Latin America and Caribbean Region Sustainable Development Working Paper 15 Indigenous Peoples Development Series Social Capital as a Factor in Indigenous Peoples Development in Ecuador August 2003 Jorge E. Uquillas Martien Van Nieuwkoop The World Bank Latin America and Caribbean Region Environmentally and Socially Sustainable Development Department (LCSES) Sustainable Development Working Paper No. 15 Indigenous Peoples Development Series Social Capital as a Factor in Indigenous Peoples Development in Ecuador August 2003 Jorge E. Uquillas Martien Van Nieuwkoop The World Bank Latin America and the Caribbean Region Environmentally and Socially Sustainable Development Sector Management Unit Jorge Uquillas is a Senior Sociologist in the Environmentally and Socially Sustainable Development Unit (LCSES) of the World Bank's Latin America and Caribbean Regional Office. Martien Van Nieuwkoop was formerly a Senior Natural Resources Economist in LCSES and now is a Senior Natural Resources Economist in the Rural Development Technical Family of the World Bank's Africa Regional Office. The authors are grateful to Anthony Bebbington, Thomas Carroll, and Shelton Davis for their valuable comments and suggestions on previous drafts of this work. The findings, interpretations, and conclusions in this document are attributable to the authors, and should not be attributed in any manner to the World Bank, its affiliated organizations, members of its Board of Executive Directors or the countries they represent. This working paper series is produced by the Environmentally and Socially Sustainable Development Sector Management Unit of the Latin America and Caribbean Regional Office. Additional copies may be obtained either from the author, or from LCSES Program Assistant Peter Brandriss (pbrandriss@worldbank.org, or tel. 202-473-9379). Cover photos (clockwise, from upper left): Community work brigade (World Bank) Indigenous girl (World Bank) Working session with project implementing team (World Bank) Interview with community member (Carla Avellan) Contents Introduction ....................................................................................................................................1 The Emergence of Indigenous Peoples as Political Actors in Ecuador......................................3 Socioeconomic profile 3 Levels of social organization 4 Public Policy Environment in Ecuador........................................................................................7 Indigenous peoples policies 7 Rural development policies 7 The World Bank and Indigenous Peoples....................................................................................9 Interface between Ecuador and the World Bank......................................................................11 Conditions favoring collaboration 11 Participatory framework 14 Conflict resolution mechanisms 15 Building broad alliances 16 Continuity of task team 18 Operationalizing the Project Focus on Social Capital ..............................................................19 Targeting ethnicity and poverty 19 Conceptual framework 20 Capital accumulation 23 Self-management, participation, and cultural identity 24 Conclusion.....................................................................................................................................27 References .....................................................................................................................................34 Annexes 1. Project Institutional Structure during Preparation 29 2. Target Population According to Ethnicity 30 3. Institutional/Organizational Capacity Index Criteria 31 Tables 1. Children Living in Poverty, by Demographic Group 4 2. Illiteracy Rates, 1999 4 Figures 1. Conceptual Framework to Operationalize Social Capital 21 iii Abbreviations and Acronyms CARE Cooperative for Assistance and Relief Everywhere CODENPE Council for the Development of the Nationalities and Peoples of Ecuador Consejo de Desarrollo de las Nacionalidades y Pueblos del Ecuador CONAIE Confederation of Indigenous Nationalities of Ecuador Confederación de Nacionalidades Indígenas del Ecuador CONFENIAE Confederation of the Indigenous Nationalities of the Ecuadoran Amazon Confederación de las Nacionalidades Indígenas de la Amazonia Ecuatoriana CONPLADEIN National Council of Planning and Development for Indigenous Peoples and Afro-Ecuadorans Consejo Nacional de Planificación y Desarrollo de los Pueblos Indígenas y Negros FAO Food and Agriculture Organization (UN) IAF Inter-American Foundation IFAD International Fund for Agricultural Development ILO International Labour Organization INDA National Institute for Agrarian Development Instituto Nacional de Desarrollo Agrario LCSES Environmentally and Socially Sustainable Development Unit (of the World Bank's Latin America and Caribbean Regional Office) NGO Nongovernmental Organization OD Operational Directive (World Bank) OSG Second-tier organization Organización de segundo grado PRODEPINE Indigenous and Afro-Ecuadoran Peoples Development Project Proyecto de Desarrollo de los Pueblos Indígenas y Negros del Ecuador SENAIME National Secretariat of Indigenous Affairs and Ethnic Minorities Secretaría Nacional de Asuntos Indígenas y Minorías Étnicas SIISE Integrated System of Social Indicators for Ecuador Sistema Intergrado de Indicadores Sociales de Ecuador UNESCO United Nations Educational, Scientific and Cultural Organization iv Introduction In the early 1990s the World Bank launched its sense of ethnic identity, close attachment to Indigenous Peoples Development Initiative in ancestral land, and capacity to mobilize labor, Latin America and has been working ever capital, and other resources for shared goals-- since to open new and innovative avenues of to promote local employment and growth. It is support for indigenous peoples development. an effort to build social capital as an asset of the Initial efforts focused on mitigation measures, poor, while at the same time working directly training and capacity building, and pre- with that asset. investment operations. Gradually, indigenous peoples development is becoming an integral This is a complex project, with an arduous part of the Bank's loan portfolio. preparation and implementation process that illustrates some of the difficulties of taking Ecuador's Indigenous and Afro-Ecuadoran certain parts of the social capital argument Peoples Development Project was the direct seriously. The project has found that strength- result of this initiative. Furthermore, as in- ening existing organizations is not easy, that digenous people in Ecuador often point out, building coalitions and alliances takes a great local conditions for such a project were right deal of time, and that often these alliances are in terms of both the level of organization of fragile and short lived. Nonetheless, this pro- indigenous peoples and the readiness of the ject has become a flagship for other initiatives government to enter this uncharted territory. In trying to foster community-based approaches fact, the major national indigenous federations that emphasize the notion of poor people hav- claim that the project was the result of their ing assets, as opposed to only deficits (World long struggle for recognition of the rights of Bank 2001). indigenous peoples, including their right to a fairer share of fiscal resources. Because the Bank is still building its knowl- edge and experience in this field, it is essential The project is the first stand-alone investment to share information and lessons learned from operation financed by the World Bank that actual operations carried out in partnership focuses exclusively on indigenous peoples and with indigenous peoples and their organiza- other ethnic minorities. It is the first time that tions. This study attempts to distill lessons Ecuador borrowed resources specifically for from the preparation and initial implementa- investments to benefit poor indigenous and tion of the Ecuador Indigenous and Afro- Afro-Ecuadoran populations, channeling re- Ecuadoran Peoples Development Project. It sources directly through indigenous organiza- draws heavily from a working paper previ- tions with only a minimal role for the govern- ously published by the authors (Van Nieu- ment. It is also the first time that indigenous wkoop and Uquillas 2000). federations and the Ecuadoran government have joined forces in an effort explicitly based It is worth noting that the project was designed on putting into practice the vision of "develop- around concepts such as participation and self- ment with identity," or "ethnodevelopment." managed development. These concepts were This vision builds on the positive qualities of being discussed in some sectors of the World indigenous cultures and societies--such as their Bank in the 1990s (for example, see Davis and 1 2 LCR Sustainable Development Working Paper No. 15 Soeftestad 1995). Other concepts, such as so- de Desarrollo de las Nacionalidades y Pueblos cial capital, culture in sustainable develop- del Ecuador, CODENPE). ment, social exclusion, and community-driven development have become fashionable at the The total project budget is $50 million ($25 turn of the millennium and therefore are million from the World Bank, $15 million from briefly reflected in this work (Carroll 2003). the International Fund for Agricultural Devel- opment, and $10 million from the Ecuadoran The Indigenous and Afro-Ecuadoran Peoples government and beneficiary communities and Development Project invests in local capacity organizations. The project was prepared begin- building, small-scale demand-driven rural sub- ning in early 1995, approved in early 1998, and projects, land tenure regularization, cultural became effective in September 1998. Imple- heritage activities, and institutional strengthen- mentation was completed in April 2003. A sec- ing of the Council for the Development of the ond phase is being prepared during 2003 and is Nationalities and Peoples of Ecuador (Consejo expected to become effective in early 2004. The Emergence of Indigenous Peoples as Political Actors in Ecuador Socioeconomic profile Many indigenous people have moved to urban areas and in some cases have become assimi- Indigenous peoples and Afro-Ecuadorans are lated into the dominant mestizo society. How- important parts of Ecuador's multicultural so- ever, in rural areas they have tended to main- ciety. They differ from the mainstream His- tain their distinct identity. Ecuador's rural panic (white and mixed or mestizo) population population of indigenous peoples and Afro- both in their degree of economic deprivation, Ecuadorans is concentrated in 288 of the coun- their high level of social capital (particularly try's 966 parroquias (parishes, the smallest among indigenous peoples), and their cultural division in the country). This segment of the and social characteristics. Ecuadoran population, more than 1.5 million people, has the country's highest indices of Indigenous and Afro-Ecuadoran peoples to- poverty measured both in terms of income and gether represent almost 30 percent of the unsatisfied basic needs. By the early 1990s, 35 population, although estimates vary widely.1 percent of Ecuador's population lived in pov- There are 13 officially designated, non- erty and another 17 percent was highly vulner- Hispanic ethnic groups or nationalities in Ec- able to poverty.3 Overall, the relationship be- uador.2 The largest nationality comprises the tween poverty, household characteristics, and highland Quichua-speakers (also known as the social indicators varies considerably both Runa) who constitute more than 90 percent of across and within regions and areas. Urban Ecuador's indigenous peoples. However, the poverty is associated with low educational Quichua or Runa themselves are culturally achievement, employment in the informal sec- diverse, as demonstrated by the contrasts be- tor, rented housing rather than home owner- tween subgroups such as the Otavalo and ship, and low rates of participation in the labor Saraguro, or the Chibuleo and Cañari peoples. force by women. Rural poverty is associated with lack of education, little access to land, a low degree of market integration, and lack of 1. Indigenous organizations often give higher employment in the vibrant nonfarm rural sec- estimates (about 40 percent of the total tor (World Bank 1998). population), while Ecuador's Integrated System of Social Indicators (SIISE 2003) puts the figure closer to 10 percent on the basis of The World Bank's 1995 poverty assessment census data. for Ecuador also found that poverty and eth- 2. Indigenous peoples in Ecuador prefer to be nicity are closely correlated both in rural and designated as "nationalities" or "peoples" rather urban areas. Households in which an indige- than "ethnic groups." The first two terms imply nous language is spoken are more likely to be having standing as a nation, and a broad range of rights established in United Nations instruments poor than are Spanish-speaking households, and the International Labour Organization's Convention 169. Non-Hispanic nationalities in 3. The 1998 financial crisis and its aftermath, Ecuador are: Runa or Quichua, Shuar, Huao, however, have aggravated poverty. By 1999, Siona, Secoya, Cofán, Huancavilcas, Manteños, 55% of the population lived in poverty (40% of Punaes, Chachi, Epera, Tsáchilas, Awa, and the urban population and 76% of the rural Ecuador's Afro-descendant population. population). 