Remarks by  Paul Wolfowitz, President of the World Bank Archbishop Njongonkulu Ndungane, Lord George L. Carey  At the Consultation of Religious Leaders on Global Poverty Washington National Cathedral September 12, 2005  Lord Carey, former Archbishop of Canterbury welcomed President Wolfowitz. He said he had come to greatly appreciate and respect the work of the World Bank, especially as a result of the consultations supported by the Bank between world wide religious communities and financial leaders in the World Faiths Development Dialogue. He noted that President Wolfowitz had made a commitment in Iraq in helping to create the possibility for civil society. He said Archbishop Ndungane would summarize our work so far at this meeting and where we want to go from here.   Working Together and Accountability. Archbishop Ndungane said this group of religious leaders is serious, is distressed, and is together: serious because our call is on the political leaders to honor the commitments in terms of the Millennium Development Goals (MDGs) which we recognize as a starting point; distressed, because, despite unprecedented economic progress, there are millions of people who go hungry every day, and the sheer scale of human suffering is a cause for deep distress; and together because we are committed to work together, committed to strategic partnerships in terms of assisting with accountability and measurement. There is talk of setting up monitoring mechanisms. He is involved in an initiative of setting up an independent African Monitor, which will involve faith communities and civil society. We are the people who are on the ground, we are involved in development, in areas of education, health care and social services, and we offer our hand of constructive partnerships as we seek to make the world a better world for everyone where everyone has got what is basic for human living, such as access to clean water, education, health care, and so on. A communiqué will be available so the President will get the full scale of what this group of wonderful people from around the world are doing to address these urgent and important matters of our time -  President Wolfowitz said there are two main respects with which he looks forward to interacting with this group and groups like it. The most important is about how to address the problem the Archbishop just spoke of helping those people who have been left behind and are in danger of being permanently left behind by the impressive progress being made in many parts of the world. That is the primary mission of the World Bank.  Need for Peace and Tolerance. Another aspect is less in the domain of the Bank but affects the work of the Bank and that is in promoting peace and harmony among people, particularly among the different faiths and religions.  He recalled his good Indonesian friend, Nurcholish Madjid, regarded as the leading Muslim intellectual in Indonesia, who passed away just ten days ago and who was one of the most extraordinary people he had had the privilege of knowing. Madjid wrote mostly in English. If he were an Arab he would perhaps be more widely known as a pioneer of the idea that religion and tolerance should go together and that at the end of the day we are all worshipping the same God, albeit in different ways. He first met Madjid in Indonesia almost twenty years ago. He felt this was the kind of person the world needs more of. Of course after the events of September 11 and the last few years the importance of tolerance is even more obvious.  Religious tolerance is important down to levels we do not always notice. For example he said he recently visited Burkina Faso in West Africa. It has some 64 different ethnic groups, speaking different languages, and is more or less evenly divided between Christians and Muslims. Nevertheless it has a strong sense of national identity that is remarkable and a degree of peace and ethnic harmony that is unfortunately more the exception than the rule in West Africa. It is a poor country without oil, ivory, or gold but with a blessing that is far more valuable than those commodities. (He noted in his experience that oil is more a curse than a blessing.) It has the blessing of harmony and national unity. He said he had urged them not to lose it if they wish to improve the lives of people and to overcome poverty.  There is clearly a connection between civil harmony and peace. These are valuable goals in themselves, but they are also critical enablers for reducing poverty and giving countries a chance to develop. It is not an accident that countries that are probably in the worst shape in terms of meeting the Millennium Development Goals are very often countries that have been and continue to be scared by conflict. He was not sure how much the World Bank can contribute to peace, but to the extent it can or he can personally make a contribution it would be very important.  Lives People Deserve. Where the Bank can contribute a lot is to the agenda the Archbishop mentioned earlier – that is, finding how to help people achieve the lives they deserve and to achieve the future for their children they want and deserve. It struck him traveling through Africa how powerful the human desire is to give ones children a better future. The sacrifices parents will make to give their children a better future when it is possible is extraordinary. He saw many examples in Africa of parents that are making enormous sacrifices so their children could have a better life. Yet too often there are circumstances where no matter how hard a parent struggles, there is almost nothing they can do that will make a difference. There is nothing more demoralizing, more enervating, that detracts more from human energy and initiative, than the sense that no matter how hard a person works, no matter how much a persons saves, nothing will come of it. It leads to a corruption of character that is very destructive.  