poverty reduction was featured as the first and preeminent goal at the end of the s the world bank and the international monetary fund had incorporated a linkage between marketoriented structural adjustment policies and the poverty agenda within the revised framework for the heavily indebted poor countries hipcs making the formulation of poverty reduction strategy papers prsps a precondition for the receipt of debt relief under the heavily indebted poor countries initiative however the goals per se do not encompass any particular strategy for achieving those objectives