Book Description

This document was written as part of the work undertaken under the Social Dimensions of Adjustment (SDA) Program in Africa. The program aims at thoroughly integrating social dimensions into economic and financial decision-making. To do so, it pursues several parallel tracks. 1) within each country a special institution building effort is being launched to strengthen national capability for policy analysis and project identification, preparation and implementation. 2) country-specific studies dealing with poverty alleviation and economic policy are being undertaken. 3) developing an adequate data base for analysis of social issues and formulating socioeconomic policy through monitoring surveys and integrated household surveys. 4) improving the understanding of the links among conceptual, empirical, and policy issues involved in the integration of social and economic policies and programs. This report deals mostly with the last track. The objective is to provide guidance to researchers and practioners in assembling and anlyzing the necessary data in order to achieve the objectives of the SDA initiative. It then explores the major policy issues that must be faced by governments to integrate social dimensions in the design of their structural adjustment programs and development plans.