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The fall of communism and subsequent transition have opened up an unprecedented space for citizen action throughout ECA. The potential for civic engagement has been increasingly realized throughout the region; decentralization is advancing rapidly, governments are becoming less apprehensive about working with citizens, and more officials have come to recognize the importance of transparent decision-making and accountable public institutions. At the same time, the capacity of CSOs to design and implement specific programs, as well as to contribute to policy formulation and evaluation, is evolving. These developments form the basis for a new development paradigm that encourages governments, the private sector, CSOs and the international donor community to review their respective roles and instruments in the development process.   Â
Seizing this opportunity also requires us to acknowledge the numerous obstacles to civic engagement: lack of transparency, ambiguous legal requirements for CSOs, and precarious citizenship rights persist, in varying degrees, throughout the region. Citizens themselves are suspicious of autonomous organizations, especially those identified with international NGOs. CSOs still have limited capacity to contribute to technical development challenges. More troubling yet, in many instances CSOs pursue vested interests under the guise of public interest.Â
In line with the two sets of rationales outlined in section 1.4, the activities of the World Bank ECA region that incorporate civic engagement fall into two main areas. First, where the World Bank seeks to strengthen its own transparency and accountability vis-à -vis civil society and the general public. These activities comprise Country Assistance Strategies (CAS-es), ECA flagship studies, sector strategies, the region’s public outreach activities (e.g., CSO dialogue, management of the decentralized Small Grants Program) and Bank support to the ECA NGO Working Group. The above activities are designed and managed by Bank staff. The second area relates to Bank activities that support ECA governments in carrying out economic reforms. These activities increasingly include initiatives to promote civic engagement in sector work and conceptual analysis, Bank-supported operations, governance work and policy dialogue. Clearly there are strong synergies between the two types of activities.
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