STUDENT ID: 10711813

CAMPUS: MAIN

ARTICLE TITLE:

INTERNATIONAL ORGANIZATIONS AND IDEAS ABOUT POVERTY IN

SUB-SAHARAN AFRICA.

AUTHORS:

ROSINA FOLI AND DANIEL BELAND

KEY CONCEPTS AND THEMES:

International Bank For Reconstruction and Development (IBRD)

Organisation for Economic Co-operation and Development(OECD)

Poverty Reduction Strategy Papers (PRSP)

Poverty Eradication Action Plan (PEAP)

International Monetary Fund (IMF)

Civil Society Organizations

International Organizations (IO’s)

Sub-Saharan Africa (SSA).

Sector-Wide Approaches

Developing Countries

World Bank (WB)

Social Policy

Poverty

Africa

Ideas

INTRODUCTION

The aim of the study was to investigate critically how international organizations

shape and reshape ideas concerning poverty and anti-poverty policies in Sub-Saharan

Africa by narrowing the focus on the World Bank and the OECD. These two

institutions are brought to focus because they have had an age-long relationship with

SSA countries and have made magnificent contributions to development policy in the

region. On the strength of this, this essay will be reviewing the paper by pointing out

the key arguments, flaws and strengths as well as important goals in order to learn

more about how the IO’s influences attitudes toward poverty and anti-poverty

programs in SSA.

KEY FINDINGS AND ARGUMENTS

The involvement of international organizations (IOs) in domestic policymaking is

recognized as one of the critical changes experienced in the globalized world (Krieger,

2005). The authors argued that, through ideas, IO’s have a massive influence on the

domestic social policies of nations. The transnational ideas originating from IO’s is

key to shaping the social policies of nations right from the policy conception stage to

the implementation stage.

In the fourth section, Foli and Beland traced the changing ideas about poverty from

the perspective of the World Development Reports while assessing the role of

the WB and the OECD in SSA anti-poverty policy development.

Furthermore, the researchers found that Structural Adjustment programs introduced

by the WB heightened the relationship between SSA countries and the Bank by

increasing its role in shaping policy development, using primarily the mechanism of

conditionalities (Aina et al, 2004).

The OECD’s involvement in SSA to promote poverty eradication and development

intensified from the 1990s with the adoption of the policy blueprint “Shaping the

Twenty-First Century: The Contribution of Development Cooperation,” which

outlined guidelines toward the effective promotion of economic transformation within

developing countries using the mechanism of measurable objectives (OECD, 2001b).

The authors also noted that, subsequent to the 1995 United Nations Summit on Social

Development and the Copenhagen Declaration—where world leaders committed to

set measurable, time-bound targets toward poverty reduction—various SSA countries

made significant changes to their development policies.

Moreso, one of the stakeholders consulted in the preparation of the poverty reduction

strategy policy document are IOs. International Organizations served as donors, or

referred to as developing partners in the policy document.

Also, in their study of the policy development process in Uganda as the case,

Nyamugasira and Rowden (2002) showed instances where policies that were

generated by local actors in the consultation process were replaced by IO preferred

policy options following exclusive meetings between the government and some IOs.

This was corroborated by the government, which indicated that the Poverty

Eradication Action Plan (PEAP) formulated with the participation of citizens is

expected to constitute the basis of government policy, “in practice, some instruments

such as IMF program and the World Bank’s Poverty Reduction Support Credit often

involve commitments which go into more detail than the PEAP”

Again, the researchers found other ways the WB and OECD members can influence

anti-poverty ideas and policymaking in SSA countries include the regional (African)

and country-level consultative group meetings, sector-wide approaches (Linde &

Terwindt, 2005).

SOURCE OF FUNDING FOR THE STUDY

Daniel Beland indicated assistance from the Canada Research Chairs Program.

STRENGTHS OF THE PAPER

I discovered three outstanding features about the article which are worth noting.

