ABSTRACT
Bangladesh expressed commitment to prepare a poverty reduction strategy paper (PRSP) in the 2000 Bangladesh Development Forum (BDF) 1 meeting. The first meeting in this connection was held on 16 November 2000 under the leadership of the then Finance Minister Mr. Shah M. S. Kibria. The government decided to develop a PRSP drawing on the principles of a Comprehensive Development Framework (CDF) espoused by the former World Bank chief James Wolfensohn and Sector Wide Approach (SWAp) (Deb, Raihan and Ahmed: 2004: 74; Khan: 2005). Initially the government opted for an interim PRSP (I-PRSP) and finalized it by the end of 2003 entitled Bangladesh: A National Strategy for Economic Growth, Poverty Reduction and Social Development. The Economic Relations Division (ERD) of the Finance Ministry under the leadership of the Secretary coordinated I-PRSP preparation activities. By the end of 2005 the government prepared a full PRSP: Unlocking the Potential: National Strategy for Accelerated Poverty Reduction, 2005 (GoB, 2005). In the preparation of the full PRSP the coordination role was shifted to the Planning Commission from the ERD. The preparatory activities for a full blown PRSP in Bangladesh was organized by National Poverty Focal Point (NPFP) in the General Economics Division of the Planning Commission and under the leadership of a National Steering Committee (NSC) headed by the Principal Secretary to the Prime Minister.
