The MDGs and pro-poor polices: related but not synonymous

Abstract

"The working paper asks whether the millennium development goals (MDGs) have created opportunities for enlarging pro-poor policy choices at the country level. It concludes that in most countries the policy framework is not yet aligned with the fundamental objective of reducing human poverty. Poverty reduction continues to be seen as an automatic by-product of economic growth and macroeconomic stability. Governments and their partners find it difficult to translate the concept of ‘pro-poor growth’ into practice. Equity continues to be the big absentee in most anti-poverty strategies." (...)