World Bank-Civil Society

Engagement

Review of Fiscal Years2002–2004

Civil Society TeamThe World Bank1818 H Street, N.W. Mail Stop: MC3-309Washington, D.C. 20433 USA

Phone: (202) 473-1840 Fax: (202) 522-7131E-mail: civilsociety@worldbank.org

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World Bank-Civil Society

Engagement

Review of Fiscal Years2002–2004

©2005The International Bank for Reconstruction and Development/The World Bank1818 H Street, NWWashington, DC 20433 USA

This material may be copied, translated, and disseminated (as long as no profit is derived therefrom)

The finding, interpretations, and conclusions expressed here are those of the authors and do notnecessarily reflect the views of the Board of Executive Directors of the World Bank.

For further information or to order printed copies of the Civil Society Review Manual, contact theCivil Society Team at www.worldbank.org/civilsociety

or by email atcivilsociety@worldbank.org

or by mail atCivil Society TeamThe World Bank1818 H Street, N.W. Mail Stop: MC3-309Washington, D.C. 20433 USA

Phone: (202) 473-1840 Fax: (202) 522-7131E-mail: civilsociety@worldbank.org

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Foreword vii

Preface ix

Abbreviations and Acronyms xi

Executive Summary xiii

1. World Bank Policy Dialogue and Consultation with Civil Society 1

Dialogue on Global Issues 1Consultation on Bank Operational Policies and Sector Strategies 4Consultations on Bank Research 6Consultations on Country Assistance Strategies 7

2. Civic Engagement and Participation 9

Promoting Social Accountability in Bank Operations 9Enabling Environment for Civic Engagement 11Giving Voice through Grassroots Media 12Expanding Participation in Poverty Reduction Strategies 13

3. Operational Collaboration and Institutional Partnerships 17

Mainstreaming Civil Society Involvement in Bank-Funded Projects 17 Scaling Up Civil Society Community Development Efforts 20 Supporting CSO Initiatives through Grant Funding 21Sharing Knowledge and Joint Training Initiatives 23Forging Institutional Partnerships 26Promoting Corporate Social Responsibility 27

4. Civil Society Engagement at the Global, Regional, and Country Levels 29

Reaching Out to Civil Society at the IFC 29Improving Coordination at the Global Level 30Expanding Information Disclosure Policies and Programs 31Regional Strategies and Engagement Efforts in Developing Countries 33

Africa 33East Asia and the Pacific 34Europe and Central Asia 36Latin America and the Caribbean 37

Table of Contents

Middle East and North Africa 39South Asia 41

Bank Policy Dialogue and Consultations in Developed Countries 42Europe 42Japan 43North America 44

5. Outreach to Civil Society Constituencies 47

Afro-Latino Populations 47Children and Youth 47Disabled Persons 48Faith-Based Groups 48Foundations 49Gender Groups 50Indigenous Peoples 51Labor Unions 51Parliamentarians 52Roma Population 53

Conclusion 53

Figures

A. Social Accountability in Public Budgets 9B. Participation of Labor Unions in PRSPs 15C. CSO Involvement in World Bank Projects, Fiscal Years 1990–2004 18D. Levels of Civil Society Participation in World Bank Projects, Fiscal Year 2002 19E. Types of Participatory Methodologies Used in World Bank Projects, Fiscal Year 2002 19F. Civil Society Engagement Staff 30G. Public Information Centers and Services (PICS) Worldwide 32

Boxes

1. SAPRI’s Participatory Review of Structural Adjustment 32. Consulting on Extractive Industries Review 53. Civil Society Participation in the WDR 2004 on Services for the Poor 64. Consulting Civil Society on the CAS in Poland 85. Strengthening Civic Engagement through Participatory Budgeting 106. Participation and Accountability in Peru’s Social Reform Loan 117. Civic Engagement in Low-Income Countries under Stress 128. Increasing Voice through Community Radio in Timor-Leste 139. Bank-Civil Society Workshop on PRSPs and Social Accountability 1510. Empowering Women in Rural China 1911. Scaling Up Community-Driven Development in Europe and Central Asia 2012. Partnering with Civil Society to Fight AIDS in Africa 2113. Supporting Civil Society Innovation and Replication Worldwide 2214. Japanese Trust Fund Support of Civil Society Poverty Reduction Efforts 2315. Sharing Knowledge on the Development Gateway 2416. Global Coalition for Empowering the Voices of the Poor 2517. Study on International Finance Corporation-Civil Society Relations 30

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18. Strengthening Civil Society in Nigeria 3419. Civil Society Participation in CASs and PRSPs in East Asia 3520. Supporting the Democratizing Role of Russian Civil Society 3721. Building Social Capital for Peacemaking and Poverty Reduction in Colombia 3822. Empowering Palestinian Civil Society through Community Development 4023. Promoting Good Governance and Gender Equality in Bangladesh 4124. Consolidating Relations with French NGOs 4425. Study on World Bank-InterAction Relations 45

Annexes

I. Consulting Civil Society on Country Assistance Strategies, Fiscal Years 2002–2004 55II. Civil Society Participation in PRSPs, Fiscal 2002–2004 75III. Websites on World Bank Civil Society Engagement Programs 93

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Foreword

Recent events continue to demonstrate theincreasingly important role played by civil soci-ety in international development. Whether

through its active participation in global policyforums, the reconstruction efforts undertaken insuch places as Kosovo or Afghanistan, or effectivepoverty reduction efforts at the community level,civil society is proving itself to be an indispensabledevelopment actor. In much of the developingworld, civil society works with local governments toprovide effective social services at the communitylevel, and also embraces a greater civic role by advo-cating social accountability and participatory gover-nance approaches. Yet civil society also continues tobe a sector characterized by great diversity andchanging contours which defies simple definitions.

Within this context, relations between the WorldBank and civil society have continued to evolve anddeepen over the past three years. This interactionhas included more intense dialogue on Bank poli-cies as well as expanded operational collaboration,particularly at the country level. On the policy side,Civil Society Organizations (CSOs) were activelyinvolved in the review of several key operationalpolicies such as the information disclosure policyreview, providing feedback on World DevelopmentReports, and participating in the discussions aroundthe CASs in many countries. Bank-CSO collabora-tion also grew within Bank-supported projects,knowledge-sharing and joint training initiatives,

and institutional partnerships. The Bank and CSOshave joined together to fight AIDS in Africa, con-serve the rainforest in Latin America, and promoterural development in Asia.

The Bank also took some internal measures toimprove its civil society engagement practices dur-ing this period. These included efforts to improvethe quality and breadth of its consultation efforts,preparing a comprehensive paper on the status ofthe Bank’s relations with civil society, and introduc-ing mechanisms for improved coordination andinformation sharing among civil society focalpoints based in more than 70 country offices.

This report provides a summary of the variedpolicies, programs, and activities through which theBank engaged CSOs at the global, regional, andnational levels. It highlights some of the moreimportant initiatives and events while discussingthe challenges and constraints the Bank faces inthese evolving relations. These include the need toimprove the quality of consultation efforts, stream-line grant making and contracting procedures, andfacilitate greater government–civil society opera-tional collaboration. Finally, the report serves toreaffirm the Bank’s commitment to strengtheningrelations with civil society and to demonstrate theimportant role this interaction has had in improv-ing the outcomes of our poverty reduction efforts.We hope you find the report useful.

Ian GoldinVice PresidentExternal Affairs, Communications, and United Nations Affairs (EXT)The World Bank

Ian JohnsonVice PresidentEnvironmental and Socially Sustainable Development Network (ESSD)The World Bank

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Preface

The purpose of this review is to provide anoverview of the activities undertaken by theWorld Bank Group1 (hereafter referred to as

the Bank) to reach out and engage with civil societyduring fiscal years 2002–04, which is the periodfrom July 1, 2001–June 30, 2004. The audience forthis report is wide and includes civil society repre-sentatives, government officials, business leaders,and the development community at large. Thereport covers civil society engagement across theBank and from the country to the global levels; thusit attempts only to summarize and highlight thevast number of activities undertaken during the pastthree years. We welcome your comments and sug-gestions on this report. Please send any commentsvia email to: civilsociety@worldbank.org.

This publication was produced by John Garrisonand Carmen Monico of the Bank’s Civil SocietyTeam. Carolyn Reynolds Mandell and Jeff Thindwaof the Team carried out a peer review of the draft,Steen Jorgensen, Director, and Ian Bannon, UnitManager of the Social Development Department,provided management review. Several colleaguesfrom Civil Society, including Elena McCollim ofInterAction and Lawrence Egulu of the InternationalConfederation of Free Trade Unions, provided valu-able information and feedback on the draft. LindaRabben provided general editorial work. Naylor

Design, Inc. carried out the design and typesetting,and Rick Ludwick and Monika Lynde of the Bank’sOffice of the Publisher managed the production.

We also wish to thank numerous staff across theBank for providing text and data for the report, orreviewing the various drafts. This publication wasindeed a team effort by the following people: AmyLuinstra, Amy Lynn Stilwell, Anne-Laure Henry-Greard, Annika Silva-Leander, Karolina Ordon,Cecilia Valdiviesio, Chukwudi Okafor, CynthiaGears, Deborah Toubol-Compagnon, DeepaNarayan, Eleanor Fink, Elena Maria Peresso, HeatherWorley, Helene Carlsson, Indu John-Abraham, IvarAndre-Slengesol, Jairo Arboleda, Janmejay Singh,Jean-Christophe Bas, Jo Nicholls, Joaquin Lopez Jr.,Joyita Mukherjee, Juan Felipe Sanches, JudithHeumann, Juraj Mesik, Karina Manasseh, KatherineMarshal, Keith Hansen, Klaus Deininger, KoichiOmori, Kris Zedler, Laila Al-Hamad, Lara Saade, LotySalazar, Lucy Keough, Marcos Mendiburu, MarinaVasilieva, Melissa Fossberg, Michael Jarvis, MicheleBailly, Navin Rai, Nilufar Ahmed, Olga Jonas, OliviaCowley, Pamela Dudzik, Paula Donnelly-Roarke,Piotr Mazurkiewcz, Rachel Winter Jones, ReidarKvam, Reiner Forster, Roby Senderoswitch, StefanKoeberle, Stephen Lintner, Suzy Yoon, Thais Leray,Veena Siddharth, Vanna Nil, William Reuben, Yas-min Tayyab, and Yumi Sera.

1 The term World Bank Group refers to the five agencies that comprise the group: International Bank for Reconstruction andDevelopment (IBRD), International Development Association (IDA), International Finance Corporation (IFC), MultilateralInvestment Guarantee Agency (MIGA), and International Center for the Settlement of Investment Disputes (ICSID).

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ADB Asian Development BankAiDA Accessible Information on Development ActivitiesARPA Protected Amazonian AreasASP Africa Stockpiles ProgramBNPP Bank-Netherlands Partnership ProgramBPD Business Partnerships for DevelopmentCAS Country Assistance StrategyCBO Community-Based OrganizationCCD Community-Driven DevelopmentCDF Comprehensive Development FrameworkCEPF Critical Ecosystems Partnership FundCGA Country Gender AssessmentCGAP Consultative Group to Assist the PoorestCESI Community Empowerment and Social Inclusion Learning ProgramCIDA Canadian International Development AgencyCPIN CAS Public Information NoticeCRN Country Reengagement NotesCSAT Civil Society Assessment ToolCSO Civil Society OrganizationCSR Corporate Social ResponsibilityDEC Development Economics DepartmentDFID UK Department for International DevelopmentDM Development MarketplaceECA Europe and Central Asia RegionECST Europe Civil Society TeamEFA Education For AllEIA Environmental Impact AssessmentESSD Environment and Socially Sustainable Development Network EXT External Affairs, Communications, and United Nations Affairs DepartmentFY Fiscal YearGAVI Global Alliance for Vaccines and ImmunizationGDLN Global Development Distance Learning NetworkGDN Global Development Network GEF Global Environmental FacilityGPRS Growth and Poverty Reduction StrategyHIPC Heavily Indebted Countries ProgramIBRD International Bank for Reconstruction and DevelopmentICT Information and Communications TechnologiesIFC International Finance CorporationI-PRSP Interim Poverty Reduction Strategy Papers

Abbreviations and Acronyms

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JSDF Japan Social Development FundLCR Latin America and Caribbean RegionLICUS Low-Income Countries under StressMAP Multi-Country AIDS ProgramMNA Middle East and North Africa RegionMDG Millennium Development GoalsNGO Nongovernmental OrganizationNPO Nonprofit or Not-for-profit OrganizationOD Operational DirectiveOED Operations Evaluations Department (IBRD)OEG Operations Evaluations Group (IFC)OEU Operations Evaluation Unit (MIGA)OPWD Organizations of People with DisabilitiesPAD Project Appraisal DocumentPCE Participation and Civic Engagement UnitPER Public Expenditure ReviewPHRD Policy and Human Resources Development FundPID Public Information DocumentPNoWB Parliamentary Network of the World BankPPA Participatory Poverty AssessmentPRSC Poverty Reduction Support CreditsPRSP Poverty Reduction Strategy PaperPRSTF Poverty Reduction Strategy Trust FundPSD Private Sector DevelopmentPSIA Poverty and Social Impact AnalysisRIAS Regional Integration Assistance StrategySAPRI Structural Adjustment Participatory Review InitiativeSSP Sector Strategy Paper SDV Social Development Department SmGP Small Grants ProgramSOCAT Social Capital Assessment ToolTSS Transitional Support StrategyUNDP United Nations Development ProgramUNEP United Nations Environmental ProgrammeWBI World Bank InstituteWDR World Development ReportWSF World Social Forum

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Over more than two decades, engagementwith civil society organizations (CSOs) hasbecome an important part of the World

Bank’s efforts to help governments reduce povertyand promote sustainable development. During fis-cal years 2002–2004, Bank–civil society relationscontinued to expand and deepen, bringing newopportunities as well as new challenges.

