IntroArguments from academics, NGOs, the United Nations and ordinary citizens around the world have argued that little has changed in the World Bank's approach to concessional lending. and debt relief after the collapse of the Washington Consensus. As the failures of neoliberalism became apparent and mainstream development discourse began to favor new emerging theories, the World Bank shifted its lending approach from structural adjustment programs to poverty reduction strategy papers. (PRSP). The PRSPs were supposed to be a key tool representing the new refined notion of post-Washington development, emphasizing human rights (Robin Perry). Instead, many argue that SAPs and PRSPs are the same concept, just with a different name. Although this essay does not refute that the PRSPs embrace many of the core neoliberal principles that were characteristic of the SAPs, it nevertheless seeks to explore the question of in what ways the World Bank's approach to the PRSP encompassed- the dominant discourse on development at the time? Rather than focusing on the lack of change between SAPs and PRSPs, as most academic work on the subject does, this essay seeks to focus on the changes implemented during this change. This essay also does not seek to answer the question of how effective or “good” the PRSPs were, but simply which development theories helped to influence their approach. The shift from neoliberalism to the human development approach The World Bank's transition from SAPs to PRSPs occurred during a shift in the broader development discourse during the 1990s. Neoliberalism was losing support as that new development approaches were multiplying, focusing on social concerns, poverty, inequalities, gender and fundamental rights. These new approaches were partly due... middle of paper ......r were still, if not largely, successful in their policy outcomes. There is a wide range of evidence showing that the PRSPs have not led to women's empowerment or have not done an ideal job of including the general population in the initial drafting of the PRSPs. However, changes in the initial approach to concessional lending occurred within the World Bank as it moved from SAPs to PRSPs by allowing the dominant development discourse of the 1990s to influence its approach to development. Neoliberal strategies have not been abandoned and are still found in many PRSPs, even if they do not occupy as obvious a dominance as they once did with the SAPs. Instead, neoliberalism is now one of several development theories and discourses that help construct PRSPs, alongside the rights-based approach, feminist theory and the general emphasis on poverty reduction..