A/HRC/5/3 page 14 approach to this problem would have had a superior impact, if it was designed and implemented in conformity with human rights norms. The independent expert analysed in depth some of these policies by examining the prevailing conditions in different countries, in recognition that both the policies and their results would be invariably context specific. If other analysts from different institutions and countries conducted similar exercises, it should be possible to build up a portfolio of case studies enabling a broad generalization to be made. A. Poverty reduction in Africa 29. In the African Continent, considerable experience has been accumulated with the implementation of poverty reduction strategies initiated by the International Monetary Fund (IMF) and the World Bank. Such strategies were based on the recognition that engineering economic growth through structural adjustment programmes may exacerbate inequality and poverty, and in the absence of conscious efforts to mitigate these side effects, social resentment and popular discontent may increase to the extent that it negatively impacts on the growth process. Poverty reduction strategies incorporated in Poverty Reduction Strategy Papers (PRSPs) are meant to counter this tendency. There are usually three main features of all PRSPs, namely macroeconomic reforms and trade liberalization in order to stimulate economic growth; the redirection of social policy towards the provision of welfare services to the poor and the vulnerable and the emphasis on ownership and popular participation. The IMF estimated that GDP growth in PRSP countries averages nearly 5 per cent since the mid-1990s, a marked improvement over the performance between 1980 and 1995, outpacing the growth in non-PRSP countries. Living standards as reflected in the rate of growth of per capita income, which averaged 0 per cent in PRSP countries over the 1980s, and early 1990s, have risen nearly 2.5 per cent per annum since the mid-1990s. Poverty reduction standard as a percentage of GDP has been rising more rapidly in Africa than in other regions and is projected to climb to 8.5 per cent compared to 2.5 per cent in non-African countries. In terms of real social welfare impact, country statistics show that PRSPs are making a visible difference. In Uganda, for example the budgetary allocation for primary education has increased from 19.8 per cent of the budget in 1994-1995, to 26.8 per cent at present; while primary school enrolment increased from 5.3 million in 1997 and is projected to rise to 7 million in 2010. In Tanzania, basic education was allocated an additional 52 per cent in the 2000-2003 budgets, during which net enrolments increased from 57 per cent to 85 per cent. It is noteworthy, however, that the PRSPs in most countries were based on ex post consultations that were not genuinely participatory. The programmes are prepared by technocrats in collaboration with IMF and the World Bank. Consultations with the civil society take place only after the main elements of the strategy have been determined. In the case of Ghana, for example, Fantu Cheru observes that, the interim-PRSP, which was drawn from the World Bank’s 2000-2003 Country Assistance Strategy Document, has nothing to do with poverty but was rather designed to secure additional donor assistance, after the 1999 elections, following the dramatic collapse in the economy’s terms of trade and escalating oil prices.20 Apart from a few countries like Uganda and Ghana, civil society organizations, labour and trade unions and professional associations are sidetracked in the consultation process, and democratic institutions such as the Parliament and political parties are 20 Fantu Cheru (2002) “The PRSP Process in Ghana”, available at http://www.uneca.org/prsp/docs/prsp_final/Ghana.PDF.