September 20, 2006—With Annual Meetings kicking off this week in Singapore, the Bank and Fund have organized an extensive program of events for civil society, including a town hall with the heads of both organizations.
The civil society presence at this year’s Annual Meetings was the largest ever, with 700 civil society representatives from 80 countries accredited.
In a BBC International interview on Friday, World Bank President Paul Wolfowitz stressed the importance of strong dialogue with civil society. “One of the big changes over the last 10 years has been a recognition that we need to hear from civil society,” he said. “We may not always agree with what they have to say, but it’s very important to have that discussion.”
Among other things, the report documents consultations with civil society organizations (CSOs) in such significant policy discussions as extractive industries, social development, country systems, and loan conditionalities. CSOs were also consulted in the formulation of 50 of the 68 Country Assistance Strategies approved in 2005 and 2006. And an estimated 217 loans approved by the Board during 2006 (72 percent) had different types of CSO involvement.
The report also highlights how community-driven development projects and small grants funds such as the Development Marketplace supported initiatives in girls’ education, environmental conservation, AIDS prevention, post-conflict reconstruction, civic engagement, youth empowerment, and rural development. It is estimated that approximately $1 billion a year (or 5 percent of the Bank’s annual portfolio) is channeled to CSOs through these grant mechanisms and government-managed social funds.
In preparation for the Annual Meetings, the Bank and Fund Civil Society Teams engaged directly with Asian CSOs to ensure that the Singapore meetings had strong regional civil society participation around topics of particular concern to them. A group of 20 CSO representatives worked closely with Bank and Fund staff over the past few months to organize the Civil Society Forum which will feature more than 40 policy dialogue sessions on topics ranging from trade to governance and social accountability and from infrastructure development to clean energy. In order to ensure that developing country CSOs, and particularly those from Asian countries, have an adequate presence in these discussions, the Bank and Fund raised funds to cover the participation costs of 42 CSO representatives.
But these efforts have not come without controversy. In recent weeks, the Singaporean Government raised objections to participation by 28 CSO representatives already accredited, and announced its intention to bar their access. As the meetings approach the World Bank and IMF senior management have voiced strong concern about Singapore’s decision. On September 7, the two organizations issued a joint statement urging the Government of Singapore to allow accredited CSO representatives to attend the Annual Meetings. On September 8 Mr. Wolfowitz gave an interview to the BBC and stressed that dialogue with civil society is also important for the effective operation of our institutions. “I hope that the Singaporean authorities will change their minds and allow the people in that we have accredited, as was originally agreed,” Wolfowitz told the BBC.
On September 14, at the opening of the Civil Society Forum, Bank President Wolfowitz and IMF Managing Director Rodrigo de Rato made an unexpected appearance at an initial briefing sessions for CSOs where he reiterated that the Bank is "still trying to work with the authorities to get the remaining accredited members of civil society to be able to attend these meetings" since marinating a dialogue with CSOs is "very important to us". (session summary)
On that same day, the Singaporean government announced that it had removed 22 names off that original list. The Bank issued a statement welcoming that move but calling the government “to facilitate entry into the country of all persons accredited to our meetings without delay at the point of entry.” Despite this softening of the government position, the Bank learned that several dozen CSO representatives were stopped for questioning at the airport and later allowed to enter the country, but that several were deported to their originating countries. As a result, a number of leading international CSO networks called for a boycott of the Annual Meetings.
On September 15, during a townhall meeting held between Mr. Wolfowitz and Mr. de Rato with some 120 CSO representatives (web cast) (transcript), Mr. Wolfowitz reiterated his view that having while the Bank doesn't always agree with CSOs having them at the Annual Meetings is important since their external perspective helps the Bank to improve its work. For more information on the Bank – civil society dialogue sessions held in Singapore please visit the Bank’s civil society website.
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