Periodic reviews of plans and policies go a long way in determining their success. Accordingly, time is just apt to review the progress of the Poverty Alleviation Fund (PAF) being run in Nepal’s six districts for the past one and a half years under the aegis of the World Bank. The three-day workshop that has kicked off in Lalitpur is expected to chalk out future strategies after deliberating on the pros and cons of the PAF project. PAF can be fully successful only if the majority of the marginalised people can reap the fruits of development. For this, as well as for formulating the 11th Five-Year Plan, a more effective strategy needs to be evolved.

All unproductive expenditures, along with unenviable performance in fields like revenue collection, domestic production and exports give cause for serious concern. But there is no gainsaying the fact that all developmental projects stand a far better chance of implementation given the cessation of hostilities. The new dispensation is expected to give the development projects the priority they deserve. Or else, there is the danger of the UN’s Millennium Development Goal of halving the number of people living below the poverty line by 2015 coming to naught.