This Review, one of a series of regular progressreports, summarizes the varied ways in which theBank has engaged CSOs at the global, regional, andnational levels during this period. In a separatepaper entitled Issues and Options for ImprovingEngagement Between the World Bank and CSOs, pre-pared during this same period, the Bank looks morein depth at the nature and quality of its engagementwith CSOs, analyzes the evolving characteristics ofglobal civil society, highlights trends, and recom-mends ways the Bank can improve its civil societyoutreach and engagement efforts.

The Bank’s dialogue with CSOs continued dur-ing this period on several longstanding and oftencontroversial issues such as adjustment lending andsafeguard policies, and on global concerns such asextractive industries and human rights. Formal con-sultation processes with civil society took place dur-ing this period on several operational policy reviews(for example, information disclosure, waterresources), major studies (services for the poor, landmanagement), and ongoing programs (PovertyReduction Strategy Papers, Heavily Indebted Coun-tries Program). The use of new technologies andformats such as video conferencing and web-baseddiscussions were increased to expand the reach ofthese consultation processes to CSOs in developingcountries.

Policies and programs on civic engagement andparticipation expanded and consolidated acrossregions and countries. The definition of these con-cepts was further refined to include the notion ofsocial accountability and the promotion of anenabling environment for civil society participation,

which are two key elements of the Bank’s new socialdevelopment approach to promote institutions thatare responsive and inclusive and that empower poorand vulnerable people to participate effectively indevelopment. In recent years, CSOs in low- andmiddle-income countries have developed method-ologies to influence budget processes, allocationdecisions, and monitoring of public expenditures.The participatory processes have increased consulta-tion with a broader array of ministries in the execu-tive branch, parliaments or legislatures, CSOs, pri-vate sector groups, and other donor agencies.

The Bank has also intensified its operational col-laboration by encouraging greater involvement ofCSOs in Bank-financed operations, providing grantfunding, and sharing knowledge. The Bank andCSOs have also established important new institu-tional partnerships, particularly at the regional andcountry levels. Involvement by CSOs in Bank-fund-ed projects comprised a wide range of activities,including contracting with government agencies todeliver social services such as AIDS prevention,managing village water systems, running day carecenters, advancing small-enterprise development,and participating in environmental park manage-ment. A document review of loans approved in fis-cal year 2004 found that 194 projects, or 74 percentof the 262 projects approved by the Bank’s Board,had some form of civil society participation. Civilsociety involvement was generally more likely in theinitial stages of the participation process (informa-tion-sharing and consultation) than in the laterstages (collaboration and empowerment).

While the Bank’s principal activity is to provideloans to governments, it has also established numer-ous funding mechanisms over the past two decadesto provide grants to civil society. Grants are provid-ed both indirectly, through government-run SocialFunds, or directly, through Bank-managed grantprograms and trust funds. These grant programs areoften managed in partnership with other donoragencies and provide funding directly to CSOs in a

Executive Summary

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variety of areas such as environment, micro-credit,post-conflict reconstruction, information technolo-gy, human rights, and civic engagement.

The Bank also continued to promote knowledge-sharing initiatives among governments, CSOs, andother stakeholders during the past three years. Theseefforts ranged from technical skills training and pol-icy analysis courses to institutional capacity-build-ing workshops. In some cases, CSOs utilized thevideoconferencing equipment available in Bankoffices or at the 28 semi-independent video-confer-encing centers that are part of the Global Develop-ment Learning Network to promote their own train-ing. The World Bank Institute, through the Com-munity Empowerment and Social Inclusion learn-ing program, carried out the most active trainingprogram for civil society.

The Bank’s most significant civil society engage-ment efforts occurred at the country level in the 100developing countries where it worked during theperiod. The civil society engagement work variedacross the Bank’s six regions, although there werecommon efforts in all regions, which included sup-porting social accountability and empowermentefforts, strengthening CSO involvement in Bankoperations, and funding CSO initiatives throughthe Small Grants Program. In the Africa, Europe andCentral Asia regions, the Bank helped train CSOs toparticipate in PRSPs and support AIDS preventionactivities. In the East Asia and Pacific, and LatinAmerica and Caribbean regions, initiatives includedsupporting greater civil society voice in policy dia-logue and supporting CSO networking efforts. Inthe Middle East and North Africa, and South Asia

regions, the Bank supported research on gender andgovernance issues, and also facilitated CSO involve-ment in Bank-financed poverty reduction efforts.

In Europe, Japan, and North America, the Bankengaged CSOs in policy dialogue on global devel-opment issues and also made efforts to increaseoperational collaboration with international CSOsworking in the developing world. The InternationalFinance Corporation, the private-sector arm of theWorld Bank Group, continued to dialogue and con-sult with CSOs on its environmental sustainabilityand disclosure agendas.

As part of its efforts to broaden and deepen itsrelations with civil society, the Bank has developedinitiatives to reach out to specific constituencies,including children and youth, disabled persons,faith-based groups, foundations, indigenous peo-ples, labor unions, gender groups, parliamentarians,and Roma populations. Activities focusing on theseconstituencies have included undertaking researchstudies, hosting meetings, providing grants, hiringspecialized staff, and setting up organizational unitswithin the Bank to coordinate this work.

Despite notable advances in civil society partici-pation in Bank activities overall, a number of chal-lenges remain. One is to consolidate and improveconsultation methodologies in order to address per-ceived “consultation fatigue.” Another is the need toreduce the gap between discourse and practice onparticipation and inclusion mechanisms. Last andmost important, the Bank needs to enable greatergovernment–civil society collaboration at the coun-try level and improve its ability to monitor theresults of its civil society engagement work.

Town hall meeting between CSO leaders and heads of the WB and IMF during 2004 Annual Meetings (Washington, DC—October 2004)

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World Bank–civil society dialogue and con-sultation on policies, studies, programs,and projects became more systematic and

widespread during fiscal years 2002–2004. Itoccurred in many forms and venues, and at thelocal, national, regional, and global levels. At timesthe Bank initiated the discussions on Bank policies,strategies, or studies, and at other times CSOsapproached the Bank to discuss concerns aboutspecific projects or issues.

Policy dialogue ranged from discussions on com-plex issues, including the effects of globalizationand trade at the global level, empowerment andsocial inclusion at the regional level, and numerousBank-financed projects at the country level. Consul-tations, which tend to be more systematic and for-mal than dialogue, also occurred with greater fre-quency at various levels. Consultations at the glob-al level focused on the Bank’s operational policyreview processes, World Development Reports, andmajor initiatives such as the Comprehensive Reviewof the PRSP. At the regional level, consultations tookplace on issues such as AIDS policy in Africa andempowerment in Latin America. At the countrylevel, consultations with civil society centered onCASs, which were drafted in more than 69 countriesover the period.

During this period, the Bank also assessed itsrelations with civil society in a paper titled Issuesand Options for Improving Engagement Between theWorld Bank and CSOs. The paper analyzes theevolving nature and characteristics of global civilsociety, highlights trends in Bank–civil society rela-tions, and recommends ways the Bank can improveits civil society outreach and engagement efforts.The paper was discussed by Bank managers andstaff and disseminated to CSOs to elicit their feed-back. The paper is expected to be published in fis-cal 2005.

This section will describe the most significantexperiences of dialogue and consultation at theglobal, regional, and country levels. While the level

and quality of this involvement varied from countryto country, depending on factors such as Bank staffcommitment, government openness, and civil soci-ety activism, it clearly reflects the growing globaltrend toward more accountable and transparentgovernance in the development field.

Dialogue on Global Issues

At the global level, dialogue took place on issuessuch as structural adjustment, globalization, envi-ronment, and human rights. Ongoing dialoguewith CSOs occurred during the two Annual Meet-ings2 and three Spring Meetings held during thisperiod and involved senior Bank managers, govern-ment officials, and CSO representatives fromaround the world. During these Meetings, theBank’s Civil Society Team organized some 60 the-matic sessions on topics such as PRSPs, the HeavilyIndebted Countries Program, Low-Income Coun-tries Under Stress, Education for All, HIV/AIDS,safeguard policies, and trade involving representa-tives of several hundred policy-advocacy CSOs fromboth developed and developing countries. Summa-ry notes and participants’ lists of many of these ses-sions are posted on the Bank’s Civil Society website(http://www.worldbank.org/civilsociety).

Dialogue also continued during this period oncomplex and contested issues such as dams, adjust-ment lending, and extractive industries, highlight-ing some of the conceptual and institutional differ-ences that often characterize Bank–civil society rela-tions. While CSOs fulfill their policy advocacy rolesby stressing principles and defending best case stan-dards, the Bank has to work within parameters ofdifferent country contexts, limited governmentcapacity, and operational challenges. Despite theseinherently different roles and positions, the Bank

World Bank Policy Dialogue and Consultation with Civil Society

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2 The 2001 Annual Meetings were canceled at the last momentbecause of the terrorist attacks of September 11, 2001, in NewYork and Washington.

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and CSOs have been able to find common groundin some areas such as forest conservation, and AIDSprevention and education but will continue to dia-logue on many other issues where differences stillpersist.

An issue that demonstrated the complexity of theglobal debate is the environmental and socialimpact of dams, as raised by the World Commis-sion on Dams. The World Commission on Damsprocess ran from May 1998 to November 2001 andwas an innovative multi-stakeholder process thatbrought together dozens of governments, CSOs,companies, and donor agencies to research, ana-lyze, and debate how to develop and managehydraulic infrastructure in an environmentally andsocially sustainable manner. The Commission pro-duced a report in 2000 titled Dams and Development:A New Framework for Decision-Making, whichincluded seven strategic priorities and 26 guidelinesfor water and energy resource development.

The World Bank funded and participated activelyin the work of the Commission alongside numerousother donors and released a formal response to theWorld Commission on Dams report in December2001. While the Bank expressed its support for theparticipatory commission process and welcomedthe thrust of the findings, many CSOs that partici-pated in the process were critical of the Bank for nothaving more actively supported the report's find-ings. The controversy regarding the commission'sreport centered on the 26 “guidelines,” which havebeen interpreted by some as representing a new setof binding standards. The Bank, which carried out

extensive consultations among its member govern-ments and staff, believes that the guidelines shouldserve as guidance and not a set of rules to be obeyedrigidly in the context of specific water resources proj-ects. In such cases, the Bank committed itself towork with governments on applying the relevantguidelines in a practical and timely manner.

Another process of dialogue around controver-sial issues was on the economic and social impact ofstructural adjustment policies in developing coun-tries. The Structural Adjustment ParticipatoryReview Initiative (SAPRI) involved hundreds ofCSO representatives, government officials, andBank staff who joined together to carry out researchin seven countries and also held several meetingsbetween senior Bank managers and civil societyleaders. SAPRI shed light on the complex and diffi-cult nature of macroeconomic policy choices andthe need to consider the socioeconomic impacts ofthese strategies. SAPRI also opened greater space forcivil society participation in reviewing the CASs,developing PRSPs, and discussing adjustment lend-ing (see Box 1 for more details on SAPRI).

Structured and substantive dialogue on develop-ment issues also occurred through Strategic PolicyWorkshops held between Bank and CSO staff in theUnited Kingdom during the past three years. Theworkshops, which were funded by the Governmentof Finland, brought together 25–30 (for each event)CSO leaders from throughout the world (particular-ly the developing world), senior Bank managers andstaff, and academic experts. The first workshop, ontrade, took place in May 2002; the second, on rurallivelihoods, in May 2003; and the third, onHIV/AIDS, in June 2004. A participatory methodol-ogy was used in these residential workshops toensure greater ownership and involvement by par-ticipants. An informal steering group composed ofBank and CSO staff were established at the outset todefine themes for discussion, agenda, and list ofparticipants. The steering group also helped selectindependent professionals to facilitate the work-shop, record the proceedings, and produce the finalreport. Chatham House rules (whereby commentsby participants are recorded but not attributed)were adopted in order to ensure informal, interac-tive, and frank discussion among participants. Foragendas, participants lists, and summary reports ofthese workshops, visit the Bank’s Civil Society web-site.

Dialogue also emerged during this period withleaders of the so-called global social justice move-

Global WB–CSO workshop on AIDS (United Kingdom, June 2004)

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ment. A new venue for dialogue on globalizationissues was created through the Bridge Initiative,which was initiated by independent media profes-sionals and geared to promoting constructive policydiscussion between leaders of the World EconomicForum in Davos and the World Social Forums(WSF) in Porto Alegre. The Initiative has involvedannual two-day workshops in Paris and publicdebates in other European capitals that has broughttogether representatives from international CSOsand Bank, International Monetary Fund, WorldTrade Organization, and United Nations agencies todiscuss issues such as the social impacts of global-ization, global security issues, and trade. In addi-tion, Bank staff participated as observers in the WSFin Porto Alegre, Brazil, in January 2002 and 2003,and in Mumbai, India, in January 2004.

