ABSTRACT
Joachim Nurul Alam reminded conferees that, according to the panelists, targeting was neither a panacea nor an unmixed blessing. Interjecting evaluation results on targeting, Monique Cohen said that when the Bank put the Program for Targeted Interventions in place in about 1991, it recognized that Program of Targeted Intervention was an imperfect tool. Mona Bishay wanted to know if there was any positive correlation between outcome in terms of targeting and poverty alleviation. Sohail Malik said that was a wider question, and so was whether this increased focus on poverty alleviation led to better indicators and monitoring. These were long-term policy research issues that needed to be looked at on an ongoing basis. Leakage depended on the structure and distribution of poverty, its seasonality, and the instruments of poverty under consideration. International Fund for Agricultural Development never assumed that leakage would be zero.
