generate employment and raise living standards for the long term. Within the indicators of this section is gender empowerment and employment creation. An overview of country analyses on this objective reveal that only a few states delve into gender empowerment analyses. Many countries’ corresponding NPoAs indicate countries’ desire to move towards more bottom up planning, increased stakeholders participation in policy, planning and budgeting but do not integrate gender perspectives in particular. Economic Governance and Management (EGM) encompasses the broad national economic policy framework; the institutions, processes and practices for enabling economic growth and poverty reduction. The Positive Peace Report tracks improvements in macroeconomic indicators as indicative of changes in peace, 273 some of which are tracked by the APRM review processes albeit not tied to peace analyses. Economic factors may not solely cause conflict but can affect peace and in the event of violent conflict could sustain and exacerbate conflict. A number of violent conflicts in African have been tied to economic decline that fuel aggrieved groups that feel economically exploited or neglected to violence. A UNDP study in 2017 concluded that most countries with 60 percent citizens living under the poverty line are likely to suffer from severe conflicts.274 Lack of rainfall resulting in shocks has been linked to the likelihood of civil conflict; economists noted that between 1981 and 1999 when 41 sub Saharan states experienced shortfalls in economic growth of 5 percent, this increased the increased the prospects of conflict by half in the subsequent year.275 Despite this gloomy outlook, it is notable that several of the world’s economies that evidenced remarkable growth in the past 50 years rose from the ashes of conflict, their success stemming in part from women’s increased role in production, trade and entrepreneurship.276 273 Institute for Economics and Peace ‘Positive Peace Report 2018’. Analysing the factors that sustain peace 2018, Sydney. 274 UNDP ‘Income Inequality Trends in sub-Saharan Africa: Divergence, Determinants and Consequences’ UNDP 2017, UN NY 275 Shanker S, Edward Miguel R, Sergenti E ‘Economic Shocks and Civil Conflict: An Instrumental Variables Approach.’ Journal of Political Economy, 2004 276 Luchsinger, Gretchen, ed., Power, Voice and Rights: A Turning Point for Gender Equality in Asia and the Pacific (United Nations Development Programme, 2010). 91