During this period, the Bank and several CSOnetworks introduced a new platform for dialogueand engagement at the global level to fill the voidleft by the phasing out of an earlier mechanism. Thefirst structured mechanism for dialogue between theWorld Bank and civil society at the global level wasthe World Bank-NGO Committee, which was estab-lished in 1982. The committee sponsored annualdialogue meetings between senior Bank staff and

international civil society leaders, and thus served asa useful and strategic forum for informationexchange and policy dialogue in areas such as envi-ronment, debt, and structural adjustment. In 1995,regional Bank–NGO committees were formed inthe Africa, Latin America and Caribbean, andEurope and Central Asia regions, thus decentraliz-ing and intensifying this dialogue. However, as Bankrelations with the civil society sector began toexpand beyond NGOs (to include labor unions,social movements, faith-based groups, and others)and a variety of global, regional and national ven-ues for engagement emerged around issues such aseducation, HIV/AIDS, and the Poverty ReductionStrategy Paper (PRSP), both the Bank and CSOsrealized that a new, more inclusive and strategicmechanism was needed. The WB-NGO Committeewas phased out in late 2000, and an interim andinformal Joint Facilitation Committee was formedto establish a “second-generation” mechanism forBank-civil society engagement. The committee wasinitially comprised of Bank staff and 15 civil socie-ty networks representing a broader cross-section ofcivil society, including trade unions, indigenousgroups, faith-based organizations, NGOs, and foun-dations.

In 1997, the World Bank and a network of CSOs jointly launchedthe Structural Adjustment Participatory Review Initiative (SAPRI),which was geared to improving understanding about the socialimpacts of adjustment policies and about how the participationof civil society can improve economic policy making. The initia-tive was designed to be participatory by bringing together anetwork of 250 CSO, government, and Bank representatives tooversee country-based research in seven countries: Bangladesh,Ecuador, Ghana, Hungary, Mali, Uganda, and Zimbabwe. A jointsteering committee was established to coordinate SAPRI, head-ed by the Bank’s Development Economics Vice Presidency andthe Development GAP, a well-known policy advocacy non-governmental organization based in Washington, D.C.

The findings and lessons from the research were discussedat two high level events that brought together senior Bank staff,government officials, and civil society leaders from throughoutthe world. The first event was the Second Global Forum, whichwas held in Washington, D.C., in July 2001. The second was ameeting in July 2002, in Washington, D.C., between CSO lead-

ers and senior Bank managers, including President James D.Wolfensohn. Both the CSOs and the Bank presented extensivereports that analyzed the findings of the 5-year initiative and dis-cussed ways to utilize the lessons learned to improve the effec-tiveness of future adjustment loans.

The SAPRI study demonstrated that economic adjustment isoften a difficult process that can profoundly affect people’s lives.Several potentially adverse effects were apparent in some of theseven countries studied: reduced government spending onsocial services; reduced level of employment security; andreduction of food subsidies. While there is still disagreement onthe impacts the SAPRI study had on Bank policies, from theBank’s perspective, the SAPRI study reinforced the notion thatadjustment policies must not only take into account social andpolitical impacts, but also be more country owned and flexiblydesigned. The SAPRI experience also helped shape the Povertyand Social Impact Analysis and the Poverty Reduction StrategyPaper instruments that were established by the Bank to promoteparticipatory poverty analysis and reduction.

Box 1: SAPRI’s Participatory Review of Structural Adjustment

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The first organizing meeting of the Joint Facilita-tion Committee took place in December 2001 anddiscussed strategies for expanding the civil societymembership within the JFC, as well as ideas forimproving Bank–civil society engagement at theglobal level, including annual thematic forums. Anexecutive group, composed of both Bank and CSOstaff, was formed in early 2002. To guarantee greaterautonomy, participants decided the Joint Facilita-tion Committee process needed to be convened andcoordinated by a CSO network with global reach,experience with institutional dialogues, and withcredibility among a wide spectrum of CSOs. Severalof the committee's civil society members proposedthat CIVICUS, the World Alliance for Citizen Partic-ipation, fill this role, which was endorsed by theJoint Facilitation Committee members. In Novem-ber 2002, CIVICUS assumed the role of a secretariatfor the committee and began reaching out to civilsociety networks around the world and planning forthe first meeting of the expanded committee.

The expanded committee met in Washington inOctober 2003, with participants from 14 major civilsociety networks and senior Bank managers, includ-ing President Wolfensohn. The Bank presented itsdraft paper, Issues and Options for Improving Engage-ment Between the World Bank and CSOs, which ana-lyzes relations between the Bank and civil society.Participating CSOs presented an 18-month workplan for an independent assessment of Bank-civilsociety relations, global policy dialogues, andcapacity-building activities. The consensus emerg-ing from this meeting framed the Joint FacilitationCommittee as a consultative and transitional bodyto facilitate dialogue and engagement between theBank and civil society, and in particular to help cre-ate greater access of southern civil society groups tothe Bank. CSO members of the committee under-took further outreach to civil society networks dur-ing the first semester of 2004 through a global sur-vey and numerous meetings, and began planningfor a Bank-civil society global policy forum to beheld in Spring 2005.

Consultation on Bank OperationalPolicies and Sector Strategies

Formal consultation processes took place during thisperiod on several Bank operational policy reviews,major studies, and ongoing programs. An importanttrend over the past three years was greater civil soci-ety involvement in macroeconomic and government

national development planning through the PRSPprocess in many countries, as well as in providingfeedback to the Bank’s Country Assistance Strategydrafts in 69 countries (see Box 4 and Annex I). Therewere also consultations on several operational poli-cy reviews in such areas as adjustment lending,indigenous peoples, extractive industries, waterresources, and social development.3

While these policy reviews have varied in length,methodology, and intensity depending on the sub-ject matter and approach undertaken by the Bankunit overseeing them, they all followed similarmethodologies. They generally lasted one to twoyears (although several, such as the indigenous peo-ples policy, lasted longer) and involved consultationsduring the various phases from the review paper out-line to the drafts of each policy revision. The consul-tations were carried out through various modalitiesincluding face-to-face meetings, videoconferences,and, increasingly, web-based discussions. Theseoperational policy reviews often benefited from eval-uation studies by the Bank’s independent OperationsEvaluation Department, which generally also bene-fited from the inputs of CSOs.

An illustrative example of an operational policyreview was the comprehensive process the Bankundertook between 2002–2004 to consult withcivil society about updating Operational Directive(OD) 8.60, on adjustment lending. The purpose ofthe review was to better align different Bank lend-ing instruments, promote greater country owner-ship of these policies, and incorporate lessons from15 years of adjustment lending. The consultationprocess involved seeking views from a broad rangeof CSOs on the draft paper From Adjustment Lendingto Development Policy Support Lending: Key Issues inthe Update of World Bank Policy, which was translat-ed into six languages and covered 15 themesincluding poverty and social impacts, environmen-tal aspects, use of economic performance triggers,and civil society participation. Consultation meet-ings were held during the period of July 2002through January 2003 with a variety of stakehold-ers, including CSOs, in nine countries: Jordan,

3 Over the past two decades, the Bank’s Board of Directors hasadopted numerous policies and procedures to guide Bankwork in the many areas in which it works. Many of thesepolicies are being reviewed in order to be updated, simpli-fied, and further mainstreamed in Bank operations and tobe adopted by the Bank’s government-partner agencies.Thus Operational Directives are being converted to Opera-tional Policies, Bank Procedures, and Good Practices.

5

Korea, Mexico, Pakistan, Poland, Senegal, Tanza-nia, United Kingdom, and United States. Addition-al feedback was sought as the paper was posted onthe Bank’s website from June 2002 through May2003.

The revised policy, approved by the Bank’s Boardin August 2004, incorporates several new environ-mental and social measures recommended by theCSOs during the consultation process. These includestrengthening social and environmental analyticaland advisory activities before operations occur; inte-grating environmental and social priorities into thedesign of the adjustment operation; and improvingoversight and support for operations that balance ormitigate those consequences. Another important butdistinct policy consultation, characterized by anindependent review process, was the ExtractiveIndustries Review process (see Box 2).

New technologies and formats were also main-streamed to expand the reach of these dialogue andconsultation processes. The use of videoconferencingincreased steadily through this period, includingbiannual video dialogues involving Bank PresidentWolfensohn, senior Bank managers, and CSO rep-

The Bank announced in 2000, in response to a request by envi-ronmental CSOs, that it would conduct a comprehensive assess-ment of its extractive industries investments (oil, gas, and min-ing) in order to assess the performance and impacts of theBank’s projects in this area. The review process included anexternal stakeholder consultation process as well as severalinternal studies carried on jointly by the independent evaluationunits of World Bank Group agencies: the Operations EvaluationDepartment (OED) of IBRD, the Operations Evaluations Group(OEG) of IFC, and the Operations Evaluation Unit (OEU) ofMIGA .

The external consultation process was headed by Dr. EmilSalim, former environment minister of Indonesia, who set up anexternal Secretariat in Jakarta. The process involved research,numerous informal planning meetings, community visits, andweb-based consultations. There were also seven regional work-shops that involved several hundred government officials, CSOrepresentatives, businesses executives, experts, and Bank man-agers. The final external report, Striking a Better Balance, wasfinalized and presented to the Bank in December 2003. TheBank prepared a management response, which was reviewed bythe Bank’s Board of Executive Directors in August 2004, follow-ing a months-long consultation process involving dozens ofmeetings, videoconferences, and a web-based consultation

process with leading environmental, human rights, and devel-opmental CSOs. Throughout this process, CSOs participatedactively in the consultations and generated numerous letters,petitions, and documents in support of the recommendations ofthe external report.

As a result of the extensive consultation process, the revisedpolicy incorporates several important new guidelines and instru-ments to strengthen revenue transparency, local governance,community participation in decision-making, and the povertyreduction benefits of extractive industry projects. It also sup-ports an increase in investment for cleaner, more efficient, andrenewable sources of energy. As with other similar consultationprocesses, the final policy does not satisfy any one group com-pletely but it does represent a good-faith effort to reconcile thediffering and, at times, divergent positions of major govern-ment, industry, and civil society stakeholders. On the otherhand, the consultation process has clearly forged new groundon improving the development outcomes of extractive indus-tries, and it has furthered the Bank’s understanding of how tocarry out multi-stakeholder consultation processes. As part ofthe package of reforms proposed by management, the BankGroup will create an advisory group, including civil society rep-resentatives, to review Bank practices and discuss issues associ-ated with extractive industries going forward.

Box 2: Consulting on Extractive Industries Review

CSOs march in downtown Washington, DC during WB/IMFSpring Meeting (April 2004)

6

resentatives from an average of five countries persession. Consultations on the World DevelopmentReports during this period took place with CSOsfrom more than 30 countries. The other technolog-ical innovation that was employed more intenselywas internet-based consultation. In the case of theWorld Development Report 2004 on social services,the web-based discussion elicited detailed and sub-stantive comments from more than 100 civil socie-ty representatives from several dozen countries.

Despite these efforts, the inconsistent institu-tional approach to dialogue and consultations, par-ticularly at the global level, continues to pose prob-lems for Bank–civil society relations. While consul-tation with CSOs occurs widely across the Banktoday, Bank staff and civil society representativesalike report that their breadth and quality vary con-siderably. CSOs report that these consultations areoften unsatisfactory in terms of preparation, logis-tics, and methodology. Further, timely and usefulfeedback has not always been provided to thoseCSOs consulted, leaving them uncertain whethertheir inputs were considered and/or incorporatedby the Bank. These and other problems have con-tributed to what is being referred to as “consultationfatigue” within development circles. The Bank istaking several steps to address this problem andimprove the quality and usefulness of consulta-tions, including promotion of staff training on con-sultations, updating of a stakeholder consultationsourcebook, and establishment of a Bank-wide con-sultations advisory service.

Consultations on Bank Research

Several major Bank studies, such as the WorldDevelopment Reports, Policy Research Reports, andreports by the Operations Evaluation Departmentand the Operations Evaluations Group, also under-went formal consultations during the past three fis-cal years.4 Three World Development Reports wereprepared since 2001: Sustainable Development in aDynamic World (2002–03), Making Services Work for

the Poor (2003–04), and Improving the InvestmentClimate for Growth and Poverty Reduction (2004–05).The consultation processes for each of these reportsvaried depending on the subject matter, consulta-tion plans adopted by the study team, and interestshown by civil society. The most comprehensiveeffort occurred with the World Development Report2004 (see Box 3).

Several Operations Evaluation Department andOperations Evaluations Group studies on indige-nous peoples policy, poverty reduction strategies,AIDS, and extractive industries also underwent dif-ferent forms of consultation (for example, research

The World Development Report 2004, Making Ser-vices Work for the Poor, represented an importantexample of how the Bank should consult with civilsociety groups on Bank studies. One of the majorfeatures of the process was that CSOs were con-sulted at various stages of the research, beginningwith its design. Several meetings took place withdozens of CSO representatives to discuss the out-line, solicit feedback, and gather country case stud-ies and local examples. With the first draft of thestudy in hand, the research team launched a sec-ond and expanded consultation phase, whichincluded meetings throughout the world, severalvideo conferences, and a moderated web-baseddiscussion.

