EVALUATING THE POVERTY IMPACT OF PROGRAM AID

To strengthen the help that programme aid gives to poor, we must stren gthen its ability to increase the participation of the poor in growth. To do this requires a detailed appraisal during a programme's prepara tion to identify the expected impact on poverty of both the resource t ransfer of aid and the accompanying policy changes. Without this infor mation opportunities to strengthen growth's benefits for poor people a re missed. Our ability to evaluate the programme's poverty impact is s everely constrained if the programme does not have clear poverty objec tives and if it fails to establish processes for collecting poverty in formation. To improve programme aid we must assess the implications of import support and debt relief for poverty, as well the implications of the countervalue funds provided by programme aid which can help to support budgets for pro-poor services and infrastructure. A range of p articipatory techniques and household surveys should be used to assess these effects, and national capacities to gather the necessary inform ation should be improved as a key priority.