participation and the world bank success, constraints,...

Participation and theWorld BankSuccess, Constraints,and ResponsesDraft for Discussion

(prepared for the International Conference

on Upscaling and Mainstreaming

Participation: of Primary Stakeholders:Lessons Learned and Ways Forward)

Maria Aycrigg

Paper Number 29November 1998

Social Development Papers

Participation and theWorld BankSuccess, Constraints, and Responses

(Draft for Discussion at theInternational Conference on Upscalingand Mainstreaming Participation:Lessons Learned and Ways Forward)

Maria Aycrigg

Paper Number 29November 1998

This publication was developed and produced by the Social Development Family of the World Bank. TheEnvironment, Rural Development, and Social Development Families are part of the Environmentally andSocially Sustainable Development (ESSD) Network. The Social Development Family is made up of WorldBank staff working on social issues.

Papers in the Social Development series are not formal publications of the World Bank. They arepublished informally and circulated to encourage discussion and comment within the developmentcommunity. The findings, interpretations, judgments, and conclusions expressed in this paper are thoseof the author(s) and should not be attributed to the World Bank, to its affiliated organizations, or tomembers of the Board of Executive Directors or the governments they represent.

Copies of this paper are available from:

Social DevelopmentThe World Bank1818 H Street, N.W.Washington, D.C. 20433 USA

Fax: 202-522-3247E-mail: [email protected]

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Preface

This paper was prepared as an input tothe international conference, Upscalingand Mainstreaming Participation of PrimaryStakeholders: Lessons Learned and WaysForward,” held in Washington, D.C. inNovember 1998. The paper focuseslargely on internal aspects of the Bank’sparticipation work. This is a workingdocument that will be revised based oninput from the conference and otherregional consultations. The Bank expectsthat this paper will help to define thework program of its participationthematic team.

This paper draws heavily on input fromthe many staff members who contributedtheir time and effort to organizing andparticipating in focus group meetingsand commenting on drafts. The paperwas written by Maria Aycrigg, aconsultant from EnvironmentalResources Management to the Bank,under the supervision of AubreyWilliams, acting head of the NGO Unit,Social Development Department. GloriaDavis, director of the Social DevelopmentDepartment, and Parmesh Shah,participation coordinator, contributed toboth the process of research and thecontent of the paper.

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1. Introduction

1. Since his appointment as presidentof the World Bank, James D. Wolfensohnhas been strongly supportive ofparticipatory approaches in projects andpolicies. In his 1998 Annual Meetingsspeech, Mr. Wolfensohn said:

“Participation matters—not only as ameans of improving developmenteffectiveness, as we know from ourrecent studies—but as the key tolong-term sustainability andleverage. We must never stopreminding ourselves that it is up tothe government and its people todecide what their priorities shouldbe. We must never stop remindingourselves that we cannot and shouldnot impose development by fiatfrom above—or from abroad.”

Overview

2. In 1994 the Board of ExecutiveDirectors of the World Bank endorsed thereport “The World Bank andParticipation.” This document set out aworking definition of participation as wellas an action plan to support and facilitateparticipation on a Bankwide level (see box1). Against the backdrop of a rapidlychanging world and significant changes in

the Bank as an institution, the Bank hasendeavored to implement the action planoutlined in 1994. It has made goodprogress in some areas of the participationagenda and has achieved success beyondwhat was originally expected in a few. Insome areas, the Bank has fallen short of itsoriginal goals.

3. The Bank has a variety ofinstruments for assisting its clientcountries in the development process,including lending instruments, policyformulation, and analytical work. Withineach of these instruments, there are avariety of examples in which the Bank hasachieved success in supportingparticipatory processes in its developmentprograms. While these are individualexamples, they tell a story of a trendtoward more support for participation inthe Bank. It is clear, however, that thereare also obstacles to overcome and issuesto address before participation can beconsidered mainstreamed.

4. The record is specific to regionsand to sectors. For instance, participationseems to have been more internalized bymanagement in some regions than others,widening the opening to pursueparticipatory approaches in those regions.

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Participation and the World Bank

Participation at the country level alsovaries greatly by region and country,depending on socioeconomic, historic,and cultural context. While examples ofparticipation exist in every sector, some ofthe most interesting and effectiveparticipatory initiatives have been in therural sector, which tends, by nature of theprojects, to lend itself to participation, aswell as in water and slum upgradingprojects.

Background and Methodology

5. This paper was prepared as asubmission to the international conferenceon “Upscaling and MainstreamingPrimary Stakeholder Participation:Lessons Learned and Ways Forward.” It

was prepared in an effort to take stock ofthe Bank’s experience in mainstreamingparticipation, and to lay the groundworkfor the next phase or generation ofparticipatory approaches. The paper isbased on focus group/brainstormingmeetings with Bank staff representing fiveregions (Africa, East Asia and Pacific,Europe and Central Asia, Latin Americaand Caribbean, and South Asia); a deskreview of operations; and responses fromfield offices to a set of questions. Staff whoparticipated include task team leaders,country operations officers, sector leaders,and social scientists.

6. Input was sought generally on thefollowing questions:

Box 1. Action Plan as Outlined in “World Bank and Participation” (1994)

1. The Bank will seek opportunities to support government efforts to promote a more enablingenvironment for participatory development within client countries, by addressing participation inpolicy dialogue, capacity-building programs, and public-sector management activities.

2. Regions will establish procedures and allocate resources for sharing responsibility for economicand sector work (ESW) with government and a wider range of stakeholders.

3. Regions will ensure that lending operations and ESW include a process for identifying at anearly stage: (a) who the relevant stakeholders are, and (b) how they will be involved in the activity.Documentation of projects and ESW will include brief descriptions of the participatory process.

4. The Bank will strengthen its capacity to support participation by providing participation-relatedfield-based learning opportunities and training programs for Bank staff and managers, and adjustingthe skill mix and attitudes at headquarters and in resident missions.

5. Through its regular budget processes, as well as by appropriate use of the Fund for InnovativeApproaches in Human and Social Development, the Bank will allocate resources to maintain innova-tion, learning, and mainstreaming participation and will provide incentives and recognition to staffwho undertake participatory initiatives.

6. The Bank will provide institutional arrangements to support greater adoption of participation bydesignating a group of senior managers to oversee the implementation of this action plan during itsfirst two years, continuing the Bank-wide learning group to provide a network for promoting partici-patory initiatives, and supporting the establishment of an interagency collaborative learning groupon participation.

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• What are the achievements inmainstreaming participation since1994?

• Where has the Bank fallen short; whatissues has the Bank not addressed?

• What are the supporting andconstraining factors?

• What are the issues and opportunitiesto consider for the future?

• What recommendations can we maketo support mainstreamingparticipation?

7. While this paper is a preliminaryreview, the Operations EvaluationDepartment of the Bank (OED), anindependent evaluation unit that reportson development impact and performanceto the World Bank’s Executive Directors,has just begun an in-depth evaluation ofthe Bank’s work on participation. It will beboth a process review and an impactevaluation. OED expects to complete theevaluation in late 1999. Based on literaturereviews, case studies, and data review, theOED evaluation will aim to answer someof the following questions:

• What types of participation work bestfor which sectors and services?

• Which types of stakeholderidentification have worked best inwhich contexts?

• What dimensions of the enablingenvironment facilitate which types ofparticipation?

• What types of participation work bestat different project phases?