Face-to-face meetings took place with stafffrom NGOs, labor unions, donor agencies, andresearch centers in countries including Bangladesh,Egypt, Sri Lanka, Switzerland, Uganda, UnitedKingdom, and the United States. Three videocon-ferences featuring the study authors and CSO rep-resentatives from 15 developing countries wereheld. The web-based discussion, moderated byPublic World, a United Kingdom-based CSO, elicit-ed substantive and thoughtful comments by morethan 100 individuals and organizations. Once thefinal study was published, the study team carriedout the third stage of its outreach strategy by dis-seminating the study widely to the public and hold-ing several meetings to obtain feedback on thefinal version. All written input from civil society wasincluded in a CD-ROM attached to the main reportand distributed widely.

Box 3: Civil Society Participation in the WDR 2004 on Services for the Poor

4 It should be noted that while these studies are generallyquite rigorous and their findings carefully analyzed withinthe Bank, they are research exercises intended to promotecritical analysis and innovative ideas in keeping with thegoals of a “knowledge Bank”. As such, they are not intendedto set Bank policy or determine operational practice per se.The final decisions regarding their findings and conclusionsare made by the research teams and their supervisory unitssuch as DEC, OED, and WBI.

7

planning workshops, focus group meetings, inter-views) and involved dozens of CSOs. The Bank alsoconsulted on several Policy Research Reports com-pleted during the period. The report on land poli-cy, for instance, involved a comprehensive consul-tation process that not only greatly improved thetechnical quality of the product but promoted auseful dialogue between government officials,small-farmer groups, land experts, and Bank staff.The Land Policies for Growth and Poverty Reductionstudy took place as the Bank sought to update its30-year-old policy paper on land, increase knowl-edge within the Bank on the underlying issues, andencourage collaboration with civil society on landissues. The Bank and other donor agencies spon-sored four regional workshops in 2002 on landissues in Cambodia, Hungary, Mexico, and Ugan-da, which brought together about 700 participantsfrom more than 70 countries. The Land report waslaunched in June 2003 and was disseminatedthrough workshops and meetings throughout theworld, as well as through distance-learning coursesinvolving more than 20 countries in Africa, Asia,and Latin America.

Consultations on Country Assistance Strategies

The Country Assistance Strategy (CAS) is the WorldBank’s comprehensive development strategy for anycountry planning to borrow from the IBRD or IDA.The CAS5 analyzes the country’s economic andsocial conditions and delineates Bank lending forthe coming years. The Bank streamlined and con-solidated its policy and operational framework forCAS disclosure and stakeholder consultation duringfiscal years 2002–2004. As a result, the Bank reviewfound that civil society participation occurred in 79,or 70 percent, of the 113 CASs, CAS Progress

Reports, and other related strategies submitted tothe Board during fiscal years 2002–2004. The par-ticipatory processes in CAS formulation haveinvolved increasing consultation with a broaderarray of ministries in the executive branch, parlia-ments or legislatures, CSOs, private sector groups,and other donor agencies. This is an important find-ing, as it demonstrates a significant increase in civilsociety involvement in CAS consultations over thepast four years as CASs have become increasinglypublic documents. This level of disclosure repre-sents an important advance, because as recently asfive years ago, most CASs were still not publiclyavailable.6 Increasingly, information contained inthe CAS, such as country priorities and proposedtimetables, is shared with stakeholders.

Recent reviews have also found that the nature ofcivil society involvement in the CAS formulationprocess varied according to the type of documentbeing prepared. CSO involvement has been largelymainstreamed in the preparation of regular CASsdesigned for 2-3 years. CAS updates and other special

5 A full Country Assistance Strategy may be prepared alone bythe IBRD/IDA or jointly with the IFC and is drafted every2–3 years depending on the size of the country, with largercountries drafting CASs more frequently. The short-termCAS documents prepared for Low-Income Countries UnderStress and post-conflict countries, known as the Transition-al Support Strategies and the Country Re-engagement Notesare often prepared under special circumstances, such aspost-conflict. All country offices must issue a CAS PublicInformation Notice in accordance with the Bank’s 1998information disclosure policy. In the interim periodbetween CASs, often the Bank produces a CAS ProgressReport that assesses the accuracy of the prognosis made andincludes any necessary corrective measures or addenda.

6 Changes in information disclosure policies in the past fewyears have substantially improved the disclosure of theBank’s country strategies. In 1998 the policy was changed sothat CAS documents became public after Board considera-tion and if governments consented. In 1999 IDA establishedprovisions recommending the disclosure of CASs for all IDAcountries. In February 2001 the Board mandated that Tran-sitional Support Strategies be disclosed, and in August 2001the Board recommended the disclosure of the Chairman’sConcluding Remarks on all IDA or IBRD Country AssistanceStrategies or Transitional Support Strategies that were dis-closed.

Bank staff consult with Russian CSOs on the Country Assistance Strategy(Moscow, 2002)

8

CASs such as Transitional Support Strategies (TSSs)and Country Reengagement Notes (CRNs) areincreasingly involving civil society consultation. Dur-ing fiscal years 2002–2004, the Board considered 31full CASs and 34 Joint Bank/IFC CASs, or a total of65 documents, of which 63, or 97 percent, includedcivil society participation. Of 14 CAS ProgressReports and 15 Joint Bank/IFC CAS Progress Reports,or a total of 29 documents submitted to the Boardduring that period, 11, or 38 percent, included civilsociety participation. Despite the disclosure provi-sions for CASs prepared in Low-Income Countriesunder Stress, of the 19 TSSs and CRNs presented tothe board, only 5, or 26 percent, reported havingundergone consultation with civil society. Opportu-nities for greater civil society involvement in CAS for-mulation have been opened with the recentlylaunched “results-based” CASs7, of which one wasapproved in fiscal year 2003 and five were approved

in fiscal year 2004. Five, or 83 percent, of these firstpilots reported civil society involvement.

On the other hand, the track record is stronger inthe area of disclosure, as nearly all CAS documentsapproved in the last three years have become publicdocuments. The disclosure of CASs figured promi-nently in the revised Bank disclosure policyapproved in 2001, which mandated that CASs wereto be disclosed in all International DevelopmentAssociation countries, and that strongly encouragedgovernments to disclose the country strategies in allother countries. As a result, over the past three fiscalyears all but one of the 113 CASs and related strate-gies have been or are in the process of being dis-closed. In many countries, Bank staff have workedhard to include new civil society actors in CAS con-sultations. Annex I offers specific examples of civilsociety involvement in CAS processes in the 71 coun-try and regional CASs reviewed, by giving specificexamples of participatory activities by country. Thetable includes the specific participatory approach ormethodology used, the type of consultation activitiescarried out, the types of CSOs involved in the con-sultation process, the outcome of the consultations,and the manner in which feedback was used to pre-pare the final CAS document. For a more detailedexample of a participatory CAS consultation, see Box4, which describes the process in Poland.

Despite these advances in civil society participa-tion and disclosure of CASs, a number of challengesremain in order to achieve greater consistency inthese policies. They include establishing greaterlinkages with other in-country participatoryprocesses, such as participatory budgeting and gov-ernment-citizen oversight bodies; engaging a broad-er spectrum of CSOs in the design, implementation,and evaluation of CAS results; and aligning the CASwith government-managed instruments such as thePRSP. In addition, there is a need to promote moreproactive disclosure, including translating the CASinto local languages. Several countries, such as Mex-ico, Mozambique, and Poland, have taken impor-tant steps to improve the quality of CAS consulta-tions and translate the CAS into local languages.The Bank’s challenge is to learn more systematicallyfrom these best practices to incorporate their les-sons and achieve similar results in other countries.

7 Unlike traditional CASs, which largely focus on the Bank’s country strategy for the coming years, the results-based CAS alsoanalyzes the performance of the past and current Bank portfolio, with an emphasis on operational outcomes and impact onpoverty reduction. The results-based CAS also calls for more systematic dialogue with the government and civil society, andbetter coordination among donors. The pilot phase of the results-based CAS will be assessed in fiscal year 2005, at whichpoint this practice will become mainstreamed.

In 2001, the Bank’s office in Poland consulted with a broad range ofstakeholders as part of the process of formulating the Bank’s CountryAssistance Strategy. The Bank had undertaken limited consultations withthe Polish CAS in 1997 and was determined to build on this experienceto ensure a more participatory process.

The methodology employed included baseline surveys, individualinterviews, focus group meetings, and electronic surveys. The processextended through August 2002. First, Bank staff asked independentresearchers and CSOs to conduct a baseline opinion survey of 1,200stakeholders on the country’s most pressing development challenges.This was complemented by in-depth interviews with 58 opinion leadersfrom different sectors. A series of consultation meetings followed withrepresentatives from civil society, professional associations, businesses,academic institutions, trade unions, and municipal authorities.

The Bank enlisted the support of an important civil society network,the Polish Green Network, to help select participants, define methodol-ogy, and facilitate consultation meetings. The Bank also posted the CASdraft in Polish and English on its website to elicit feedback. This consul-tation was deemed successful and resulted in several important modifi-cations to the country assistance strategy draft document. The changesincluded more in-depth poverty analysis, inclusion of greater genderanalysis, and inclusion of data on labor markets, education, health, infra-structure, and environment.

Box 4: Consulting Civil Society on the CAS in Poland

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During fiscal years 2002–2004, the policiesand programs in civic engagement and par-ticipation expanded and consolidated across

regions and countries. The definition and scope ofthese concepts were further refined to include thenotion of social accountability and the promotion ofan enabling environment for civil society participa-tion. This section will provide information on theBank’s evolving social accountability agenda andwork on promoting an enabling environment forcivic engagement. It will highlight the efforts to pro-mote participatory budgeting, provide voicethrough grassroots media, and report on advancesin civil society participation in the PRSPs.

Promoting Social Accountability inBank Operations

In recent years, CSOs in developing countries havedeveloped social accountability methodologies toinfluence budget processes, allocation decisions,and expenditure monitoring. Social accountabilityis an approach in which ordinary citizens and/orCSOs participate directly or indirectly in promotingaccountability within public institutions. Socialaccountability mechanisms are demand-driven,operate from the bottom up, and aim to promotedevelopment effectiveness, empowerment, andgood governance. Social accountability includesactions at both the national and community levelsthat focus on the formulation and monitoring ofpublic policy, government revenue collection, andengagement in the budget cycle, namely budget for-mulation, budget review/analysis, public expendi-ture/input tracking, and performance monitoringand evaluation of publicly funded programs andprojects (see Figure A).

There are many illustrative examples of partici-patory approaches civil society has developed toinfluence the budgeting process during its variousphases:

• Budget Formulation—In Brazil, civil society hasworked closely with the city government of PortoAlegre to implement a participatory budgetingprocess that has engaged some 50,000 citizens indetermining municipal spending priorities.

• Budget Review & Analysis—In South Africa,the Africa Budget Project of the Institute for aDemocratic Alternative (IDASA) has trainedsome 220 CSOs throughout Africa to review andanalyze public budgets.

• Budget/Expenditure Tracking—In the Philip-pines, the Philippine Governance Forum (PGF)launched a Government Watch program inwhich college students closely monitored gov-ernment education, health, and roads projects toguard against mismanagement and fraud.

• Performance Monitoring—In India, the Associa-tion for the Empowerment of Workers and Farm-ers (MKSS) has worked with local NGOs to carry

Civic Engagement and Participation

2

Figure A: Social Accountability in Public Budgets

BudgetFormulation

Budget/Expenditure

Tracking

Budget Review & Analysis

PerformanceMonitoring

CivicEngagement

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out “social audits” in Rajasthan state to hold gov-ernment officials accountable for public expen-ditures and to fight corruption.

The social accountability agenda has alsoexpanded considerably in the Bank, as it has sup-ported or learned from many participatory budgetinitiatives and experiences over the past three years.This complements the Bank’s ongoing work ongood governance, which includes public expendi-ture reviews, anticorruption initiatives, support fordecentralization, financing of institutional andadministrative reform of government bodies andprograms, citizens’ scorecards on government serv-ices, and support for participatory budgetingapproaches. In this respect, social accountabilitysupports the Bank’s recently updated social devel-opment strategy, which focuses on inclusion, cohe-sion, and accountability. The Bank’s Social Develop-ment Department, the World Bank Institute, andregional units are engaged in various capacityenhancement activities to enable both CSOs andgovernments to operationalize social accountabilitymechanisms in order to improve transparency,accountability, and performance of public institu-tions. The Bank has also joined with internationalCSOs, local governments, and donor agencies tolaunch a pilot participatory budgeting initiative tosupport participatory and accountable budgetinginitiatives (see Box 5).

Social accountability policies and mechanismsare also being incorporated into adjustment loansand Poverty Reduction Support Credits (PRSCs),which are an integral part of the Bank’s policyreform and poverty reduction strategy worldwide.Adjustment lending is a direct infusion of Bankfunds into a government’s budget to support fiscaland monetary reforms, address social and econom-ic crises, and support other policy and institutionalreforms by borrowing countries. Policy-based lend-ing within the Bank’s global project portfolioreached a peak in fiscal 2002, as 64 percent of IBRDloans and 30 percent of IDA credits. These numberswere somewhat skewed by large loans to a fewcountries such as Turkey, Brazil, and Argentina.These levels have dropped considerably as IBRD’sdevelopment policy lending was 37 percent of totalcommitments for fiscal year 2003 and 40 percentfor fiscal year 2004.

