African Civil Society Urged to Fully Assume Role in Development

Washington, D.C., October 11, 2008 --The World Bank has urged African civil society organizations (CSOs) to assume a more active role in the design, implementation, and promotion of Africa’s development priorities.

African CSOs must do more to build demand for accountability, transparency, good governance and the fight against corruption, the Vice President for the Africa Region at the Bank, Obiageli Ezekwesili, said during a dialogue session which brought together over two dozen leaders of U.S. based CSOs who focus on Africa.

The meeting was held October 8 on the sidelines of the Annual Meetings of the World Bank and International Monetary Fund (IMF) in Washington, DC.

The Vice President reminded organizations in the northern hemisphere of their responsibility to support grassroots community groups in Africa in giving voice to the poor. “How can we connect with those on the ground and help raise the voice of local non-governmental organizations?” she asked.

Ms. Ezekwesili spoke of the need for CSOs to support public policy reforms, putting pressure on governments and donors to ensure that these reforms positively impact on the lives of the poor, and to make the case for boosting trade with and capital flows to Africa.

The Vice President said she welcomed collaboration with CSOs in areas that would help demonstrate beyond doubt the impact aid has had on those it is intended to serve.

“Why should we work in silos?” she asked, noting that a lack of understanding of the Bank’s work in Africa has led to the erroneous belief among some that the World Bank dictates policy and priorities to African governments, and that the Bank does not work with CSOs. Half of Bank funding to combat the HIV/AIDS pandemic is implemented by CSOs, she said. CSOs are also involved in the implementation of projects to fight malaria, which costs Africa about 1.5 percent of its GDP each year.

In a rich exchange of views, the CSO leaders deplored the fact that health care systems in many African countries continued to be dysfunctional in spite of the resources invested in the sector and that infrastructure suffers from a relative lack of investment. Some wondered if the Bank could review its procedures to bring in CSOs as implementing agencies and evaluators of Bank-funded projects and programs. 

The Vice President noted that the statutory obligations of the Bank made it difficult to engage directly with CSOs, but pointed out that most of the Bank’s implementation work is done in partnership with NGOs.  She said it was time to identify successes in Bank-CSO collaborations and to seek to replicate these across the region.