3 4 LCR Sustainable Development Working Paper No. 15 and strongly indigenous cantons are worse off descendants are at the bottom of the social with respect to a wide variety of social and ladder. In sum, resources (including public service variables, such as education, nutrition, goods and services) are unequally distributed. water, and sewerage. In parroquias with an in- digenous majority, the poverty rate (including Levels of social organization those highly vulnerable to poverty) is approxi- mately 85 percent. This is 14 percentage points In general, indigenous peoples in Ecuador suf- higher than the rural average, and 32 percent- fer from economic deprivation, but are well age points higher than the national average. endowed in social capital (for example, or- ganization, solidarity patterns, and shared so- The indicators of socioeconomic development cial and cultural values). They are well organ- in Ecuador, when disaggregated, show impor- ized at the grassroots, regional, and national tant geographic, residential (rural/urban), gen- levels. Their forms of organization vary. In der, and ethnic dimensions (tables 1 and 2). some cases they are principally organized Thus, poverty is concentrated in certain can- along the lines of political parties and labor tones and parroquias of the coast, highlands, unions, in others by religious affiliation, and in and Amazon regions; rural people are in gen- still others directly by ethnic affiliation. This eral poorer than their urban counterparts; diversity of origins and organizations has women are at more of a disadvantage than caused friction among regional and national men; and both indigenous peoples and Afro- federations, particularly after the 1998 Consti- Table 1. Children Living in Poverty, by Demographic Group Percent of children under 18 living in households with income below Demographic group the poverty line ($28/month) Indigenous 79 Afro-Ecuadoran 68 White-Mestizo 61 Female-headed household 66 Male-headed household 62 Coast 64 Highlands 60 Amazonia 70 Urban 52 Rural 79 Source: SIIS 2001 Table 2. Illiteracy Rates, 1999 Illiteracy in population older than 14 (percent) Sector Female Male Total National 13 9 11 Urban 7 4 6 Rural 23 15 19 Indigenous 53 31 43 Source: SIISE 2001 Social Capital as a Factor in Indigenous Peoples Development in Ecuador 5 tution elevated the legitimacy of ethnic-based Grassroots indigenous organizations are dis- organizations. However, they all are part of a tinguished by features such as their members' vibrant social process that is contributing to sense of belonging to a community, communal the revitalization of the indigenous identity territoriality, their own system of government, and leading to the formulation of new perspec- solidarity through collective works, and joint tives on indigenous development. celebrations and communal calendars.5 Organizations along ethnic lines were recog- The first effort was to build community-level nized during the Inca Empire. The Conquista- organizations, which in turn organized into dors tried to dismantle and destroy these or- higher-tier associations or local and regional ganizations, and during colonial times com- federations in a pyramidal scheme, ending with munity-based organizations were used by the the formation of national federations. Illustra- Spaniards to wring taxes and labor from the tive of this trend is the case of the Shuar, who indigenous population. However, the organiza- in the early 1960s organized at the community tions persisted, and in the period following level as "centers," then formed second-tier Ecuador's independence they were known as organizations called "associations" and these in parcialidades indígenas. With approval of the turn created the Shuar Federation. The Shuar Ley de Organización y Régimen Comunal in Federation joined other ethnic federations in the 1937, many organizations were formally rec- eastern lowlands to form the Confederation of ognized and became known as comunas. The the Indigenous Nationalities of the Ecuadoran 1964 Ley de Reforma Agraria as well as Amazon (CONFENIAE), which in turn joined subsequent reforms in 1973 also specifically with highland and coastal federations to organ- recognized the comunas as an element of ize the Confederation of Indigenous Nationali- Ecuadoran society.4 Originally comunas were ties of Ecuador (CONAIE). The topic of induced managed and held land resources jointly, but social capital and the indigenous federations, in recent years there has been a trend toward including the case of Guamote in Ecuador, is individual land ownership. However, contrib- discussed at some length in Bebbington and uting labor for community enterprises (min- Carroll (2000) and Carroll (2003). gas) is still common, especially for small infrastructure projects. In a long and arduous process over about four decades, indigenous organizations have be- There are about 2,500 grassroots indigenous come more complex and have also broadened organizations (communes, centers, and coop- their agenda. They still try to strengthen their eratives) at the community level. By 1998 own social organizations and secure land for these community-level organizations had communities that lack access to it. Yet their formed about 250 second-tier organizations (organizaciones de segundo grado, or OSGs). 5. The Afro-descendant population in Ecuador has The OSGs may be considered associations, less formal organization than the indigenous unions, or federations, and frequently are af- population. The main organization for most filiated with provincial, regional, and national Afro-Ecuadorans is at the community or grass- roots level (commune, compound, cooperative, organizations. Many of the OSGs have been committee, and peasant union), and only recently created or promoted initially by activist church have they begun to form more complex groups and sympathetic NGOs (Carroll 2003). organizations. The main features of grassroots organizations are a sense of belonging, a recog- nizable territoriality, certain forms of self- 4. The agrarian reform process stimulated the or- government, and calendars of celebrations. ganization of indigenous peoples so as to either Grassroots organizations are formed more facilitate their access to land being redistributed through real or ascribed family networks than as or to recognize their ancestral possession. community societies. 6 LCR Sustainable Development Working Paper No. 15 struggle has led them to question the basic allies gained control of 26 municipalities (12 political structure of the country and the de- headed by indigenous mayors) and increased velopment model being implemented. Today their representation in the municipal councils they advocate a peaceful transformation of the (consejos cantonales) and juntas parroquiales. country, eliminating corruption at the highest They have built on the experience of levels, maintaining state control of key na- Guamote, a municipal government controlled tional strategic assets such as energy, oil, and by indigenous peoples since 1992, which has communications, and giving greater voice to evolved into a model of indigenous govern- social organizations representing the poor. ance (poderes locales) (for details, see Beb- bington and Carroll 2000, 12­18). Guamote Indigenous organizations have become has been able to coordinate actions among its stronger and are increasingly recognized as local indigenous federations, have a municipal significant actors in Ecuadoran development government under indigenous control as well and politics. In the 1980s, while Latin America as a local development committee, and create as a whole suffered a recession, indigenous a unique indigenous law-making body called peoples strengthened their social capital. In the the "Indigenous Parliament" (see report on 1990s they have advanced further and partici- Guamote in Carrasco and others 2000). pated successfully in local, regional, and na- tional politics. As a result, by the beginning of On top of these gains, in January 2003 an alli- the new millennium there were several indige- ance of the Pachacutik Indigenous Movement nous legislators in the National Congress, one and other center-left political parties succeeded of whom recently became the first indigenous in electing Colonel Lucio Gutierrez as President woman to hold the office of Vice President of of the Republic, and he in turn appointed several the Congress. In the May 2002 elections, the indigenous leaders to high-level government Pachacutik Indigenous Movement and their offices, including ministerial posts.6 6. Nina Pacari became the new Minister of For- eign Relations, and Luis Macas the Minister of Agriculture. Public Policy Environment in Ecuador Indigenous peoples policies nous people in national society, within a con- text of cultural diversity. Although government policy regarding in- digenous peoples still is not clearly defined Rural development policies and has numerous ambiguities, certain general trends may be distinguished. Since the crea- Historically, development interventions in tion of Ecuador in 1830 attempts have been Ecuador have been top-down, designed and made to integrate indigenous peoples into the implemented by government agencies or in- general society. However, these efforts usually termediary nongovernmental organizations promoted acculturation without concern for (NGOs). Poor people generally have not been preserving indigenous peoples' cultural iden- active participants in these schemes, despite tity, and furthermore certain forms of social the fact that they are usually the target popula- exclusion often persisted, such as restrictions tion. The assumption was that the design and on collective indigenous private property, citi- implementation of projects had to be done by zenship rights (for example, not allowing illit- formally trained technicians, that is to say, erate persons to vote or be elected), land own- development experts. Local knowledge and ership, and the right to maintain their own capacity were thus neglected and treated as forms of government. useless or not relevant for change. The "trans- fer of technology" concept, which assumed a Since the 1980s there has been a gradual shift one-way flow of skills and knowledge, toward greater openness to the interests and pervaded both governmental and nongovern- demands of indigenous peoples. Although mental organizations (Uquillas, 1993). agrarian legislation has many gaps, significant progress has been made in acknowledging in- Ecuador's state-led approaches included a digenous land rights. Bilingual education has wide array of models in line with the interests been legitimized, with autonomous manage- of international organizations. Among the ment by indigenous organizations. Opportuni- better-known models is the community devel- ties have been created for the training and opment approach, which became fashionable legal recognition of second- and third-tier in the 1960s and was supported by the United organizations, from community associations to Nations International Labour Organization provincial federations to regional and national (ILO) and the Ecuadoran government. The organizations. The 1998 National Constitution best-know effort along these lines was the states that the country is multicultural and rec- famous Andean Mission of the ILO. ognizes a broad array of collective rights for self-identified indigenous peoples and nation- In the 1970s there were other ambitious ap- alities, clarifying previously recognized rights proaches to rural development, among them the to ancestral lands and separate forms of cul- integrated rural development projects and the tural identity and self-governance, including regional development projects, which usually the establishment of indigenous "jurisdic- were associated with agrarian reform and/or tions." Moreover, processes have definitely irrigation schemes. Some areas of Ecuador, begun that will allow the inclusion of indige- such as Guamote, Jipijapa, and Salcedo have 7 8 LCR Sustainable Development Working Paper No. 15 been the object of consecutive regional and/or liberated many of them from semi-feudal land rural development projects. The beneficiaries tenure systems, allowed them to hold or aspire were again rural people, either those who par- to hold title to their own land, and provided ticipated in land distribution or who benefited technical assistance to improve agricultural from new water irrigation sources. The objec- production. With the oil boom of the 1970s, tives were usually to transform whole regions, Ecuadoran peasants had greater access to converting them into models for the develop- improved seeds, fertilizers, and pest control, ment of similar areas. Local people were bene- inputs that they had long been denied. The ficiaries and were often informed about the new development projects helped indigenous proposed projects, but had little participation peoples organize, first to obtain land titles and in their preparation. then to administer larger water irrigation schemes or to work on agricultural develop- Other projects that shared the same approach ment projects. were the agricultural development projects, characterized by the transfer of technology The infusion of financial resources and tech- mentality, whereby knowledge about new nology had a great impact on indigenous varieties of plants and animals and the use of capacities, assets, and organization. Yet