Author: Ravi Kanbur.

This article, originally delivered as a public lecture in Pretoria at a forum hosted by the Southern African Regional Poverty Network (SARPN), outlines the key structural features of the newly launched and South African government-driven New Partnership for Africa's Development (NEPAD), as well as the main ways by which it intends to pursue its goal of poverty reduction in Africa. Kanbur argues that such are the needs of Africa's poor that NEPAD faces the risk that the demands on its resources will be greater than can be met and suggests that its proposed programmes be prioritized against three main criteria—are they well-suited to a regional organizations and they duplicate the efforts of other regional groupings? Do they require the authority of an institution rooted in democratic values? Will they directly and indirectly benefit the African poor?