34643 INTERNATIONALBANK FOR WORLD BANK R E T C N O E N STRUCTION PM AND DEVELO October 2005 No. 80 A regular series of notes highlighting recent lessons emerging from the operational and analytical program of the World Bank`s Latin America and Caribbean Region MANAGING FOR RESULTS: CIVIL SOCIETY MONITORING IN THE DOMINICAN REPUBLIC Samuel Carlson and Indu John-Abraham Background barrios again were the most severely affected, where back-up generators were unaffordable and payment collection was After a decade as one of the fastest growing economies in lowest. The protests against the frequent unplanned black- Latin America and the Caribbean, a series of unfortunate outs escalated to rioting in 2002, eventually claiming the lives events in early 2003 led the Dominican Republic towards a of 15 individuals. rapidly declining spiral of the economic and social conditions in the country. The discovery of fraud and mismanagement in The crisis also coincided with the presidential elections one of the country's largest commercial banks, Baninter, planned for May 2004. In a highly politicized society such as served as a catalyst to weaken an already deteriorated the Dominican Republic, socio-political tensions were economy. The impacts of the financial crisis reverberated strained by the hotly-contested campaigns. Claims of political through all sectors of society - manipulation further marred between 2003-2004, 15 percent the situation. of the Dominican population (1.4 million people) fell into At its core, the economic cri- poverty, and 6 percent (600,000 sis magnified a more deep- people) fell into extreme pov- rooted crisis of governance. erty with incomes too low to Questions of corruption, mis- afford the minimum food bas- management and inefficiency ket, mainly due to the fall in real were claimed against the gov- incomes resulting from the ernment and private sector sharp rise in the prices of food alike. With increased demand and other wage goods (86 per- and social turbulence, the cent cumulative). Although no weaknesses in the targeting group was immune to the cri- and evaluation of govern- sis, the poor experienced more ment programs came very dramatic effects on their every- clearly to light. Conse- day lives. The drastic rise in quently, the social emergency food prices further strained the demanded not only an imme- pockets of households who were already spending large diate response to alleviate the day-to-day struggles experi- shares of their incomes on basic necessities. enced, especially by the most vulnerable segments of society, but also to demonstrate a newfound resolve by the govern- The country, particularly the capital of Santo Domingo, also ment to reinvent a modus operandi that emphasized transpar- had been plagued for years by an on-going battle to stabilize ency, accountability and efficiency. the electricity sector. Non-payment of service1 coupled with mistargeted subsidies benefiting the poor as well as the non- poor, resulted in frequent power shortages. In addition, the Project Objectives and Activities rising cost of fuel prices internationally were not followed by a In this context, the World Bank supported a multi-faceted commensurate rise in electricity prices in the country, forcing program to respond to social needs, specifically related to private distributors to cut power in many areas. The poor education, health, electricity and social assistance, while 1 promoting a pioneering model of monitoring and evaluation The eligibility of beneficiaries for the health insurance and through the involvement of civil society. The program, known other social programs has required new standards and proce- as the "Social Crisis Response Adjustment Loan", or SCRAL, dures for selection. As such, a universal system for benefi- had three principal objectives: ciary selection has been developed through the use of a more independent and systematic method, known as the proxy 1. To build the response capacities and performance of mean test. social programs to ensure effective targeting, budget protection of key safety net programs, and inclusion of The SCRAL placed a strong emphasis on enhancing the the large number of poor, undocumented Dominicans; transparency and accountability of the government's social 2. To support an emergency response program in the elec- programs, particularly those programs whose budgets were tricity sector through financial assistance for the impor- protected under the loan. Weak targeting mechanisms, tation of fuel; and, coupled with concerns of corruption, posed serious questions 3. To stimulate longer term reform in the social sectors to as to the ability and credibility of the government to comply improve efficiency, effectiveness, and sustainability. with the requisites of the reforms. Given the high level of social tensions, the SCRAL served as a critical opportunity to Under the SCRAL, several existing social assistance programs counteract the general lack of public confidence with an were strengthened to improve their reach to the poor. The increased sense of civic empowerment to both mitigate risks universal school feeding program for Grades 1-8 would con- as well as stimulate ownership and commitment to the reform tinue with the adjustment of more cost effective measures. agenda. Civic empowerment came in the form of participatory Also, the conditional cash transfer program, which provided mechanisms for monitoring and evaluating key social pro- approximately US$ 20 on a bi-monthly basis to poor mothers grams. who sent their children to school regularly, was refined to increase the inclusion of the neediest households and the Civil Society Monitoring of the SCRAL exclusion of non-poor families by formalizing the operational structure and guidelines of the program. The social crisis provided the impetus to replace the sense of distrust of citizens towards their government with a relation- In order to better provide for the health needs of the most ship