not all agricultural inputs (chemical fertilizers and impacts were positive. Along with the emphasis pesticides) was in the domain of university- on new knowledge and technology came a dis- trained scientists. Poor farmers, in contrast, regard for the value of their own traditional were supposed to change their old- knowledge. New commodities were introduced fashioned/backward technology for the new. and traditional crop varieties were gradually Most of these projects promoted improved replaced by the new hybrids. Old cultural varieties of wheat, maize, and improved ani- patterns of production and consumption were mal husbandry. As a consequence, traditional labeled backward and economically unfit, and knowledge about plant varieties and the thus tended to disappear. In addition, some de- centuries-old peasant knowledge about crops velopment initiatives, such as the opening of and animals were gradually being eroded (see roads in the coastal and Amazon lowlands, had Uquillas 1993 for a case study in Ecuador's deleterious effects on native peoples and their Amazon region). environment. With their lands and forests threatened, the survival of indigenous peoples Along with greater investment in rural areas, and cultures themselves were put at risk. NGOs appeared as intermediaries between the state and the rural population. They were either The new trend made physical assets more im- providing technical assistance to rural people or portant than cultural assets (see World Bank advocating local people's rights. Although par- 2000) and favored the appearance of new, ticipatory approaches were increasingly being development-oriented social organizations that used, they usually were limited to sharing of were led by young people, many of whom had information and consultations, with little feed- initially been trained by the Catholic and Prot- back to local people. estant Churches (Partridge and Uquillas, 1996). The role of traditional authorities The application of these new development became negligible. The new organizations approaches, aimed at better distribution of emphasized sociopolitical aims, and besides land, water resources, and agricultural produc- building social capital their main goal was the tion knowledge, had a strong impact in rural struggle for physical assets, that is, land rights areas. Indigenous peoples in particularly bene- as a basic condition for indigenous cultural fited a great deal from these efforts, which survival and development. The World Bank and Indigenous Peoples In the early 1990s, the World Bank's approach nous issues, such as conducting a pioneering to indigenous peoples in Latin America was study on "Indigenous Peoples and Poverty in oriented primarily toward fulfilling the condi- Latin America" (Psacharopoulos and Patrinos tions of Operational Directive (OD) 4.20, 1994). But there was still no direct support for which stressed informed participation by in- indigenous development or organizations. digenous peoples and sought to minimize, avoid, or compensate for any adverse effects It is only in the 1990s that the World Bank's caused by Bank-financed development inter- Latin America and Caribbean Regional Office ventions. Particular efforts were directed at started considering alternative approaches to securing land tenure rights in projects that indigenous peoples development. The Indige- threatened indigenous territories, especially in nous Peoples Initiative evolved out of a Sep- large infrastructure projects (Wali and Davis tember 1993 meeting of several international 1992). This approach resulted in the prepara- cooperation agencies in Washington, D.C., in- tion of Indigenous Peoples Development Plans cluding the Inter-American Development Bank or specific components addressing indigenous (IDB), the International Fund for Agricultural peoples issues in project documents. In prac- Development (IFAD), the Fund for the Devel- tice however, progress in gaining compliance opment of Indigenous Peoples of Latin America with the Bank's indigenous peoples policy was (Fondo Indigena), the Pan American Health slow because the Bank needed to build its own Organization (PAHO), and others. The Initia- capacity to implement and monitor OD 4.20 tive took shape within the context of the 1994 (Partridge and Uquillas 1996, 243-46; World United Nations resolution proclaiming the Bank 2003). International Decade of the World's Indigenous People, and it adopted a strategy of strengthen- To a large extent the Bank had operated under ing the social capital of indigenous organiza- the assumption that its development and pov- tions via capacity building efforts. erty reducing interventions will reach all the poor, regardless of ethnic or gender considera- The focus on capacity building not only tions. Thus, the needs of indigenous peoples responded to the long-standing demands of were addressed through the traditional ap- indigenous organizations in the region, but proaches mentioned above, such as integrated also required a basic cooperation agreement rural development, regional development, or between indigenous organizations and the agriculture projects. However, recent trends government agencies in charge of indigenous indicate that these assumptions are being re- affairs to meet the requirements of the Initia- vised, as demonstrated by new efforts to target tive's funding source (the Institutional Devel- interventions on the basis of age, gender, opment Fund). In 1994 in Ecuador, as in other and/or ethnicity. While the Bank had become countries where this program has functioned active in work on indigenous peoples and cul- (see Uquillas and Aparicio 2000), these ture, this work was still largely aimed at policy requirements led to a mode of cooperation compliance. Nevertheless, certain parts of the between the main national indigenous organ- Bank provided important advocacy on indige- zations that had coalesced around the so-called 9 10 LCR Sustainable Development Working Paper No. 15 Committee of the Decade of Indigenous undoubtedly influenced the discussion of social Peoples (Comité del Decenio) and the former capital (Davis and Patrinos 1996). At the same Secretariat of Indigenous Affairs and Ethnic time, by the time the Indigenous and Afro- Minorities (SENAIME), the predecessor of the Ecuadoran Peoples Development Project began Consejo de Desarrollo de las Nacionalidades implementation in 1998, the concept had y Pueblos del Ecuador (CODENPE). gained acceptance among the executive and technical staff of the project, who started rede- The capacity building program became the fining its components in terms of capital: social entry point for Bank operations with indige- (organizational strengthening), human (educa- nous peoples. Both indigenous peoples and tion, training), environmental (land, water), and government agencies saw the benefit of this financial and physical (investments, assets). collaboration and started thinking about Aware of the interest the concept of social capi- follow-up actions both in the area of building tal had in the Bank, the task team started using social capital as well as through targeted inter- this concept in its discussion about the project. ventions aimed at reducing poverty and pro- moting development with cultural identity or Past advocacy stressed indigenous peoples development based on the vision of the bene- rights and the need to end social exclusion ficiary ethnic groups themselves. (bringing indigenous people out of poverty and marginalization). While this was relatively Thus, the concept of ethnodevelopment, formu- successful in attracting attention to the plight lated during the 1970s by Latin American social of indigenous people, it tended to pit indige- scientists and by UNESCO, was promoted nous peoples against the rest of the poor and within the Latin America region of the World downtrodden, who often were represented in Bank (Partridge and Uquillas 1996). At a larger numbers. Social capital, on the other broader level, the institution began to discuss hand, focuses on the positive aspects of social the concept of social capital and, with resources groups and emphasizes assets rather than defi- of Norwegian and Danish trust funds, to spon- cits, abilities rather than needs. In the case of sor research, including some case studies in the indigenous peoples, who have strong social Andean countries (for example, see Sandoval and cultural values, it helps highlight their and others 1998). The focus on indigenous tremendous potential for improving their own peoples and their social and cultural assets life conditions. Interface between Ecuador and the World Bank Conditions favoring tions to benefit indigenous peoples and Afro- collaboration Ecuadorans. The government conveyed its interest in this matter quite strongly to the By the mid-1990s a combination of favorable World Bank through direct contacts between factors led to the preparation of the Indigenous the president of Ecuador and the vice president and Afro-Ecuadoran Peoples Development of the Bank's Latin America and Caribbean Project (PRODEPINE)--the first World Bank Regional Office, a visit by the secretary of operation focusing exclusively on ethnic mi- SENAIME to the Bank's headquarters in Wash- norities. ington, and other means. First, indigenous peoples' level of organization Third, partly in anticipation of the United and capacity for social mobilization had Nations International Decade of the World's grown substantially. In a demonstration of Indigenous People, in 1993 the World Bank their newfound power, in 1990 indigenous started its own Indigenous Peoples Develop- peoples marched from Puyo, in the eastern ment Initiative, hiring more social science lowlands, to Quito to push their demands for staff, organizing workshops to discuss alterna- recognition of collective title to the lands they tives for indigenous peoples, and designing occupied. In 1992 indigenous and Afro- preinvestment operations--particularly a tech- descendant organizations joined forces and nical training program for indigenous peoples formed the Coordinadora Agraria (Agrarian in Latin America. Thus, the institution was Coordinating Commission) to pressure the relatively well positioned to respond to re- government to revise its recently approved quests such as that from Ecuador. Agrarian Law. After the United Nations de- clared 1995­2004 the International Decade of Fourth, the strong ethnicity­poverty relation- the World's Indigenous People, and called for ship identified in the Bank's 1995 Poverty the formation of joint government and indige- Assessment for Ecuador strengthened the case nous peoples committees, the Coordinadora for targeting interventions at Ecuador's in- Agraria was transformed into the Committee digenous and Afro-Ecuadoran population. The of the Decade (Comité del Decenio) with the fact that other rural development projects had mandate to propose and to respond to propos- difficulty reaching these populations further als for development activities for member emphasized the need for a new approach. organizations. When the government asked the World Bank Second, in 1994 the Government of Ecuador to help identify an operation focusing on created the National Secretariat of Indigenous indigenous peoples, the Bank's experts on in- Affairs and Ethnic Minorities (SENAIME) and digenous peoples issues recommended making appointed an indigenous entrepreneur as its first contact with national indigenous organizations secretary. Immediately thereafter Ecuador initi- in Ecuador and taking a gradual, fully partici- ated a series of contacts with donors to request patory approach as the minimum steps re- support for SENAIME and its proposed opera- quired to create conditions for success. While 11 12 LCR Sustainable Development Working Paper No. 15 initial contacts found willingness on the part to direct resources at this sector of the popula- of the government, there was great reluctance tion. In addition, proponents of this approach on the part of national indigenous organiza- brought to the attention of Bank decisionmak- tions to deal with either their own government ers the enormous assets of indigenous peoples, or with the Bank. To overcome this distrust, mostly in terms of their social capital but also the initial project concept document started in terms of physical capital such as their addressing the historical demands of indige- communal landholdings in tropical forests and nous organizations--namely, access to land, other important ecological regions. strengthening social organizations, and in- creasing rural investment. Strengthening the Alliances also had to be strengthened or government's ability to formulate indigenous formed at the governmental level in Ecuador. peoples' policies was not demanded by the Although SENAIME, an agency attached to indigenous organizations, but was eventually the presidency, had made the request for Bank accepted by them as a necessary part of a pro- support on behalf of the Government of Ecua- ject in which a government agency was the dor, other key public agencies such as the counterpart. National Planning and Coordinating Secre- tariat, the Ministry of Agriculture, the National Preparation of the project depended not only on Institute for Agrarian Development (INDA), a tripartite agreement among the Bank, the gov- and the National Forestry and Natural ernment, and the indigenous federations, but Resources Institute (INEFAN) had to be also required reaching