Democratic Republic of São Tomé And Príncipe : Poverty Reduction Strategy Paper

Executive Summary The first NPRS was drafted in 2002 and the authorities promised to reduce the percentage of the Saotomean population living in poverty (53.8 percent) by half in 2010 and by two-thirds in 2015, and to decrease the percentage of the population living in extreme poverty from 15.1 percent to 4.9 percent. In December 2005 a Priority Action Program (PAP 2006-2008) was submitted to the partners at the Brussels Round Table with a view to forming a partnership for good governance and poverty reduction that would make it possible to respond to the need to achieve the Millennium Development Goals. This exercise in negotiating with technical and financial partners was continued at the sectoral round tables held in São Tomé in December 2006 and a Coordination Meeting held in Santo António in the Autonomous Region of Príncipe in October 2007. Despite these initiatives, implementation of the National Poverty Reduction Strategy (NPRS-I) fell short of expectations, as evidenced by the progress reports and impact assessments for the policies and programs implemented. In light of this situation and the challenges faced in pursuing poverty reduction actions, São Tomé and Príncipe took the initiative to draft an updated National Poverty Reduction Strategy (NPRS-II) for the purpose of refocusing poverty reduction interventions for the period 2012- 2016. To that end, the present National Poverty Reduction Strategy Paper (NPRS-II) is informed by the participatory spirit and process that guided the preparation of the NPRS-I and is linked and coordinated with previous policy and planning instruments to create a new strategic framework, which incorporates a number of changes that have occurred at the national and international spheres, as well as new policy guidelines and concerns expressed by both the cooperation partners and the beneficiaries. This strategy is the result of a long process, which seeks to reconcile São Tomé’s aspirations with the opinions of the different national, regional, and district public institutions, as well as nongovernmental organizations, technical and financial partners, the private sector, and organized civil society