CSOs, particularly those that monitor WorldBank policies, are interested in adjustment lendingas they often point to the lack of transparency in thenegotiation process and question the social impactsof such loans. Because of the growth in the propor-tion of adjustment lending in the Bank’s portfolioand the controversy surrounding such loans in civilsociety, the Bank’s Social Development Departmenthas developed a series of participatory methodolo-gies and guidelines to promote greater civil society

The Civil Society Budget Initiative emerged from a pilot propos-al, Strengthening Civic Engagement in Public Expenditure Man-agement, which was initiated by the Social DevelopmentDepartment in 2000 to promote accountability and transparencyin public expenditure management by involving civil societygroups in budget processes. It subsequently evolved into acoalition of CSOs, local governments, the World Bank, and otherdonor agencies, who are collaborating in providing technicaland financial support toward capacity building of CSOs in par-ticipatory budget work in PRSP countries in Africa, Asia, andLatin America. Initial workshops took place in May 2002 to iden-tify and analyze diverse and innovative local budgeting experi-ences, as well as to facilitate the identification and establishmentof a network of organizations interested in pursuing appliedbudget work. The International Budget Project in Washington,D.C., is now the secretariat of the Civil Society Budget Initiative,

which is processing project proposals submitted by CSOs in theeligible countries.

The current partners of the participatory budget program areFUNDAR Centro de Analises e Investigacion of Mexico, theUganda Debt Network, the Institute for Democracy in SouthAfrica, the Center for Democracy in Bolivia, the Ford Foundation,the National Center for Advocacy Studies of India, the DanishInternational Development Agency, and the municipality of PortoAlegre, Brazil. The initiative, currently funded by DFID and theSwedish International Development Agency, recently establisheda global fund to support civil society budgeting initiatives inAfrica, Latin America, and Asia. Civil society organizations mayuse the funds toward capacity building and for programs to trackand monitor budgets, train and educate the public, and improvethe public’s understanding of and ability to influence governmentrevenue collection and expenditures. For more information onthe Civil Society Budget Initiative, visit its website (see Annex III).

Box 5: Strengthening Civic Engagement through Participatory Budgeting

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participation in the formulation, monitoring, andevaluation of programmatic loans. The Bank hasalso introduced the use of adjustment lendinggeared at improving the quality and reach of socialpolicies and spending on poverty reduction efforts.One such case is the Peru social reform loandescribed in Box 6.

To further consolidate these civic engagementand participation efforts in adjustment lending, theBank has approved a new Operational Policy/BankPractice on Development Policy Lending to guideBank task managers when they administer theseloans. The Note provides guidance on the followingissues: how stakeholder participation can con-tribute to the policy process; which organizationsshould participate and their comparative advan-tages; at what stage participation can enhancereform policies; and how to analyze and assess therisks and challenges of participation before initiat-ing a participatory process.

Enabling Environment for Civic Engagement

During fiscal years 2002–2004, the Participation andCivic Engagement Group started to carry out com-prehensive and participatory analyses of countries’enabling environment for civic engagement andsocial accountability, as an important contribution

to improve the Bank’s countrystrategy, sector research, andlending instruments. An ana-lytical tool was developed togain systematic understandingof the institutional, political,socio-cultural, and economicconstraints to civic engage-ment, as well as to facilitatepolicy reforms and capacitybuilding. The framework,called ARVIN, measures fiveinterrelated factors: freedomof citizens to associate (A); ability to mobilize finan-cial and other resources (R) to further the objectivesof their organizations; ability to formulate andexpress voice (V), or opinion; access to official infor-mation (I); and the existence of spaces and rules ofengagement for negotiation (N) and public debate.This diagnostic tool has been applied in severalcountries with various stakeholders, particularly civilsociety groups, to assist them in translating theirknowledge, experiences, and analysis into actionablepolicy and legal reform proposals.

The study carried out in Senegal, for instance,focused on factors undermining demand by civilsociety and local communities for effective decen-tralization and local governance, and participationin their realization. The study found that weak

Community Assembly for the Participatory Budgeting Process in Porto Alegre, Brazil (July 2004)

The Peru Programmatic Social Reform Loan, financed in 2001 andnow in its third year, is an integral part of that country’s largermedium-term social reform policies. The loan aims to strengthenthe pro-poor focus of public expenditures, improve access tohealth and education programs, and provide a safety net for thepoor during economic crises. The loan also seeks to improve thetransparency and social control of resource allocation by promot-ing greater civil society involvement in the planning and monitor-ing of social programs.

A key feature of the loan has been the launch of an econom-ic transparency web-based portal to make financial and budgetinformation easily accessible and useful to ordinary citizens. Theportal allows citizens and CSOs to monitor public spending as itprovides data on monthly budget transfers and expenditures forall government programs. Complementary measures have beentaken to strengthen the budget monitoring program of the Min-istry of Economy and Finance, which generates the financial data

and maintains the transparency portal. Other measures takento enhance transparency included the establishment of a par-ticipatory monitoring system of social programs, which will betracking the performance of social services as they are decen-tralized. Steps have also been taken to improve the coverageand quality of national surveys and administrative statistics ofthe National Institute of Statistics.

Finally, the government has spearheaded a legislativeframework for guaranteeing access to information and encour-aging civic engagement in public policy formulation and moni-toring. Two laws on transparency and access to informationhave been passed to promote participatory processes in thecountry’s budget cycle at the local level. As a result, Peru hasbecome one of the countries with the most advanced legislativeframeworks for the institutionalization of citizens’ involvement inpolicy-making processes at the national and local levels

Box 6: Participation and Accountability in Peru’s Social Reform Loan

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“demand side” of social services had contributed toa poor decentralization process, and it pointed toserious gaps in effective civil society engagement inlocal governance. It also stressed the potential forCSOs to play an important role in addressing thesedistortions and to contribute to improved publicservice delivery. The ARVIN application in Albaniapermitted an analysis of the content and implemen-tation of laws and regulations relevant to CSOs. Theassessment’s findings and recommendations areexpected to lead to further expansion of opportuni-ties for civil society to influence development pro-grams, participate in and help improve publiclyfinanced services, and contribute to the overall effec-tiveness of future PRSCs.

Building on the usefulness of the ARVIN analyti-cal tool, the Social Development Department staffdeveloped an analytical tool tailored to applicationin Low-Income Countries under Stress. The CivilSociety Assessment Tool was launched in Togo,Guinea-Bissau, and Angola during fiscal year 2004.The studies are enabling Bank and governmentagencies to join with CSOs in the identification ofobstacles and opportunities for civic engagement,and the recommendations will feed into the coun-

tries’ assistance strategies. See Box 7 for more infor-mation on this tool.

In order to facilitate information exchange andlearning on the enabling environment for civicengagement, the Bank has developed an interactivewebsite, Civic Engagement, hosted by the Develop-ment Gateway. This online resource offers an exten-sive menu of resources on the key factors that influ-ence the environment for civic engagement. Thewebsite is managed in partnership with a selectedgroup of CSOs.8 For more information, visit theDevelopment Gateway website (see Annex III)

Giving Voice through Grassroots Media

Empowerment is crucial for effective participationin development and possible only when citizensgain access to information and exercise their right tospeak. Community radio stations have proven effec-tive as they stimulate dialogue, sustain oral tradi-tion, and encourage greater accountability in publicaffairs. In addition, they are inexpensive and wide-spread. These communication venues are playing avital role in many spheres of development such asconflict prevention and post-conflict reconstruc-tion, as in Timor-Leste.

In fiscal 2002, an initiative aimed at strengthen-ing social accountability and Community-DrivenDevelopment approaches in Bank programs waslaunched to enhance both content developmentand broadcasting capacity among community radiostations. The Empowerment and Voice throughCommunity program supports community radiostations to enable citizen participation, povertyreduction, and community development. The pro-gram provides funding for diagnostic studies, policyreviews, program development, and skills training.This integrated strategy was developed at a work-shop in May 2003 that brought together about 30CSO leaders, community radio operators, mediaexperts, and Bank staff.

The program also encourages Bank support ofcommunity radio initiatives within large loans andother funding mechanisms. Local radio initiativesare included in Bank-funded Community-DrivenDevelopment projects in Timor-Leste (expanding

8 Current CSO content partners on the Civic Engagementwebsite are South Asia Partnership (Pakistan), Arias Foun-dation (Costa Rica), Philippine Rural Reconstruction Move-ment (Philippines), and General Union of Voluntary Ser-vices (Jordan).

The Bank has acknowledged the important role CSOs play in Low-income Countries Under Stress, as they foster self-reliance and buildempowerment among vulnerable communities. The Civil SocietyAssessment Tool was developed in order to understand better the roleCSOs play in those countries. It is an analytical tool, based on the ARVINframework (see adjoining text), designed to facilitate an organizationalmapping of civil society; understand relations between civil society, gov-ernment, and donor agencies; analyze institutional rules and culturalnorms for civic engagement; and assess the capacity of CSOs to deliv-er services to the poor and improve governance.

This analytical tool is being piloted in Angola, Guinea Bissau, andTogo. The findings from these studies are being "translated" into prac-tical advice for country teams to inform the Transitional Support Strate-gy progress report in Angola, the Interim Support Strategy in GuineaBissau, and the Country Reengagement Notes in Togo, as well as ongo-ing and planned loan operations. In all three countries the data andanalysis will be disseminated widely in order to form the basis for localworkshops proposing follow-up actions for strengthening civil societyparticipation in these processes. For more information on this tool andLow-Income Countries under Stress, visit the Bank’s participation web-site (see Annex III)

Box 7: Civic Engagement in Low-Income Countries under Stress

13

on support from the Community Empowermentand Local Governance Project), Indonesia, SriLanka, and Malawi, and within policy-based opera-tions in Peru and Benin (see Box 8).

Other activities being supported include profes-sional training for community radio reporters androundtables to enhance networking among com-munity radio stations for better public engagement(Malawi and Benin), program development onsocial auditing (Peru), and technical workshops toenhance the programming capacities of communityradio stations and their supporting organizations(Sri Lanka). In Indonesia, the large KecamatanDevelopment Project has been using communityradio to send messages about the project andstrengthen civic oversight at the local level. In addi-tion, a diagnostic study within the project is identi-fying ways to improve institutional mechanismsand practices for informed choice-making, localgovernance, and empowerment of poor communi-ties. These pilot efforts will provide a basis for theBank to shape and expand its lending support forgrassroots media development.

Expanding Participation in Poverty Reduction Strategies

PRSPs were established in 1999 to encourage gov-ernments to develop their own comprehensiveplans to promote economic growth and reducepoverty through wide stakeholder consultation anddonor coordination. The strategy paper process9

aims to promote an open and inclusive nationaldialogue on development plans and budget priori-ties between government and other stakeholderswithin civil society and the private sector, thus stim-ulating a public debate about the paper to ensureparticipation and ownership of the strategy. Thestrategy papers are designed to provide the basis forall World Bank and International Monetary Fundconcessional lending and for debt relief within low-income countries.

It is generally agreed that the scope and pace ofcivil society participation has varied among coun-tries, moving more rapidly in some and more slow-ly in others. But in general, the process has con-tributed to greater transparency and improved pol-icy dialogue between governments and civil societyon poverty reduction issues. During fiscal years2002–2004, countries brought forward 14 interimstrategy papers, 35 full papers, and 21 annualprogress reports. During fiscal year 2004, 10 coun-tries received Poverty Reduction Support Credits tosupport country-owned poverty reduction priori-ties. (For a description of participatory processes

9 Countries generally prepare three types of documents as part of the PRSP process: an initial interim strategy paper, a fullpaper, and an annual progress report. The interim paper is designed for those countries that are currently not in a positionto complete a full paper but that need to start applying for debt relief under the Heavily Indebted Countries Program initia-tive or access other Bank/Fund concessional assistance. Once the full PRSP is completed and being implemented, countriesreport progress in implementing the strategy paper through annual progress reports. Once the full strategy papers are adopt-ed, the Bank prepares a Country Assistance Strategy that is in line with the government’s poverty reduction plans. Countriescan then apply for a variety of financing instruments such as investment loans, adjustment loans, or IDA credits to imple-ment the strategy paper. A new instrument established within the strategy paper framework is the Poverty Reduction SupportCredits (PRSCs), which provide financial support for the implementation of strategies with multiple-year financing of nation-al budgets linked to needed reforms in critical economic, financial, structural, and social areas.

An interesting example of the Bank’s support of community radio is theCommunity Empowerment and Local Governance Project (CEP) inTimor-Leste. After most of the country’s infrastructure was destroyed byviolence related to the process for independence in 1999, radio becamea key source for news and entertainment. The project provides smallgrants for community infrastructure, small-scale economic activities, cul-tural preservation, and social reconciliation efforts. It also supports theestablishment of community radio stations in selected districts to fosterparticipation and provide communities with access to information andvoice. For many communities, these stations are their only way toengage in their new democracy and connect with the outside world.

CEP’s support for radio began with the provision of small equipmentand training for district reporters. Afterwards, the component helpedwith formation of district media and culture boards, which requestedassistance to set up the community radio stations. The component alsoassisted with establishment of the Community Radio Center, a hubexpected to provide continuous support to the radio stations long afterthe project ends. The project provided equipment, training to reporters,managers and technicians, and small start-up operating costs. Theseindependent entities, owned by the community and directed by com-munity-based boards, began broadcasting in fiscal 2002. For more infor-mation, search for the Community Empowerment and Local Gover-nance Project (03) in the Bank’s Project Database (see Annex III) .