consensus within each brought on board in favor of collaborating separate social actor. While Bank technical with indigenous peoples. staff, particularly those working in the rural and social development sectors, tended to support Finally, considerable effort was needed to this initiative, some project advisors and maintain the fragile coalition of national country economists argued that indigenous indigenous federations and build their trust in peoples were already being served by existing both the government and the Bank. In the projects such as the Social Investment Fund early 1990s there was an attempt by the gov- and that targeting indigenous peoples would ernment to pass an agrarian law that would create conflicts with other sectors of the poor have facilitated the breakup of communal population. lands in order to create a more open land mar- ket. Indigenous federations joined forces by Ultimately, an alliance of social and rural de- forming an Agrarian Coordinating Group velopment specialists, the Bank's country rep- (Coordinadora Agraria) to oppose the law. resentative for Ecuador, and some division Thus, the government again became the object chiefs (environment and rural development) of fear and suspicion. Indigenous leaders had persuaded the Bank that targeting ethnicity not completely accepted SENAIME and were within a rural development context was neces- concerned that attempts at co-optation could sary and that it made sense financially to divide their organizations. They also had invest in indigenous and Afro-Ecuadoran peo- grievances against the World Bank, particu- ples. The task team successfully argued that larly for its support for neo-liberal reforms, targeting was not new in the Bank and that which they opposed. given the fact that indigenous peoples were among the poorest of the poor in Latin Amer- The main line of argument to convince indige- ica generally (Psacharopoulos and Patrinos nous federations to participate in project prepa- 1995), and in Ecuador specifically as shown in ration was that indigenous peoples had the right the detailed quantitative analysis of the 1995 to public investments and that one of the best Ecuador Poverty Assessment, it was sensible ways to secure funds was through internation- Social Capital as a Factor in Indigenous Peoples Development in Ecuador 13 ally financed projects. This was going to be the approach and the conditions for successful first time that Ecuador obtained a loan for poor implementation. indigenous peoples and Afro-Ecuadorans. The Bank not only was interested in financing a Building internal coalitions was also a way of project targeting ethnicity but also was ready to building social capital--first in the relation- do it in a fully participatory way that would ships among indigenous organizations, particu- become a model of other operations to follow larly the national federations in the Comité del in the future. Decenio; second, in the relationships linking indigenous organizations and government at the Many of the above activities required a deep local and national levels; third, in the relation- knowledge of the social and political realities ships linking the project team to other constitu- of the country. Building alliances and coali- encies in the Bank; and finally, in the relation- tions was facilitated by the fact that one of the ships between indigenous organizations, the authors of this study had a long working rela- Ecuadoran government, and the Bank. tionship with Ecuadoran government agencies, nongovernmental organizations, and indige- The process of social organization in Ecuador is nous peoples and thus had his own network of constantly changing. In the past five years it has contacts and a high degree of credibility. The been affected by the general crisis that the importance of personal trust and a proper country is suffering as well as by new devel- political approach cannot be underestimated opments such as the existence of PRODEPINE, because without it indigenous federations a new Constitution with ample recognition of would have had stronger resistance to the idea collective rights and a focus on peoples and of collaborating with the Ecuadoran govern- nationalities, and the new protagonism of in- ment in a Bank-financed project. This was digenous peoples under the banner of further facilitated by the continuity of the task CONAIE. All these changes have affected the team, whose composition has not fundamen- project in unexpected ways. The main effect tally changed over the entire life of the project. has been strong pressure to adjust the project to the new mandate of strengthening peoples During implementation SENAIME was re- and nationalities, which some federations in- placed by the National Council of Planning terpret as recognition of the long struggle for and Development for Indigenous Peoples and reaffirmation of cultural identities, while oth- Afro-Ecuadorans (CONPLADEIN), whose ers see it as an artifice to exclude the class- executive board included all the national in- oriented federations from the decisionmaking digenous federations plus an Afro-Ecuadoran process and from the benefits that the new representative. After more than a year of op- projects can offer. eration, CONPLADEIN was replaced by the Council for the Development of the Nationali- As a result, the Bank has insisted on the basic ties and Peoples of Ecuador (CODENPE), principle of social inclusion, by which not only which includes only representation of peoples should all indigenous and Afro-Ecuadoran and nationalities--that is, organizations with grassroots organizations have access to project an ethnic orientation--leaving out those which benefits, but all federations regardless of origin, have a social class orientation (peasant federa- political, religious, or class orientation should tions). This changing institutional reality also sit at the table and participate in the deci- meant that the Bank's task team had to redou- sionmaking process, particularly revision and ble its efforts to maintain old alliances and approval of annual operating plans and periodic promote new social and institutional arrange- reports, and supervision of the implementation ments to ensure the project's inclusive process. 14 LCR Sustainable Development Working Paper No. 15 Participatory framework Moreover, it also became clear that although the national indigenous organizations had From the very beginning of project preparation come together in the Comité del Decenio, they the Bank committed itself to three basic guiding were not particularly well linked and did not principles: (a) alleviation of poverty through necessarily speak with one voice. In fact, there targeting resources at the poorest sectors of the was a fair degree of rivalry and continuous population, (b) promotion of participatory jockeying for the best position at the negotiat- processes to ensure that project design responds ing table. The role of the Bank's task team as to grassroots demands and builds social capital an honest broker and intermediary to assist the and trust, and (c) close coordination between stakeholders in defining common ground for governmental and nongovernmental organiza- joint action turned out to be crucial at this tions to increase project efficiency. stage of the project preparation process and later during implementation. Preparation started with a project concept pa- per based on a proposal from the Ecuadoran It took several months to gain a formal com- government and the knowledge of Bank staff mitment from the indigenous organizations to about the situation of indigenous peoples in participate in the project. At first the govern- Ecuador. The concept paper, along with an ment suggested the creation of a Consultative invitation to a project inception workshop, was Group in which indigenous organizations sent to key government offices, NGOs, and would be represented, but with a minority national indigenous organizations. Participants status. This model of participation was re- at the workshop discussed the objectives, basic jected by the indigenous organizations. components, design methodology, and pre- Instead, they proposed a model in which liminary work plan for the project. The initial indigenous organizations had a direct relation- response to the project concept was favorable. ship with the Bank, and administered project preparation and implementation themselves Nevertheless, it soon became apparent that the without the participation of the government. indigenous organizations had reservations However, the World Bank's charter mandates about working with the government and the that it work with national governments, so this World Bank. The largest indigenous organiza- model could not be accepted. tion, CONAIE (claiming to represent 70 per- cent of all indigenous people in Ecuador) Further negotiations led to a coadministration turned out to be a particularly tough negotia- model in which a Managing Committee tor. In the early 1990s CONAIE organized (Comité de Gestión) would make decisions well-attended popular marches to advance with equal representation by government and claims for indigenous rights, thereby gaining indigenous peoples. Three delegates from very high credibility with the indigenous SENAIME would represent the government, population as the genuine representative of and three delegates selected by the Comité del their interests. With relations between the Decenio would represent the indigenous or- government and indigenous organizations his- ganizations. In addition, the parties agreed to torically defined by confrontation rather than create a Technical Unit (Unidad Técnica) to cooperation, it was clear that a substantial support the work of the Comité de Gestión. change in the mindsets of both sides was re- The coordinator of the Unidad Técnica was quired before they could engage in construc- also a member of the Comité de Gestión.7 This tive dialogue (even though they recognized that such dialogue was desirable). 7. The Comité del Decenio sent a letter to the World Bank and to the Government of Ecuador stating its formal commitment to collaborate in Social Capital as a Factor in Indigenous Peoples Development in Ecuador 15 helped ensure a strong link between the deci- result of a consensual agreement among the sions of the Comite de Gestión and implemen- national indigenous federations and the gov- tation of those decisions by the Unidad ernment that took three years to achieve. Pro- Técnica. Because the coordinator was selected ject agreements, having international legal from a list of three candidates provided by the standing, reflect this institutional setup. More indigenous and Afro-Ecuadoran organizations, importantly, for the project to succeed it needs in effect they gained an extra representative on to be relatively free of political interference the Comité de Gestión. Annex I provides an from the national government and indigenous overview of the agreed institutional structure. federations. The directors of PRODEPINE maintained that they were obliged to imple- During the first two years of project implemen- ment the project and annual operating plans as tation, the role of the Comité de Gestión has agreed between the government and the World been partly played by CODENPE (whose Bank. The World Bank supported their posi- council includes representation of peoples and tion, but after the presidency intervened in nationalities). Yet the project has faced strong favor of CODENPE, it reluctantly accepted pressures from the Secretary General of the dismissal of the Executive Director, which CODENPE to not only adjust to new constitu- was then followed by the resignation of the tional principles but also take into consideration Technical Director in June 2000. the new protagonism of CONAIE. In fact, in 1999, during negotiations between the govern- Conflict resolution ment and CONAIE, an important part of the mechanisms agenda was PRODEPINE. CONAIE argued for the need to restructure the project and made The project's high degree of autonomy pro- great efforts to have a greater say in its imple- vided an opportunity to create a "business cul- mentation by pushing for the appointment of ture" conducive to a productive working envi- CONAIE-affiliated professionals in the pro- ronment. The subject of business culture was ject's senior management team. Meanwhile, the discussed explicitly at various stages during other indigenous and Afro-Ecuadoran federa- project preparation. Key notions about the ap- tions pressured the government and the Bank to propriate elements of the business culture were be inclusive and to keep the project open to the even included in an aide-mémoire signed by the participation of all stakeholders. various parties. The discussions resulted in an agreement that the project's working environ- CODENPE has also strongly questioned the ment would be based on several factors, includ- relative autonomy of the project, arguing that ing (a) a high degree of tolerance and respect, as the government counterpart it should have (b) direct, frank, and transparent communica- greater control over the procurement and dis- tion focused on issues rather than persons, (c) bursement process and that PRODEPINE drive for high-quality results, and (d) willing- should be an instrument to advance central ness to learn from mistakes and to accept con- government policies on indigenous peoples. structive feedback. This provided an agreed The project, with Bank support, has resisted code of conduct for people who, until recently, these efforts under the argument that the insti- had never worked together. The usefulness of tutional arrangement of the project was the this exercise was reflected in the fact that peo- ple referred to the written principles on various occasions. Agreeing on these principles early in the project. In the final analysis, indigenous and the process definitely helped shape a positive Afro-Ecuadoran organizations became the ma- jority bloc in the committee, since the coordina- work environment and contributed to an atmos- tor of the Technical Unit was the secretary and phere of cooperation and mutual trust. a voting member of the Comité de Gestión. 