Institutional Context

8. The Bank is a lending institutionwith governments as its primary client. Allof the Bank’s work on participation mustbe understood in this context. While theBank is having some success in convincinggovernments to be more responsive to andaccepting of participation, its track recorddepends on the degree to whichgovernments are interested, supportive,and willing to invest in participation. TheBank has implemented numerous internalinstitutional, procedural, and policychanges that are helping to supportparticipation. Projects, however,ultimately belong to governments toprepare and implement. This relationshipconstitutes both the Bank’s comparativeadvantage and the single largest constraintto mainstreaming participation in itsoperations.

Introduction

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2. Participation in Projects

9. Many individual examples of Bank-financed projects being prepared andimplemented in a participatory mannercan be cited, as can cases in whichparticipation is influencing project design(see box 2). The number of projects thathave included social assessments,beneficiary assessments, and otherparticipatory processes has increasedsteadily since the early 1990s.1 The mostimportant institutional constraint tomainstreaming participation in Bank-financed investments has been the cyclefor identifying, preparing, implementing,and monitoring projects. In an effort toaddress some of the problems associatedwith the project cycle, the Bank issupporting and adopting more innovativeand flexible lending instruments and isfocusing more of its attention on capacitybuilding for community institutions.

Problems in the Project Cycle

10. Staff who contributed to this paperreport that stakeholder consultation inproject preparation has become routine.As one staff member said: “People nowunderstand that consultation andparticipation are key to project success.”Nonetheless, several institutional

constraints continue to make pursuingparticipatory approaches difficult, themost important of which is the projectcycle that is considered by many to be toolong and too rigid.

11. Although there are exceptions, inmost cases by the time a project isprepared—when most of the primarystakeholder consultation and/orparticipation takes place—its basicframework has already been decided,typically through early policy work. Ifpolicy formulation and analytical workhave not been conducted with broad-based participation, the projects andpolicies that emerge often do not reflectthe needs and priorities of the primarystakeholders. One staff membercommented: “Participation duringpreparation results in some tinkeringaround the edges of an already definedproject, when it is too late for primarystakeholder views and concerns to befactored into project design.”

12. Additionally, given the nature ofthe Bank’s project cycle, the expectationsof stakeholders who were consulted orwho participated in some way duringpreparation or identification are raised—

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Box 2. The Effects of Consultation and Participation

As a result of consultation and participation, projects are more inclusive, involving key stakeholdersand including the traditionally marginalized; they are more socially sound, having more benefits andfewer adverse social impacts; and they are more effective and sustainable, having more ownershipand better institutional arrangements at the country level.

Jamaica: Demand-Side Management Project. When NGOs questioned the project design, participatorymethods were used to facilitate problem-solving and determine actions acceptable to all parties.Mechanisms were put in place to ensure that the problems identified did not resurface, and stakehold-ers agreed to restructure their work program.

El Salvador: Education Projects. Through several participatory mechanisms, children and youngadults have been collaborating in the design of education projects in El Salvador. As a result, a fundmanaged by children was created (Fondo Alegria) to finance activities chosen and managed bystudents, such as choirs, reading clubs, reforestation campaigns, science fairs, leadership workshops,and art festivals.

Lesotho: Highlands Water Project. As a result of working closely with civil society groups, projectauthorities and donors have improved resettlement packages, enhanced the scope of rural develop-ment for the project area to include host communities, and begun to restructure the use of projectroyalties to ensure that they are used more equitably for development across the Kingdom of Lesotho.

Venezuela: Slum Upgrading Project. During preparation a team of social scientists conductedextensive consultation with community groups, local NGOs, and residents in Caracas slums abouttheir values regarding their city, neighborhood, and homes. Results were consolidated into projectdesign. Implementation will be undertaken jointly by community groups, the private sector, andgovernment.

India: Irrigation Rehabilitation Project. A series of state-level loans for irrigation rehabilitation haveintegrated participatory irrigation management (PIM) into the project. The state government hasconsolidated many of the diverse water-related agencies under a single Water Resources Department,while at the same time divesting much of the irrigation management functions to user organizations.

Brazil: AIDS and STD Projects. Unprecedented civil society-government-Bank relations have turnedpreviously conflictual relationships into productive partnerships. In Curitiba, for example, this wasachieved after civil society organizations were brought into the process through an invitation to serveon the Parana State AIDS Commission. With adequate information and frank dialogue, civil societyorganizations learned more about the complexities of governing, and assumed greater responsibilityfor AIDS policy in the state.

Kazakhstan: Irrigation and Drainage Improvement Project. A social assessment for the project docu-mented that workers on former collectives and state farms knew very little about their rights andresponsibilities in the farm privatization process. To ensure that beneficiaries had a role in makingdecisions regarding irrigation investments and organization, a five-step process was developed thatengages all member of the farms in key decisions in the design and tendering process. This participa-tory process has given some farm workers the courage to leave the old farm structure and to start theirown private farms.

Lithuania: Energy Efficiency Housing Project. After independence in Lithuania, individuals weregiven ownership of their apartments, but few buildings developed institutional mechanisms tomanage common areas. Subsequently, energy costs skyrocketed. Based on a participatory pilot activ-ity, the project will create and strengthen homeowners’ associations and make funds available to themto improve energy efficiency.

Participation in Projects

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Box 2 (continued)

Indonesia: Kecamatan Development Project. This project uses block grants, bottom-up planningprocedures, open menus, and pervasive transparency to revitalize community development inIndonesia. The project relies heavily on civil society oversight, and includes innovations such asmonitoring contracts for independent newspapers, website listings of all participating subdistricts,and one-day provincial socialization courses for local journalists, researchers, and NGOs wishing totrack the project.

Palestinian NGO Project. Recognizing the embryonic stage of the Palestinian Authority (PA) andthe need to rely on NGOs to deliver essential social services, the project has established a trust fundto: (a) deliver social services to the poor and marginalized, using NGOs as the delivery mechanism;(b) improve the institutional capacity of NGO grantees; and (c) strengthen the working relationshipbetween the PA and the Palestinian NGO sector. Consultations with local and international NGOsand donors were an essential part of project preparation. A service-delivery survey is being carriedout to identify community needs and NGO capabilities and achieve more effective outreach.

Latin America: Indigenous Peoples Capacity Building Initiative. Responding to what indigenouspeoples’ organizations reported as the top priority of many of their communities—capacity build-ing—the Bank developed an “Indigenous Peoples Capacity Building Initiative” consisting of a seriesof individual proposals drafted jointly by Bank staff, national indigenous organizations, and cogni-zant government institutions for grants from the Bank’s Institutional Development Fund. From thesebeginnings, the Bank was able to identify a number of potential investment projects, and, moreimportantly, the places where ownership, capability, willingness, and resources were in place to puttogether the World Bank’s first indigenous development investments. Ongoing indigenous develop-ment loans that grew out of the Capacity Building Initiative now exist in Ecuador, Mexico, andArgentina.

sometimes as much as one to two yearsbefore any project action or progress canbe demonstrated. A tension, therefore, iscreated by including participation at theidentification or pre-identification stage,and thus raising primary stakeholderexpectation long before projects will beginactivities.

13. Finally, the Bank’s experience withprimary stakeholder participation duringsupervision/monitoring has been weak,and is only recently beginning to showsigns of improvement. Participation ofstakeholders in the design andimplementation of appropriatemonitoring and evaluation systems at theproject level has made little headway. Toolittle attention and too few resources have

been devoted to monitoring andevaluation and to evaluation capacitydevelopment—a key instrument of goodgovernance.