Firstly, the research confirmed earlier studies. The authors labored to do an extensive

enquiry into earlier findings and found similarities between their work and that of

previous ones which confirmed earlier studies. Their writings confirmed the findings

made by earlier researchers by referring to a previous research finding on privatizing

pension schemes. For example, Madrid (2005) maintained the belief that pension

privatization is efficacious and that the strength of reform advocates was key to policy

change. In a similar way,(Red) Gilbert (2004) showed that the contemporary

“transformation of the welfare state” has been spurred in part by changes in

underlying policy ideas.

Secondly, the research differs from previous studies. A good research is one that

brings something new to the table of researchers. Foli and Beland demonstrated this

quality by bringing to the limelight the absence of knowledge when it comes to the

role OECD’S play in SSA. Unlike the WB, whose activities in SSA are well known

(partly because of its fundamental role in the 1980s Structural Adjustment Programs),

the OECD’s role in SSA is much less known.

Lastly, the study built upon previous research. In their introduction, they based their

study on a historical analysis and a review of relevant literature, including reports and

publications of these two organizations. In the case of the WB, much attention focuses

on its World Development Reports, as well as some of its studies about

specific SSA countries.

LIMITATIONS OF THE PAPER

In the study, I found three great flaws that need to be recognized in order to influence

future research on the role of IOs in the shaping of poverty ideas and policies at the

domestic level.

Firstly, the above analysis did not offer an in-depth, country-specific analysis of the

involvement of IOs in the development of domestic policy ideas and programs about

poverty. The authors did not conduct a thorough investigation into this, and the
researcher eventually resorted to utopian language. This is due to the fact that the

research of the authors was hinged on book knowledge instead of practical

knowledge.

Secondly, the study was limited to only sub-saharan countries, which is only one of

the regions of the world in which IOs may strongly affect country-level ideas and

policies. In this context, similar studies about other regions of the world could

improve the comparative and global knowledge of the role of international

organizations in the construction of poverty ideas and anti-poverty policies.

THE IMPACT OF THE STUDY ON FUTURE RESEARCH

Due to the limitations mentioned above, future in-depth case studies could improve

the understanding of the role of IOs in the formulation of domestic poverty ideas and

policies. The study only focused on SSA, which is only one of the regions of the

world in which IOs may strongly affect country-level ideas and policies. In this

context, similar studies about other regions of the world could improve comparative

and global knowledge of the role of international organizations in the construction of

poverty ideas and anti-poverty policies.

CONCLUSION

The study explored the WB’s and the OECD’s influence on the

changing ideas about poverty in sub-Saharan African (SSA). Using

the WB and OECD publications together with other studies, the analysis suggested

that the role of the WB and the OECD in SSA has transcended the issue of coercion to
more subtly shape national-level debates about poverty and policies aimed at fighting

it. The article has shown that IO ideas about poverty are gradually changing over time,

which points to the fact that, at the conceptual level, IOs are more flexible than the

traditional policy literature tends to suggest. Using the idea of deprivations to broaden

the concept of poverty signifies the interrelated nature of political, social, and

economic development.

REFERENCES

Linde, M. V., & Terwindt, F. (2005). Evaluation of the sector wide approach as

applied by the Dutch development cooperation: Working document Burkina Faso.

Retrieved from http://www.oecd.org/ dataoecd/46/13/39436439.pdf

Nyamugasira, W., & Rowden, R. (2002). New strategies, old loan conditions: Do the

new IMF & World Bank loans support countries’ poverty reduction strategies? The

case of Uganda. Retrieved from

http://internationalbudget.org/wp-content/uploads/New-Strategies-Old-Loan-Conditio

ns-Do-the-New IMF-and-World-Bank-Loans-Support-Countries-Poverty-Reduction-

Strategies-The-Case-of-Uganda. Pdf

Krieger, J. (2005). Globalization and state power. New York: Pearson Education

(Longman). Kuivalainen, S., & M. Niemela¨. (2010). “From universalism to

selectivism: The ideational turn of the anti-poverty policies in Finland.” Journal of

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OECD. (2001b). The DAC guidelines: Poverty reduction. Paris: Organization for

Economic Cooperation and Development.

Aina, T. A.,Chachage, C. S. & Annan-Yao, E. (2004). Globalization and social policy

in Africa. Dakar: CODESRIA.