16 LCR Sustainable Development Working Paper No. 15 The mechanisms and processes that were em- Regarding fiduciary issues, the Bank made it ployed by the project to deal with conflicts and clear from the beginning that the project had to differences indirectly contributed to fostering comply with the full range of requirements that more constructive relationships among the in- are applied to other Bank-financed projects, and digenous organizations themselves as well as that obtaining exceptions to these rules would between indigenous organizations and the gov- probably be more painful and frustrating than ernment. A case in point is that when the complying with them. This slowed down pro- National Council of Planning and Development ject preparation because of rather weak institu- for Indigenous Peoples and Afro-Ecuadorans tional capacity and the fact that most project (COMPLADEIN) was established in March personnel lacked experience working in Bank- 1997, its organizational structure reflected that of financed projects. Nevertheless, it was consid- the Comité de Gestión as agreed in November ered the right thing to do from a long-term 1995. Because all the indigenous organizations perspective. It avoided potentially endless dis- were interested in having the project hire profes- cussions about which requirements would be sionals affiliated with their particular group, con- subject to exceptions, what the alternatives siderable efforts were made to ensure that the should be, and what would be the minimum jus- rules of the game, particularly the hiring proce- tification needed to agree to an exception. It also dures, were clear to all stakeholders. Terms of avoided the trap of creating false expectations. In reference, qualifications, and selection criteria addition, it was made clear to the government for each position financed under the project were and the indigenous federations on various occa- agreed up front. To acknowledge and validate sions that certified compliance with Bank proce- the goal of having indigenous professionals em- dures, as implied by external audit reports, ployed in the project, knowledge of indigenous would in itself be a major benefit because it languages was included as one of the selection would demonstrate that indigenous peoples were criteria for positions in which a pool of qualified fully capable of managing public funds. A series indigenous professionals was available. For of external audit reports would establish a clean specialized positions in which there were ex- track record that would help indigenous peoples pected to be very few, if any qualified indige- maintain access to public funds in the long run. nous candidates, the language requirement was By 2002 the project had passed five external replaced by a stipulation that the candidate audits, thereby establishing a solid reputation for should have relevant experience working with responsible financial management. indigenous organizations. Building broad alliances The Bank went to great lengths to ensure that all parties complied fully with what they had Second- and third-tier indigenous agreed on paper. This was necessary because organizations: the executing of the significant pressure to appoint consult- agencies ants and divide training budgets according to quotas put forward by indigenous organiza- While the national-level indigenous organiza- tions. Though the Bank risked being labeled tions were legitimate representatives of the pro- bureaucratic by insisting that the rules be ob- ject's intended beneficiary population, it was served, in doing so it actually established a recognized that their particular strength was in solid reputation as a guarantor of due process the political and public policy arena. Given the for all stakeholders. Given the lack of strong project's orientation toward generating direct trust among the stakeholders, this role was benefits for indigenous communities, it highly appreciated, and probably was one the adopted a strategy of also working directly most valuable aspects of the Bank's role in the with second-tier indigenous organizations (as preparation process. stated previously, under this definition were a Social Capital as a Factor in Indigenous Peoples Development in Ecuador 17 broad range of organizations linking communi- First, IFAD had two ongoing rural development ties at the bottom with the national federations projects--one in the province of Cañar and an- on top). These organizations, in effect, are the other in Saraguro--that already worked closely members of the national-level organizations. with indigenous organizations at the local and They usually are based in small urban or rural regional level. Learning from IFAD's experi- towns accessible to their community-level ence in those projects, whether positive or member organizations. Since second-tier or- negative, could benefit preparation of the ganizations have a closer relationship with Bank-supported project. Second, IFAD had a indigenous communities, they are in a better strong interest in starting a rural development position to know local needs and demands, are project targeting Afro-Ecuadorans in the inclined to focus on providing services to their coastal province of Esmeraldas. Third, IFAD's members rather than merely representing them experience in financing rural credit programs politically, and in general have a more prag- complemented the Bank's experience in matic agenda. During implementation, execut- financing matching-grant funds. This enabled ing agencies not only included second-tier or- the project to establish an integrated program ganizations but also some third-tier organiza- of rural investments that could respond to a tions and even a few municipalities where in- wide range of demands from indigenous digenous mayors and councilors have been communities, including those with a public- elected recently. good or a private-good nature. Fourth, IFAD's more flexible stand on financing land pur- This strategy of making the project known at chases made an interesting complement to the the regional level, including the second-tier Bank's in-house possibilities, and widened the organizations in project preparation, and align- range of options for financing land regulariza- ing project design to their pragmatic agenda, tion and conflict resolution programs. Fifth, created a substantial "pull" effect of second-tier combining the Bank loan with lower-interest organizations speaking in favor of the project at IFAD resources offered a more attractive meetings and forums. Because the credibility of financial package, and lessened the chance the national indigenous organizations depends that the government would lose interest in the to a large extent on effective linkages with their project, even if macroeconomic conditions bases, the opinions of second-tier organizations deteriorated. In addition, bringing IFAD on tend to be taken into account by national lead- board added its dialogue with the government ers, though not often enough. Reaching out to to the factors ensuring continued official the second-tier organizations therefore created a support for the project. more deeply rooted and more solid base of sup- port for the project, and reduced the risk of fac- Inter-American Foundation ing politically motivated decisions by a few indigenous leaders at the top. Another attractive partner was the Inter- American Foundation (IAF), which was ex- International Fund for Agricultural perienced in financing and implementing Development small-scale initiatives in cooperation with Ecuadoran indigenous organizations. The IAF Since the project was the first of its kind, the had a long and successful history in this field, Bank recognized that it did not necessarily and had established a wide reputation and ex- have comparative advantage in all areas cov- cellent relations with the indigenous movement ered by the project. In this context, the Inter- in Ecuador. The Bank project provided a good national Fund for Agricultural Development opportunity to build on those experiences and (IFAD) proved to be an appropriate co- successes, especially since at the time the IAF financing partner. was scaling down its programs due to cuts in 18 LCR Sustainable Development Working Paper No. 15 U.S. bilateral aid. To benefit from their experi- particularly on the effects and impacts of its ence, the IAF was enlisted to serve as a peer interventions. reviewer during project preparation. Continuity of the task team This arrangement provided mutual benefits. First, it provided a vehicle for the IAF to in- During the five years between preparation and crease the scope of the model it had developed. implementation, the Bank task team remained Second, with some former IAF staff as part of substantially the same. There was good com- the team, the project had unrestricted access to plementarity of member skills (which includes relevant information that was required to design expertise in agricultural economy, rural soci- some key aspects of the project, particularly ology, and agriculture, among others). They with respect to participatory planning and local had a shared belief that this is a unique experi- capacity building. Third, by associating the pro- ence that requires a long-term commitment in ject with IAF's efforts and network, the former order to make it succeed. In any case, this con- IAF officials became effective spokesmen for tinuity paid off in several ways. the project and provided an excellent alterna- tive channel of communication with indigenous First, given the sensitivity of the relationship organizations. If indigenous organizations were between the indigenous organizations and the in doubt about the Bank's intentions at some government, especially in the early stages, the point during the preparation process, they could task team played an important intermediary express their doubts to the IAF officials who role that required a fair amount of trust that they had known and worked with for a long could only be built up over time. time, and get a response they trusted from peo- ple who were knowledgeable about the Bank's Second, the various indigenous organizations opinions and intentions. did not necessarily have a common strategy, and on occasion pursued their own separate Food and Agriculture Organization agendas. Continuity allowed the task team to understand and appreciate these different During project preparation another alliance agendas, and to move project preparation for- was established with the United Nations Food ward while taking these agendas into account. and Agricultural Organization (FAO) to create a window of access, almost on a standby basis, Third, continuity enabled the team to build a to technical expertise on the preparation and track record as an objective mediator. It con- implementation of small-scale, demand-driven sistently proposed solutions based on three rural investment subprojects. The arrangement basic principles: (a) inclusiveness, or ensuring allowed the project to tap into international that the solution to a certain problem allowed experiences in this field and to design this pro- all stakeholders to continue to participate, ject component in line with best practice. In (b) technical orientation, or keeping political addition, FAO's expertise on monitoring and issues from interfering at the operational level, evaluation systems helped the project focus and (c) clear formulation of rules or codes of increasing attention on quality assurance, and conduct. Operationalizing the Project Focus on Social Capital Targeting ethnicity and beneficiary population in that particular parro- poverty quia. Depending on these locally defined crite- ria, the project would include the mestizo One of the first challenges of the project was to population to the extent that they are members identify the indigenous peoples and Afro- of the second-tier organizations. Ecuadorans who were the intended beneficiaries. The two principal questions were (a) whether Through this analysis the project targeted the mestizo population living in the same areas about 815,000 people who were members of would be part of the project's target population, indigenous and Afro-Ecuadoran communities and (b) how to settle the politically contentious in rural areas. Being considered "indigenous" issue of defining who is indigenous. was based on self-identification, membership in a specific indigenous community or grass- To tackle this issue an approach was adopted roots organization, and recognition as indige- that combined quantitative methods and geo- nous by other members of that sociocultural graphic location with the notion of self- unit. Being considered "Afro-Ecuadoran" was identification