Responses to Problems in theProject Cycle

14. To address some of the problemswith participation and the project cycle,the Bank has developed a variety oflending instruments that are flexible,iterative, and process-oriented. SocialFunds are now in their third or fourthgeneration. Learning and InnovationLoans, and Adaptable Program Lendingare part of the new Bank-wide adaptablelending approach.

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Social Funds

15. Social Funds2 are becomingincreasingly important lendinginstruments in the World Bank’s efforts toreach the poor, especially in their demandorientation and in their ability to increaselocal-level capacity building, which areboth important features of participation.Social funds are designed as rapid,demand-driven funding mechanisms thatchannel resources to community-leveldevelopment projects according to apredetermined set of criteria. Social Fundsfinance subprojects proposed by otherpublic, private, and voluntary (formal andinformal) organizations. The social fundportfolio is diverse and growing. TheBank had approved 51 social funds in 32countries, committing US$1 billion as ofthe end of FY96. As of the same time, theportfolio as a whole was identified as“well-performing.”

16. Initially the value of social fundswas seen primarily as their ability totransfer assets to the poor during periodsof economic and political upheaval.Today, social funds are seen asinstruments for contributing directly torisk management at the community leveland social capital among the poor,through the engagement of communitygroups in the creation and management oflocal infrastructure, basic services, andnatural resources. This transition will onlybe complete, however, when fundamentalchanges in the design of social fundstoward participatory, demand-ledapproaches that focus on building localorganizational capacity are achieved.

17. As social funds have attempted tobecome more focused on community

development and participation over theyears, a number of adjustments have beenmade. Fund activities have shifted fromviewing community groups as vehicles forcollecting local materials, providing labor,and conducting operations andmaintenance, to recognizing them as beingin charge—with control and authority overdecisionmaking and resource allocation,including handling funds, procuringmaterials, and hiring and firing contractorsand other service providers. A number offunds routinely conduct beneficiaryassessments to obtain feedback fromcommunity groups. Many projectsapproved recently have a strong demandorientation, which is key to achievinglong-term sustainability at the communitylevel. However, attention to investment inlocal organizational capacity to achievesustainability is still needed.

Adaptable Lending Instruments

18. New adaptable lendinginstruments were approved in 1997. Thegoal of adding to the Bank’s existing arrayof lending instruments was to better adaptborrowers’ differing needs and to moveaway from the tendency to fund“blueprint” solutions, rather than be opento the multiple alternatives thatparticipatory approaches imply.Borrowers are also looking to the Bank forsupport for long-term institution-buildingfor environmental agencies; people-centered, participatory projects such asurban upgrading; and post-conflictreconstruction. As a result, the Bank hasadopted such new instruments asLearning and Innovation Loans (LILs) andAdaptable Program Lending (APL).


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19. LILs are designed to support small,time-sensitive programs to build capacity,pilot promising initiatives, or experimentand develop local models prior to larger-scale interventions. A LIL incorporatesopportunities for intensive monitoringand evaluation, and includes theopportunity to assess borrower capacityand stakeholder response as part of thelearning process, when these areunknown. LILs are modest in size, notexceeding US$5 million each. A keycomponent of the instrument is that Bankmanagement has authority to approveLILs, rather than the Bank’s Board ofDirectors.

20. A recent example of a LIL is theproposed Post-Conflict Social RecoveryProject in Angola, which would test, in alimited number of target areas, a programto support war- affected ruralcommunities in their efforts to reintegratedisplaced people and revitalizecommunity-level economic and socialactivities. In particular the project wouldfoster participation of those directlyaffected and devastated by war inreconstruction decisions. The lessonsgained from the experience ofimplementing the LIL are intended toserve as a basis for the design of a largerpost-conflict social project aimed atenhancing the capacity of recipientcommunities in war-affected rural areas toreestablish normal economic and socialactivities.

21. The APL provides phased andsustained funding for implementation of along-term development program thatreflects economic priorities and povertyreduction. Under APL, loans are phasedaccording to agreed milestones and

benchmarks for realizing the program’sobjectives. The World Bank Board ofExecutive Directors approves the first loanand the long-term program agreementunder which the full sequence ofAdaptable Program Lending is prepared.Authority for approval of subsequentloans in the sequence lies with Bankmanagement (subject to oversight andreview by the Board). APL is expected tobe, on average, in the amount of US$50million and last for three to five years, butsome are as large as US$200 million.

22. The Rural Development inMarginal Areas Project in Mexico, whichseeks to improve the well-being andincome of smallholders in about 24targeted areas, is being implemented withan APL approach, allowing a progressivegeographic expansion of activities.Preparation and implementation of thefirst phase of this APL loan has permittedthe government to establish the basis fornational development planning.

Focus on Community Institutions

23. A new generation of projects is alsomaking efforts to ensure effectiveparticipation in management andimplementation. They aim to promoteinclusive and sustainable institutions thatmanage and sustain the developmentprocess by moving beyond theconventional, target- oriented strategies tomore holistic approaches: creating andbuilding partnerships, capacity buildingof local institutions, and creatingsynergies across sectors. These efforts arebeing exerted in many rural development,water supply and sanitation, and povertyreduction projects. Such programs aim toachieve effective targeting by fostering

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local ownership, developing localpartners, and facilitating the creation ofenabling environments that providetransparent and accountable mechanismsfor delivery and distribution of goods,services, and resources at the communitylevel.

24. These community-focused projectshave promoted a range of initiatives,including development of partnerships forconservation and joint management ofnatural resources through water userassociations, joint forest managementassociations, and women’s self-helpgroups. The focus on decentralization andmore effective local government in theAfrica Region visible in most new rural

development programs is aimed atstrengthening linkages with community-managed systems. The development ofcommunity-managed systems andinstitutions has led to initiatives forreforming and reorienting public-serviceagencies to enhance their effectiveness indelivering public goods, which has led torenegotiation of their missions andobjectives.

25. The Bank’s Quality AssuranceGroup (QAG) is working on thedevelopment of indicators to measureprogress in achieving the objectives ofsustainable and effective institutionbuilding.


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3. Participation in Policy and Analytical Work

26. While the 1994 participationdocument was focused primarily onprimary stakeholder participation, theBank’s greatest strides with regard toparticipation lie in policy formulation.Country assistance strategies (CASs) arenow being undertaken with more broad-based and systematic consultation andparticipation, and major policy reviewsare being conducted in a participatorymanner. To integrate social policies andensure consistency between them, work iscurrently underway to draft a policy onsocial analysis that would indicate whenand how participatory approaches andsocial assessments should be carried out.

Country Assistance Strategy

27. The CAS3 is the Bank’s mainvehicle for designing its program tosupport sustainable development in amember country, taking into account thecountry’s specific needs and conditions.The findings of a review of FY97-98 CASsshow that a significant increase in the useof participatory or consultative processesin CAS has occurred since a smallersurvey was undertaken two years ago. Ofthe 47 CASs approved by the Board inFY97 and the first half of FY98, a desk

review and consultations with regionalstaff identified 26 as “participatory.” Anin-depth review of 22 of the 26 (4 weredropped due to lack of information)revealed that 10 of them: (a) includedextensive consultation with a broad arrayof civil society stakeholders, (b) involvedcivil society in the planning of theexercise, (c) reached out to rural areas, and(d) planned feedback or follow-up. Thisrepresented 45 percent of the 22participatory CASs and 21 percent of all 47CASs in the sample. Twelve of the 22participatory cases (55 percent) had somedegree of participation, representing 26percent of the total sample.

