* ~~21272 OCIAL DEVELOPMENT NOTES ENVIRONMENTALLY AND SOCIALLY SUSTAINABLE DEVELOPMENT NETWORK Note No. 48 October 1999 Participatory Approaches to Country Assistance Strategies: Lessons from Africa As the Bank continues to develop expertise agreed upon poverty reduction strategies and in collaborating with civil society to achieve continuously monitor results. They are utilizing country-specific development goals, lessons are the same techniques and local facilitators used emerging from the formulation of participatory in the preparation of the CAS. country assistance strategies (CAS) and their implementation. This note focuses on the A social analysis undertaken locally helped experiences in four African countries of using a to sharpen the focus on youth employment and participatory approach to allow borrower risk assessment in the Senegalese CAS. The counterparts and ordinary citizens to influence result is a shift in the new assistance strategy the CAS priorities and strategies. While it away from physical infrastructure to social and demonstrates that each process needs to be rural development Field exercises with tailored to the specific situation of a given villagers, community-based organizations, and country at a particular time, it also highlights NGOs provided validation for the Bank/ significant commonalities. government planning process at the national level in Uganda, but highlighted the In Kenya, for example, the current CAS is importance of including different regional focusing on public sector reform because the approaches to poverty reduction in the CAS. Bank found that key segments of civil society The exercises helped government officials to wanted to address the issue. The continued appreciate the importance of listening directly involvement of members of civil society in to the poor. implementation will help insure transparency and accountability. In an unstable, post-conflict Background environrment in Sierra Leone, the CAS process assisted government officials in ascertaining the A review of the Bank's experience with civil development priorities of local stakeholders. society participation in CAS processes in FY97- Government officials at all levels are now 98 states that there has been a significant working with NGOs to carry out mutually increase in its use during the last two years. This note was prepared by writer Barbara L. Boyd in collaboration with Ellery Stokes, Jim Edgerton, Paula Donnelly-Roark, Ritva Reinikka, Demba Balde, and Mary Kasozi. For more information on participatory CASs, contact Paula Donnelly-Roark, The World Bank, 1818 H Street, NW, Washington, DC, 20433, USA, Fax: 202-473-7913, E-mail: pdonnellyroark@worldbank.org There is striking consensus among staff that Participation Leads to Reduced Lending the benefits of the consultative CAS process Level in Kenya exceed the costs. These benefits are most broadly seen in policy formation, but they are A result of the participatory CAS process in also observed in institutional development and Kenya that addressed public sector reform is issues of governance. that the Bank's lending level has gone down significantly. Remarkably, this outcome met Reasons for undertaking CASs in a with acceptance by civil society representatives participatory manner include: because, they said, they weren't seeing results from the money already committed. * Improving Bank understanding and the quality of the CAS document by tapping into local knowledge to ensure that government's accountability to its own citizens concerns of communities and the most and to achieve sustainable good governance. vulnerable groups are heard and being addressed Involvement of civil society stakeholders in the CAS process enabled the Bank to better * Helping to increase transparency and diagnose the problem of disappointing results public understanding of Bank/government from its lending. It also legitimized the strategy partnerships that the Bank proposed. Continued interaction with civil society groups through * Enhancing stakeholder participation in an iterative process will help to ensure that lending and non-lending operations, adjustments are made to planned activities as including implementation of CASs. new realities emerge during implementation of the strategy. Preconditions identified for the use of civil society participation in the CAS process In Sierra Leone, the CAS planning process include government acceptance of consultative began with a joint Bank/ government design approaches, mechanisms to enable local retreat to develop a strategy for bringing the stakeholders to make meaningful contributions perspective of civil society into the process. to the debate about national development Government officials expressed uncertainty priorities, and ongoing dialogue between civil about how to proceed. A role-play exercise society and the government. enabled participants to articulate a series of "do's" and "don'ts" for listening behavior. Some Approaches Used in Africa Following the retreat, officials soon had an Given the poor performance of the Bank opportunity to practice their new listening portfolio in Kenya, stakeholder insight into the problem was sought. Meetings were held with Use of Citizen Feedback Mechanism groups such as the Federation of Kenyan in Sierra Leone Employees, the Central Organization of Trade Unions, a government working group, Before the Bank/ government finalized attendees,ata a aridem land orkinfegren, a development priorities for the CAS, public attendees at an arld lands conference, an NGOU information campaigns using street theater and consortium, journalists, and community rural radio programming were organized groups from several districts. Findings outside Freetown to raise people's awareness of highlighted government mismanagement of different development options. These were resources, increasing inequalities, and a followed by consultative meetings with local lessening of cohesion within the country. officials, including traditional chiefs. "Next lessed oningese findings,teCASteam time," the chiefs told the CAS team, "give us time Baoposed on srthesefidigs, to then the before you come to 'hang heads' with our people proposed a strategy to strengthen the so we know their wishes." 