Submitted by Mojgan Sami, SDV First, I would like to thank WBI/CESI for their generosity in allowing us to conduct an SD consultation during their CEN annual meeting. Second, I would also like to thank our colleagues in the Almaty Regional Country Office for all of their support and assistance. In particular, I would like to extend my deepest gratitude to our SD colleague in Almaty, Janna Ryssakova, for all of her guidance and collaboration.
Over 60 participants from Azerbaijan, and 3 Central Asian countries : Kyrgyz Republic,Tajikistan,Uzbekistan took part at the SD Strategy Consultation during the Community Empowerment Network (CEN) Regional Meeting in Almaty, Kazakhstan, which was organized by CESI/WBI. More information on the CEN Annual Meeting on the WBI website is available by clicking here. In addition to the SD consultation on May 27, I also met with Mr. Rashid Kadyrov, Country Officer for the Islamic Development Bank (IDB) in Almaty, Kazakhstan on May 28 to explore possible collaboration. I met Mr. Kadyrov on a previous mission to Almaty (while working with ECSPS). Mr. Kadyrov informed me that the IDB is quite keen on social development issues, and would be delighted to explore opportunities of collaboration with the World Bank. I put him in touch with our Almaty-based Social Development Specialist, Janna Ryssakova, for follow up. The participants who took part in our strategy consultation at the CEN meeting represented national, regional and local civil society organizations, community groups and three government officials from Central Asia. In addition, there were two representatives from Save The Children/Azerbaijan and representatives from Counterpart International. There was a good gender and age mix as well. The complete list of participants will be available. Our intervention in the agenda was in Session #8 (Thursday, May 27). Ms. Janna Ryssakova, Social Development Specialist from our Almaty CO represented our ECA SD colleagues. Here are the English and Russian versions of the session outline. The session began with a presentation on the Social Development Strategy in general by Mojgan Sami and continued with a presentation of the importance of social development in Central Asia by Janna Ryssakova. The corporate presentation is included here in English. After the short presentations, the participants took part in a brainstorming exercise (called "Interactive Knowledge Cafe") to provide feedback on how the World Bank can better implement in the principles of social development (Inclusion, Cohesion & Accountability). The exercise was very participatory and allowed rich discussion and feedback for our strategy. The participants even selected "team names" for their groups. For example, the Inclusion team called themselves the "Chai Khana" (Tea House) and the Accountability Team called themselves "The Mirror" (to symbolize the importance of transparency). The English translations of the Inclusion & Accountability team notes are included here. I will take this opportunity to highlight some of the points that were voiced by participants during the consultations: Inclusion The challenges include: displaced persons, lack of jobs for vulnerable groups (youth, women, elderly, displaced persons and mountainous peoples), lack of awareness of new laws/procedures, lack of free/open media, lack of programs and benefits for mountainous peoples, and lack of lack of trust due to conflict. The solutions proposed include: establishing mechanisms for including vulnerable groups in civil society so they have a voice; motivate mass media to help improve public awareness of issues, organize youth parliament. The recommendations for the World Bank to assist with enhancing inclusion include: Providing training and capacity building for enabling environment for Civic Engagement; Ensure that free/independent press is part of the strategy for social development; Improve public awareness campaigns on the importance of inclusion throughout Central Asia; Provide training to youth organizations; provide training on conflict analysis and conflict prevention. Cohesion The challenges include: Balancing the different interests and priorities in society such as conflicting values and cultural traditions between the urban and rural populations; low level of literacy; poverty & inequality; classicism; Border area policies do not facilitate cohesion; poor relations between NGOs and communities (no equal partnerships). The solutions include: Improved access to information/public awareness of cultural norms; Use knowledge management networks as means to disseminate information; Provide equal access for all; create favorable business environment; provide vertical and horizontal cohesive links among communities; understanding of local environment by government to ensure the passing of socially balanced legislation (i.e., in Uzbekistan, the government passed a law to close all the bazars in order to combat violence; however, this only exacerbated the problem); Need for equality and partnerships between NGOs and communities. The recommendations for the World Bank include: assist governments and communities in understanding conflict analysis; link cohesion with economic opportunities; create Enabling Environment for Cohesion; provide better access to conflict training and knowledge; provide resources to facilitate dialogue among key actors in communities; provide advice to governments on cohesion; provide support and capacity building to civil society/NGOs to ensure they do not dismiss local communities. Accountability The challenges include: Reluctance on behalf of civil society to be transparent/ report on their activities to communities; no government motivation to be accountable to citizens; failure to enforce transparency/accountability laws; the "top" does not listen to the "bottom" and the "bottom" is tired of listening to the "top"; lack of clear understanding of what is accountability/why it is important; lack of laws for civil service; lack of understanding methodologies (such as community scorecards); absence of efficient indicators; absence of reports by public officials to voters; government's reluctance to take on partners; lack of free/independent press. The solutions include: developing a legal framework for accountability; involving every day citizens in the process of being able to hold public officials and NGOs to account; provide motivation for compliance; help define/establish culture of transparency; organize advocacy campaign/public awareness campaign; develop evaluation methods; ensure participation of all sectors; conduct roundtables/meetings with government officials (for example, invite MPs to communities for "town meeting" so that the community can voice their concerns/ask questions); Training for all stakeholders (government, civil society, local communities, individuals, press) on accountability. The recommendations for the World Bank include: audit projects to ensure compliance; train local NGOs on importance of accountability; support/train local communities and NGOs to have a voice in the PRSP process; provide expert knowledge and advice on accountability and share best practice; work with government authorities to enhance awareness and compliance to accountability and transparency; advise governments on legal framework for accountability/transparency; provide training and capacity building for social accountability including "community scorecards"; provide training on monitoring and evaluation of accountability activities; train the press specifically to be a "voice of accountability" for government and civil society. |
RSS