28. Clear and direct impacts ofconsultation in the CAS process areincreasingly being recognized (see box 3).In over half of the CASs that incorporatedconsultative mechanisms, Bank staff notedthat the approach had direct identifiableimpacts on the CAS, primarily on policyformulation, strategy focus, andinstitutional capacity. For example, theprimary focus of the Colombia CAS waschanged to address issues of violence andpublic insecurity. In Madagascar the senseof exclusion felt by the coastal andminority population in high plateaus was

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identified, leading to a stronger focus onpartnership and decentralization in theCAS.

29. The majority of staff responsible forthese CASs felt that the benefits ofincorporating civil society participation inthe process significantly outweighed thecosts. They felt that participation in the

CAS led to more informed developmentpriorities for the country, as well as better-coordinated development efforts. InGuinea, for instance, participation in theCAS led to the identification ofgovernance (justice and security,reconciliation and tolerance, democracy,transparency, decentralization and genderequality) as one of the five priority

Box 3. How Participation and Consultation Contribute to a CAS

• The Kenya CAS changed from viewing participation as an instrumental processconfined to the preparation of the CAS, to seeing participation as a long-term strat-egy to articulate the goals and achieve the objectives of public-sector reform.

• The Guatemala CAS deals with the inclusion of the country’s indigenous people inthe process of economic growth and development as its central issue. Bank staff haveworked with stakeholders to design operational mechanisms for the implementationof key elements of the Peace Accords signed by the former combatants to ensureindigenous participation in the development process.

• The Bolivia CAS addresses the process of inclusion for the poor and indigenouspeople through its focus on themes of opportunity, institutional development, andequity.

• The Tajikistan CAS addresses issues of social accord and peace-building in a post-conflict context through equitable growth and targeted poverty reduction in areascontrolled both by the government and the former opposition.

• The Mongolia CAS addresses inclusion of women as a major theme.

• The Papua New Guinea CAS recognizes explicitly the distinctive social and culturalnature of PNG, particularly the existence of a fragmented social terrain, the “bigman” complex, and the implications of these factors for the structure of the modernnation state.

• The CAS for Yemen draws on extensive dialogue with prominent Yemeni socialscientists to design a reform process that will be socially sustainable.

• The Vietnam CAS is being prepared based on sector strategy notes that have beendiscussed with NGOs who were invited to share their perspective on poverty.

• The Bangladesh CAS focuses on institutional aspects of economic growth and pov-erty reduction, with a specific focus on the role of civil society and private-sectorinstitutions in the delivery of basic services and infrastructure development.

• The Nepal CAS focuses on institutional weaknesses that contribute to exclusion(gender, caste, and ethnicity) and is anchoring its approach in successful examples ofdecentralization of decisionmaking and resource allocation.

Participation in Policy and Analytical Work

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development issues. Staff also felt thatparticipatory CASs were a method ofbringing those who had traditionally beenmarginalized into the developmentprocess.

30. Until recently, CASs have beenconfidential. As civil society participationin their preparation has grown, there hasbeen increasing pressure for disclosure. InAugust 1998 the Board agreed that (a) civilsociety consultations were to beencouraged in preparing a CAS; (b) afterBoard discussion of the CAS, and withconsent of the government, the Bankshould release a Public InformationNotice describing the main elements ofthe CAS; and (c) henceforth, whengovernments so request, the Bank mayfully disclose the CAS.

Policy Consultations

31. The Bank is undertaking severalmajor policy reviews, which are beingconducted in a consultative andparticipatory manner. Examples includethe Structural Adjustment ParticipatoryReview Initiative, the Forest PolicyImplementation Review and Strategy, andthe Indigenous Peoples OperationalDirective Review.

Structural Adjustment ParticipatoryReview Initiative

32. The World Bank, in conjunctionwith national governments and aworldwide network of almost 1,000 civilsociety organizations, launched anexercise in 1997 to assess the economicand social impact of structural adjustmentpolicies in seven countries. The project,known as the Structural Adjustment

Participatory Review Initiative (SAPRI),has been officially launched inBangladesh, Hungary, and Uganda. Othercountries involved in the exercise,(Ecuador, Ghana, Mali, and Zimbabwe),are organizing public forum launches inNovember and December of 1998.

33. A national steering committeecomposed of representatives of NGOs,labor unions, farmers’ associations,women’s groups, chambers of commerce,manufacturers’ associations, and churches,as well as government ministries and theWorld Bank, has been set up in eachparticipating country to coordinate thereview. Each country team will investigatethe effects of adjustment by: (a) organizingpublic fora, (b) conducting a fieldinvestigation into the impacts of selectedadjustment policies, and (c) summarizingthe existing literature on adjustment inthat country. The country case studies willlook at the effects of policies on all socialgroups—both winners and losers—withparticular emphasis given to impacts onthose who have not benefited and notparticipated in the policymaking process.

34. Concrete actions related to changesin national adjustment policies, theopening of the adjustment-planningprocess to broad local participation, andmodifications in the Bank’s own researchinstruments will be on the agenda. Thefindings and follow-up actions of theparticipating countries will be presentedand discussed with senior Bankmanagement and policymakers at aconcluding national public forum and at aclosing international public forum.

35. SAPRI has been an importantinitiative for demonstrating partnership

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between the Bank and NGOs, and fordeveloping an understanding of eachparties’ institutional realities. The Bankhas made documentation available to itsNGO partners, and the national forumsorganized by SAPRI are bringing a varietyof stakeholders together, which is bothinforming the initiative and generallyresulting in better communication andpartnerships between and amonggovernment, NGOs, and the Bank. TheSAPRI NGOs have been particularlysuccessful in getting grassrootsrepresentatives included in the nationalforums.

36. While all sides agree that this is animportant initiative, it has not beenwithout problems. Both sides wouldagree that the process has taken longerthan either would have anticipated orliked. Both sides also agree that the localcommittees must lead the process, withstrong direction from civil society groups,particularly on the choice of issues totackle. The still quite challenging aspect ofthe project lies in the fieldwork. All sidesmust agree on what constitutes“evidence,” and this is where all partiesare hoping to learn new approaches tounderstanding the issues and new ways inwhich policies can become more effective.

Forest Policy Implementation Review

37. The World Bank is conducting aForest Policy Implementation Review anddeveloping a strategy to guide its work inthe forest sector. The Bank recognizes theneed to place its role in forest activities inperspective and more in conjunction withthat of other stakeholders engaged in theforest sector. Thus the Forest Policy

Implementation Review and Strategy isbeing conducted in an open, consultativemanner designed to seek input andfeedback from key stakeholders. The mainobjectives of the process are to:

• Listen to and consider views of all keyforest-related constituencies and ensurethat they have reasonable opportunityfor involvement in the policy reviewand strategy development process

• Identify the broader set of issues thatimpact on forest resources in Bankclient countries and related sectors,including consideration of alternativesfor addressing these issues

• Assess stakeholder perspectives on theBank’s comparative advantage as aninput to developing an appropriatestrategy.

38. Components of the process includea World Wide Web Site, country andregional stakeholder consultations,technical advisory group(s) that may beformed, and a concluding meeting oncompletion of the World Bank’s OEDReview and Strategy.

Indigenous Peoples OperationalPolicy Revision

39. The World Bank was the firstmultilateral financial institution tointroduce a special policy for thetreatment of indigenous or tribal peoplesin development projects. Currently, theWorld Bank is in the process of revisingits operational policy on indigenouspeoples in order to clarify certain aspects


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of existing policy and improve futureimplementation. For that purpose aWorking Group comprised of social andlegal experts in the World Bank and theInternational Finance Corporation wasformed to revise the policy. The WorkingGroup has produced an Approach Paper,which outlines a strategy and set ofrecommendations for revising the policy.