of mutual responsibility. The World Bank used this vulnerable populations, particularly women in their reproduc- situation to further promote social accountability by defining tive years and young children, the SCRAL promoted the rapid the involvement of civil society organizations in the monitor- expansion of the subsidized health insurance program. Food ing of the social reform programs as one of the legal condition- subsidies were re-targeted to focus on the neediest popula- alities of the SCRAL. Despite initial resistance by government tions in the provinces with the highest levels of poverty. officials and local CSOs alike, both parties eventually agreed to participate in the program, recognizing the value of social Finally, critical to the accurate identification of possible ben- monitoring to manage political tensions and ensure transpar- eficiaries for each of the above-mentioned programs was the ency of the process. process of documentation of the large percentage2 of undocu- mented Dominican residents. Without legal identification, The Structure access to basic social services, such as health and education, The government established the Social Cabinet in 2001 to are prohibited in the Dominican Republic. Consequently, the better coordinate and evaluate the various social assistance Bank loan assisted 12,000 children to obtain their birth certifi- programs, particularly those financed through a discretionary cates, required for them to remain enrolled in school. budget under the Office of the President. The Cabinet is composed of representatives from the Ministries of Health, "Keeping the Lights On" Education, Labor, Women, Youth, Planning, and the Presi- The social upheaval as a result of the electricity crisis de- dency, and coordinated by a Technical Secretariat that reports manded an immediate solution to, first of all, reduce the to the Vice President. In the decree establishing the Social frequency of blackouts, and ultimately seek measures to break Cabinet, the Civil Society Consultative Council (CSCC) was the cycle of inefficiency in the sector. The SCRAL provided also established, for the first time creating an institutional link the critical short-term resources needed to purchase fuel for between government and civil society. The CSCC is com- power generation. To address the longer terms issues, the prised of more than 80 CSOs in the country, including reli- Bank loan supported a national reform process of the electric- gious, academic, and other non-governmental organizations ity sector to better target the poor, protect the environment (NGOs). and improve the quality of services and their management. Once the parties had agreed to participate in the program, the Reform of the Social Sectors contractual arrangements were defined and delineated among In the medium term, the SCRAL has sought to strengthen the the various actors. The Ministry of Finance coordinated and institutional structures and capacities of the social sectors. contributed US$150,000 of the government's own financial An independent evaluation of the numerous social assistance resources to implement this participatory approach, demon- programs was proposed under the Bank loan, in order to strating a high level of commitment and ownership to the assess the potential areas for consolidation or elimination. process. Yet to avoid any conflict of interest, as well as to 2 ensure transparency in the selection process, the Dominican sampling design and key counterparts for its implementation. Government requested the United Nations Development Programme (UNDP) to work with the CSCC to contract the After selecting the NGOs, a full day workshop, organized by CSOs. The Government and the CSCC agreed that INTEC the Social Cabinet and the Technical Secretariat of the Presi- (Instituto Tecnológico de Santo Domingo), which serves as dency, was held with the relevant government agencies and the Secretariat for the CSCC, would be the recipient of the the participating CSOs to ensure that all the parties were on UNDP contract for civil society monitoring. INTEC, in turn, the same page, with a common understanding and information would handle the sub-contracting process of the CSOs, pro- about the objectives, roles and responsibilities of each of the vide technical oversight of the design and implementation of actors in the process. all monitoring activities, review initial drafts of monitoring reports, and submit to the Government a final synthesized Outcomes report. The Executive Committee of the CSCC (comprised of twelve CSO representatives elected by CSCC members to a The SCRAL demonstrated notable success in the achieve- two-year term) would be responsible for the oversight of the ment of its original objectives to respond to the immediate Secretariat's work and review of the reports submitted by the needs of the poor in the face of the crisis, while strengthening CSOs contracted to carry out the specific monitoring activi- the institutional foundations of the social sectors (See Box 2). ties. The high degree of compliance achieved through the SCRAL, in a country that had a high risk of non-compliance, can be Five reputable Dominican NGOs were competitively selected, contributed, in large part, to this new participatory approach namely the Centro de Investigación para la Acción Feminina that placed a greater level of oversight of the government's (CIPAF), Centro Cultural POVEDA, Equipo Vargas, Facultad actions. In fact, the new administration that came into office in Latinoamericano de Ciencias Sociales (FLACSO) and the Instituto Dominicano de Box 1: Actions Monitored by Civil Society Desarrollo Integral (IDDI). These organizations would be responsible for monitoring the activities proposed under the SCRAL and evaluating their effectiveness and impact. The NGOs utilized various meth- odologies to monitor the so- cial programs, including nu- merous surveys, interviews, and field data collection. Ran- dom sampling of beneficiaries