownership.  However, there are still questions as to how effective the approach has been in many countries.

The first three documents present the views of the PRSP initiative’s original sponsor, the World Bank.

Independent assessments of the PRSP initiative during the early years tended to be quite critical, suggesting that the approach was structural adjustment in a new guise, and that countries were preparing PRSPs merely to satisfy donor conditions.  More recent literature, however, acknowledges that the initiative is beginning to make significant changes to national planning processes, although many practical challenges remain.