40. As part of the revision process, theWorking Group is conducting broadconsultations on the Approach Paper, themain objectives of which are to generategreater understanding of World Bankpolicy; clarify certain critical aspects of thecurrent policy, and obtain a wide range ofperspectives on the Approach Paper andthe changes it recommends. The WorkingGroup will obtain the views of variousinterested parties, both within and outsidethe World Bank. This includes Bank staffmembers responsible for ensuringcompliance with Bank policies, as well asvarious stakeholders in the Bank’sBorrower countries. Among the latter, theviews of indigenous peoples and theirorganizations are particularly important.Government officials responsible forproviding services to indigenouscommunities, academic specialists, NGOs,and private-sector entities will also beconsulted.

Analytical Work

41. Participation is also makinginroads into the Bank’s economic andsector work. One example is the energysector strategy forum for Eastern Europeand Central Asia, sponsored by the Bankand attended by representatives from alarge number of countries and donor

agencies. One of most prominent waysthat the Bank is integrating participationin analytical work is through ParticipatoryPoverty Assessments (PPAs).Additionally, by December 1997, a workprogram including research on socialdevelopment had been developed withinthe Poverty Reduction and EconomicManagement Network, and acollaborative work program had beenproposed for the World DevelopmentReport 2001 on poverty.

Participatory Poverty Assessments

42. To strengthen the link between theBank’s assistance strategy and countryefforts to reduce poverty, the Bankundertakes country-specific analysis ofpoverty in the form of povertyassessments. Income and consumptiondata and education and health status arecore elements of the analysis of povertyusually based on the results of householdquestionnaire surveys. Participatorypoverty assessments (PPAs) useparticipatory research methods workingwith individuals, groups, households,and communities with the objective ofunderstanding poverty from theperspective of the poor by focusing ontheir realities, needs, and priorities.4

43. PPAs are responding to thechallenge of inclusion by directlypresenting the views of the poor topolicymakers, both in client countries andin the Bank. While participatoryapproaches have been used by socialscientists for some time in project work,their use for policy analysis is new. Afterfive years and 43 PPAs, the Bank islearning many lessons that broaden its

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understanding of both poverty and thepolicy formulation process.

44. PPAs use participatory researchmethods working with individuals,groups, households, and communitieswith the objective of understandingpoverty from the perspective of the poor,by focusing on their needs and priorities.The objective of the PPA is to ensure thatintended beneficiaries have some controlover the research process, and thatcommunities share their knowledge andare involved in analyzing the results.

45. Over the past few years thepercentage of PPAs in povertyassessments has increased. One-fifth of theBank’s poverty assessment completed inFY94 included a PPA. In FY95, this figurerose to one-third, and in FY96-98,approximately one-half of all Bankpoverty assessments included a PPA. Theextent and quality of participation has,however, varied extensively. Some PPAshave been criticized for limitedparticipation, especially where surveyswere quick (less than two weeks of fieldresearch in some countries) and the resultswere not fed back to communities. Inothers the quality of participation hasbeen questioned. Although“participatory” research methods mayhave been used, the research teams havesometimes adopted a dominant role,undermining potential participation andresulting in more strict data extractionthan participation.

46. PPAs, nonetheless, deepen theBank’s understanding of poverty byenabling the poor to highlight dimensionsof poverty, explain the processes of

impoverishment, and rank their priorities.Until now the policy dialogue has beendominated by income and consumptionmeasures of poverty; PPAs are enhancingthis analysis by providing other insightson the nature of poverty.

47. While it is not yet possible to fullyassess the impacts of PPAs, most appearto have achieved the goal of deepeningunderstanding of poverty and some haveachieved a positive impact on policyformulation. For the wider impact to beachieved, however, PPAs need to be seennot just as tools for data collection butalso as an approach to influencing policy.To achieve this goal PPAs need to:

• Use participatory techniques fordiagnosis or understanding both thepolicy environment and the ability/willingness of institutions to deliverthe evolving policy

• Build the capacity of some institutionsto use participatory methods forimplementation and delivery of thepolicy, and include those who willimplement the policy in its process offormulation

• Initiate appropriate partnerships andlinkages between and within formaland informal networks andinstitutions.

World Development Report 2001

48. “Consultations with the Poor” is astudy currently being planned to serve asan input to the World Development Report2001 on poverty. It is designed to enable awide range of poor people in diverse


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countries and conditions to contribute tothe concepts and content of the WDR-2001.The study focuses on poor peoples’perceptions in three areas: well-being andranking of problems and concerns; trendsand changes over time (relating tovulnerability, exclusion, risk, opportunity,crime and violence); and institutional andpower relations. There are twocomponents to the study. The first is anextensive literature review ofparticipatory poverty assessments andother Bank and external studies that useparticipatory and qualitative methods.Second, new qualitative and participatoryfield studies will be carried out in sometwenty countries.

Analytical Tools

49. The Bank’s shift toward theinclusion of social issues has created the

need for a deeper understanding ofparticipation among Bank staff. Inresponse to this need the Bank publishedits Participation Sourcebook5 , whichprovides case studies, pointers, andmethods for Bank staff who are pursuingparticipatory initiatives and has beenwidely distributed both in and outside theBank. The Bank has also expanded itsanalytical work with a series of papers onparticipation in various sectors(education, forestry, irrigation,agricultural extension, water andsanitation) and themes (gender,indigenous people, economic and sectorwork, poverty assessments, social funds,and NGOs). Closely related toparticipation, the Bank has also increasedwork on social capital, community-baseddevelopment, local-level institutions,indigenous people, gender, and socialintegration.

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4. Institutional and In-Country Constraints

50. A variety of underlying factorscontribute to the difficulties that Bank staffface in pursuing more broad-basedparticipation. In relation to their efforts toexpand opportunities for participation,staff who were involved in preparation ofthis paper expressed the concerns notedbelow.

Institutional Constraints

51. Among the most seriousinstitutional constraints identified byBank staff were the uneveness of supportfor participation at the management level,the limited resources available in forparticipation activities, and continuingskepticism about the value-added ofparticipation, given the lack of verifiableindicators.

Management Support

52. Despite support from the top levelsof Bank management, Bank staff are quickto point out that the degree ofcommitment to participation still dependslargely on individual staff. While thesituation varies greatly among regions, inmost regions, team leaders feel that withthe “right” country director or the “right”manager, they get support, in the form ofboth money and time, to pursue

participatory approaches in lendingoperations.

53. Management support forparticipation varies greatly across regions.In the South Asia Region, for instance,upper-level management support isstrong, and sector leaders share anunderstanding of the importance of theseissues. This has legitimized existing workat the task team levels. In other regions,however, staff said during focus groupsthat country managers and sector leaderswere not dedicating adequate resources(time and money) to participation issues.In this sense, there is an opening forparticipation within the Bank, but it hasnot been mainstreamed across theinstitution.

54. Finally, some staff report feelingthe need to meet lending targets. This isreflected even at the project level. A recentreview of social funds in Africa found thatend-users felt that the driving force wasspeed and efficiency at the expense ofparticipation and sustainability.

Resource Limitations

55. Since 1994 the Bank has set upseveral funds to support participatory andconsultative initiatives that would enable

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the perspectives of primary stakeholdersto be incorporated into project design andanalytical work. These have included theFund for Innovative Approaches toHuman and Social Development, whichprovided more than US$4.2 million infunds over three years to support projectsand staff with participation skills; and theClient Consultation Fund in Africa, whichsupported activities ranging fromstakeholder workshops to participatoryassessment of stakeholder priorities andlevels of satisfaction with services. Thefunds introduced a wide range ofconsultative methods in a number of theregion’s active borrowers.

