With the huge amount of local and donor resources that have recently been pumped into the formulation of Zambia's long term poverty-focused development plan, where is the Poverty Reduction Strategy Paper (PRSP) in the various political party's manifestos?

This is the question raised by Ms. Besinati Mpepo, former Coordinator of Civil Society for Poverty Reduction (CSPR). The CSPR is a network of dozens of Zambian civil society groups (NGOs, churches, trade unions, academics, business associations, women's and youth organisations) that have been actively involved in the formulation of the PRSP over the past year.

The formulation of the PRSP as a development tool is not unique to Zambia but can be seen at various stages in countries around the world today. It is an anti poverty framework designed to provide the nation with a long-term planning document with central focus on poverty. Targeting is directed towards pro-poor growth policies and programmes that should ultimately provide lasting solutions to the poverty crisis.

"Zambia is a country deep in the poverty crisis," said Ms. Mpepo, "since both the government and the World Bank estimates that between 70% and 80% of the population fall below the poverty line." Because of this crisis, those aspiring for political leadership should take very seriously the PRSP and the work done by both government and civil society to assure a successful PRSP.

The CSPR carried out countrywide poverty hearings with an objective of ensuring that the national PRSP really does reflect the views of as many Zambians as possible.

The activities of the CSPR network were aimed at complementing government PRSP activities in the spirit of partnership.

One outstanding achievement of the CSPR was the production of a major study offering a civil society perspective on poverty reduction in areas such as governance, health and HIV/AIDS, agriculture and food security, Employment and sustainable livelihoods, gender, environment, macroeconomics, etc. According to Ms. Mpepo, "We feel that our study and our input into the government PRSP working groups had a significant impact on shaping the draft PRSP that was presented at a government Summit on Poverty Reduction in mid-October." This summit drew a large number of participants from many different backgrounds.

The concern now is will the PRSP end up as another shelved document? Or will it shape effective development efforts in the years ahead? These are questions the political parties and candidates should be paying attention to.