Download the full report or browse the report by chapters. The key messages are listed beneath the chapter headings below.
 Full Report: 2004 ARDE (also available in: Español | Français) |
|
| Chapter 1: Reducing Poverty |
 |
Progress on reducing poverty has been patchy and uneven |
|
Rapid economic growth is the major force for reducing poverty, but this remains elusive for the majority of developing countries |
|
The Bank takes a broad, multidimensional view of poverty focusing not just on income poverty but also human development, security, voice, and participation |
|
The Bank's approach to poverty reduction now emphasizes public sector governance, institutional reforms, and empowerment of the poor |
|
| Chapter 2: Poverty Focus at Corporate Level |
|
The Bank has made a serious effort to put poverty reduction at the forefront of its corporate business models, assistance strategies, and projects |
|
There remains scope for further aligning its country business models and global programs to poverty reduction |
|
Linking the Bank's interventions at the country level to poverty reduction will require a sharper results focus |
|
| Chapter 3: Effectiveness at Country Level |
|
The Bank's 2001 poverty reduction strategy is well grounded in the development experience of the 1990s |
|
Economic growth is vital for reducing poverty, and macroeconomic stability is necessary to underpin economic growth |
|
The Bank's country strategies have become more poverty-focused and consistent with the needs of client countries |
|
The lack of country ownership of reforms has constrained the Bank's effectiveness in a number of countries |
|
The Bank needs to expand its assistance for monitoring poverty in order to help design more effective country-level interventions |
|
| Chapter 4: Investment, Jobs, and Growth |
|
The Bank's work on investment climate has improved since the early 1990s |
|
The Bank has increased its efforts to promote reforms in the rule of law and public information |
|
The Bank could do more to harness the synergies between private sector development and public sector reform |
|
Designing appropriate reforms requires understanding the conditions that affect private sector activity in each country |
|
Assessing the impact of the Bank's work on public sector governance would now be timely |
|
| Chapter 5: Empowerment |
|
Substantial lending has been directed to the provision of social services and to social development activities |
|
The Bank has conflated increased expenditures in education and health with reducing poverty, but their actual impact on poverty has been inadequate |
|
The Bank has carried through with its intention to promote empowerment via social development activities, but both the intended and actual poverty impact of this type of intervention remain to be demonstrated |
|