allowed for a more impartial analysis. The Terms Once the relationships had been well-defined, the Social Cabinet, World Bank, and CSCC identified the key re- form actions under the SCRAL that would be moni- tored by civil society. Five specific actions were defined for participatory monitoring and evaluation in education, health and nutrition (See Box 1). The civil society organiza- tions involved also defined the terms for the contracting of the NGOs responsible for the direct monitoring and evaluation of the actions. The CSOs also contributed to the definition of the methodology, 3 August 2004 further strengthened the role of civil society in the by the Social Cabinet with civil society, set forth transparent, activities of the Social Cabinet, including participation in the common guidelines, in terms of the objectives, intended definition of key social program priorities, the implementation beneficiaries, quantitative targets, monitoring methodology mechanisms and monitoring for results. Moreover, the SCRAL and timelines. Consequently, all the stakeholders had a clear and shared understanding of the direction of the program, promoting greater transparency in the pro- Box 2: Results Achieved through the SCRAL cess and in the results. 1.6 million students were served on a daily basis through the Conclusion school feeding program in school year 2003-04 100,000 mothers received US$ 8/month for sending their chil- The underlying governance crisis that contributed dren to school on a regular basis to the social emergency faced by the Dominican 20,000 undocumented children enrolled in primary school Republic in 2003 further weakened public confi- 12,500 children received official birth certificates dence in their government to provide the needed resources and services to the neediest populations. 12,000 undocumented families received support from NGOs to Consequently, it was critical to not only alleviate the enroll in the subsidized health insurance program immediate social strains, but also to rebuild trust A new operational manual for subsidized food distribution was between the government and citizens. The assis- approved, and the successful pilot program reaching 20,000 tance provided by the World Bank through the households is quickly being scaled up Social Crisis Response Adjustment Loan served as a fitting instrument to meet these two needs. Through the inclusion of participatory monitoring and evalu- offered a step forward towards a renewed level of confidence ation by civil society as a requisite of the program, the loan and trust of citizens towards their government. contributed to the effectiveness of social services for the poor through increased transparency and compliance. At the The receptivity to and effectiveness of civil society monitoring same time, the SCRAL demonstrated a renewed will of gov- of the SCRAL in the Dominican Republic was the result of a ernment to be accountable to its citizens, improving public series of factors that both empowered civil society, while opinion while recognizing the importance of civic engage- "protecting" the government. Although both parties ex- ment to achieving common goals. pressed a great deal of reluctance to engage in this approach at the beginning, it was quickly understood that it could serve as The positive results of the program have further expanded a mutually beneficial endeavor. The World Bank played a collaboration between the government and civil society, catalytic role, in this regard, to convince the government and which has extended beyond the loan and has transcended civil society of the importance of this initiative to increase the into the new administration. As part of the World Bank- accountability and transparency of government programs. financed Social Protection Investment Loan (FY06 deliver- The shared commitment of Bank staff and management alike able), civil society monitoring and evaluation of all key consistently demonstrated the importance of this agenda to project components is being integrated from the start. In the client, not only in the preparation of the loan, but also in its addition, this model for civil society monitoring of a implementation. government's reform program supported by the Bank has been replicated in Haiti, where distrust between government The active participation of civil society in monitoring the and civil society actors and the need to promote accountabil- program also provided the government a defense against ity and transparency in the use of public resources are even political criticism. The transparency of the process and greater. results made it more difficult for opponents to make claims of corruption or political manipulation. At the same time, it served Notes as a motivation for the government to involve civil society and seek to improve the quality of the programs. In fact, the 1Less than 60 percent of energy generation and distribution monitoring by civil society increased the motivation of social costs are recovered through tariffs. program administrators to improve the effectiveness of the 2Although estimates vary greatly based on the source, a programs, demonstrate their professional capacity and reduce conservative figure would suggest approximately 12 percent potential for criticism. of the total population to be undocumented. Unlike previous efforts to engage civil society, the very con- crete and tangible role for CSOs under the SCRAL allowed for About the Authors more demonstrable results. The terms for social monitoring Samuel Carlson is a Senior Human Development Economist of were based on clear, objective, and quantifiable indicators, the World Bank, based in the Dominican Republic. Indu which limited the ability to distort results for subjective, John-Abraham is a Consultant in the Latin America and judgmental, or political interests. Not only that, the monitoring Caribbean region of the World Bank. matrix, which was developed through a collaborative process 4