"Structural Adjustment, 
Economic Crisis and Poverty"

Global Forum on Grassroots Assessments of 
World Bank Economic Policies

Brussels, Belgium
15 April 2002

Organized and Presented by The Structural Adjustment Participatory Review International Network (SAPRIN)

with the assistance of Eurodad and Oxfam Solidarité

Supported by 
The European Union and the United Nations Development Programme (UNDP)

In 1997, civil-society activists, in collaboration with World Bank president Jim Wolfensohn, launched a ten-country participatory investigation of the impact of Bank economic adjustment policies. This Forum will present the findings of the four-year SAPRI initiative carried out by civil-society organizations on four continents (SAPRIN) with the Bank, as well as results from independent citizen assessments of national adjustment programs.

Some 25 SAPRIN NGO representatives from Ghana, Uganda, Zimbabwe, Bangladesh, the Philippines, El Salvador, Ecuador, Mexico, Argentina and Hungary will discuss the impact that trade liberalization, the privatization of public utilities, labor-market reforms and other economic measures have had on small businesses, workers, women, food security, the rural poor and other sectors and population groups.

In light of the current focus on poverty assessments, the findings will be organized around the relationship between specific adjustment policies and the deepening of global poverty and inequality. The mobilization by SAPRIN of hundreds of civil-society groups in each country will also be discussed. SAPRIN will release and make available to Forum participants its final global report, a draft of which was presented to the World Bank upon the Bank's withdrawal from SAPRI last year. The project was financed by the EU, the UNDP, five European governments, and various foundations and NGOs.


Hosted by: European Union 
Location: Borschette Center, Conference Room OA
Address: Rue Froissart 36, 1040 Brussels (5 min. walk from Metro Schuman) 
Date: 15 April 2002 Time: 8:30am - 6pm

This event is open to the public

RSVP to: mlopez-yuste@eurodad.org 
or Tel +(32)(2) 543-9060 Fax +(32)(2) 544-0559 
with Name, Organization and Contact Details 

Program available soon

Return to SAPRIN News & Updates