This discussion relies substantially on a commissioned evaluation of the UK aid programme’s support to poverty reduction during the period 1990-7 and, to a lesser extent, on a commissioned research programme on the changing role of government in adjusting economies, a new research programme on urban governance, partnerships, and poverty, and work for the World Health Organization to put poverty reduction at the centre of health policies and programming. The discussion here does not represent the formal conclusions of any of the studies, but rather a personal reflection on the ideas and material thrown up by them.