Box 8: Increasing Voice through CommunityRadio in Timor-Leste

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carried out in the preparation or implementationof interim and full poverty reduction strategiesapproved during fiscal years 2002–2004, see AnnexII.) Below are some examples of civil societyinvolvement in the various stages of the strategypaper process, from preparation and discussion tomonitoring its implementation.

• In Armenia, the overwhelming majority of par-ticipants of the 10 technical working groups forthe strategy report preparation were from civilsociety.

• In Bangladesh, the Bank joined the Ministry ofWomen’s Affairs and other donors to support theestablishment of the Gender Platform, com-posed of government officials and CSO leadersgeared to incorporating gender analysis and con-cerns into the strategy paper.

• In Ghana, the trade union confederation partici-pated in a variety of multi-stakeholder forumsand submitted a wide-ranging report calling formajor changes in government poverty reductionpolicies during the strategy paper drafting phase.

• In Honduras, union representatives participatedin the National Council for Social and Econom-ic Planning, which, under International LaborOrganization auspices, called for a number ofmeasures to be included in the strategy docu-ment.

• In Vietnam, CSOs participated actively in thePoverty Task Force, which has built a sharedunderstanding among government, civil society,and donor agencies on poverty reductionapproaches and served as a key link to the gov-ernment team preparing the strategy paper.

In addition to processes of civic engagement,people can demand accountability through formalstructures of representation and delegation. Themost obvious forums for this are national parlia-ments, or legislatures, which are found in about 90percent of the world’s more than 200 sovereignstates. Parliaments can perform a number of crucialfunctions, including making polices and laws, giv-ing voice to constituents, providing a deliberativeforum for the national debate, and exercising inde-pendent oversight of the executive. In this regard, anumber of countries' parliaments or individual par-liamentarians have been involved in the formula-tion process of the PRSP, and there is evidence thatthe numbers are growing. The Mauritania annual

progress report describes how members of parlia-ment participated in the general assemblies thatformed part of the participatory process, and howfuture efforts will be made to strengthen the parlia-ment’s oversight capacity. In Mozambique, theannual progress report has now become a manda-tory biannual report, Balanco do Programa Eco-nomico e Social, submitted to the parliament. TheMalawi and Guyana strategy papers describe theestablishment of committees designed to strength-en public accountability for poverty reduction andto deepen the role of parliament in governance.

Since the completion of the Bank/Fund PRSPreview in 2002, there is growing evidence in manycountries of increased involvement of parliaments,as opposed to individual members of parliament, inthe process. Nonetheless, there is scope forimprovement and incentives need to be providedfor parliaments to be more fully involved in thePRSP process. These include improved parliamen-tary oversight of the executive branch to ensureimproved service delivery, stronger parliamentarybudget review, and increased parliamentary cooper-ation with civil society in the monitoring of out-comes and evaluation of impacts. The Bank in 2000established the Parliamentary Network on theWorld Bank (PNoWB), which is attempting tostrengthen the role of parliamentarians from 80countries in the formulation and monitoring of thePRSPs.

On the other hand, while participation of tradeunions in strategy processes has intensified, the trackrecord is somewhat mixed. A 2004 study of 19 coun-tries undertaken by a labor union leader on second-ment to the Bank from the International Confedera-tion of Free Trade Unions, showed that while mostunions had been invited to discussions leading toformulation of the strategy papers, none had beenformally included in the implementation, monitor-ing, or evaluation process (See Figure B). The studyidentified a number of weaknesses and shortcom-ings, such as lack of capacity, time constraints, gov-ernment resistance, and lack of structured processes,which had limited effective union participation.However, the study points to cases of good practicesin the preparation of many strategy papers.

Regional forums and thematic workshops onPRSPs and related participatory budgeting initia-tives took place during the past three years with theparticipation of diverse stakeholders, includingCSOs (see Box 9 for a Bank event held in Washing-ton, D.C.). An example was a four-day training

15

workshop held in January 2004 in Dar-es-Salaam,Tanzania, on Budget Analysis and Tanzania’s Partic-ipatory Public Expenditure Review. The objective ofthe workshop was to enhance the capacity of Tan-zanian CSOs in budget analysis by presenting keyprinciples and tools, undertaking practical exercisesin analyzing Tanzania’s budget, and analyzing dif-ferent international experiences with civil societybudget analysis and advocacy. The workshop wassponsored by World Bank Institute, Participationand Civic Engagement Unit, and Social Develop-ment Department staff. It brought together 30 par-ticipants including community leaders, CSO staff,journalists, and local government officials.

Over the past three years, Bank teams workingwith governments on their PRSPs have providedtraining and prepared resource guides to encouragegreater civil society participation in the process. Theresource guides included the PRSP Sourcebook tosupport countries with guidance, tools, and othertechnical advice for strategy paper implementation;the User’s Guide to Poverty and Social Impact Analysis,which highlights some of the key tools that practi-tioners may find useful to analyze poverty andsocial impacts of policy reforms; and Empowermentand Poverty Reduction: A Sourcebook, to improveempowerment practices in the development ofPRSPs and Poverty Reduction Support Credits.Finally, in 2001 the Bank launched the PRSP TrustFund with contributions from the Netherlands,Japan, and Switzerland. It provides grants of up to$500,000 to governments and other stakeholdersincluding CSOs working with national teams to

Figure B: Participation of Labor Unions in PRSPs

COUNTRIES LEVELS OF PARTICIPATION

SUBSTANTIAL PARTIAL NONE

Bosnia/Herzegovina XCambodia XDemocratic Republic Congo XEthiopia XGeorgia XGhana XGuyana XHonduras XIndonesia XKenya XMalawi XMongolia XNicaragua XPakistan XSenegal XSri Lanka XTanzania XUganda XZambia X

TOTAL 7 10 2

DEFINITON OF TERMS:

Substantial: Unions and other CSOs were consulted at various stages of the PRSP processby submitting suggestions and other documents duringthe drafting phase. Unions wereactively involved in workshops, forums, and other meetings, and strategy documentsreflected some of their concerns.

Partial: Unions sought to be included in the initial and full strategy paper drafting phases.Unions participated in some forums or other meetings, but they did not receive the infor-mation they needed in a timely manner or in a usable format, and drafters did notinclude union representatives or take up their suggestions.

No: Unions were not invited to participate or included in the process.

Source: “Trade Union Participation in the PRSP Process,” Social Protection Discussion Paper0417, [Lawrence Egulu, World Bank ] August 2004.

The workshop Democratizing Development: Deepen-ing Social Accountability through PRSPs, held Septem-ber 25, 2002, in Washington, D.C., before the Bank’sannual meetings, was cohosted by World Vision andthe Bank, as part of the one-day conference on Pover-ty Reduction Strategy Papers and accountability. Some160 participants attended, including NGOs from boththe North and the South, government representativesfrom PRSP countries such as Tanzania, Mauritania, andUganda, bilateral donors, United Nations agenciessuch as the United Nations Development Program andUNICEF, and staff from the Bank and the InternationalMonetary Fund.

Box 9: Bank–Civil Society Workshop on Poverty Reduction Strategy Papers and Social Accountability

The workshop explored how NGOs and policy mak-ers can best use the new space created by PRSPs toincrease transparency and accountability and aid effec-tiveness. It was organized around two main plenariesand four breakout sessions covering themes such asstrategy papers and their relationship with the rule oflaw, human rights and strategy papers, new civil socie-ty networks developing in the PRSP context, and budg-et accountability. A synthesis of the proceedings isavailable in the Bank’s PRSP website (see Annex III).

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strengthen the PRSP process. Full reports of thesestudies and complementary materials are availableon the Bank’s participation website (see annex III).

As part of its efforts to monitor and improve thestrategy paper process, the Bank and the Interna-tional Monetary Fund undertook a two-year reviewof the program process, including country assess-ments, studies, and technical workshops. Theresults of the review were discussed at a conferencein Washington, D.C., in January 2002, whichbrought together more than 200 participants fromdeveloping countries, donor agencies, and civilsociety groups, including more than 40 nationaland international CSOs that presented their inde-pendent assessments of the process. The centralmessage that emerged from the review is that whilethe openness and effectiveness of the process hasvaried depending on the country context, in gener-al it is leading to better-informed decision makingand more effective use of public resources. In manycountries, the process has allowed civil society toget involved for the first time in governmentmacroeconomic and social policy planning andprogram implementation. Conference proceedings,including copies of CSO reports, can be viewed atthe Bank’s PRSP website.

Finally, two desk reviews of PRSPs by the Bank’sSocial Development Department in fiscal years2002–2003 provided preliminary evidence on theextent of stakeholder participation in the processand helped to identify both constraints and oppor-

tunities to enhance civil society participation.Among other findings, the study pointed to theneed for “institutionalizing” the process. Thisrequires translating the strategic framework intobudget decisions, policy and sector reforms, invest-ment plans, public expenditure managementreforms, and improved public services. The studyalso found that effective civil society involvement inthe process is only possible if participation is main-streamed at all operational levels of public admin-istration and in all sectors of development. Withmore participating countries finalizing their strate-gy, the attention has shifted from preparation toissues of implementation and monitoring.

WB-CSO Joint Conference on PRSP and Social Accountability in Washington, DC (September 2002)

Regional Community-Driven Development “Training of Trainers” Workshopin Tanzania (March 2004)

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During the past three years, the World Bank hasintensified its operational collaboration andentered into important new institutional

partnerships with CSOs, particularly at the countrylevel. Increased operational relations have occurredin various ways, including greater involvement ofCSOs in Bank lending, providing grants to civil soci-ety, sharing knowledge and joint training initiatives,and developing new programmatic partnerships inareas such as the environment, AIDS, and corporatesocial responsibility. This section will describe thegrowing involvement of civil society in Bank opera-tions and the major collaborative efforts undertakenat the global, regional, and country levels.

Mainstreaming Civil Society Involvement in Bank-Funded Projects

Involvement by CSOs in Bank-funded projects grewconsistently during fiscal years 2002–2004. It com-prised a wide range of activities, including contract-ing with government agencies to deliver social serv-ices such as AIDS prevention, managing villagewater systems, running day care centers, advancingmicro- and small-enterprise development, and par-ticipating in environmental park management. Thisinvolvement included CSOs receiving Bank fundsthrough governments—via Community-DrivenDevelopment or social funds—to promote commu-nity development and institutional strengthening ofcivil society groups. CSOs also contracted with theBank to carry out research (environmental or socialimpact analysis), provide technical assistance (assistwith project design and implementation), under-take capacity building (training of community lead-ers), and participate in monitoring and evaluationefforts (of projects and PRSPs). It is important tostress that civil society involvement in service provi-sion and training activities is not intended toreplace the role of government, but rather to com-plement and improve government action.

A review of Bank-financed projects approved bythe Board during fiscal years 2002–2004 found thatcivil society involvement in World Bank-supportedoperations climbed consistently over the threeyears.10 The review of approved projects found thatduring fiscal year 2002, 162, or 67 percent, of the243 projects approved by the Bank’s Board of Direc-tors reported some form of civil society involve-ment. During fiscal year 2003, the review found that186, or 71 percent, of the 261 projects financed hadcivil society participation. In fiscal year 2004, thepercentage grew slightly as 194, or 74 percent, ofthe 262 total projects supported had civil societyinvolvement. See Figure C for a historic perspectiveon how CSO participation has grown significantly

Operational Collaboration andInstitutional Partnerships

3

10 It should be noted that the Bank’s lending portfolio for thereported period included loans from IBRD and credits fromthe IDA. It also includes investment loans (social, environ-mental, infrastructure, and so forth) as well as adjustmentloans (budget support).

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over time since 1990. It is important to note that theportfolio review undertaken is based on an analysisof the Project Appraisal Documents, President’sReports, and Public Information Documents whichare produced and disseminated during the prepara-tion phase of Bank-funded projects. Thus the figurespresented report on actual civil society participationactivities undertaken during the identification,preparation, and appraisal stages of the projectcycle, but can only report on intended involvementduring the subsequent implementation, monitor-ing, and evaluation phases.

Below are some examples of civil societyinvolvement in Bank-financed projects.

• In China, women’s federations have participatedactively in the design of the Anning Valley region-al development project by sitting on the man-agement council and carrying out skills training(see Box 10).

• In Afghanistan, two well known CSOs—CARE(United States) and BRAC (Bangladesh)—wereselected by the Ministry of Education to helpimplement a $15 million education project infive provinces.

• In Kenya, more than 1,200 CSOs have receivedfunding to implement village-level AIDS preven-tion and treatment programs as part of theBank’s Multi-Country HIV/AIDS Program.

• In Mexico, producers’ associations, labor unions,and NGOs participate actively in the SustainableDevelopment Regional Councils of a large ruraldevelopment project.

• In Turkey, several CSOs participate in the SocialRisk Mitigation Project by serving on one of itsadvisory boards, organizing community devel-opment efforts, and providing social services.

Figure C: Civil Society Involvement in World Bank Projects, Fiscal Years 1990–2004

0

50

100

150

200

250

300

350

0

10

20

30

40

50

60

70

80

1990 1991 1992 1993 1994 1995 1996 1997 1998 1999 2000 2001 2002 2003 2004

Fiscal Year

Source: Desk review of World Bank documents conducted by the World Bank’s Social Development Department.

