Which road for regional and global prosperity?

Every three years the World Bank Group and International Monetary Fund (IMF) hold their otherwise Washington DC-based annual meetings in an international city. Dubai, United Arab Emirates hosted the 2003 meetings, highlighting the growing importance of a region referred to as MENA[1] by the Bank that is paradoxically home to both fortune and desperation. The contrast of oil-rich countries set against a landscape of the ongoing Israeli-Palestinian crisis and the war in Iraq made a fascinating backdrop to meetings that brought together representatives from every corner of the globe.

Dubai 2003 convened around 15,000 government, media, private banking and civil society organization (CSO) representatives from approximately 185 countries. In fact, there were approximately 100 CSO representatives from 30 countries, made possible by a grant from the Government of Norway. Despite this support, there were considerably fewer CSO attendees compared to previous annual meetings.

The theme of the Programme of Seminars was ‘The Road to Regional and Global Prosperity – Challenges and Opportunities’. From a civic perspective, it seems challenges continue to prevail over opportunities. On the Millennium Development Goals (MDGs), Bank officials reported limited progress on implementation due to insufficient funding. The World Development Report 2004 highlighted the fact that key services are failing poor people. Discussions about the Doha and Cancun Talks centred on lack of progress in reaching agreements on trade reform and developing countries’ need for transitional support to mitigate the temporary negative impact of trade liberalization.

Parallel civil society sessions focused on thematic topics such as children, youth, trade, debt, poverty reduction, HIV/AIDS, the environment and conditionality. The ‘Town Hall Meeting’ gave CSOs an opportunity to raise questions regarding Bank and IMF policies and practices.[2] Most comments came from CSOs in the MENA region on issues such as plans to address the needs of 0.5 million displaced Iraqis now living in Iran and institutional support for conflict-ridden territories such as Palestine.

What role for civil society in development?

A common concern of CSOs from all regions was the accreditation process. Bank policy requires respective Executive Directors’[3] approval for CSOs to attend annual meetings – which in fact applies to all visitors. This, however, creates a paradox for CSOs, and is symptomatic of a deeper issue: while the Bank acknowledges CSOs’ crucial role in the multi-stakeholder development process, CSOs experience ongoing struggles over insufficient frameworks for civil society participation in their respective countries.

While Wolfensohn acknowledged the accreditation concern and agreed to press for a ‘more progressive set of rules and regulations’, this may not directly address the core issue. While CSOs highlighted the need to address civil society development strategies as a precondition for societal and economic development, the Bank/IMF stressed that CSOs need to address certain issues directly with their own sovereign governments. The question remains: what role can the Bank and IMF play in encouraging client governments to promote civil society and frameworks for civic participation?

Existing platforms for civil society

There are nevertheless a variety of platforms that continue to provide opportunities for CSO dialogue and monitoring of Bank policies and practice. These include:
Joint Facilitation Committee A global-level group of CSO representatives to define parameters of dialogue (secretariat at CIVICUS).
ECA NGO Network[4] A regional-level CSO network for policy and practice information sharing and monitoring.
Mediterranean Development Forum A think-tank network in the Med/Arab-Med region focusing on policy and development challenges.
Parliament Network on the World Bank[5] A global network of over 400 parliamentarians from 70 countries, which recently launched Parliamentarians Implementation Watch to promote and monitor actions to put countries on track to meet the MDGs.

Although these forums may have limited impact in relation to the challenges, they are an important vehicle for CSOs to provide inputs on specific thematic issues. While the Bank/IMF cannot allocate significant funding to CSOs directly to promote civil society participation, private foundations might consider supporting strategies to strengthen enabling frameworks that will create an effective space for CSOs to promote sound policies and practices.

1 Middle East and North Africa (MENA) region countries include: Algeria, Djibouti, Egypt, Iran, Iraq, Jordan, Lebanon, Morocco, Syria, West Bank and Gaza, Tunisia and Yemen.

2 Transcripts of this session are available on the World Bank website www.worldbank.org/news/transcripts.html

3 The Bank’s Management Board consists of Executive Directors, which represent one
or, in some cases more than one, country; they sit in DC but they are government representatives, not Bank staff. The Management Board is responsible for decisions about accreditation.

4 ECA (Europe and Central Asia) region includes 28 countries from the former Soviet Union and Turkey. For more information, see www.ecangowg.org

5 For more information, see www.pnowb.org

Filiz Bikmen is Programme Director, Third Sector Foundation of Turkey (TUSEV). She can be contacted at filiz@tusev.org.tr

For more information
www.tusev.org.tr