Streamlining Poverty-Environment Linkages in the European Community's Development Assistance

Implementation sites: Tanzania, Rwanda

Duration: July 2004 to December 2005

Country Strategy Papers (CSPs) are used by the European Commission (EC) to guide, manage and review aid programs. CSPs provide a framework for European assistance programs based both on EU/EC objectives and the policy agenda of developing countries.

The MPO aims to influence the course of EC development assistance by focussing attention, in the CSP process, on the role of the environment in the livelihoods of the rural poor. Project staff conduct detailed analysis of poverty-environment dynamics in Tanzania and Rwanda, evaluate the anticipated impacts of the EC's proposed strategies for these two countries and deliver recommendations to the EC.

In its recommendations, the MPO identifies additional programs of action to help the rural poor in Tanzania and Rwanda. The MPO also recommends long-term policy changes to facilitate integration of environmental approaches into all of the EC's Country Strategies.