and community affiliation with based on self-identification and membership in second-tier organizations. Census information a black community. on the indigenous and Afro-Ecuadoran popula- tion at the parroquia level was crossed with The indigenous and Afro-Ecuadoran popula- data on poverty (an index of unsatisfied basic tion of rural Ecuador is concentrated in 48 needs), to obtain figures on the level of poverty cantons, which comprise 288 rural parroquias by ethnicity. Additional information was gath- (230 indigenous and 58 Afro). This is 29 per- ered in the field, particularly self-identification cent of the country's rural parroquias. However, of communities as either indigenous or Afro- in nearly all cases indigenous and black people Ecuadoran, and membership in a second-tier live in areas where there is also a mestizo indigenous organization. This information was population. In fact, only 150 parroquias have a then represented in an indigenous poverty map. majority indigenous or Afro population (of which 111 are indigenous and 39 are Afro). In The quantitative analysis gave an idea of the remaining 138 parroquias indigenous peo- which parroquias had a majority indigenous ple and Afro-Ecuadorans account for between and Afro-Ecuadoran population and which 10 and 50 percent of the total population. Thus ones had a significant minority presence of there is ample opportunity to put the principle those groups. Once the parroquias were of interculturalism into practice. known, second-tier indigenous organizations could be identified that were operating in There are about 180 second-tier organizations them. The project would then form an alliance operating in the 288 parroquias included in the with these organizations for implementation project area. It is through these organizations purposes, and in so doing would accept the (generally grouping contiguous communities) membership eligibility criteria of the organiza- that the project defines its annual operational tion as the basis for targeting the intended plans and implements agreed activities. 19 20 LCR Sustainable Development Working Paper No. 15 The target population exhibits great cultural patrimony, and other customs and practices diversity, especially among indigenous peo- distinct from those of Ecuador's national soci- ples. The most numerous of the indigenous ety, which bears a strong western influence. people are the Quichua speakers (or Runa) in There are also some negative traits embedded the Sierra. They may be further subdivided by in indigenous culture such as political and re- area of ethnic predominance, including the ligious factionalism and particular forms of Otavalo, Carangui, Cayambi, and Quito in the gender inequality. Nevertheless, the project northern region, and the Panzaleo, Puruha, aims to mobilize this social capital, based on Cañari, Salasaca, and Saraguro in the south- these characteristics, as a platform for eth- central region. The next largest group is the nodevelopment following the conceptual peoples of the Amazon region, including the framework presented in Figure 1. Shuar, Achuar, and Runa or Quichua speakers of the lowlands, and the Waorani, Cofán, and The ultimate aim of the project is to generate Siona-Secoya. In the coastal region are found results and impacts that directly benefit in- the Awá, Emberá, Tsachila, and Chachi, and digenous and Afro-Ecuadoran communities. other peoples such as the Huancavilca, To achieve this, the project finances invest- Manteño, and Puna who have lost their lan- ments to improve the stock of human, finan- guage but retain strong indigenous cultural fea- cial, physical, and environmental capital at the tures. Afro-Ecuadorans live in both coastal and disposal of these communities. In the process, highland areas, though there is not as much it expects to build social capital in at least diversity between their subgroups as there is three different ways. First, when social capital between the indigenous subgroups (see Annex is already strong, the other forms of capital 2 for details and estimated population sizes). can complement it effectively (for example, by strengthening preexisting water-users associa- Conceptual framework tions). Second, when, social capital is weak, these additional resources, which in most Social exclusion, economic deprivation, and cases are not individual goods, will promote political marginalization are sometimes per- collective management and solidarity among ceived as the predominant characteristics of members.8 Third, when the existing social Ecuador's indigenous peoples. But as they of- capital in traditional indigenous communities ten remind outsiders, indigenous peoples are is different from and not necessarily compati- also characterized by strong positive attributes, ble with the type needed in modern adminis- particularly their high level of social capital. trative/economic and even social infrastructure Much of this type of social capital is manifest at management, the project will stimulate the the level of the traditional community through gradual extension of the original social capital informal networks of reciprocity and is strongly into new fields, levels, or types of cooperation survival oriented. The challenge is to mobilize (such as women's solidarity credit associa- or build on these types of relationships for tions, which have no equivalent in traditional development purposes and more formal organi- Andean communities). zations that often require different types of collective action and hierarchies. 8. John Durston, in his work in Guatemala, argues Besides language and their own sense of eth- that native communities have latent social nic identity, the distinctive features of indige- capital that was disrupted and repressed during nous peoples include solidarity and social the civil strife in that country, but which now, unity (reflected in strong social organizations), with a combination of physical and financial investments and organizational assistance, can a well-defined geographical concentration and be resuscitated and built up in an atmosphere of attachment to ancestral lands, a rich cultural trust (Durston 1998). Social Capital as a Factor in Indigenous Peoples Development in Ecuador 21 To ensure relevant use of these various types ticipatory planning and self-management as the of capital, the project relies on participatory basic principles for the project's operational planning as a mechanism to facilitate the ef- procedures forms the conceptual framework of fective demand-driven nature of activities and the project. self-management as a tool to retain a strong sense of project ownership on the part of in- Despite the strong desire for self-management digenous and Afro-Ecuadoran organizations. in order to take the process of development The configuration of investments in various into their own hands, relatively few second- types of capital coupled with the focus on par- tier organizations had the technical and finan- Figure 1. Conceptual Framework to Operationalize Social Capital Social Human Capital Financial and Environmental physical Participatory Planning Self-Management Local Results and Impacts 22 LCR Sustainable Development Working Paper No. 15 cial management capacity to assume their role distinguished.10 The first category includes as project implementing agents. In fact, there second-tier organizations that have ample in- is a very wide range in available institutional stitutional capacity to be effective partners on capacity in these organizations, with some of the full range of activities supported by the them having a long history of providing project. Most support provided by the project services to their member communities, while for this type of organizations is demand- others even lack the basic knowledge of driven, while controls tend to be of an ex-post managing their own finances. Recognizing nature. In case of noncompliance with the this large variation in institutional capacity, it agreed rules of the game, the project can reas- became clear that the project could not use a sess its relationship with a second-tier organi- blueprint approach to enter into partnerships zation and base it on the rules of the game that with these organizations as project implement- apply to the second category. ing agents. A standard level of supervision might be interpreted by one organization as The second category includes organizations the absolute minimum level of operational with limited institutional capacity. The project support to effectively assume its responsibili- enters into agreements with these organiza- ties, while others might consider it as excessive tions for the design and implementation of micro-management. subprojects if there is a willingness on their part to participate in training programs sup- In order to tailor the relationship between sec- ported by the project. The project also main- ond-tier organization and the project at a mu- tains a ceiling of $25,000 instead of the usual tually acceptable level, the project is investing $90,000 for subprojects implemented by or- in the development of an index of organiza- ganizations in this category. Project personnel tional capacity, which includes social capital maintain close relations with these organiza- indicators.9 This index combines indicators in tions to provide support on a regular basis. the categories of management capacity, organ- Controls exercised by the project tend to have izational culture, human capital, and financial a more ex-ante nature. Once an organization capital. Following criteria outlined in Annex 3 has successfully implemented a number of an index of organizational capacity is calcu- subprojects, the relationship can be redefined lated. This index then determines the nature of based on the rules of the game that apply to partnership with the project in terms of opera- organizations that have ample institutional tional responsibilities and local capacity- capacity. building support activities. The third category of second-tier organizations The index was applied to all known second- includes those that have no apparent institu- and third-level organizations in the Amazon. tional capacity whatsoever. The project enters Three categories of potential partnerships are into agreements with these organizations if they associate themselves with an NGO in a formal alliance. The underlying idea is that the 9. This work ties in with initiatives in this area launched by the Social Development Family of 10. The universe of OSGs was divided in three the World Bank, under the "Social Capital Initia- groups based on their scores on a 114-point tive," underwritten by the Danish Trust Fund. scale: (a) those with scores above 81, represent- The PRODEPINE index was developed in dia- ing 27% of the total; (b) those with scores be- logue with researchers of an Andean study on tween 50 and 80, representing 55%; and (c) campesino federations while they experimented those with scores below 50, accounting for with measures of organizational capacity and 18%. The main purpose of this exercise was to structural social capital (see Bebbington and determine which OSGs could or could not Carroll 1999). manage project resources (see Ramón 1999). Social Capital as a Factor in Indigenous Peoples Development in Ecuador 23 NGO has a local presence and is in a position second-tier organizations and subsequently se- to provide support on an almost continuous lected by the project based on previous educa- basis, something the project cannot do. Most of tional achievements. To increase the probability the capacity building efforts supported by the that students remain in their communities and project focus on the second category of organi- organizations after they have completed their zations as described above. Hence, by using the education, the formal education program puts a index as a tool to focus and tailor local capacity heavy emphasis on distance learning. The pres- building activities it also contributes to greater ence of many indigenous students in the usually cost effectiveness in this area. white/mestizo university is already changing attitudes and giving indigenous people a new The project also supports a range of activities degree of respect. that are specifically aimed at improving the institutional capacity of second-tier organiza- In addition to the formal training programs, tions, particularly those of the second and the project supports short courses for profes- third category. These activities include support sionals who are actually working in imple- for building management capacity and techni- menting agencies. Courses include a wide cal capacity with special emphasis on project range of topics, most of which are closely re- preparation and management. The project also lated to participatory planning, project admini- helps organizations obtain juridical status if stration and management, procurement, and needed. To emphasize the focus on ethnode- technical issues. Since learning by doing is a velopment, the project also supports activities key element of these courses, they are coordi- that strengthen the identity and cultural patri- nated closely with the program of small-scale mony of indigenous and Afro-Ecuadoran investments financed by the project. The pro- communities and their organizations. ject also offers a limited number of internships in its regional offices. These internships ex- Capital accumulation pose young indigenous professionals