Making development accountable: World Bank/IMF spring meetings 2011
“You cannot have successful development without good governance and without the participation of your citizens,” – Robert Zoellick, World Bank President, 6 April 2011
Transparency International consistently argues good governance and anti-corruption measures have a clear pay-off when it comes to a country’s development. To make this happen in practice, TI wants to see the principles of accountability, transparency and anti-corruption embedded in all areas of development.
The World Bank and International Monetary Fund, because of their massive financial clout, inevitably shape the development agenda. In April ahead of the annual spring joint meetings in Washington D.C., their rhetoric about aid effectiveness signalled a new emphasis on good governance, strong institutions and citizen empowerment as the top priorities for development spending.
This was underscored in the World Development Report published on 11 April which focussed on the impact conflict has on inequality and maintained that aid effectiveness has to be tied to strengthening legitimate institutions. In an encouraging development the Bank explicitly emphasised the link between politics and economics for successful development.
This is an important step. Last year, the World Bank lent more than US$44 billion to 46 countries, which represents more than one-third of all official development assistance in 2010. For its part, the IMF has extended loans of more than US$254 billion (as of 31 January 2011) that can or have been drawn on to help countries shore up their economies.
What this focus on good governance means, according to Bank president Robert Zoellick, is new investment criteria: “Now it may be time to invest in the private, not-for-profit sector – civil society – to help strengthen the capacity of organizations working on transparency, accountability, and service delivery.”
Community oversight works
Development plans and programmes must engage citizens. To this end the process needs to be democratised so it is not just donors who decide what people need. TI has found that putting citizens in the drivers’ seat pays clear dividends particularly when it comes to the Millennium Development Goals.
TI national chapters around the globe have seen this in their own work and have successfully mobilised communities to engage in public decisions that affect their lives.
Bangladesh
Transparency International Bangladesh uses various social accountability processes captured in a TI tool variously called an Integrity Pledge (IP), a Development Pact or a ‘Social Contract’. This pact creates a responsive framework for citizen participation from the planning, budgeting and implementation stages to the monitoring of service delivery.
The IP was introduced in twenty-nine institutions at the district and sub-district levels that deliver education, health and local government services. About 40 per cent of the people that these institutions serve are below the poverty line. Since the introduction of the IPs, anecdotal evidence and quantifiable results show marked improvements, including a big fall in drop-out rates and improved performance in examinations in schools.
Ghana
The Ghana Integrity Initiative (GII), the local chapter of Transparency International, has targeted improving water access, since it is estimated that only 59 per cent of the population has access to clean water. GII has worked with three rural communities in the Ghana East Municipality to bring together community chiefs and elders, local government officials and bodies, community water boards and systems managers, and water vendors. This resulted in transparent, inclusive consultations and the democratic election of community monitoring teams tasked to evaluate service delivery. In all, about 200 hundred community members and water revenue collectors have been trained to use citizen monitoring and evaluation tools. What they do is posted on community notice boards so everyone can follow what is happening.
Peru
According to a 2010 survey done by Proética, the TI chapter in Perú, corruption ranks as the top concern among Peruvians – ahead of poverty, unemployment and security. Proética formed a National Anti-Corruption Network to build community teams to identify local problems and address them through citizen engagement. Four of the teams have established public oversight mechanisms to focus on corruption and education. Each team is made up a journalist, a member of a local non-governmental organisation and two university students, who are trained to teach others in the community about anti-corruption, accountability and participation. Two teams have targeted raising awareness and transparency in the use of government funds for schools. Parents, even in remote rural areas, are getting involved.
Looking ahead
A number of TI chapters in countries as diverse as Bangladesh, India, Liberia, Uganda and Zambia are taking the next step of citizen engagement by introducing oversight and participation through ‘Pacts’ between communities and local governments, service providers and elected representatives. Pacts help citizens make their voices count by broadening existing political channels.
As these examples show, TI chapters and other civil society organisations are working to use community oversight and engagement as a way to create a new social contract with their elected leaders and government officials. They are giving disadvantaged populations a means to get re-engaged in how government works.
Resources
World Bank spring meetings 2008
The World Bank/IMF meetings and side events run from 13 - 17 April 2011
Aid Effectiveness
OECD Working Party on Aid Effectiveness
Oxfam live webcast, Friday 15 April from 11:00am-12:00pm EST, 'The Road to Busan: Ensuring Citizens Drive Their Own Development' Windows Media, Flash streaming
MDGs
UN Millennium Campaign/End Poverty 2015
The Guardian – Millennium Development Goals
