Report prepared by McDonald Benjamin, Country Manager, Ecuador Background The World Bank Office in Ecuador organised two consultation sessions on the Bank's proposed Social Development Strategy in the two largest cities of Ecuador, Quito and Guayaquil. Invitations were sent to more than 120 people in each city, with some 54 people attending in Guayaquil and 46 in Quito, for a total of 100 persons assisting. The Bank is grateful to the Universidad Tecnica Particular de Loja, Guayaquil campus, and to the Universidad Central in Quito for making their facilities available for the consultations. Thanks are also due to a team in RM Ecuador for organising the event; the team was led by Alexandra del Castillo and included Cinthia Guzman, Lucy Vargas and Daniela Ribadeneira, together with Vinicio Valdivieso for IT/web-related aspects, and Raul Subia for security and other logistics. Both the full list of invitees as well as those who were able to assist represented a cross-section of society, including representatives of urban businesses and rural enterprises, environmental organisations, women's organisations, indigenous and Afro-Ecuadorian organisations, community development NGOs, public sector employees, academia, and other social movements (such as Jubilee 2000). It is my sense that indigenous organisations were under-represented, whereas in the case of Guayaquil, social movements with a certain anti-globalisation or anti-debt outlook were heavily represented. Ecuador is one of six countries in the Bank in which a Structural Adjustment Participatory Review Initiative (SAPRI) was conducted in recent years, and in both cities, there were persons who had participated in the SAPRI initiative. A list of invitees and persons attending will be forwarded to you under separate cover. In addition, a cassette recording of the two consultations will be forwarded to you for your records. On the Bank side, both the consultations were attended by the Country Manager, McDonald Benjamin, a local media consultant with considerable local experience in print, radio and TV media, Gonzalo Pinto, and the Bank's security agent, Raul Subia, who handled registration and other logistics. In the Quito consultations, the ESSD Sector Leader for LC6, Maria Donoso, attended, together with Carmen Tene, a consultant in RM Ecuador on gender and intercultural issues. Prior to the consultation, the draft executive summary in Spanish of the Social Development Strategy (SDS) had been made available for one week on the RM Ecuador website, in the section on news (noticias, novedades y eventos), and the document was also made available at the consultation itself, together with materials forwarded from SDV for distribution at the consultations, and copies of the executive summary of the Bank's 2004 Poverty Study. The World Bank Office in Quito has not as yet received feedback outside of the two consultations, for example in subsequent letters. Methodology Both consultations were conducted on the same day, 30th August, in Guayaquil in the morning (9:30am-12:30pm) and in Quito in the afternoon (3:30pm-6:30pm), with each consultation lasting the allotted three hours. The sessions were moderated by the Bank's local media consultant, who briefly described the purpose and trajectory of the consultations conducted Bank-wide (from the 2002 launching until a proposed 2005 final report), the agenda for the consultations to be held in Ecuador, and principles of time and of respect for all opinions that he asked the audience to accept. The audience was also asked to draw on their local experience in order to make global recommendations for the Bank. The agenda of the consultations in each city was structured in three phases: first, an open session of opinions on three questions presented by the Country Manager; second, a powerpoint presentation by the Country Manager on the draft SDS (cf. attachment below); third, feedback from the invitees in light of the presentation, and answers by the Country Manager, and in Quito also by the Sector Leader, to questions raised in the consultations. This structure was adopted, with an open session of opinions before, rather than after, the presentation of the powerpoint on the SDS because Ecuador is one of the last consultations at a global level, and it was felt that the persons assisting should be able to opine freely and creatively and not view the strategy as already fully conceived and immutable. The three questions to be addressed were the following: What do you understand "social development" to mean? What are the principal areas or themes in social development that should be considered in developing countries like Ecuador? What is the appropriate role for the World Bank, and how can we work better together to reach these objectives (while respecting the fundamental roles of government and civil society in each country, and that of an international development bank)?
