Recognizing the imperative need to address poverty related issues and to suggest strategies and measures to alleviate poverty in the region, the SAARC Leaders at their Sixth Summit (Colombo, 1991) established an Independent South Asian Commission on Poverty Alleviation (ISACPA). The Commission reporting to the Seventh Summit (Dhaka, 1993) provided a radical conceptual framework for poverty alleviation through social mobilization and empowerment in South Asia. The Seventh Summit welcomed the report and expressed its commitment to eradicate poverty from South Asia through an agenda of action which would, inter-alia, include a strategy of social mobilization, and a policy of decentralized agricultural development, village reawakening, small-scale labour-intensive industrialization and human development. The Summit also stressed that within the conceptual approach of "Dhal-Bhaat," the right to work and primary education should receive priority.

The Eighth SAARC Summit (New Delhi, 1995) approved the establishment of a three-tier mechanism for dealing with poverty issues. The first-tier comprises the Secretaries to the governments concerned with poverty eradication and social development in SAARC countries. The second-tier comprises Finance/Planning Secretaries and the third-tier comprises Finance/Planning Ministers. By January 1996, the first round of meetings under the three-tier mechanism was completed.

The Ministerial Meeting in New Delhi in 1996 recommended Member States to designate appropriate nodal agencies for the establishment of networking arrangements to regularly exchange information and share experiences on poverty alleviation.

The Tenth SAARC Summit in Colombo (July 1998) noted that human resources development is a key element in any poverty eradication programme. The Summit thus directed the SAARC Human Resources Development Centre in Islamabad to look into the possibility of its contributing to the strengthening of the human resources development component of regional poverty eradication programmes.

During the Eleventh Summit, the Leaders viewed that widespread and debilitating poverty continued to be the most formidable developmental challenge for the region. The Leaders made a review of the SAARC activities aimed at poverty alleviation and decided to reinvigorate them in the context of the regional and global commitments to poverty reduction. They expressed their firm resolve to combat the problem of poverty with a new sense of urgency by actively promoting the synergetic partnership among national governments, international agencies, the private sector and the civil society. They also agreed to take immediate steps for the effective implementation of the programs for social mobilization and decentralization, and for strengthening institution building and support mechanisms to ensure participation of the poor, both as stake-holders and beneficiaries, in governance and the development process. The Summit reconstituted the Independent South Asian Commission on Poverty Alleviation (ISACPA) with Nepal as its Convenor and Bangladesh as Co-Convenor.

Subsequently, the Council of Ministers at its Twenty-third Session held in Kathmandu in August 2002 recognized poverty alleviation as the over-arching goal of SAARC for which a concerted, sustained and collective action was required. This steadfast commitment of the Council will have a far-reaching impact on all future SAARC activities.

The Third Meeting of the SAARC Finance/Planning Ministers on Poverty Alleviation held in Islamabad in April 2002 recognized that the problem of poverty in South Asia needed to be tackled from a multi-dimensional aspect and agreed that a focused and action-oriented plan was the need of the hour and resolved on Plan of Action on Poverty Alleviation. The Ministers, united in their determination to reduce poverty, drawing upon the experience of the Member States and committed to achieve the Millennium Development Goals (MDGs). The Twelfth SAARC Summit approved the Plan of Action on Poverty Alleviation that was recommended by the Ministers in January 2004 in Islamabad. The Plan of Action identified some policy actions to be pursued at the domestic levels. Such internal policies, the Plan, identifies: a) good governance; b) sound macro-economic management ; c)human development; d) combating rural and urban poverty; e) promotion of multi-culturism, pluralism and mass education; f) expansion of social safety nets; g) investment in human capital and social sectors; h) prudent allocation of public resources and strengthening of domestic resource mobilization; i) empowerment of local communities and governments; j) intra-regional trade and capital flows etc. The Plan also identified some external policies that affect poverty alleviation efforts such as increased ODA, increased market access, reduction of debt burden etc.

At the Twelfth Summit, the Leaders declared poverty alleviation as the overarching goal of all SAARC activities. The reconstituted ISACPA submitted its Report- Our Future Our Responsibility to the Twelfth Summit. The Summit commended the work done by the Commission and decided that ISACPA should continue its advocacy role and it should prepare and submit to the next Summit a comprehensive and realistic blue-print setting out SAARC Development Goals (SDGS) for the next five years in the areas of poverty alleviation, education, health and environment giving due regard, among others, to the suggestions made in the ISACPA Report.

Accordingly, ISACPA identified 22 regional goals as the SAARC Development Goals (SDGs) and submitted those to the Thirteenth Summit. The Twenty-sixth Session of the Council of Ministers (Dhaka, 11 November 2005) advised that the Commission may further recommended that the ISACPA may continue its advisory and advocacy role and advised that the Commission may further elaborate the SDGs.

Underlining the need for an exclusive forum for focused and comprehensive examination of poverty related issues, the Heads of State / Government decided to replace the three-tier mechanism on poverty alleviation by a two-tier one, comprising the Ministers and the Secretaries dealing with poverty alleviation at the national level.