Development Involves Discussion

By Isabel Guerrero

Country Director, India

The World Bank

Opinion Piece Special to Outlook Magazine

March 31, 2008

The process of development is never simple. It presents so many difficult questions: which programs will be the most effective; what is the best way to reach those people in need of assistance; are the government programs we support making the difference we all want to see on the ground? In our work across the world, the World Bank has learned the hard way that there is no one model that fits all. Development is all about transformation. It means taking the best ideas, testing them in new situations, and throwing away what doesn’t work. It means, above all, having the ability to recognize when we have failed. This is never an easy thing to do. It is even more difficult for an organization to do so, be it the government or the World Bank, which constantly need to adapt to the changing nature of the development challenge.

At this point, when issues such as inequality and climate change loom heavy over our world, we have more questions than answers. But one thing we know for sure that works is the inclusion of those we are trying to help in finding the solution. This is a countercultural, and perhaps one could argue a very feminine of seeing the world. It is not about arriving at a solution from an ivory tower. It is about including those who have direct experience of the problem in finding the answers. It is about unleashing the power of collective effort to solve the most difficult development challenges we face today. In the projects we support, this means building close partnerships between all concerned - the beneficiaries, the government, the NGOs and ordinary citizens.

We have learnt that supporting the growth of grassroots institutions brings about enduring social change and lasting economic development. I have seen this first hand in my recent visit to SEWA in Gujarat. SEWA is a world class example of how good leadership has encouraged poor, unempowered women to become leaders - within their own families, the organization, and their villages. These women have found their own solutions to their problems - even for the seemingly intractable challenges faced by salt workers, by craftspeople who need to link to global markets, and by farmers who need better prices for their produce. And in our own livelihood projects, five million women – many of them the poorest of the poor- have now been formed into self-help groups, where they have pooled their small savings and met their families’ critical food needs.

In India, empowering and involving the beneficiaries in all stages of the development process has proved to be extremely successful. Under the Prime Minister’s Rural Roads Program (PMGSY), for instance, we have worked together with government departments, technical institutes, NGOs and the beneficiaries to set new standards for road building.   A unique feature of the project is the “Transect Walk” where village dwellers help determine the course of a new road. Where the community feels that a culturally important or sacred area would be affected, or the route crosses a seasonal water body or a poor farmer’s land, an alternative route is found. Following this pattern, some 100,000 kilometers of rural roads had been constructed till the end of November last year, serving about 45 million rural people.

Some projects require the development of special skills among the local people. In Uttar Pradesh, for example, where large tracts of lands were plagued by high salt content, NGOs have trained farmers to reclaim the land, test soil quality and monitor progress, while government departments have provided technical assistance. As a result of our combined efforts, the lands are now green and fertile, and rural incomes have risen substantially. In village water supply programs too, NGOs and government agencies have worked together with us to train village dwellers to plan, procure, build, operate and maintain their own water supply systems.

These are some of the many examples of how we work in partnership by involving the best expertise as well as those closer to the challenge. This needs to be complemented by an ongoing process of learning and evaluation of what works and what doesn’t, so that new projects are based on lessons from past experience. Going forward, as we prepare our new country strategy for India, we hope to adapt these lessons, share them in other communities and raise the effectiveness of our development efforts on the ground.