56. In March 1997 the StrategicCompact was approved, providingincremental resources to strengthen coreoperational services, includingparticipation and social sustainability, aswell as to help implement regional socialdevelopment action plans. Specifically,the Strategic Compact allocated US$10million in incremental resources to theregions to promote social assessment andparticipation in operational work and toidentify and address key social issues thatshould be reflected in ESW and CASs.

57. Despite these special funds, since1994, the first year of budget cuts,operations staff feel that they have beenworking with less money. Given that Bankoperations are more complicated thanthey used to be, with more participatorymandates and more stakeholders, budgetconstraints work against participation.Supervision is also suffering.

58. The following constraints were saidto affect participation in important ways:

• Given tight budgets, team leaderssometimes hire less expensive staff orconsultants.

• Projects that are complex to superviseare often given the same budget asthose that are simple.

• Sometimes technical specialists areexcluded; social scientists may be thefirst to get cut.

• Not all clients countries have the sameimplementation capacity, especially interms of participatory approaches, yetbudgets do not reflect the differences.Weak supervision can compromiseresults on the ground.

• Tight budgets threaten the continuityneeded for policy and institutionalwork. Such work requires constantdialogue with stakeholders, yetbudgets may not reflect this.

• Because country directors (CDs) nowcontrol the budgets, if the CD isinterested in participation, then theteam leader has a mandate andsupport for participation; but if the CDis not interested, the team leader haslittle recourse.

59. Staff also report having to investlarge amounts of time seeking trust fundmoney to pay for participation specialistinput to projects or importantparticipatory planning activities, such associal assessments or beneficiaryassessments. Trust funds, however, areusually restricted to project preparation,and the administrative burden of

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managing funds from multiple trust fundsis high. The Pakistan Social andEnvironment Program was prepared withbroad-based and systematic consultationand participation, but this was onlypossible because it had a largepreparation budget including Bank funds,trust funds, and Japanese grant funds.

Consultation vs. Participation

60. In “The World Bank andParticipation” participation was definedas “a process through which stakeholdersinfluence and share control overdevelopment initiatives and the decisionsand resources which affect them.” Overtime other distinctions have been madewith regard to the continuum ofparticipation. That is, the Bank began torecognize several stages of participation:information sharing, consultation,collaboration and, finally, empowerment.

61. While focus groups reflectedagreement that participation is betterunderstood throughout the Bank, therestill exists a tendency to call any activityalong the continuum of participation(information sharing to consultation toparticipation) “participation.”Information sharing and consultationoccur more frequently than participationin decisionmaking or implementation.Many project examples could be cited inwhich primary stakeholders wereconsulted as to project components orimplementation strategy, but did notparticipate in the identification/selectionof project components. Yet these projectsare still referred to as “participatory.”

62. When projects do supportparticipation, it is largely task-based and

functional in nature, rather than the typeof participation that empowers primarystakeholders to make their owndevelopment decisions. Additionally theexperience tends toward solicitingprimary stakeholder participation indecisionmaking on one or two distinctpoints rather than throughout the projectcycle.

Evidence of Value Added of Participation

63. Several issues should beconsidered in assessing the value-addedof participation, not the least of which isthat the Bank does not have convincingevidence that it exists. No mechanism hasyet been devised to assess the value ofparticipation as a process or a factor inachieving development impact. The proofis only impressionistic. The inability toshow the value-added of participation inconcrete terms has led to skepticismregarding the trade-off in value versuscosts (time and money).

64. Second, in many cases staff reportthat consultation and participation takeplace in some form, but that the results arenot factored into project design orimplementation in a meaningful way. Inthis case, the value-added of participationis marginal.

65. Last, staff express the sentimentthat, while participation in some sectorsand some regions is more routine,questions as to quality remain. That is,there is no standard for what constitutesgood quality consultation or participation.In this respect, a project may appear to beparticipatory, but if the participation isnot systematic and rigorous, it may be ofvery little use to the primary stakeholder

Institutional and In-Country Constraints

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or the project managers. Furthermore,little time and attention are given topreparing a participation plan to guideand sustain participation as a process overthe life of the project.

In-Country Constraints

66. The Bank has learned that no onepartner can know everything that needs tobe done to achieve the goal of alleviatingpoverty. Therefore, the Bank encouragesgovernments to reach out to other actors,such as civil society and the private sector,to help in the development process. NGOcapacity and government commitment,however, are proving to be keyconstraints.

NGO Capacity

67. Operational collaboration,especially between the Bank, borrowersand NGOs, has increased. Althoughstatistics are limited, a recent reviewreports that nearly one-half of all projectsapproved in FY97 (47 percent) eitherinclude some involvement of NGOs orplanned to do so during implementation,and that there is a consistent upwardtrend of in upstream involvement ofNGOs in operations.

68. Much remains to be done, however,in engaging NGOs meaningfully. ManyBank procedures provide for workingwith NGOs, but staff frequently do notuse this flexibility to the fullest extent.Additionally, when rigidly applied, Bankprocedures may overwhelm theadministrative capacity of NGOs andneutralize their comparative advantage asresponsive and flexible innovators.

69. Last, while partnerships with civilsociety actors continue to be veryproductive and important in manycontexts, there is a sense that NGOs in thefield are in danger of being over-financedand do not have the capacity toimplement the assigned tasks andprograms. NGOs are not a homogeneousgroup and do not have the sameimplementation capacity and ability.Some staff feel that projects have sufferedbecause of a lack of capacity buildingwithin civil society, especially NGOs.

Government Commitment

70. The biggest single constraint andchallenge to the Bank’s ability to pursueparticipation across all its operations isgovernment commitment. The Bank isconstrained to a large extent by its articlesof agreement, which mandate it to workwith governments of client countries. Theprojects belong to the government toprepare and implement. Staff reportfeeling that “participation is constrainedby the degree to which the government isinterested, supportive, and willing topursue it.” Because of this relationship,the respective roles and responsibilities ofthe Bank and the government with regardto participation are easily blurred,especially if a government is notcommitted to participation and the Bankmust struggle against that tide.

71. Because of the Bank’s articles ofagreement, governments are, in a strictsense, its only clients. Some staff,however, feel that the poor, who aremeant to be the ultimate beneficiaries ofproject interventions, should be

21

considered the Bank’s primary clients.One staff member asked: “Shouldn’tgovernments and the Bank be partners indelivering services to the clients—theprimary stakeholders?”

72. In many cases, Bank staff arestruggling with participation ingovernment agencies where there is littleincentive to pursue participatorymethods. Governments often do not havethe needed skills and are reluctant tospend loan money on participation. TheBank rarely insists that participation be

included in project budgets or that it bepaid under recurrent cost financing fromthe government. An additional obstacle isthat openness to participation at thecentral level is often not translated to thelocal level, where many project activitiesare located.

73. Finally, some governments areeither uninterested in, or activelydiscourage the existence of, NGOs andother civil society associations.Partnerships are therefore hard to formand can be risky.

Institutional and In-Country Constraints

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5. Institutional Responses

74. The Bank has made strides inreorienting its culture away from the“right answer” mentality and toward amore open-minded and process-orientedapproach. As one staff member noted:“We no longer look for technical solutionsto sociological problems.” The changesfall into two broad categories—humanresource changes, and policy andprocedural changes.

