Debt

Since 1998, CIDSE has been advocating for the cancellation of the unpayable debt of the most impoverished countries and has been calling for a human-development approach to debt sustainability at it believes that international debt is a major cause of poverty which threatens the development of people living in these countries. CIDSE has also been urging officials and political leaders in developing countries as well as those in donor/creditor governments and international institutions to adopt poverty reduction as a central goal in their policies and has been calling for a strengthened role of civil society in the design and implementation of the so-called poverty reduction strategies. 

A human development approach to debt sustainability

For countries with unpayable debt burdens and even those with some debts cancelled, past debts and new lending are critical. Sovereign debt management policies are donor-driven, fail to consider their human development dimensions and have not provided a lasting exit from new debt cycles. CIDSE works to influence debt policy to centralise its focus on human development.

Poverty reduction strategies

Poverty Reduction Strategies (PRS) that direct donor support to broader government policies are a positive change. However, in the form that it is currently implemented, the PRS has often been turned into nothing more than a ‘window-dressing’ exercise. Starting in 2000 CIDSE has reviewed successive generations of the PRS design. We work to influence a reform of the overall PRS approach that would bring it more in line with the principles that we consider should underpin it.