Results of the Consultation in Guayaquil What is social development? A general consensus developed very quickly that social development is to be understood as the improvement in the welfare of the citizens, incorporating the poor in the economy, and in access to health and education and other services. A better and more equitable distribution of income was seen to be essential. Another important element was seen to be better use of natural resources and protection of the environment. One person noted that one should differentiate between development and social development, where the latter satisfies a range of needs of the individual, strengthens relationships and builds social capital. What key themes or areas of social development need to be considered? Models of development to date were seen not to have changed the lives of the poor. It was felt that an alternative economic model was needed (a non neo-liberal model) in which development is promoted at the grass roots, based on diagnostics of local capabilities and on participatory local development plans. In this context, training should be promoted, particularly in marginalised populations, on artisanry and microenterprise, informal commerce should be organised, with better links to and integration of rural areas. Tourism was also mentioned as an integrating area that could promote a range of activities, including environmental protection, production, etc. Lack of jobs was repeatedly emphasized as a key problem. In this regard, various persons suggested greater attention to projects for poor people, notably in rural areas; more training in marketing and not just in production (often what is produced cannot be sold); and above all, and this was frequently emphasized: better education. It was noted that there cannot be development with high external debts, corruption and lack of jobs. Various people noted the need to do more in rural areas, to promote participation by local grass roots and by second tier organisations. There was widespread agreement that government needed to be de-politicised and that this is essential to fight corruption. Government was seen as paying insufficient attention to human factors, or to the very poorest. Related to this, various persons emphasized the need for more social control and the exercise of citizenship. What is the appropriate role for the World Bank? It was suggested that the World Bank should work much more closely with local, community organisations. In this regard, it was noted that the Bank has faith in the State and works through it, but the State does not work. The Bank should therefore work directly with the poor, through social organisations and cooperatives. It was also argued that the Bank must fight poverty with jobs, and with integral solutions. For example, it does not help to provide basic services if the poor cannot earn the incomes needed to pay for those services. One person complained that they had participated in several dialogues but had not seen the impact of their participation. He spoke of a global hegemonic polarisation. In this context, a few participants argued that the Bank should not lend for structural adjustment. One person said that rich countries failed to keep up with their commitment of dedicating 0.7% of GDP to donor assistance, that most of what is provided is in the form of debt, and much is targeted to favour commercial or geo-political interests, and that international organisations have a co-responsibility to overcome these practices. Another opinion asked why there was still such widespread poverty if the Bank's mission was to end poverty and the country had been working for years with the Bank. Another person said the Bank should apologise for all the damage it has done, and should disappear, since the number of poor in Ecuador has risen by over 1.7 million in the last ten years. This opinion met with disagreement by another participant, who argued the Bank should continue to support development, but ensure that the cheap loans are not used for the wrong purposes. There was a clear distinction in people's minds between the Bank and IMF, but people lamented the lack of effective government counterparts for the Bank's support, and in a few cases thought the two institutions pursued the same wrong policies. Another person noted that it was a pity that an international organisation had to come to the country to remind citizens of the need for social development, and that it was Ecuadorians who had to solve the issues of excessive debt service, non-execution of the budget for social expenditures (60%), massive corruption, and the fact that the resources from external debt were not used to pay the country's large social debt (i.e. under-provisioning of basic social services). Closing comments in Guayaquil. After the powerpoint presentation of the SD strategy, there were no major comments or criticisms directed at what was presented. Rather, people reinforced the following opinions: The World Bank should support social control processes in its projects. One person heatedly objected that the Bank continued to lend in spite of requests for no more external debt, and therefore questioned why we were consulting with civil society if these basic expressions of civil society were not being respected. While not all agreed with this position, the legitimacy of external debt was repeatedly questioned, and it was argued that external debt should be audited, as international organisations concentrate resources in few hands, including those of overpaid consultants, and impose conditionality that creates greater inequality—this should be avoided completely. They lamented that the State does not audit the uses to which its debt is applied. There should be ex-ante evaluations of the gender, regional, ethnic and other impacts of proposed projects. The Bank should take into account the results of national dialogues in formulating its assistance program.
