REPUBLIC OF CHAD
Unity – Work - Progress
MINISTRY OF PLANNING,
DEVELOPMENT AND COOPERATION
PRSP Steering Committee
National Poverty
Reduction
Strategy Paper
N’Djamena – June 2003
1 PREFACE
Poverty is just as much a challenge today as it ever was, as the recent improvement in
Africa’s economic situation is still insufficient and the continent remains relegated to
the sidelines of the world economy. Most reports produced recently stress the
specificities of sub-Saharan Africa where the number of poor in absolute terms
continues to increase, whereas progress has been made in other regions of the world.
Indeed, it seems that minimum growth rates of 5-8 percent will be needed to have an
effective impact on economic and social development.
Chad’s main objective is to implement an economic policy that will bring about lasting
and sustainable development, particularly in the oil era. This development must
involve high growth rates holding steady over a relatively long period. The PRSP has
proven to be the instrument of choice in attaining this objective. This exercise is not
new; the Government of Chad had already submitted a paper to the Geneva IV Round
Table in 1998 outlining the key strategic options for development based on “poverty
reduction.”
The Government wanted the preparation of the National Poverty Reduction Strategy
(NPRS) to be participatory. For this reason, it set up a steering committee in April
2000 comprising some 30 members from the public sector, private sector, civil society
associations (NGOs, women’s organizations, youth organizations, the public and
private media, etc.) and the National Assembly.
For three years, the steering committee worked tirelessly on the paper so that it would
better reflect the concerns of the Chadian population. A number of different activities
were carried out:
• a launching seminar (April 25 –27, 2000);
• a study on the perceptions of well being and poverty (April-June 2000);
• 10 thematic and sectoral studies (May-July 2000);
• a civil society forum (November 2000);
• country-wide participatory consultations (December 2000-January 2001),
• an assessment of typical intervention through some existing projects (February-
March 2001) ;
• a national seminar to define strategic areas and priority actions (May 8-12,
2001);
• regional seminars to re-establish strategic areas and priority actions and adopt
performance indicators and a monitoring/assessment mechanism (March 19-21,
2002).
All these components progressively refined the various versions of the PRSP, which
was also enhanced with the input of Chad’s development partners, particularly the
United Nations System, World Bank, IMF, European Union, France, and GTZ.
2 Having adopted the Millennium Development Goals (MDG), Chad shares the opinion
of the rest of the world that the PRSP is, first and foremost, a strategy that reflects the
expectations of the general population and the resources that the Government must
deploy to enable that population to increase its standard of well-being. It is possible
that some data presented in this report may be incomplete or partial, however the
strategic issues and priority actions are consistent overall, and the Government and its
partners are adhering to them. Subsequent revisions of the document will provide the
opportunity to adjust certain quantitative indicators in light of new data from current
surveys, in particular ECOSIT (survey of informal sector consumption), EDST
(demographic and health survey), and the census.
The document that the Government has just adopted will be submitted to the donor
community in the coming months for them to sign on. Until then, the steering
committee and the sectoral ministries (with the support of partners represented on the
ground) will undertake a thorough evaluation of projects and programs by sector of
activity.
The implementation and follow-up of the PRSP will once again call for a more
decentralized and participatory consensus-building approach. In the interest of
transparency and good governance, the structures to be created will work in
conjunction with regional and local governments to ensure that the expenditure
executed within the framework of the PRSP will actually reach the targeted
beneficiaries. The Government, for its part, will spare no effort to ensure that this
strategy truly reduces poverty by 2015.
N’Djamena, June 5, 2003
/s/
Djimrangar Dadnadji
Minister of Plan, Development and Cooperation
3 TABLE OF CONTENTS
Introduction ..........................................................................................................................10
Chapter 1 Background and Process for Preparation of the PRSP..............................11
1.1 The International, Regional and National Background .....................................11
1.1.1 The International and Regional Context ..........................................................11
1.1.2 The National Context .......................................................................................12
1.2 Presentation of the Participatory Process ............................................................15
1.2.1 The Steering Committee in Chare of the Strategy Preparation Process...........15
1.2.2 The Strategy Preparation Process.....................................................................16
Chapter 2 Diagnostic Assessment of Poverty in Chad ..................................................18
2.1 Profile of Poverty in Chad .....................................................................................19
2.1.1 Quantitative Analysis of Poverty......................................................................19
2.1.2 Qualitative Analys........................................................................23
2.1.2.1 Poverty and Well-Being as Perceived by the Population ..........................23
2.1.2.2 Lessons Drawn from Participatory Consultations....................................24
2.1.3 Typification of Poor Households .....................................................................28
2.2 Vulnerable Social Groups......................................................................................32
Chapter 3 Determinants of Poverty and Opportunities in Chad.................................36
3.1 Determinants of Poverty ........................................................................................36
3.1.1. Governance.......................................................................................................36
3.1.2. Modest Economic Growth ...............................................................................38
3.1.2.1 Low Productivity in the Primary Sector...................................................38
3.1.2.2 A Practically Nonexistent Processing Sector ...........................................40
3.1.2.3 A Largely Unproductive Tertiary Sector..................................................41
3.1.3 Highly Deficient Human Resources and Living Conditions............................41
3.1.3.1 Education, Training, and Literacy Classes ...............................................41
3.1.3.2 Inadequate Health Care Coverage and Hypothetical Nutrition ................42
3.1.3.3 HIV/AIDS.................................................................................................44
3.1.3.4 Status of Women in Chad.........................................................................
3.1.3.5 Lack of Social Protection .........................................................................44
3.1.4 Inappropriate and Dilapidated Basic Economic Infrastructure ........................44
3.1.4.1 The Road Network ...................................................................................44
3.1.4.2 Energy.......................................................................................................45 3.1.4.3 Telecommunication..................................................................................
3.1.4.4. The Banking System and Microfinance ...................................................46
3.1.5. Other Obstacles to Poverty Reduction .............................................................46
3.1.5.1 Debt..........................................................................................................46 3.1.5.2 Demographic Factors...............................................................................47
3.1.5.3 Explosive Remnants of War, Factors Exacerbating Poverty....................
3.2 Chad’s Strengths ....................................................................................................49
3.2.1 Opportunities49
3.2.2 The Long-Term Outlook for Growth and Development ..................................51
3.2.2.1 The Oil Boom Era ....................................................................................51
3.2.2.2 The Highly Indebted Poor Countries (HIPC) Initiative............................51
4
Chapter 4 The Overall Outlook for Development Through 2015................................52
4.1 An Integrated Vision of Poverty Reduction Combined with
the Preparation of the Post-Oil Boom Era...........................................................52
4.2 Poverty Reduction Targets from 2003 to 2015 ....................................................54
4.2.1 Promote Good Governance ..............................................................................54
4.2.1.1 Consolidation of the Rule of Law ............................................................55
4.2.1.2 Role of the State, the Private Sector, and Civil Society...........................55
4.2.1.3 Efficient and Transparent Management