It said this bias dims the actual objective of development projects that are implemented by both the government and non-governmental organisations (NGOs).

The study titled 'Implementation of Policies for Reducing Chronic Poverty PRS Country Study: Bangladesh' was conducted by the Economic Research Group during October 2006- May 2007.

It looked into issues of policy implementation at 3 tiers: Identification of pro-poor programmes and projects at policy levels; implementation of policy within each programme/project to identify activities; and implementation of activities that are considered pro-poor.

The team said targeting poor and the process of identifying poor are major challenges and suggested innovation of new programmes that have the right balance of operational criteria.

They lamented that 'biases in the selection of project areas are often influenced by the constituency of the civil servants or political leaders having the authority to approve the project.'

The team also found that disproportionate negligence of the southern coastal regions in the poverty maps drawn from small area estimation exercises had influenced resource allocations in government programmes, as well as the spatial distribution of NGO programmes.

Finding worsening poverty situation in the south, they felt it urgent to immediately revise such regional bias in allocation of resources.

The study group comprising of economists Sajjad Zohir, Abantee Harun, Naser Farid and Iftekharul Huq also remarked that the Poverty Reduction Strategy Paper (PRSP) had failed to account for the current misallocation of resources arising out of ill-construed spatial poverty mapping.

The study found no homogeneous category of chronic poor in the country and recommended appropriate multiple approaches to face the problem.

A special emphasis is required to initiate the process of innovating pro-poor technologies, it suggested, also asking for modifying implementation designs through learning.

In the process of the study, areas where improvements might be made in policy and policy processes relevant for reducing chronic poverty in the country have also been identified.

In realizing the broad objective of assessing progresses made in executing policies (in PRSP) aimed at reducing chronic poverty, the team undertook a mapping exercise and identified policy space meant for the chronic poor.

The study involved desk reviews and analyses of secondary data. The team also undertook field studies through interviews and FGDs for selected programmes/projects in selected areas.

While one would hesitate to predict on any outcome, there is a broad consensus that politics, policymaking and policy implementation will no more be the same in Bangladesh. In such a context, the findings of the study will be useful inputs to shaping a new future, the Economic Research Group hoped.

The group in its study said unfortunately, there is no common understanding, at the level of policymakers, of a policy category called the 'chronic' (or, extreme or ultra) poor. The PRSP, put together with the assistance of local consultants, has dealt with the terms 'poor', 'extremely poor' and 'pro-poor growth', but the main body of the report never mentioned of 'chronic poor'.

The agencies that consider PRSP as guideline for many of their actions are also stuck with similar limitations, the study remarked.

A review of the documents reveals presence of inconsistencies and overlaps of goals, targets and actions. Initial consultations with relevant government and project officials; and the search for linking real world activities with policies recorded in the PRSP document reveal that

activities observed at the implementation stage are not necessarily the fallouts of policies taken (predating the activities). On the contrary, it may often be the case that policies are packaged to accommodate on-going project activities.