The Bank’s interaction and engagement with Civil Society Organizations—initially characterized by mutual antagonism, skepticism and mistrust—has evolved to regular consultation, give and take, and guarded mutual respect. Staff heard from some old hands adept at managing this complex relationship during a farewell lunch discussion. Britons John D. Clark, Lead Social Scientist, Social Development, formerly advisor to Kofi Annan on UN-civil society relations and visiting fellow at the Centre for Civil Society, London School of Economics, and John R. Mitchell, Senior Partnerships Specialist in OPCS, are both retiring nearly 20 years after joining the Bank. Clark and Mitchell share a civil society background. Clark was with Oxfam International and Mitchell was director of the World Development Movement before they joined the Bank. They both attended Oxford University. Mitchell gave an overview of trends in the advocacy area among CSOs, which he defined as a “wide and eclectic group” that includes nongovernmental organizations, academics, faith groups, labor groups, and foundations. Changing Landscape
CSOs in the North and in the South have become much more interlinked in their advocacy over the past two decades, thanks to the internet and spurred on by issues such as structural adjustment and debt. Much of the divide that once separated the North and South has vanished, but in some instances in its place is a South-South divide because of lack of access to technology.
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Staff participated in lively discussion about where to go from here |
More resources, both their own and from bilaterals and the European Union, have led to concerted action and greater influence on the part of CSOs. Oxfam Great Britain now has 4,000 staff in the UK alone. Well-funded foundations such as Gates have entered the scene. There is a growing staff interchange between multilateral organizations and CSOs.
Mitchell explained that when he and Clark joined the Bank, it was regarded as controversial because they both came from policy advocacy backgrounds. But over the years, CSOs have had a noticeable impact on the Bank, especially on such issues as environmental impact assessments, information disclosure, debt, and the use of social indicator goals. Clark, hired 15 years ago to build bridges between the Bank and CSOs, summarized the evolution of Bank relationships with CSOs as a “pretty good story,” even though it has had rough patches. He likened his work to a bridge engineer who manages ‘stresses’ and ‘tensions’ in the edifice he is putting up. As a sign of success, Clark said, much of the discussion by CSOs about the Bank is much more nuanced, in contrast to decade ago when slogans such as “50 years is enough” dominated. Because of better understanding of each other, the Bank and CSOs sometimes speak the same language about similar issues like vulnerable groups, environmental conservation, climate change, and governance. While the Bank has taken many right steps, according to Mitchell there are still gaps in the way the Bank manages its relations with CSOs. They include lack of a coherent and central strategy that leads to non-systematic approaches, and insufficient attention to training and incentives of Bank staff, far more of whom must now deal with CSOs. “The yawning gap between the rhetoric and the reality is the Achilles heel of the institution when it comes to Bank-CSOs relations,” observed Clark. He noted, however, that some of the criticism of the Bank stems from a misplaced and an overblown importance and influence critics sometimes ascribe to the Bank.
Evolution of Strategy
When Clark led the Bank’s Civil Society and NGO unit, he promoted a 5-prong strategy: deeper and earlier operational collaboration with CSOs, including in project design; engaging CSOs at the country level, especially key development challenges like poverty assessments, CAS, and later PRSPs; providing citizens with more information about Bank activities; consulting more regularly and | 
A Bank-watcher agrees that the Bank has opened up considerably |
effectively on Bank policies; finally helping governments appreciate and provide space for CSOs as development actors.
Clark graded the Bank’s performance on each of items. The average, he concluded, was 52 percent, “the glass half full.” To fill the glass, the Bank needs to deepen partnerships with CSOs, to strengthen engagement at the country level, and to take brave political stands. “The Bank needs to be prepared to stick its neck out to argue for an enabling policy environment for civil society,” Clark argued. Jim Adams, vice president of East Asia and Pacific, who moderated the discussion, spoke about the progress the Bank has made in its relations with CSOs, citing some differences along the way. On one issue in particular, structural adjustment in the 1980s and 1990s, the Bank and CSOs took opposite tacks.
Adams insisted the Bank got it right and growth in places such as Africa is a direct outcome of those earlier policies that CSOs vigorously opposed. “In Africa, the quality of policies is much higher and it is because of the policies the Bank and the Fund proposed,” he said.
Clark concurred, but with caveats. “I do think the architects of the structural adjustment within the Bank were wrong in assuming, as they did, that the rising tide will raise all boats,” he said. View from Outside Chad Dobson, who heads the Bank Information Center, Washington’s main ‘Bank- watcher' CSO, and had worked closely with his fellow activists Clark and Mitchell before they joined the Bank, said, the thing that he has discovered in the 20 years that he’s been looking at the institution is that the Bank has opened up considerably, and often serves as a proxy for the dialogue CSOs from developing countries can’t have with their own governments. On the other hand, Dobson agreed with Clark that the Bank still has a way to go improve its uneven consultation policies, increase transparency, and show the results of its pro-poor policies. Dobson’s presence at the retrospective discussion and the frank analysis was perhaps the best indication of how far these relations have indeed evolved. |
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