 Nearly 30 civil society organizations (CSOs) joined representatives of the World Bank, IMF, and UN agencies to discuss and coordinate efforts to address the global financial and food crises in advance of the G-20 Summit in London. This was the fourth high level dialogue session between the Bank and CSOs on the global crises since last year.
The roundtable, held on March 26, was co-chaired by Managing Director Ngozi Okonjo-Iweala and David Beckmann (CEO for Bread for the World). Ngozi began the session (agenda) by talking about the strategic and timely initiatives the Bank had taken to address the food crisis through a rapid disbursing facility, boosting agricultural research, and policy dialogue. In this light, she introduced a short video on the Bank’s multi-pronged and participatory response to the food crisis. In his remarks, Bank President Robert Zoellick, said hunger, and malnutrition remained much larger problems than many people recognized, and that they were being exacerbated by the financial crisis. He said this was the worst global downturn since the Great Depression, and while it began as a financial crisis, it had quickly evolved to being an economic and unemployment crisis, and could further become a widespread human and social crisis.  Beckmann stated that while many CSOs shared the Bank’s concern about the worsening impact of the financial and food crises on the poor, most wanted to see paradigm shifts. A “blue and green” agenda, he said, is emerging for a more socially inclusive and environmentally sustainable approach to international development”.
Civil society leaders representing NGOs, farmers' organizations, faith-based organizations, and research centers participated via video conference (Brussels, Dakar, Johannesburg, and Paris), and by phone (Atlanta, Cape Town, Hyderabad, London, and Santiago). Key networks such as InterAction, Coordination Sud, and Civicus were present, in addition to well known policy advocacy organizations such as Bank Information Center, Bretton Woods Project, and Eurodad. (See participants list) The session also included Ann Veneman (Executive Director of UNICEF), David Nabarro (Coordinator, Global Food Crisis, UNSIC) and Christian Mumssen (Chief, Strategy, Policy, and Review Department, IMF). Veneman emphasized the nutritional aspects of the food crisis. While we are appropriately focusing on food security, we must not forget ‘nutrition security’, as malnourishment among children under 5 can leave lasting generational impact through stunting and low cognitive abilities. Ingrid Srinath (Secretary General, CIVICUS) stressed the need for real reform in traditional economic policies and global governance. She stated that the unfolding economic crisis had discredited the fundamental assumptions which have guided the prevailing development paradigm, and CSOs were calling for credible and bold proposals to make the Bretton Woods institutions more accountable and transparent.
Executive Vice President Lars Thunell said that the IFC had increased its investments to IDA and African countries to expand credit for farmers and suppliers, as well as to fund logistics and distribution networks. IFC scaled up its investments in the agribusiness supply chain to over $1.4 billion in FY08 and invested nearly $900 million in the first eight months of FY09. Zoellick mentioned that due to the severity of the financial crisis, the Bank had launched the Vulnerability Fund initiative, which was geared to channeling 0.7% of developed country economic stimulus packages to development assistance. While this amount practically represents a ‘rounding error’ in the budgets of most developed countries, it can literally represent the difference between ‘life and death’ for poor people around the world, he said. These funds would be managed by the Bank, UN agencies, or CSOs and cover a host of humanitarian assistance and poverty reduction efforts in low-income countries. CSOs present were generally supportive of the Bank Group’s crisis-response initiatives, including the Vulnerability Fund idea. But CSOs said they needed more details on how the Fund would work and called for the Bank and Fund to ease loan conditions applied through emergency financing. They also stated their support for governance reform at the Bank and Fund, particularly the need to increase voice and representation for developing countries, as well as promoting greater transparency. At the close of the roundtable, Ngozi summarized several of the ideas which emerged to guide the next steps in the engagement process. These included a continued push to conduct similar policy dialogues at the country level in order to promote greater on-the-ground operational collaboration between the Bank and CSOs in addressing the food crisis, and exploring the possibility of carrying out joint research on the social and political impacts of these crises. For previous discussions, and more information on the Bank’s response to the Financial and Food Crises click below: Second Roundtable
First Roundtable
Financial Crisis
Food Crisis
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