Investments in Human Resource

75. The Bank can be said to haveinvested in human resources at threelevels. First, the creation of the SocialDevelopment Family was intended tooffer all Bank staff guidance on issuessuch as participation. Second, importantchanges were made in the staff andstructure of resident missions. And third,the Bank has instituted a series of trainingcourses for staff to increase understandingof social issues.

Social Development Family and Network

76. In January 1997 the SocialDevelopment Family was formed withresponsibility for providing technicalguidance on social development,especially participation, social

assessment, and social dimensions of ESWand CASs, among other things. During itsfirst year, the Social Development Familyset objectives with the intention ofproviding building blocks for futuregrowth and development. Theseobjectives included integration andmainstreaming of social analysis,participation, and gender considerationsinto operational work and incorporatingsocial analysis and participation intoCASs and sector work.

77. At the regional level, SectorManagement Units for SocialDevelopment have been created andsenior technical specialists have beenappointed to head these units. To supportthe expanded work program, the numberof social scientists is growing. InSeptember 1998 the Social DevelopmentFamily had 169 staff including 118 in theregions, 32 in the anchor, and 19 in othersections of the Bank. Of these staff, aboutthree-quarters are social scientists(including economists) and one-quarterare trained in other areas. More than 40percent are developing country nationals.Lastly, a participation thematic teamcoordinator has recently taken up thatpost and is pursuing an ambitiousworkplan.

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78. Over the last five years,collaboration has increased within theBank in setting up cross-sectoral thematicgroups, including integration ofparticipation with other key, relatedthemes. Some of the recent initiativesinclude the setting up of thematic groupson community-based rural development,decentralization, and social capital.Membership in these groups cuts acrossareas of expertise, sectors, and regionsenabling cross-learning and leading toactive collaboration.

79. Finally, the reorganization of theBank in 1996-97 has led to increased use oftask teams that integrate a variety of skills.Social scientist and participationspecialists are increasingly part of Bankteams preparing projects. Additionally, inat least one region the management team’sperformance will be determined based onthe performance of the team as a wholerather than only individuals.

Resident Mission Staff

80. The Bank’s focus ondecentralization of its staff has resulted inbetter client relations and more listening.The increased accessibility of Bank staff,combined with increased exposure ofstaff to the daily challenges of supervisingBank-supported operations, has resultedin increased understanding of andappreciation for participation of allrelevant stakeholders.

81. Additionally, in order to guide andfacilitate the growing interaction betweenthe Bank and civil society organizations,NGO Specialists6 have been appointed inmany World Bank resident missions.

Local knowledge of the NGO sector hasproven essential in building strongpartnerships which contribute toparticipatory development, povertyreduction and social inclusion. The NGOSpecialists have come to represent aconsiderable proportion of the BankwideSocial Development Family. At the end ofFY98, 71 resident missions had staffspecifically assigned to work on NGO/civil society issues.

82. The role of the specialists variesgreatly between regions. In Africa, Asia,and Latin America, dependingsignificantly on the residentrepresentative’s attitude, they areinvolved in substantive socialdevelopment work. This has beenproblematic in some countries where thespecialists are not trained social scientists,yet they are expected to be able tofunction as if they were. In the EasternEurope and Central Asian countries, inlarge part due to the sociopolitical contextof the region, the NGO specialists actprimarily as public relations and outreachofficers, and have had reasonable successin that role.

Skills Training

83. Training courses are held regularlyin headquarters to introduce task teamleaders to social assessment concepts andparticipatory methods. Training is alsotaking place at resident missions aroundthe world. Regular workshops are held forBank social scientists to sharpen theirskills. An internal help desk and theBank’s Intranet have facilitated thedissemination of good practice inparticipation, including sample terms of

Institutional Responses

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reference, best practice case examples, andpractitioner contact information. A CD-ROM electronic guidebook on socialassessment is being developed forcounterparts and consultants in the field.

84. The Bank’s Economic DevelopmentInstitute (EDI), which was created toprovide training in economic and socialdevelopment to government leaders,representatives from the private sector,nongovernmental organizations, and othercivil society actors, has continued tocontribute to the Bank’s growing body ofknowledge in the area of participation,partnership, and capacity building. Forexample, in response to interest expressedboth within the Bank and in a number ofborrowing countries, EDI has initiated afive-phase program on participatoryirrigation management. The overallpurpose of this program is to stimulatehigh-level policy dialogue onparticipatory irrigation managementwithin the country, leading to policycommitment and programmatic action.

85. Another EDI initiative, the BuildingPartnerships for Poverty Reductionprogram, supports capacity building andnetworking among NGOs in LatinAmerica and aims to increase theparticipation of citizens, civicorganizations, and businesses in thedesign and implementation of antipovertypolicies and programs. Similarly, theGrassroots Management Training and theBanking With The Poor (microfinanceinstitution-building) programs arecollaborating with NGOs and governmentagencies to develop awareness-raisingand training programs formicroentrepreneurs in management,

financial, and marketing skills in theAfrica, Middle East and North Africa, andLatin America and Caribbean Regions,and in India. EDI is also offering socialassessment training in client countries.

Procedures and Policies

86. The World Bank has also revisitedmany of the procedures and policies thathave guided its work in the past. Amongthe changes most relevant to work onparticipation are Bank efforts to shift theorientation of its project evaluations,simplify and streamline procurement anddisbursement procedures and policies,and broaden its disclosure policy.

Evaluation Orientation

87. In its 1997 Annual Report onOperations Evaluation, the Operationsand Evaluation Department (OED)recommended a shift toward results-based management (RBM) in the Bank,and away from a “management-by-objectives” strategy. RBM concentrates onresults (outcome and impacts) rather thaninputs and outputs; is designed to fitdecentralized agencies; and is adaptableto changing operating environments.Results-based management is highlyrelevant to the Bank at this juncturebecause it fits the new developmentagenda, which addresses a wide range ofstakeholder expectations, emphasizesdevelopment effectiveness andaccountability, and supports ongoingchange in the Bank toward results on theground, transparency, and participation.

88. Stakeholder participation in Bankevaluations has traditionally been weak.

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One of the key recommendations of the1997 OED report is a broadening ofstakeholder participation, the aim ofwhich would be to ensure thatstakeholders conduct evaluationscollaboratively, develop a commonunderstanding of outcomes, shareresponsibility for results, and take steps tointernalize lessons.

89. To enhance participation in FY98,the Bank has been seeking systematicfeedback from stakeholders via Bankwideand country-level surveys, helpingborrowers strengthen their ownevaluation capacity, and promotingevaluation partnerships with otherdonors. Further attention is needed tobring stakeholder participation to asatisfactory level in self-evaluation andindependent evaluation, and follow-up isrequired to promote sharedunderstanding and increased capacity atall levels.

Procurement and Disbursement

90. The Bank has implementedprocedural changes that are moresupportive to primary stakeholderparticipation. Some of the mostfundamental changes are in procurementand disbursement guidelines, allowingfor direct contracts with community-basedorganizations and direct disbursementsfrom special accounts (a project primaryaccount) to community accounts. Theseguidelines now provide sufficientflexibility to allow projects designers andplanners to involve community groups orNGOs in providing, supplying,contracting, or procuring goods, works,and services in Bank-financed activities.

Although the misconception that Bankpolicies and guidelines prevent economicand efficient community/NGO-basedarrangements is still common, many creditagreements now include reference to thesespecial procedures.

