Minding the Gaps : Integrating Poverty Reduction Strategies and Budgets for Domestic Accountability

The Poverty Reduction Strategy (PRS) approach aims to enhance accountability by promoting the participation of domestic stakeholders in the formulation of clear and realistic development goals. This study offers practical insights for donors and national governments on how to strengthen the links between PRSs and national budgets, with a view to improving domestic accountability. It aims to answer two principal questions:what challenges have arisen in countries where efforts have been made to integrate the PRS with the budget, and what lessons have been generated by these experiences and what are the potential entry points for reforms to strengthen PRS-budget links. To answer these questions, the study reviews a series of case studies that document the status of budget and PRS integration in a sample of nine low-income countries -- Albania, Burkina Faso, Madagascar, Malawi, Mali, Mozambique, Rwanda, Tanzania, and Uganda -- and the links among policies, budgets, and service delivery in four higher-income countries that are internationally considered to be successful reformers in public financial management -- Australia, Chile, the Republic of Korea, and South Africa.