Taking action to reduce poverty in Sub-Saharan Africa.

This book is based on the final reports of the Africa Region's Poverty Task Force. It looks at the poverty profile in sub-Saharan Africa, the roles of governments and civil society, the Bank's response to poverty, and future actions of the Bank and its partners. Causes of poverty identified are: inadequate access to employment opportunities; inadequate physical assets; inadequate access to the means for supporting rural development; inadequate access to markets for goods and services that the poor can sell; low endowment of human capital; destruction of natural resource endowments; inadequate access to assistance for those living at the margin and those victimized by transitory poverty; and inadequate participation of the poor. The principal findings of the book are: poverty is pervasive, government commitment to poverty reduction needs to be strengthened; economic growth rates are generally far too low to reduce poverty significantly; World Bank's lending has emphasized growth; the World Bank must intensify its emphasis on poverty reduction in programming and lending; and stronger partnerships for poverty reduction are needed.