Note: The gray columns indicate total number of new IBRD and IDA loans each fiscal year, and orange columns indicate the loansthat reported involvement by civil society in the identification, planning, and appraisal phases. The transversal line indicates the per-centage of the orange in relation to the gray columns, which represents, in turn, the percentage of World Bank projects with CSOinvolvement each fiscal year.

0

10

20

30

40

50

60

70

80

90

100

Seminars/Workshop

Public hearings,

village meetings

Surveys

Interviews

Focus groups

Dissemination of

written materials

Other

60%55%

37%

13%17%

30%

24%

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• In West Bank and Gaza, CSOs manage severallarge community development and service provi-sion projects, such as the Hebron District Commu-nity Development Program.

An in-depth review of the quality of civil societyparticipation in Bank-financed loans, carried out forfiscal 2002 approved projects, indicates that clientcountries employ or provide for a variety of levels ofparticipation in project development. The Bankused four broadly defined “levels of participation”for this review: information sharing (one-way com-munication), consultation (two-way communica-tion), collaboration (shared control over decisionsand resources), and empowerment (transfer of con-trol over decisions and resources). Figure D showsthat most projects with civil society involvementreported higher levels of participation during thefirst phases (information-sharing and consultation)as opposed to the later stages of participation (col-laboration and empowerment).

The review of approved projects during fiscal year2002 also showed types of participatory approachesused or planned in project development. Figure E

Source: Portfolio review of projects conducted by the World Bank’s SocialDevelopment Department, Fiscal Year 2002.

The World Bank funds an agricultural developmentloan that fosters an active partnership between theChinese government and local women’s groups.The Anning Valley Agricultural Development Pro-ject in southwest Sichuan Province aims to supportlocal development and poverty reduction throughdevelopment of water resources, crops, livestock,agro-processing, and institutional building. The$120 million project covers 15 poor rural counties,many in remote, mountainous areas.

Local women’s federations were closelyinvolved in the project planning and design stages,as well as in implementation. In Panzhihua City, forinstance, the women’s groups sit on the projectmanagement board, and they mobilized women toparticipate in the project through information dis-tribution and meetings. The women’s federationshelped organize 507 agricultural training work-shops involving 49,000 women, which includedextensive field study tours. These activities haveserved to increase women’s production capacityand empowered them to start reducing the gendergap within the community and their own house-holds.

Box 10: Empowering Women inRural China

0

10

20

30

40

50

60

70

80

90

100

Information Sharing

Consultation

90%

57%

29%

99%

Collaboration Empowerment

Figure D: Levels of Civil Society Participation in World BankProjects, Fiscal Year 2002

Figure E: Types of Participatory Methodologies Used in WorldBank Projects, Fiscal Year 2002

Source: Portfolio review of projects conducted by the World Bank’s Social Development Department, Fiscal Year 2002.

20

shows a preference for public hearings, village-levelmeetings, seminars, and workshops over othermethodologies such as surveys, focus groups, anddissemination of written materials.

Scaling Up Civil Society CommunityDevelopment Efforts

In 2000 the Bank introduced a new approach tosupport the grassroots development efforts of civilsociety. Community-Driven Development (CDD)aims to give voice to and empower communitygroups to control decisions and resources that affecttheir lives and is a framework for linking communi-ty resource management with participatory gover-nance and institutional reform. These programstake many forms, including direct community con-trol of resources and investment decisions throughsocial funds; management of resources by local gov-ernments or other actors (such as CSOs or consul-tancy firms) with participatory decision making andcitizen monitoring mechanisms; and activities tostrengthen the enabling environment for greatercivil society participation. These include public sec-tor policy and institutional reform, participatorybudgeting, and decentralization processes.

Investments in Community-Driven Develop-ment programs and projects represent about 10percent of the World Bank’s portfolio, or approxi-mately $2 billion a year, and are being implement-ed all over the world (see Box 11). The Bank con-siders Community-Driven Development to be aneffective mechanism for poverty reduction, as it

complements government and private sector effortsby achieving immediate and lasting results at thegrassroots level. By devolving responsibility to thelocal level, Community-Driven Development hasthe potential to be scaled up by occurring simulta-neously in a very large number of small-scale com-munities, thus achieving far-reaching povertyimpact. Finally, well-designed programs are inclu-sive of poor and vulnerable groups, build positivesocial capital, and give these groups greater voiceboth in their community and with governmentagencies.

One of the most common mechanisms withinthe CDD approach is social funds, which offergrants to community groups to rebuild war-torncommunities, provide social services, and carry outcommunity development efforts. Social funds arethe oldest and largest grant mechanisms financedby the Bank. Social funds are always managed bygovernments and can vary considerably dependingon their specific objectives, operational modality,and country context. Over the past 15 years theBank has financed more than 100 social funds in 60countries, for a total of $4 billion.

In addition, many large Bank loans managed byfederal or state governments have small-grantsmechanisms geared to funding civil society initia-tives that complement larger government programs.This is the case, for instance, with community pre-vention efforts funded within national AIDS loansand grants to small farmers provided within largerregional development loans. During the past threefiscal years, the most significant social funds were

In 2000, the Bank’s Europe and Central Asia regionoutlined a strategy to scale up Community-DrivenDevelopment initiatives through their integration intoinstitutional reform measures, state decentralizationprograms, and Bank loans. The goal was to use thisapproach to improve development effectiveness, buildsocial capital, strengthen governance, and reduce cor-ruption in the region. Four countries and a subregionwere identified as priority areas to implement pilot pro-grams: Albania, Armenia, Romania, Russia, and CentralAsia (Kazakhstan, Kyrgyz Republic, Tajikistan, andUzbekistan).

Box 11: Scaling Up Community-Driven Development in Europe and Central Asia

During fiscal years 2002–2004, several new CDDprograms were funded in these countries and else-where. In Azerbaijan, for instance, a proposed RuralInvestment Project is expected to have a large compo-nent that will be developed in consultation with civilsociety. In May 2002 the World Bank and the Albaniangovernment organized a regional Community-DrivenDevelopment workshop in Tirana to promote informa-tion exchange and provide training and hold policy dis-cussions on implementing such programs in CentralAsia. Government officials, CSO leaders, and donoragency representatives from 10 countries attended.

21

established in Africa to fight the AIDS pandemic inthat region (see Box 12).

Supporting CSO Initiatives through Grant Funding

While the World Bank’s principal mandate andactivity is to provide loan credits to governments, ithas also established numerous funding mecha-nisms over the past two decades to provide grants tocivil society. These grant funds were established inorder to pilot new approaches for government—civil society partnerships; support civil society serv-ice delivery at the community level; strengthenCSOs and their networks; and support innovativeand cutting-edge initiatives. Grants are providedboth indirectly, via government-run CommunityDevelopment-Driven and social funds (see previoussection), or directly, through World Bank-managedgrant programs and trust funds.

The grant programs provide funding directly toCSOs in a variety of areas such as environment,micro-credit, post-conflict reconstruction, informa-tion technology, human rights, civic engagement,and innovative practices. These funds support CSOsat the global, regional, and country levels and areoften managed in partnership with other donoragencies.

The oldest such fund is the Small Grants Pro-gram, which was established in the early 1980s andtoday supports civic engagement activities by localCSOs in some 65 countries. The program empha-sizes two overarching approaches for promoting

civic engagement: enhancing dialogue, andstrengthening relations between CSOs and govern-ments. The program is managed locally at BankCountry Offices, and its specific program focus andoperational format vary according to country con-text and demand. During fiscal year 2004 the pro-gram funded approximately 500 CSO projects in 68countries, each averaging $4,800, for a total of $2.4million. Below are several examples of civic engage-ment activities funded at the local level.

• In Cambodia the Operations Enfants de Battam-bang pushed for the implementation of laws pro-tecting children’s rights and building victims’confidence in the capacity of CSOs and publicauthorities to address cases of abuse.

• A radio “soap opera” production in Albaniaserved to raise public awareness and cooperationin addressing the problem of the trafficking ofwomen and children.

• In the Dominican Republic CSOs were fundedto advocate for policy reforms geared to improv-ing government response to the HIV/AIDS pandemic.

• A women’s association in Chad taught tradition-al dances to youth groups in order to impartleadership skills.

• In Bangladesh, the Center for Rural Develop-ment based in Chittagong facilitated the forma-tion of the Child Parliament through a leadershipdevelopment program for children and adoles-cents.

More than 25 million Africans are living with HIV/AIDS,and more than 20 million have died of AIDS, with dev-astating social and economic consequences. Toaddress the pandemic, the Bank joined other donoragencies and launched the multicountry HIV/AIDS pro-gram for Africa (MAP) in 2000. The program initiallyearmarked $1 billion as grants to scale up nationalHIV/AIDS efforts in 28 countries and support subre-gional initiatives.

One of the key features of the program is that halfof the funds––$500 million––have to be channeled toCSOs such as faith-based organizations, community

Box 12: Partnering with Civil Society to Fight AIDS in Africa

groups, trade unions, and NGOs. More than 20,000small-scale projects have been funded to date in suchareas as AIDS treatment, surveillance, prevention, andeducation at the local level. In Ghana, for instance,2,500 subprojects have been funded, and in Ethiopia4,600 villages have been reached. The program alsostresses greater civil society and private sector partici-pation in the design and implementation of the nation-al AIDS programs, through participation in NationalHIV/AIDS Councils. Some 38 African countries havenational councils that are receiving support through themulticountry program.

22

The SmGP commissioned an independent studyin 2003 by two research NGOs—PACT and the Edu-cation Development Center—to assess the pro-gram’s results and impact. The study found that theprogram effectively strengthens civic engagement bysupporting the following local activities: raisingawareness and changing attitudes about marginal-ized groups (63 percent); promoting consultationand negotiation with the public sector (25 percent);and building coalitions/strengthening networks (12percent). The SMGP has also attempted to share itsexperience and build partnerships with other donoragencies with with whom it cofunds many of itsgrants.

Below is a description of other grant funds andactivities during the past three fiscal years.

• Global Environment Facility (GEF) fundsworldwide environmental conservation and bio-diversity protection efforts. In fiscal year 2003,the facility disbursed $18.2 million through itssmall grants programs in some 60 countries(grants range from $20,000 to $50,000).

• Consultative Group to Assist the Poorest(CGAP) supports the scaling-up and consolida-tion of local successful micro-enterprise initia-tives. In fiscal year 2003, CGAP disbursed $9.8million to 33 projects (grants range from$10,000 to $2.6 million).

• Post-Conflict Fund supports reconstructionefforts in 36 countries. In fiscal year 2003, thefund disbursed $11.8 million to 16 new projectsand $13 million to ongoing projects (averagegrant size of $737,000).

• InfoDev supports civil society knowledge man-agement, information technology, and internetinitiatives around the world. In fiscal year 2003,the program disbursed $3.3 million (averagegrant size of $125,000).

• Development Marketplace is a competition thatfunds innovative and replicable civil society proj-ects in areas such as human rights, environment,gender, and small-enterprise development (seeBox 13).

The Bank also manages trust funds supported bydeveloped country governments. They generallysupport institutional strengthening and capacity-building activities, as well as Bank programs such aspoverty reduction, debt relief, and education. TheBank’s trust fund portfolio expanded in fiscal year2003 and experienced a 70 percent increase in fundsover the previous year, with contributions receivedfrom donor agencies totaling $4.4 billion. Thesetrust funds support both ongoing and cutting edgedevelopment efforts in a variety of areas such asenvironmental protection, post-conflict reconstruc-

The Development Marketplace was established in1998 to support innovative and replicable develop-ment ideas by linking social entrepreneurs withresources to help realize their vision. Over the past fiveyears, the program has awarded more than $24 millionto support more than 400 development projectsundertaken by CSOs, small businesses, and govern-ment agencies. Initiatives supported to date haveincluded developing a cut wildflower industry as a con-servation-based alternative to current exploitive har-vesting practices in South Africa, registering women toobtain access to government benefits in Egypt, andusing TV subtitling to promote literacy in India. Theprogram operates on two levels.

• At the global level, the Development Marketplaceholds an annual project competition in Washington,D.C., that has awarded almost $19 million since1998. Award sizes range from $30,000 to $250,000,and occasionally special prizes are offered in areas

Box 13: Supporting Civil Society Innovation and Replication Worldwide

like biodiversity conservation. For its 2003 GlobalCompetition, the program received some 2,700proposals and awarded $6.5 million to 47 organiza-tions from 27 countries. The global competition alsoincludes a “knowledge exchange” fair that enablesall participants to share their experiences and net-work with their fellow development entrepreneurs.

• At the regional and national levels, the DM hostslocal competitions whose themes vary widelydepending on the major development issues ineach country. Typical awards are $10,000, and mostwinners are national or local CSOs. In several pastcases—Peru, Thailand, and Ethiopia––awardsincluded joint funding with the Bank’s Small GrantsProgram. Through mid-2004, the DevelopmentMarketplace has awarded about $6 million in grantawards to diverse and innovative projects throughcountry-level marketplaces.

23

tion, and gender equity. There are more than 80active trust funds, ranging from very large ones suchas the Heavily Indebted Countries Program (dis-bursed $751 million in fiscal year 2003), to individ-ual projects such as the Nile Basin Initiative. Mosttrust funds are managed at Bank headquarters inWashington, D.C., but some are managed at theregional or country level. Some of the better knowntrust funds are the Global Environment Facility, theJapan Social Development Fund, the Poverty Reduc-tion Strategy Trust Fund, the Gender Fund, the Pol-icy and Human Resources Development Fund, andthe Bank-Netherlands Partnership Program.