Results of the Consultation in Quito What is social development? Social development was seen as improving lives via a process that includes all people, and therefore social development is seen as leading to broader human development. Social development, in another opinion, was a process that led to well-being, and that brought visibility to marginalized people. It meant that people were in charge, rather than being servile clients seeking benefits from the State. High unemployment and migration were seen as leading to social problems. One person commented that social development implied the well-being of all citizens, and that if we fractured the population, e.g. along ethnic lines, we would lose sight of the fact that 80% of the population is poor. And yet, they believed, things would change if people have the right to choose and make the decisions. What key themes or areas of social development need to be considered? Just as in Guayaquil, it was argued that the State captures resources, including from World Bank loans, that are supposed to be for, but never reach, the grassroots. The country was seen as having two basic problems: poverty and corruption. There is a lot of mistrust of the bureaucracy. It is therefore essential to promote transparency and institutional reforms so as to improve social policies and redistribute incomes. Although Ecuador was celebrating 25 years of democracy, these were not seen as years of true democracy. Therefore the need for rethinking the structure of political representation through political reforms was raised. An essential input for social development, one person argued, was to have good indicators on education, health, poverty, etc. Another person emphasized the need for community development, and for community driven development. Moreover it was seen as essential to promote inclusion and social control, and argued that the quality of public services should also be evaluated. What is the appropriate role for the World Bank? Just as in Guayaquil, those present asserted that it was the citizens who had to work on social development first and foremost, not the World Bank. The World Bank should, on the other hand, also support institutional reforms, and invest in such areas as education, health, and rural roads to open access to rural areas. It should also support the nascent national poverty reduction strategy in Ecuador, while on the other hand reviewing projects it financed that had failed, in order to draw lessons from them. In this light, it was argued that the Bank should also think through the social impact of Ecuador paying its external debt, to the detriment of the large unpaid social debt. Much more thinking was also required for the adjustment operations to be supported under the CAS. And yet, more generally, less money should go to studies and diagnostics, and more to actually helping the poor. Closing comments in Quito. After the powerpoint presentation of the SD strategy, just as in Guayaquil, there were no major comments or criticisms directed at what was presented. Rather, people made or reinforced the following points: Poverty should be measured and tracked not just in terms of income but in its various dimensions. The country had a disconnect between its aspirations and its assets, and by failing to reach its aspirations, it faced a problem of self-esteem that needed to be addressed. Ecuador was, another person added, rich in potential but poor in reality. Good leadership was needed to overcome resistance to change, and to work with the people in informing and motivating them. It was not clear to civil society what the Bank could or should do if the basic problems were political. This was left as a question for the Bank. Related to this, it was admitted that people in the country tended to fight for their own turf, rather than work together to promote development. The Bank should ensure better collaboration between its projects and other national projects. Related to this, the Bank was advised not to insulate itself from local knowledge in the communities. The Bank was thanked for providing this space for dialogue.
Overall Conclusions My sense is that people appreciated the opportunity to be consulted on this issue, and that they considered that the Bank's proposals, in terms of the key principles of inclusion, cohesion and accountability made sense, as well as the Bank's priorities based on these principles. On the other hand, the Bank was at times recognized for its work but at other times severely questioned for being part of the problem, in particular in its adjustment lending and in channeling resources through States that are highly mistrusted. The key problem at this level is one of corruption, capture of the State by a few, and lack of inclusion. The Bank was invited to promote greater social control and transparency and accountability in its own lending, as well as to take into account local knowledge and respect and avail of the findings of local dialogue processes in its programmes. McDonald Benjamin's Presentation (PowerPoint in Spanish) |
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