to the operational aspects of the project's rural To make the investments of the project in hu- investment program, which can enhance the man, environmental, financial, and physical interns' work in the second-tier organizations. capital more effective, social capital needs to be taken into consideration in the orientation By the end of 2002, 1,080 high school students and design of these investments. (including 335 graduates) and 850 college stu- dents (including 67 graduates) had received Human Capital academic fellowships from the project. In addi- tion 77 people had completed short courses in To increase the available pool of indigenous irrigation, soil conservation, agroforestry, and professionals in the long run, both in quantita- other topics (World Bank 2002). tive and qualitative terms, the project entered into agreements with 27 universities and col- Environmental Capital leges to provide complementary financial support and design an appropriate course of The project supports a significant land titling studies for indigenous students supported by and regularization program in collaboration the project. The project also supports students with the Instituto Nacional de Desarrollo in disciplines that are particularly relevant for Agrario (INDA). Because of the sensitivity the modus operandi of the second-tier organi- surrounding land property rights, this program zations, including community development, is being implemented by locally trained parale- anthropology, and communications. Potential gals from the indigenous and Afro-Ecuadoran candidates for project support are proposed by communities participating in the program rather 24 LCR Sustainable Development Working Paper No. 15 than by government officials. In collaboration of personnel, profits are ploughed back into with CARE, the project has supported a pro- the communities and invested in social gram to train and to establish a professional infrastructure (for example schools, health network of paralegals. Given their local back- clinics, etc.). From the outsider's point of view ground and knowledge of participating com- these agribusiness ventures are private firms, munities and organizations, the paralegals are which according to the project's investment in a much better position than outside govern- rules should be financed with credit. However, ment officials to effectively facilitate resolution the point of view of the indigenous of land conflicts. The cooperation agreement communities is that these ventures are public between the project and INDA explicitly calls since the communities own them and the for integration of these paralegals into INDA's profits are used to finance public goods. Given land titling and regularization procedures. the project's orientation toward ethnodevelopment, it is hard to justify any Currently, 122,685 hectares of land have been approach other than applying the rules titled to 71 grassroots organizations, 97,312 according to the point of view of the hectares are in the process of being titled, and communities and their organizations. Conse- 160 paralegals have finished the training pro- quently, the project finances capital investments gram. In addition studies of irrigation systems (such as machinery, buildings, etc.) for empre- have been conducted that cover 2,647 kilome- sas comunitarias through matching grants. ters of irrigation works serving 458 communi- After about four years of implementation, ties and 37,194 users (World Bank 2002). PRODEPINE has supported the preparation of 210 local development plans, 1,918 subproject Financial and Physical Capital proposals, and 830 preinvestment studies. It has also provided $12 million in financing for 654 The project finances a substantive program of small investment operations, with the commu- small-scale rural investments identified through nities contributing an estimated $4.5 million. In a participatory planning process at the commu- addition, 547 community banks have been cre- nity level. Investments with a public-goods ated, benefiting 14,022 members, as part of a character are financed through matching grants. special activity targeting indigenous women Investments with a private-goods character are (World Bank 2002). financed on a credit basis. Contributing labor for community enterprises (mingas) is accepted Self-management, as the counterpart contribution of the communi- participation, and cultural ties to the matching grants for financing par- identity ticular rural investments. Indigenous communi- ties typically conduct the practice of minga on a Project beneficiaries and their organizations regular basis to construct, maintain, or repair are empowered to manage the project at the infrastructure that has a communal character. strategic level through an Consultative Com- By doing so, the project is explicitly building mittee (Comité Consultivo) formed at the on existing social reality. Council for the Development of the Nationali- ties and Peoples of Ecuador (CODENPE). The Another example of this is the way empresas Consultative Committee includes representa- comuntarias (community enterprises) are fi- tives from CODENPE and delegates from the nanced under the project. These enterprises are main indigenous and Afro-Ecuadoran organi- typically some sort of small-scale agribusiness zations. The committee reviews and approves owned by the community and operated by a the project's annual operational plans, and dis- number of people from the community. After cusses progress reports submitted by the Pro- covering all relevant costs, including salaries ject Technical Unit. Social Capital as a Factor in Indigenous Peoples Development in Ecuador 25 The Project Technical Unit is responsible for small-scale investments are financed solely coordinating implementation of the annual through the loan funds and the counterpart operational plans approved by the National contributions from the communities. Problems Council. The unit is headed by a three-person with government counterpart funds, for which management team composed of an executive Ecuador is notorious, therefore do not directly director, a technical coordinator, and a affect the project's investment program in in- financial­administrative coordinator. The cri- digenous and Afro-Ecuadoran communities. teria for selecting members of the Project Technical Unit include knowledge of indige- Recognizing self-management as a crucial ele- nous languages and experience working with ment of community development implies that indigenous or Afro-Ecuadoran organizations. project activities, by definition, should be de- This naturally encourages hiring of indigenous mand-driven. The project relies on participatory and Afro-Ecuadoran professionals and creates planning as an underlying process to obtain a a technical unit staffed by qualified and genuine demand-driven focus for its activities. culturally diverse professionals, including The process is designed to help make commu- mestizos, that mirrors the project's design and nity and grassroots organizations effective areas of operation players in their own development. More spe- cifically, participatory planning is used in the Because the project's success will largely be context of the project as a way to (a) contribute measured in terms of concrete results at the to the decentralization of decisionmaking, community level, the vast majority of profes- (b) stimulate grassroots participation in local sionals in the technical unit work in regional planning and generating demand, (c) help rural offices. This puts them closer to the second- communities formulate development strategies tier indigenous organizations through which and investment plans, and (d) increase invest- most project activities are implemented. Over ment sustainability by intensifying stake- time, the project has worked in close partner- holders' commitment in the execution and ship with about 250 of these indigenous and supervision of rural investments. Afro-Ecuadoran membership organizations. As a first step, second-tier organizations and The participatory planning process used by the the communities they are drawn from agree on project draws heavily on the experience of the a local development plan that provides an Inter-American Foundation (and Comunidec, a overall vision and serves as a tool to prioritize national NGO) in Andean countries, particu- project activities in a particular area. Once larly on its methodology for participatory defined, the organizations prepare and imple- community planning. It also builds on the ment small-scale investments, not exceeding practical experiences in the Nicaragua Rural $90,000 per subproject, that benefit their Municipalities Project, the Bolivia Rural member communities. Second-tier organiza- Communities Development Project, and other tions also provide input into the elaboration of projects that use the Goal-Oriented Project the annual operational plan of the project in a Planning (GOPP) method. In the GOPP ap- particular region, further contributing to the proach, community and district workshops are demand-driven nature of the project. An addi- held over the course of several weeks. At the tional benefit of operating in a decentralized workshops, project field promoters and sec- fashion in which most of the operational deci- ond-tier organizations help the communities sionmaking authority is shifted to the regional carry out a participatory diagnostic and formu- level is that once the annual operational plan is late a development strategy by applying meth- approved, the project operates relatively ods of group dynamics. Workshop participants independently from the political arena. This are community delegates, representatives from independence is enhanced by the fact that development organizations, and interested in- 26 LCR Sustainable Development Working Paper No. 15 dividuals. After each workshop time is allotted institutional strengthening efforts geared toward for the community delegates to return to their CODENPE, the project supports a team of pro- communities, inform them of the workshop's fessionals whose mandate includes reviewing proceedings, and get community feedback. This and assessing the potential impact of new legis- process can be lengthy because in some com- lation on the indigenous and Afro-Ecuadoran munities decisions are taken by consensus. population and proposing changes when ad- verse impacts are anticipated. As part of the In an attempt to put the concept of development land tenure regularization efforts supported by with identity into practice, the project has also the project, an attempt is made to clarify the tried to incorporate a series of concrete activi- concept of ancestral rights in more concrete ties designed to preserve and strengthen the rich terms to improve land ownership of indigenous cultural patrimony of indigenous and Afro- and Afro-Ecuadoran communities in forestry Ecuadoran peoples. However, progress under and protected areas. Finally, in the rural in- this program has not met expectations. So far vestments program supported by the project, these activities have included seven video the criteria for matching grants to finance documentaries about indigenous cultures, ten community infrastructure takes into account publications, three encounters to discuss cul- indigenous notions of communal and private tural heritage issues, and 28 festivals of music property rather than relying on definitions from and dance. The challenge is to better embed outsiders. For instance, even though indigenous culture in productive investments and activities community enterprises can be considered pri- that generate revenue. vate firms, the project finances them with matching grants rather than loans because they The project also includes features intended to are owned by the indigenous communities and sustain and strengthen indigenous and Afro- part of the profits are invested in social infra- Ecuadoran cultures indirectly. As part of the structure such as schools and health clinics. Conclusion This project is part of a new breed of poverty- should take into account how they interact targeted interventions by the World Bank. It is with and complement existing social capital. also part of an experimental initiative, started Third, to ensure the relevance of activities in 1993 in Latin America, designed to build financed under the project, its investments social capital and promote ethnodevelopment. should reflect priorities established in local Ecuador's Indigenous and Afro-Ecuadoran development plans elaborated in a participa- Development Project represents an effort to tory fashion. Fourth, to ensure ownership-- operationalize new and old concepts (ethnode- and ultimately the sustainability of the invest- velopment, social and human capital, commu- ments financed--the institutionalization of nity-driven development). It is an effort to self-management should be a guiding principle mobilize local resources and direct new ones of project implementation. to the poorest segment of the population, and to have that population manage the resources The Bank's major investment in this project is in accordance with their own vision of the building alliances among poor people and problems they face and the solutions they between the poor and other social sectors. choose. Indigenous peoples are increasingly conscious that financial investment will bear fruit only if The project is unique because it is the Bank's those alliances