Desire to Help Africa. One of the reasons he was attracted to the World Bank job, he said, was that when he was briefing then Governor Bush in the political campaign on the situation in Africa, the tragedy of AIDS, the desperate situation with regard to health in particular and poverty in general, he thought it would be wonderful to make some contribution to this problem. Africa depends on the development community and the World Bank to a degree that no other region of the world does. Just from the point of view of need, Africa has to be his first priority. If one asks what would he would like to accomplish five or ten years from now, nothing could give greater pleasure than to feel that Africa had turned the corner and that the Bank had something to contribute to that turning. It is not going to come because of the efforts of the World Bank. It will come ultimately from the efforts of the African people. But when they are doing the right thing, they deserve all the help they can get.  Advocacy Role. It is part of the job of the Bank both to mobilize it own resources and also to support and advocate the efforts of others. The Archbishop correctly referred in his comments to the importance of the efforts of groups like this in their ability to push the donor governments to meet their responsibilities to deliver on their promises. It is easy to promise something in the year 2010; none of the people who made those promises will actually be around to fight those budget battles then. We need to get started up the ladder much earlier. He sees his role and the Bank’s role to be in that of an advocacy position. Will to Fight Corruption. No amount of money is going to make a substantial difference, and in some cases make any difference, unless the governments and people of those countries do the right thing with that assistance. We all know of examples where a lot of money has been spent, a lot of it unfortunately disappeared or was wasted. He was happy to report on that the Swiss had just agreed to return one half of one billion dollars to the Nigerian people that had been stolen from the Nigerian people by a former dictator. There is progress. Need and Opportunity.  As a consequence, there is not just a need any longer but also a real opportunity. There really are changes underway. Skeptical Bank employees say talk of reform in Africa is not new and in fact little has changed. But he believes there really are changes. Never before have African leaders talked so openly about banning corruption. In Nigeria the chief of police was jailed for corruption. In South Africa, a Deputy President was fired because a subordinate allegedly accepted a bribe. African leaders are leaving office peacefully when their term of office ends. He believes there is a new spirit in Africa. However, anti-corruption efforts should be symmetrical. Nothing has happened to the company from a developed country that gave the bribe to the South African official. We need to work on both ends of that process. Every corrupt practice has at least two parties, sometimes more. We cannot tolerate corruption just because people have been doing it for years. Corruption takes away food and medicine funds from starving children. It is an issue of life and death.  Accountability and Transparency. The need is enormous, but need alone will not mobilize the generosity of donors. Many Americans are skeptical that generosity produces results. At the Bank we need to be able to show results and show that results are coming. This is where the second part of advocacy has to come. He urged the group to keep up the pressure not only on the rich governments but to demand accountability of all concerned. Lack of accountability has been the source of some of the greatest mistakes. In Uganda it has been estimated that in one program to support education, only about 3% of the funds were actually getting down to the local level. As a consequence a transparency provision was added and figures were published on how much each village and district was supposed to get. Within a short time those numbers had reversed and 97 % of the funds reached the local level.  Role of the Poor. It is amazing what poor people who desperately need resources will do when you tell them what is available and give them opportunities. It has been shown that when organized in small civil society group and given opportunities, poor people can be a real force with their own governments. It is critical.  Grass Roots Delivery. Finally, faith institutions are incredibly important. He said he needs to understand this better, but he believes sometimes they are the best delivery system for assistance, to get assistance to people that does not get lost along the way. Apart from theft, bureaucracies are notorious inefficient, even when they are honest. Grass roots delivery is very important. He said he wants to see whether the Bank can be more innovative in terms of dealing more directly with society groups. Traditionally the Bank works with governments, and when you are dealing with hundreds of millions of dollars there is no way to do it except through the government guaranteeing it, but it is not the only way to deliver assistance. In some cases the Bank has arranged for governments to get them to take a loan and then deliver it to grass roots organizations. Faith institutions have many outlets at the grass roots level and can be an important way to deliver.  Voluntary Contributions. Finally there are many sources of assistance besides governments and the Bank. There are many voluntary contributions, and he would be happy to work with any of the organizations present to see whether there are ways of mobilizing that kind of private giving as well.  The US government gave some $900 million to Tsunami relief and reconstruction, but the US private sector gave about twice that amount. It made a huge difference.  Need and Effectiveness. When people see a need, and believe giving can make a difference, then it is amazing what can be done. The record in Africa is uneven, but we must convince people not only that there is a need, but also that they can make a difference. The countries that are struggling to move forward and having some success really deserve all the help we can give them. He looks forward to working with this group to deliver that.       WClark:wc 9.28.05  |
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