In 1997, the government of Tanzania adopted its National Poverty Eradication Strategy. The strategy has the ambitious target of reducing abject poverty by 50 percent by 2010. This year, Tanzania quali?ed for debt relief under the enhanced Highly Indebted Poor Countries (HIPC) initiative. A Poverty Reduction Strategy Paper (PRSP) has been prepared for submission to the World Bank and the International Monetary Fund. The PRSP brings together in a coherent framework all of the Tanzanian government’s programs aimed at poverty reduction. It provides an opportunity to adopt a more systematic approach to monitoring and evaluating the impact of Tanzania’s ?ght against poverty by giving stakeholders more coherent and extensive assessment of trends. The PRSP allows a systematic assessment of how the entire development effort is contributing to poverty eradication and can help stakeholders to adjust strategies where necessary. This in turn helps ensure that targets are met and progress is made towards the ambitious goals of the National Poverty Eradication Strategy. Monitoring and evaluation (M&E) of the Poverty Reduction Strategy will take place at
different levels. Firstly, the M&E system will be used to assess the effect of the strategy on key impact and outcome indicators relating to income poverty, quality of life and social well-being. Secondly, the system will review intermediate indicators more directly linked to the activities speci?ed in the PRSP. Both the effect of sectoral activities and the creation of an enabling environment will be assessed. The M&E system for the Poverty Reduction Strategy will involve a wide range of stakeholders at national, regional, district, ward and community levels. These will include the government, civil society, the private sector, research institutions and the poor themselves. The government intends to sustain participation beyond the production of the PRSP into implementation, monitoring and evaluation.