Information Disclosure Policy

91. The Bank’s information disclosurepolicy has been a matter of concern toNGOs and civil society in general for anumber of years. It is as a result of thisdialogue that the Bank instituted policychanges. Specifically, the Board ofExecutive Directors agreed on a newpolicy that expands access to Bankinformation, which came into effect inJanuary 1994. The new policy introduceda “presumption in favor of disclosure”—under which information is to be sharedunless there is reason not to. The policyalso led to the creation of the PublicInformation Center at Bank headquartersin Washington, D.C.

92. New elements of the policyincluded agreement to make the followingtypes of documents available to thepublic: project information documents forall projects under preparation; staffappraisal reports, unless the governmentobjects; précis by the OperationsEvaluation Department; environmentalassessments, analyses, and action plans,unless the government objects; finalresults of economic and sector work;sectoral policy papers; and legal opinionsof the General Counsel. All of thisinformation is now available on the web.

93. Subsequently, civil society interestin “problem projects” led to at least two

Institutional Responses

26


modifications. First, there was anagreement to make public “factual andtechnical information” on projects,including preparing a list of suchdocuments. Governments would be askedto share these documents when they aregovernment, rather than World Bank,property. Second, operational policies andBank procedures are now available to thepublic. Good practice documents are alsoshared publicly in most cases, althoughthis is not policy.

94. The increase in information disclo-sure is particularly relevant to participa-tion. In many countries very little official

information is disclosed. Many civilsociety organizations now look to theBank as a key source of information aboutwhat is going on in their countries. As aresult of demonstrating to governmentsthat an increased information flow leadsto better participation and more consen-sual decisions, some governments arebeginning to disclose information thatthey used to hold as confidential. Thistrend will also contribute to the fightagainst corruption. For instance, in oneEast Asian country the government hasagreed to publish in national newspapersall contracts that are signed in relation toWorld Bank-assisted projects.

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95. It is noteworthy that in 1996 the keymessages that emerged from a series ofmeetings on incentives and disincentivesfor Bank staff to use participatoryapproaches echo many of the samemessages that were heard during thisrecent exercise. For instance, in 1996, staffsaid that:

• Participation is widespread, but thin.

• Managers need to see evidence thatwill convince them that participation isworth it.

• Shortening timelines conflicts withparticipatory efforts.

• With budget cuts, participation andother social science skills are being cut,or are only used when Trust Funds canbe secured.

• Participation efforts run counter to theBank’s “expert” culture and theemphasis on quick disbursement.

Conclusions

96. Some broad conclusions can bedrawn from this review:

• A considerable range of initiatives canbe distinguished that share the aims ofimproving mutual communicationbetween beneficiaries, governmentimplementing agencies, and the Bankand of increasing the influence of awider range of stakeholders in theplanning and implementation ofoperations.

• A variety of tools and methods havebeen used to initiate or facilitateparticipation.

• The scale and purpose of investments,the nature of goods and services to beproduced, and the sociopoliticalenvironment all influence the choice ofmost suitable type and level ofparticipation. It is not possible togeneralize on this topic.

• Although increasing in number,participatory approaches are far frombeing general to the Bank’s work.

• The breadth (the number ofstakeholder included) and the depth(degree of control stakeholders gainover outcomes) of participation varyconsiderably between initiatives andregions.

6. Conclusions and Emerging Issues

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Emerging Issues

97. Issues that are emerging as theBank moves forward include:

• Given that many of the institutionalconstraints, such as limited resourcesand time, will always be present, howcan the Bank best uses its comparativeadvantage (its relationship withgovernments) to create and supportthe demand for participatorymethodologies and approaches? Asone Bank staff said: “If the ground isfertile for participation to be takenseriously in a country, the Bank’sparticipatory projects will be part ofthe transformation. If the ground is notfertile, individual participatoryprojects will not be sufficient to tip thebalance.” How can the Bank identifyand build on existing demand, andcreate demand where it is lacking?

• Partially as a result of the East Asiancrisis, the Bank has learned thatdevelopment is not limited toeconomic growth. To be successful andsustainable, development mustbalance social and economic factorsand issues. One Bank staff commented:“We now know that development doesnot exclusively mean growth.Development includes thedevelopment of society and thedevelopment of economies.” In light ofthat, how can participation support thegoals of good governance,transparency, and accountability? Howcan participation help pave the way formore equity, viability, andsustainability?

• It will be imperative to developconvincing evidence to demonstratethe value-added in terms of, forexample, reduced risk, improvedperformance, and increasedownership. This will be the key toconvincing governments thatparticipation is an effectivedevelopment strategy and toconvincing Bank management to thinkof participation as an investmentstrategy. What are the methodologiesand systems for measuring change inprocess and in institutions? What arealternative approaches to measuringprocess progress and change? Caneconomic analysis prove the costeffectiveness and benefits of usingparticipatory and process orientedapproaches?

• While increasing the quantity ofparticipation at the appraisal stage hasimproved the effectiveness of theBank’s portfolio, it is not a sufficientcondition for sustainable developmentand institutionalization ofparticipatory processes. What can theBank do to shift focus towardimproving the quality of participation,not only at the appraisal stage, butduring design, implementation andmanagement of programs?

• Currently many teams are working indifferent sectors in each regiondeveloping new approaches to locallevel planning and management, localinstitutional development, and socialdevelopment, among other issues.This has led to a proliferation of

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institutional and capacity buildingsystems by the Bank and localgovernments. What mechanism can beused to integrate this work acrosssectors in order to maximize impacts,increase effectiveness and develop acritical mass to influence policy andinstitutional change?

• How can the Bank work better withpartners whose comparativeadvantage is fostering participation atlocal levels? How can the Bankstrengthen institutional capacity withingovernments to work on participatoryapproaches, especially in partnershipwith NGOs? How can partnerorganizations use the Bank’s leverageat the government level to scale-upparticipation?

• Given that Bank reviews (OED, QAG)find that borrower participation is astrong predictor of projectperformance, how far can the Bankmove toward more adaptable lendinginstruments or lines of credit, in whichprojects can be appraised at regularintervals and institutional capacity canbe built on an iterative basis as theproject proceeds?

• Given the reality of limited time andmoney to identify, design, and prepareprojects, what are the best methodsand tools to use? What partnershipscan be developed? How can highquality work be supported andmaintained?

Conclusions and Emerging Issues

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Notes

1. See Toward a Listening Bank: A Review ofBest Practice and the Efficacy of BeneficiaryAssessment. 1998. World Bank SocialDevelopment Paper 23, Washington, D.C.:World Bank.

2. Taken primarily from D. Narayan andK. Ebbe. 1997. Design of Social Funds:Participation, Demand Orientation, and LocalOrganizational Capacity. World BankDiscussion Paper 375, Washington, D.C.:World Bank.

3. Taken primarily from J. Clark andW. Dorschel. 1998. “Civil SocietyParticipation in World Bank CountryAssistance Strategies–Lessons fromExperience, FY97-98.” Washington, D.C.:World Bank.

4. Taken primarily from C. Robb.Forthcoming. “Can the Poor InfluencePolicy? Participatory Poverty Assessmentsand the Challenge of Inclusion.”Washington, D.C.: World Bank.

5. World Bank. 1996. World BankParticipation Sourcebook. Washington, D.C.:World Bank.

6. The formal name of these positionsdiffers in different regions, reflecting to somedegree the changing role of the position. Forinstance, in the Africa Region they are called“NGO Liaison Officers;” in South Asia theyare called “NGO and Social AnalysisSpecialists;” and in the Latin America andCaribbean Region they are known as “CivilSociety and Social Development Specialists.”

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