2 skills as they made field trips to three country's socioeconomic development and the provinces to hear the views of community potential role of the Bank to help. Focus group leaders and representatives of civil society. A participants included representatives of the two-day national consultative forum was held private sector, women's organizations, NGOs/ where stakeholders representing many CBOs, local government, trade unions, and the different groups worked together to identify media. Each of the focus groups key outcomes and strategies for poverty independently identified employment reduction and economic recovery. An generation for young Senegalese as their top innovative "budget game" was developed to development priority. This is also a priority of bring closure to the forum proceedings and the Government of Senegal's 9th Development document the diverse group's development Plan. The social analysis significantly priorities. Provincial and district-level focus contributed to the section in the strategy on group meetings were then undertaken to social and political constraints to growth. In affirm or modify the priorities identified. These reviewing the CAS, the Bank board local meetings also used the budget game to commended the frank and upfront assessment record villager priorities and aggregate results. of the risks. As a result, the CAS document focuses on the five most critical development issues identified Field exercises at the village level were in the consultative process and outlines the included in the preparation of the CAS in specific assistance that the Bank is providing to Uganda. The process started with the address these priorities. government's draft Poverty Eradication Action Plan, which had been prepared with Bank The CAS process in Senegal was informed assistance and stakeholder consultation. More by an analysis undertaken by a Senegalese than 50 focus group discussions were held in sociologist to link what is going on in the two districts, and separate meetings in country with activities planned by the Bank/ Kampala with NGOs, private sector government to address poverty, equity, and representatives, and donors were organized. governance issues. The process was also aided The purpose of these discussions was to by a series of focus group discussions designed ascertain how closely the government's to obtain a perspective on key issues facing the assessment of poverty issues and strategies for addressing them conformed with villagers' own development priorities. The experiences Bringing It All Together in Senegal of other rural stakeholders who work closely with the poor were also s6ught to identify About 100 participants who had played an active appropriate strategies for local action. The role in the formulation of the CAS came together process confirmed that the draft Action Plan for a half-day restitution workshop. Participants focused on the right issues. Its priorities - were very appreciative of the fact that for the first time since the Bank opened a resident mission in roads, agricultural extension, education, Senegal, the CAS was formulated with the health, and pro-poor economic policies - were participation of stakeholders other than high on villagers' priority lists as well. In some government officials. Both the Ministry of Finance cases, local priorities, however, reflected the and the Bank were thanked for organizing the more immediate concerns of daily living, such workshop and sharing the final document. One participant said, "I'm starting to believe that words like transparency, decentralization, and fighting against corruption are not just rhetoric in The Bank/ government team found that the the speech of the Bank." villagers demonstrated a remarkable capacity for analysis and articulation of their Civil society representatives stressed, however, development priorities. The Ministry of that participation in strategy discussions wasn't Finance was so impressed with stakeholder enough. They said that they didn't want to be left consultation and participation that the along the roadside during implementation. methodology is being incorporated in various 3 Bringing the Ugandan CAS into Sharper Focus other institutions and organizations as building blocks for the CAS (for example, The field research provided a strong indication hold CPPR reviews prior to a participatory that while there is great need nationwide for CAS workshop to discuss key issues with social and other services, service delivery should civil society representatives). be tailored to local situations and real commu- nity needs. Many groups, for example, indicated Start the process early enough to allow for a preference for agriculture extension services to be linked to tangible assistance, such as credit, discussion and debate to reach as far into restocking of oxen, and the provision of seeds. In civil society as possible and to avoid both contrast, villagers saw a need for school cur- tokenism and poor representation. ricula to be reoriented toward locally relevant skills, and they expressed interest in participat- * Ensure a balance of gender, age, religious, ing in local planning, allocating resources, and and geographical representation in monitoring governrment programs. participants. * Use a strong and capable facilitator, initiatives, such as the Participatory Poverty someone who knows the country and is Profile. Listening to the poor, officials are well respected but is not identified with discovering, brings new ideas and approaches any one stakeholder group. to poverty reduction, while making the voices of the poor heard by those who formulate or * Identify mechanisms for follow-up and review policy. continuous discussion when designing the process. Recommendations for Participatory CASs , Plan for the GAS process to be participatory through all the stages (including sharing of the final document, -- Have a supportive country team withanmoirngGSmpe ntin) strong leadership from the resident a m representative and country director. * Have a strong and competent logistics team in the country. - Ensure that senior borrower counterparts understand the implications of, and are Through participatory and consultative committed to, a participatory approach to activities such as bringing representatives of the CAS. civil society into the CAS process, NGOs and other civil society representatives gain greater * Set up a joint Bank/borrower team to understanding of the Bank's priorities and decide the mechanisms to be used to interests in their country. They also learn facilitate participation, which stakeholder about upcoming Bank-financed projects and groups will participate, and the timetable. economic and sector work where they could potentially contribute to the design, * Decide who will be responsible for implementation, monitoring and evaluation coordinating locally the elements of the phases of activities. Finally, and most participatory CAS and seeing that the importantly, participatory processes foster budget is sufficient to cover local costs. enhanced collaboration between government officials and representatives of civil society as * Utilize earlier strategic planning work they work together to understand the causes done by the government, the Bank, and of poverty and to develop sustainable remedies. Social Dcz'opiticat Notes are published informally by the Social Development Family in the Environmentally and Socially Sustainable Development Network of the World Bank. For additional copies, contact Social Development Publications, The World Bank, 1818 H Street, NW, Washington, DC 20433, USA, Fax: 202-522-3247, E-mail: sdpublications@worldbank.org @ Printed on Recycied Paper 4