INTERNATIONALBANK FOR WORLD BANK R E T C N O E N STRUCTION PM AND DEVELO November 2002 No.12 A regular series of notes highlighting recent lessons emerging from the operational and analytical program of the World Bank`s Latin America and Caribbean Region EMPOWERING THE POOR: ENGAGING CIVIL SOCIETY IN WORLD BANK OPERATIONS LCR Civil Society Team Context has also changed. It is now widely recognized that no one actor can reduce poverty alone, and that a concerted The beginning of the new millennium finds the Latin approach by a variety of partners ­ including civil society America and Caribbean region having made progress on organizations ­ is needed. Third, there is increasing evidence several fronts. Health and education indicators continue to that engaging civil society organizations makes good improve and all but one country hosts democratically business sense. Evidence from cross-country studies elected governments. However, poverty rates are still high suggests that, at the macro level, civic participation and trust ­ 34.6% in 1998 compared to 33.4% in 1986, and extreme can promote sustainable economic growth, efficient judicial poverty is up from 14.4% in 1986 to 16.1% in 1998. In- systems and good governance and effective public equality is growing in many countries. In addition, corrup- expenditures. At the micro or project level there is ample tion continues to haunt the region and there is a perception, evidence, including evaluations conducted by the Operations at least among the poor, that reform programs have not de- Evaluations Department (OED), that participation of civil livered on their promises and that they are increasingly be- society organizations in Bank projects increases ing excluded from markets, good quality public services development effectiveness and helps ensure that investments and decision-making processes that affect their lives1. This are sustainable, as well as helping leverage additional has led to a lack of confidence in public institutions and de- resources. As a result, the World Bank has made engaging cision makers in many countries, as well as a feeling of de- civil society a corporate priority and mainstreamed this idea spair which manifests itself in a variety of ways throughout in new instruments such as the Comprehensive Development the region. Framework (CDF), the Poverty Reduction Strategy Papers (PRSPs) and consultative approaches to Country Assistance Strategies (CASs). Why is working with civil society important? The Latin America and the Caribbean Region of the Bank The Bank believes that working with civil society is (LCR) has piloted many of these new approaches and has also important for at least six reasons. First, the region has amassed its own body of evidence of the contributions that civil changed and now offers a democratic context in which civil society can make to specific products ­ including analytical society can provide important partners in addressing work, project investments, non-project investments and non- persisting challenges. Second, the development paradigm lending instruments2. Fourth, the challenges faced in the region Empowermentmeansincreasingpoorpeople's accessandcontroloverresourcesand decisionsbychangingthenatureoftherelationship betweenpoorpeopleandstateandnon-stateactors 1 - including weak institutions and large-scale corruption ­ back to the first social investment funds in the 1980s. suggest that there is a need to increase civic participation in, Today, LCR continues to develop an important portfolio of and public scrutiny of, public sector activities in order to community-driven development projects, primarily but not achieve effective, responsive and accountable public action. exclusively in the social sectors. Although the majority of Fifth, the World Bank is increasingly positioning itself as a facilitator of global knowledge and dialogue on development Box 1 - Using Non Lending Services to Build Bridges: issues, and civil society organizations The Peru Poverty Dialogue can be an important source of knowledge. Finally, the negative image Following a poverty assessment in 1997 which suggested that duplication and that some citizens and groups have of the lack of synergy among development actors were likely to hamper further gains World Bank (notably the social in poverty reduction, the World Bank suggested the establishment of an inclu- movement against "globalization") needs sive forum for plural debate and action. In 1998, with the agreement of other do- to be addressed effectively through nors and eventually the government, the National Poverty Dialogue was estab- informed dialogue if obstacles are to be lished. The objective: to share experiences and information and promote better avoided. use of poverty reduction resources in the country. The beginning of the millennium also After three sets of decentralized, theme-specific poverty dialogues during 1998- saw some significant changes within the 2001, the National Poverty Dialogue is an institutionalized plural space. A di- World Bank. The World Development verse set of stakeholders - Government, civil society, private sector - came to- Report 2000/2001 highlights the role of gether to share experience around three themes: (i) techniques for monitoring empowering the poor and making institu- and evaluation, (ii) access, quality and coverage of basic services, and (iii) em- tions accountable to them as one of three ployment and income generation. As a result, information has begun to flow pillars of a poverty reduction strategy. more regularly among actors and some specific collaborative acts have been un- The WDR 2000/2001 sets out three com- dertaken, creating an environment encouraging open debate. ponents for promoting empowerment: (i) ensuring that institutions are responsive Under the transition government, the true fruits of the Poverty Dialogue finally and accountable to users, especially the became apparent. The government, recognizing the need to institutionalize plural poor and excluded, (ii) building the ca- debate and create country ownership around