are maintained and strength- first stand-alone operation that exclusively tar- ened. In contrast, if they are weakened, and as gets indigenous and Afro-Ecuadoran peoples, a consequence the links holding the different and also because it is highly participatory groups together break, then domination by the throughout inception, preparation, and imple- white-mestizo society will continue unabated mentation. But the operation's most unique fea- and the social exclusion and poverty of in- ture is that it is strengthened by building on the digenous peoples will greatly increase. Thanks positive qualities of indigenous cultures and to their organizations and the capacity to mo- societies, such as their sense of ethnic identity, bilize alliances, indigenous peoples have be- cultural values, solidarity and social cohesion, come important social actors in local, regional, close attachment to ancestral land, and capacity and national politics. At the moment, they are to mobilize labor, capital, and other resources to at the forefront of the social movement advo- attain shared goals. cating change. To continue playing that role and to reach their high goals, they need to Some aspects of this project should be incor- maintain their social cohesion and demonstrate porated as fundamental features of other, simi- true leadership capabilities. lar operations. First, the design should recog- nize and seek to consolidate and strengthen the The experience of the project indicates that the capacity of many indigenous peoples and eth- formation and consolidation of these alliances nic or racial minorities to mobilize social capi- is not an easy task since indigenous and Afro- tal, including its cultural dimensions. Second, Ecuadoran grassroots organizations do repre- the design should incorporate a range of com- sent different political orientations and ideolo- plementary inputs, including the formation gies. The challenge is to isolate, to the extent and strengthening of human, environmental possible, development efforts supported by the and physical, and financial capital. The exact project from political interference and manipu- specification of interventions in these fields lation by government, national indigenous or- 27 28 LCR Sustainable Development Working Paper No. 15 ganizations, or other external actors. This re- nism at the strategic level, with participation quires an explicit commitment to the technical by representatives of key project stakeholders. focus of the project by all stakeholders in- Also, having a third party to act as a broker volved, the use of professional criteria in the and to remind stakeholders of the agreed core selection of its personnel, and the recognition principles of the project--in this case the of social inclusion as the driving principle for World Bank through its local field office rep- the project's participatory framework. An im- resentatives and supervision missions--can portant institutional project design feature for play an important role in consolidating the this purpose is the existence of a decision- alliances that form the foundation of the making body and conflict resolution mecha- project. Social Capital as a Factor in Indigenous Peoples Development in Ecuador29 Annex 1: Project Institutional Structure during Preparation Process Indigenous and SENAIME / Afro-Ecuadoran World COMPLADEIN Organizations Bank Ethnic Minorities (in the Comité del Decenio) Project Coordinating Committee (Comité de Gestión) Three representatives of indigenous and Afro-Ecuadoran organizations Three representatives of the Government of Ecuador Executive Coordinator Project Technical Unit: Executive Coordinator Professional Staff Private Sector Public Sector Executing Agencies Agencies 30 LCR Sustainable Development Working Paper No. 15 Annex 2: Target Population According to Ethnicity Region Ethnicity/Location Population 1. Costa­Sierra / Afro- Eloy Alfaro 23,256 Ecuadoran Region San Lorenzo 9,067 Esmeraldas 86,653 Chota-Mira 22,793 2. Amazonia Quichua/Runa, Sucumbios 8,463 Quichua/Runa, Napo 25,470 Quichua/Runa, Pastaza 15,866 Shuar, Upano 19,412 Shuar, Transcutucu 11,011 Shuar, Zamora 3,740 Others (Wao, Siona, Secoya, Cofán) 3,221 3. Northern Sierra Quichua/Runa, Otavalo-Carangue 63,726 Quichua/Runa, Cayambe-Quito 51,289 4. Central and Quichua/Runa, Cotopaxi 72,476 Southern Sierra Quichua/Runa, Tungurahua 62,984 Quichua/Runa, Chimborazo 148,715 Quichua/Runa, Bolivar 35,086 Quichua/Runa, Cañar-Azuay 62,447 Runa, Saraguro 11,936 5. Costa Costa Sur, (Huancavilcas, Mante- 65,997 ños, Punaes) Others (Chachi, Epera, Tsáchilas, 9,892 Awa) TOTAL 813,500 Social Capital as a Factor in Indigenous Peoples Development in Ecuador 31 Annex 3. Institutional/Organizational Capacity Index Criteria Points Juridical personality of Done..................................................................................5 k institution established More than 5 years ..............................3 In process for: Between 1 and 5 years ......................2 ewor Less than 1 year.................................1 Legal Not yet initiated .................................................................0 Statutes (norms) executed / Done on time (complied w/ statute) ..................................5 Fram directives reformed Done but missed deadline ................................................3 Remain unchanged (as of 1993).......................................0 Accounting system Computerized........................................5 y y Daily bookkeeping.................................3 Financial management (banking) 3 accounts (savings, checking, insurance) ..........................5 2 accounts Fiduciar Capacit (savings, checking).............................3 1 account...............................................2 Methodology Implementation Organizational structure in second-tier organization (including board of directors, local representatives) .........5 Basic organizational structure ..............3 Organizational structure dependent on NGO or other organization ...........3 Lacks organizational structure ..............0 Project experience (number of projects) 3 or more...............................................5 Less than 3............................................3 Capacity Cash flow management Excellent (9 figures or greater)..............5 Very good (8 figures).............................4 Good (7 figures) ....................................3 Average ................................................2 Unsatisfactory........................................1 Contributions by partners Contributions in kind, collective Management labor and cash....................................5 Contributions in kind and collective labor....................................4 Collective labor......................................3 In kind....................................................2 Cash ......................................................1 32 LCR Sustainable Development Working Paper No. 15 Annex III. Institutional/Organizational Capacity Index Criteria (continued) Points Technical specialists In-house......................................5 In-house and external .................3 External only ...............................1 None............................................0 Professional accounts One account................................3 None............................................0 Accounting assistants Capital More than one.............................3 1 ..................................................2 an None............................................0 Administrative support staff More than 1.................................3 Hum 1 ..................................................2 None............................................0 Community contacts More than 1 ................................5 1 ..................................................3 None............................................0 Goods--inventory, status, cost High (whole package, 100%)......5 (vehicles, machinery, office space, land) Medium high (at least 75%)........4 Average (at least 50%) ...............3 Low (25% and below) .................2 None (0%)...................................0 Office equipment--inventory, status, cost High (100%)................................5 (typewriters, computers, desks, fax Average (75%)............................4 machines, and other) Low (50% and below) .................3 0%...............................................0 Capital Communication tools High (100%)................................5 (telephone, radio station, frequency, sound Average (~75%)..........................4 equipment, amplifiers/speakers) Low (50% and below) .................3 0%...............................................0 Financial Basic services Excellent (100%).........................5 (potable water, sewerage system, electricity) Very good (~75%).......................4 Good (~50%)...............................3 None............................................0 Sources of Funds Own enterprise............................5 Other partner organizations........5 None............................................0 Social Capital as a Factor in Indigenous Peoples Development in Ecuador 33 Annex III. Institutional/Organizational Capacity Index Criteria (continued) Points Relations with other organizations High (3 or more) .........................5 (NGOs, third-tier organizations, other) Average (2).................................3 Low (1)........................................1 None...........................................0 Types of partner initiatives with NGOs High (all) .....................................5 (legal, technical, capacity building, credit, Average (2-3)..............................1 or other field of expertise) Low (1)........................................2 None ..........................................0 Number of affiliated first-tier organizations 65 or more ..................................5 Culture 46-64 ..........................................4 31-45 ..........................................3 21-30 ..........................................2 1-20 ............................................1 Services offered to members Excellent (all)..............................5 (legal, credit, education, health, and Very good (4)..............................4 management expertise) Good (3) .....................................3 Organizational Low (1-2) ....................................2 None...........................................0 Participation by partners in the Participation and feedback.........5 decisionmaking process Participation only ........................3 Education level of management personnel Specialized training, (president, vice president, secretary) college or more.......................5 High school.................................3 Elementary school......................1 References Bebbington, Anthony and Thomas Carroll. 2000. 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World Development Report on Poverty. Washington, DC: World Bank. World Bank. 2003. Implementation of Operational Directive 4.20 on Indigenous Peoples: An Evaluation of Results (OED Report No. 25754). Washington, DC: World Bank. World Bank. 2002. Implementation Completion Report: Ecuador's Indigenous and Afroecuadoran Peoples Development Project. Washington, DC: World Bank. LCR Sustainable Development Working Papers For back issues please contact Peter Brandriss at the World Bank (pbrandriss@worldbank.org) No. Title Date Author 14 CFC Markets in Latin America December 2002 Prepared for World Bank by ICF Consulting 13 World Bank Approaches to the Brazilian Amazon: November 2002 John Redwood III The Bumpy Road toward Sustainable Development 12 Microfinance Prospects in Brazil September 2001 Steven N. Schonberger 11 Local Governments and Sustainable Rural Development: December 2000 Maurizio Guadagni The Rural Municipalities Project (Protierra) in Nicaragua Gabriela Boyer Adien Gulliver Paola Perez-Alemán Dagoberto Rivera 10 Strengthening Indigenous Organizations: The World Bank's December 2000 Jorge E. Uquillas Indigenous Capacity-Building Program in Latin America Teresa Aparicio Gabara 9 La raza y la pobreza: Consulta interagencias sobre November 2000 Proceedings of June 19, afrolatinoamericanos (available in English) 2000 roundtable in Washington 8 Incorporación de aspectos de género y desarrollo April 2000 (originalCaroline Moser en las operaciones del Banco Mundial: Avances published Annika Törnqvist y recomendaciones December 1998, Bernice van Bronkhorst in English) 7 Perceptions of Urban Violence: February 2000 Caroline Moser Participatory Appraisal Techniques Cathy McIlwaine (available in Spanish) 6 Defining Ethnodevelopment in Operational Terms: January 2000 Martien van Nieuwkoop Lessons from the Ecuador Indigenous and Jorge E. Uquillas Afro-Ecuadoran Peoples Development Project 5 Violence and Social Capital: Proceedings of the LCSES August 1999 Caroline Moser Seminar Series, 1997-98 Sarah Lister 4 Youth Gangs and Violence in Latin America August 1999 Dennis Rodgers and the Caribbean: A Literature Survey 3 Youth Violence in Latin America and the Caribbean: August 1999 Caroline Moser Costs, Causes, and Interventions Bernice van Bronkhorst 2 A Conceptual Framework for Violence Reduction August 1999 Caroline Moser (available in Spanish) Elizabeth Shrader 1 Environmental Guidelines for Social Funds December 1998 Douglas J. Graham (available in Spanish) Kenneth M. Green Karla McEvoy 36