One size doesn't fit all. Learning from India's fight against poverty

In The End of Poverty, Jeffrey Sachs rightly insists on the shared responsibilities of rich and poor countries alike to bring about global poverty reduction. Prof. Sachs, who is an advisor to United Nations Secretary-General Kofi Annan, prescribes a set of interventions specific investments in health, education and infrastructure through which to substantially reduce poverty in developing countries. He calls on developing countries to implement these interventions and calls on developed countries to triple aid from its current level of around $65 billion a year. Aid flows are now relatively unimportant to India but are still greatly important to many developing countries which have limited internal resources, especially smaller countries and those in Sub-Saharan Africa. Prof. Sachs emphasises the role that aid can play in improving conditions in these countries. How can the world best reduce poverty? A practical approach to reducing poverty must guarantee to countries the resources they need and it must allow for experimentation and learning. A system called 'peer and partner review' offers a practical solution. Countries would at a regular interval (perhaps three years) voluntarily submit their plans to reduce poverty to scrutiny by their peers other countries in similar circumstances - and their partners those from whom they receive or to whom they give development assistance. Each review committee would consist of representatives of Governments, independent experts and civil society organisations, and would be empowered to collect and analyse information and hold hearings. The review committee would assess a nation's plan in light of what has worked in the past and based on an examination of the country's present opportunities and constraints. The analysis and recommendations of a peer and partner review committee would be broadly distributed within and outside the country, thereby encouraging public education and debate. A poor country's 'needs and gaps' the resources it requires in order to achieve poverty reduction goals and any shortfall that remains after taking account of the country's own capacity to raise resources - would be identified. Genuine gaps would then be filled through international assistance