development strategies, issued a pacity of the poor and excluded to voice presidential decree, thereby giving longevity to the forum. In addition, it began their own opinions in the formulation of the process of charging the Dialogue with the design and implementation of de- public policy, and (iii) removing ob- centralizing this effort to establish local coordinating bodies (mesas de stacles that prevent the poor and ex- concertación) which will be charged with the planning and monitoring of all cluded from accessing public services public funds allocated for poverty reduction. and institutions. In addition to the WDR 2000/2001, the World Bank, together Today, the mesas have become an important element of the various accountabil- with the IMF and the international com- ity and transparency mechanisms used in Peru which aim to give citizens more munity generally, emphasizes the impor- influence in the formulation, implementation and evaluation of public policy as tance of building country ownership well as ensuring that institutions and officials are held accountable. These trans- around development strategies interalia parency and accountability mechanisms are now being supported under the Peru by including civil society organizations Programmatic Loan. They provide the opportunity to promote a new level of ac- in the preparation, implementation and countability and scrutiny as well as promoting "voice" in public policy pro- monitoring of Poverty Reduction Strat- cesses. egy Papers (PRSPs). The development of new tools such as programmatic lending, the World Bank to recognize the need to help countries strengthen their institutional capacity to deliver civil society engagement occurs around products in the monitorable results in poverty reduction across sectors ­ be- rural, environmental, health, education and social yond specific projects. The increasing attention within the protection sectors, increasingly World Bank-financed World Bank to achieving results in poverty reduction through projects in judicial reform and infrastructure sectors also empowering the poor and promoting effective and accountable reach out to civil society organizations. In addition, some institutions is a timely development which responds well to progress has been made in piloting civic engagement in the challenges presently faced in the region. reform and adjustment programs. In addition to engaging civil society organizations around How far have we come? project investments, LCR has found new opportunities for engaging civil society around non-lending activities and analytical work. LCR, for example, has provided non- LCR has a long and rich experience of engaging civil society organizations around its investment projects, dating reimbursable resources through non-lending services and 2 grant programs to facilitate dialogue between governments, (iii) securing government ownership for initiatives which civil society organizations and other development actors on may seem to counter traditional power balances, (iv) a range of issues. The Peru Poverty Dialogue (Box 1) is an managing expectations and often conflicting interests and example of such a non-lending service. ultimately promoting agreements between actors where there are low levels of trust, (v) understanding the fluid and Finally, LCR increasingly reaches out to a broad array of complex relationships between actors and within the civil civil society organizations in the design of its Country As- society sector, (vi) building the capacity of civil society sistance Strategies (CAS) and analytical work. The poverty organizations so that interactions with governments or the assessment in Guatemala , for example, (to be highlighted World Bank are fair and informative, (vii) supporting in a forthcoming "en breve") is using participatory and governments in training their staff to engage with a broad qualitative techniques to shed light on the links between range of often critical organizations and, (viii) supporting poverty, social capital and empowerment, to build local ca- governments in providing an enabling environment that pacity to do such work and to influence public policy. strengthens rather than undermines individual initiatives and ensuring that participatory processes are meaningful and are given follow up. Lessons to date Box 2 - Strategic Actions for the LCR Civil Going forward The experience of recent Society Team years suggest that engaging civil society organizations Despite the experience · Strengthening and promoting social accountability around World Bank gained in mainstreaming civil mechanisms in Bank-financed projects. products is a worthwhile society participation in recent but complex endeavor. years, there is still room for · Strengthening the capacity of civil society organiza- While on balance the improvement as well as tions to contribute to the formulation and implemen- benefits clearly outweigh opportunities for expanding tation of public policies which seek to reduce poverty. the costs, the LCR Civil activities in the region. These Society Team avoids a include: (i) engaging civil simplistic and · Removing obstacles to and mobilizing resources for society organizations in non- unrealistically idealistic the empowerment of the poor traditional sectors and non- view of civil society project lending, (ii) organizations and In addition, the field-based civil society specialists will contributing to effective recognizes that engaging continue to mainstream empowerment in LCR products public sector reform by such organizations is full of by: promoting a role for challenges and risks. The accountability mechanisms in internal challenges, or those · Strengthening strategic partnerships among actors monitoring and tracking related to the functioning of who seek to reduce poverty activities in the public sector, the World Bank, include: (iii) contributing to the (i) reconciling the pressures · increasing evidence on the Finding new opportunities and generating under- to disburse money to clients link between empowerment standing and support within the World Bank for the with taking time to consult and poverty reduction, participation of civil society organizations in the important stakeholders, (ii) through civil society fight against poverty ensuring that the World engagement, (iv) using non- Bank's policies, developed lending services to facilitate This Strategy will undergo a mid-term evaluation in Sep- by and for client dialogue and promote tember 2003 and a final evaluation in May 2005. governments are supportive partnerships in preparation of engaging civil society for mainstreaming tri-partite organizations, (iii) ensuring (government, civil society that a small team provides the sufficient support and tools to and the private sector) mechanisms into future operations, the majority of regional task teams, (iv) mainstreaming (v) providing tools to assess the opportunities and track empowerment beyond the social sector portfolio, (v) results in mainstreaming empowerment across portfolios, allocating sufficient time and resources to planning and (vi) initiating informed dialogues on specific macro- implementing participatory processes, (vi) being clear about economic and structural policies, and (vii) providing limits, objectives and outputs from the outset so that systematic access to information and knowledge to a broad expectations are not raised unnecessarily. range of actors at the local level. The external challenges include, (i) selecting representative In order to build on the progress made, address enduring and capable counterparts from a diverse group of civil challenges and seize new opportunities, the Civil Society society actors, (ii) ensuring that the voices of the most Team in LCR has recently prepared its strategy for the next excluded are heard, either through organizations or directly, three years. This builds on the experience accumulated over 3 the past few years (with the implementation of the original About "en breve" strategy, adopted in 1999), as well as on consultations with partners in civil society across the region. It is grounded in the To subscribe to "en breve" send and email to recognition of the principles from the World Development "en_breve@worldbank.org" Report 2000/2001 discussed earlier (see Boxes 2 and 3). Box 3 - Principles Guiding the LCR Framework: · Tailor strategies to local realities. Blueprint approaches are at best inadequate: actions should be based on careful consideration of local contexts · Our role is to facilitate and let local partners lead. For development to be sustainable local actors need to be in the driver's seat. Thus, the role of the World Bank is to, at times, facilitate, provide information and introduce actors and ideas but not to lead, decide or impose. Gaining government ownership is particularly important both because of the inter-governmental mandate of the World Bank and the ownership it provides to initiatives. · Partnering with other development actors avoids duplication and creates synergies. The region hosts a variety of development actors and rich resources. To address regional challenges a coordinated and concerted use of these re- sources is required. · Dialogues should be based on information and lead to action. Constructive and meaningful dialogues are best achieved when they have government ownership, are focused, with realistic expectations on all sides, and are well prepared and informed. Sustained dialogues can only be achieved if participants trust that discussions will lead to ac- tion and that participants' time is wisely invested. · Seek selectivity and use available resources. Consultations can be costly both in terms of dollars and in terms of reputational risk. Thus, selecting activities where a real difference can be made as well as ensuring that task teams have sufficient budget and expertise is vital for successful initiatives. · Promote learning, drawing on successes and mistakes. Taking time to reflect on initiatives, learning from mistakes and passing on examples of best practice is an inherent part of being a knowledge institution. · Respecting differences, recognizing conflict and seeking realistic consensus. Given the diversity of interests and perspectives among social actors in the region, dialogues will not always result in complete consensus and are more than likely to involve some level of conflict. Recognizing differences of opinion and conflict is part of a legitimate process of democratic dialogue, and preparing to manage this is a key component of any partnership strategy. Notes See also The series "Thinking Out Loud" describes a set of innova- 1- Voices of the Poor, World Bank 2000 (see http:// tive case studies on the topic of participatory instruments for www.worldbank.org/poverty/voices/) Bank products. These papers are available in English and 2See Thinking Out Loud I and Thinking out Loud II as well Spanish at http://www.worldbank.org/laccs, by sending a as Food for Thought, World Bank FAX to (202)-522-0054 or E-mail to LAC_Civilsociety@WorldBank.org About the LCR Civil Society Team Some Titles from "Thinking out Loud IV" - Fall 2002 The Regional Civil Society Team is made up of a Team · Speaking UpAnd Out: Consultation WorkshopAsks Salvadorans Leader and one Civil Society Specialist based in Washington LivingAbroad To Participate In The Judicial Modernization Pro- DC and ten field-based Civil Society Specialists in the World cess Back Home. Bank's client countries in the region. Many of the activities are dependent on Task Team Leaders outside the Civil Society · EmpoweringAutochthonous Peoples In Honduras With Knowl- Team. edge And Mechanisms For SocialAuditing - The Nuestras Raíces ("Our Roots") Program. Useful Links · Social Risk ManagementAnd Safety Nets In Colombia The authors have published a number of papers, document- · An Experimental Initiative in Building SocialAccountability ing best practices and drawing lessons from on-the-ground Mechanisms inArgentina experiences. These are available at: · Community Participation in Disaster Management : Reflections on http://www.worldbank.org/laccs Recent Experiences in Honduras and Nicaragua 4