While most trust funds were established to sup-port Bank and government development initiatives,many have begun to earmark funding for CSOs. Thisis the case, for instance of the Global EnvironmentFacility, the Japan Social Development Fund,Afghanistan Reconstruction, the Global Fund forIndigenous Peoples, and the West Bank and GazaFunds. In order to gain access to these funds, CSOsgenerally must partner with a government agencyand/or a World Bank unit and jointly submit a pro-posal to the trust fund office. Funds can then bechanneled to CSOs or managed directly by them. SeeBox 14 for an example of how CSOs are accessing thepoverty reduction funds of the Japan Social Develop-ment Fund.

Sharing Knowledge and Joint Training Initiatives

The Bank advanced considerably on sharing knowl-edge and promoting joint training initiatives withCSOs during the past three years. The Bank contin-ued to mainstream new instruments for knowledge-sharing such as videoconferences, web-based con-sultations, and CSO internet portals. As mentionedearlier, videoconferencing was used increasingly tocarry out consultations and provide training toCSOs in the developing world. These sessions eitherused videoconferencing facilities at 70 Bank offices

The Government of Japan and the Bank establishedthe Japan Social Development Fund in June 2000 topromote poverty reduction in low-income countries inthe wake of the Asian economic crisis. The fund sup-ports poverty alleviation initiatives complementinglarger Bank-financed projects in such areas as educa-tion, health, and infrastructure. The fund also supportspartnership building by encouraging the participationof CSOs in grant design, implementation, and man-agement.

JSDF grants have supported community and at-risk population programs, micro-credit facilities, com-munity investment funds, teacher training, creation ofcommunity-based institutions, public health aware-ness programs, and small-scale infrastructure proj-ects. CSOs implemented some 40 percent of the

Box 14: Japanese Trust Fund Support of Civil Society Poverty Reduction Efforts

fund’s portfolio, which provided $62 million to support57 grants during fiscal years 2001–2002.

For example, a $2.6 million grant in Tajikistan tothe Community-Based Urban Water Supply Manage-ment Project aims to improve access to basic waterservices and reduce risks of typhoid fever epidemics.Community groups participated in the grant designprocess. A project funded by the Japan Social Devel-opment Fund in the Philippines is working to increaseparticipation of the poor and other citizens in trackingthe incidence of poverty and increasing accountabilityof local government budgetary and expenditureprocesses. In Benin, extensive participatory researchidentified the risks and causes of child trafficking.Local families, community groups, and CSOs partici-pated in implementing a pilot program to assist at-riskfamilies and bring trafficked children home.

CSO display booths during Development Marketplace’sGlobal Competition (Washington, DC—December 2003)

24

or took place at sites maintained by the GlobalDevelopment Learning Network, located in morethan 40 countries. The 2003 World DevelopmentReport on sustainable development held threevideoconferences with CSOs in 15 countries thatinvolved more than 100 participants from countriesas varied as China, Jordan, and Colombia. In addi-tion, several CSOs used the Bank’s videoconferenc-ing facilities to carry out their own training or policy dialogue activities. The Rigoberta MenchuFoundation (Mexico) and Uraccan University(Nicaragua) organized several videoconferences in2001 to allow indigenous leaders from 10 countriesto strategize and prepare policy positions for theUnited Nations Conference on Human Rights, heldin South Africa.

The use of the internet for policy discussions andconsultations was also honed during the past threeyears. Nearly every consultation process undertakenon operational policy reviews, or major studies suchas the World Development Reports, employed web-based consultations. The World Bank Institute alsointroduced a permanent site for web-based discus-sions called Development Forum which sponsorednumerous “electronic dialogues” over the past threeyears on such topics as governance, PRSPs, AIDS,

youth, and corporate social responsibility. CSOsthat have used the platform to promote dialogueinclude Transparency International and Panos Insti-tute London. The Bank also consolidated severalprograms to strengthen civil society knowledgemanagement initiatives on the internet. This includ-ed funding information and communications tech-nologies via InfoDev (see previous section) as wellas inviting CSO participation in the DevelopmentGateway, a global web-based portal for promotingknowledge and information exchange on develop-ment (see Box 15).

The Bank also expanded its training activitieswith and for CSOs. These efforts ranged from tech-nical skills training and policy analysis courses toinstitutional capacity-building workshops. Whilesome of the training took place at the global andregional levels, the great majority occurred at thecountry level, often tied to efforts to improve the performance of Bank-financed projects. Thetraining was quite diverse and included thematicareas such as gender equity, environmental conser-vation, AIDS prevention, and labor policies. Beloware examples of the training undertaken over thepast three years.

The Bank launched the Development Gateway in 2000 in part-nership with governments, donor agencies, and CSOs. Duringthe past three years, the Gateway continued to expand its part-nership with civil society in a variety of ways. First, the number ofCSO representatives who registered on the many Gateway top-ics has grown steadily, and by June 2003 it had reached tens ofthousands. The NGO page, for instance, has more than 8,000registered users, mainly from civil society. An estimated 40 per-cent of the 95,000 registered users of the Gateway are consid-ered part of civil society, the remaining being from governments,the private sector, or donor agencies.

Second, several dozen CSOs such as PACT, PlaNet Finance,and Grupo de Análisis y Desarrollo Institucional y Social, (GADIS)serve as guides or cooperating organizations on half of the 30content pages in such areas as Civic Engagement, IndigenousIssues, and Gender and Development. Third, CSOs are manag-ing a number of Country Gateways, which are local web portalsestablished and managed by independent organizations such asprivate companies, universities, government agencies, andCSOs. CSOs in the following countries partnered with the Gate-

way, governments, and private companies to run country gate-ways: Peru (Peruvian Center for Social Research/CEPES), Roma-nia (Civil Society Development Foundation), and Venezuela(SINERGIA). In Colombia, for example, the Gateway provided agrant to the Colombian Confederation of NGOs and COLNO-DO, a well-known internet-promotion NGO, to develop theColombian Country Gateway “Avanza.” The portal includes up-to-date information on Colombian civil society, government pro-grams, funding sources, and an innovative database whereCSOs can sign up to publicize their work and seek partnerships.

Fourth, CSOs are beginning to post their projects onto theAccessible Information on Development Activities (AiDA),which is a global projects database containing information onmore than 480,000 development projects funded by more than30 donor agencies. Several CSOs, such as the MacArthur Foun-dation, have joined AiDA by adding their own projects to thedatabase. Finally, several well-known leaders from the internetfield represented civil society on the independent Gateway Edi-torial Committee, providing guidance on the Gateway’s contentpolicy.

Box 15: Sharing Knowledge on the Development Gateway

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• Indigenous Rights: In Latin America, the WBIand Development Gateway partnered during fis-cal 2003 with the Fondo Indigena to organizefour workshops involving some 160 indigenousleaders from five Andean countries on such top-ics as intercultural public policies, project man-agement, exercise of collective rights, and Infor-mation and Communications Technologies.

• PRSP Participation: In December 2003, a 6-daycapacity-building course on improving participa-tion within the PRSPs was held in Zambia for 60trade union leaders from Angola, Ghana, Kenya,Malawi, Mozambique, Tanzania, Uganda, Zam-bia, and Zimbabwe, together with governmentofficials and staff from the Bank and the Interna-tional Monetary Fund.

• Gender Equity: A workshop via videoconferenc-ing on Gender Equality and Good Governance washeld during the first semester of 2004 for gov-ernment, CSO, and university leaders from fourCentral Asia countries: Kazakhstan, Kyrgyzstan,Tajikistan, and Uzbekistan.

• Social Inclusion: A distance learning one-daycourse on social inclusion was organized in Jan-uary 2004 with some 25 community leaders,NGO trainers, and government officials fromMalaysia and the Philippines.

• Corporate Social Responsibility: The WorldBank Institute carried out a number of trainingand dissemination initiatives to encourage youthto promote the corporate social responsibilityagenda. In April 2002, more than 1,100 students,young professionals, and entrepreneurs frommore than 100 countries participated in a web-based discussion on community-driven develop-ment, combating HIV/AIDS, and corruption. TheWorld Bank Institute also worked with businessschools and universities around the world (theWharton School, Net Impact, and the HigherSchool of Economics in Moscow) to integratetraining on business ethics, corporate accounta-bility, and transparency in their curricula.

• Participatory Public Expenditure Management:The World Bank Institute’s Poverty ReductionUnit and the Bank's Social Development Depart-ment conducted several in-country workshopsand distance learning courses to enhance capaci-ties of CSOs, government officials, and otherstakeholders in participatory public expendituremanagement and economic literacy in 2003.

While much of the training took place in face-to-face sessions, trainers increasingly relied on dis-tance-learning technologies such as videoconferenc-ing. In some cases, CSOs utilized the videoconfer-encing equipment available in Bank offices or at the28 semi-independent video conferencing centersthat are part of the Global Development LearningNetwork to promote their own training. The Bankalso continued, during this period, a global civilsociety networking and capacity-building initiativegeared to promoting grassroots entrepreneurship(see Box 16).

The World Bank Institute’s Community Empow-erment and Social Inclusion (CESI) program sup-ports capacity building for civil society by promot-ing knowledge sharing among civil society practi-tioners, national and local government officials,media representatives, and other stakeholders.Learning methodologies include workshops, needsassessments, videoconferences, roundtables, expo-sure visits, and web-based learning. Together with

The Global Coalition for Voices of the Poor was conceived as a series ofnetworking and capacity-building forums geared to support civil socie-ty coalitions pursuing innovative means to reduce poverty and enhancethe well-being of disenfranchised people. The initiative was launched inresponse to the findings of “Voices of the Poor,” a participatory qualita-tive research project carried out by the Bank in 2000 to hear the viewsof 60,000 poor men and women from 60 countries on the causes andimpacts of poverty.

Since 2000, the Coalition has organized a series of global workshopsto share experiences and brainstorm about how best to support con-nections and build the capacity of civil society grassroots networks.Workshops have brought together poor people’s federations and net-works from around the world with governments, World Bank, and otherdonor agencies. CSO networks that participated included TARAhaatand Self Employment Women’s Association (India), Fair Trade LabelingOrganization (Germany), Caucus of Development NGO Networks/ CODE-NGO) (Philippines), People’s Assembly of Thailand, ConservationInternational (Madagascar), and Committee for Democratization ofInformation/CDI (Brazil).

Issues discussed have included how to increase the voice of the poorin decision making, the role of information and communications tech-nology in poverty reduction, and ways to promote grassroots entrepre-neurship. The most recent workshops were held in June 2001 in Bara-mati, India, and in June 2002 in Washington, D.C. The first focused onthe use of information and communications technologies and the sec-ond on the development of a proposal to establish a fund for supportof poor people’s entrepreneurship and organizations.

Box 16: Global Forums for Empowering theVoices of the Poor

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other World Bank Institute programs and unitsacross the World Bank, CESI undertook differentinitiatives in the past three years including: a globalprogram on traditional structures and local gover-nance for community empowerment networks inAzerbaijan, Kyrgyz Republic, Tajikistan, and Uzbek-istan; a program on civic participation in subna-tional budgeting in selected countries of LatinAmerica and Anglophone Africa; and a program onscaling up community-driven development inAfrica. Through these programs, CESI trained sever-al hundred indigenous leaders from Latin America,women community leaders from Africa, and youthand community leaders from Eastern Europe innegotiation skills, participatory budget monitoring,and civic participation. For further information onCESI, visit the Bank’s participation and civicengagement website (see Annex III) .

Finally, the Bank’s Civil Society Team carried outtraining on Bank–civil society engagement, bothinternally for Bank staff and externally for CSOs. Six1-day Stakeholder Consultation training workshopswere held for approximately 30 Bank staff, includ-ing task managers, sector leaders, and social ana-lysts. The program included presentations on civilsociety and the conceptual underpinnings of partic-ipation, panels on Bank experience with participa-tory approaches, and interactive simulations ondesigning consultations. CSO representatives andacademics were invited to serve as speakers and asparticipants in these workshops.

The external sessions were focused on providingCSOs with a better understanding on how the Bankoperates. Two training sessions on the World Bankgovernance structure, policies, and programs wereprovided to CSO network in Rome, Italy, and Bonn,Germany, during June 2004. These sessions wereorganized jointly with national civil society net-works—NGO Italiane in Italy and Association ofGerman Development Nongovernmental Organiza-tions (VENRO) in Germany—and also involved col-laboration with a French CSO network, AssociationConseil sur le Financement du Développement,which provided a trainer for each of the sessions.The sessions in Italy and Germany lasted for nearlya full day and included presentations on Bank struc-ture and policies, civil society engagementapproach, and opportunities for operational collab-oration. The representative from the French associa-tion complemented these with a presentation onFrench NGOs’ multiyear experience of trying toengage the World Bank. A similar session for Unit-

ed States CSOs was organized by InterAction andheld in Washington, D.C., in October 2003. Formore information on these sessions, includingcopies of the presentations, visit the Civil Societywebsite (see Annex III)

Forging Institutional Partnerships

The Bank continued to maintain and establishmany new partnerships with CSOs in forest conser-vation, AIDS vaccines, rural poverty, micro-creditand internet development. These partnerships alsogenerally involved governments and donor agen-cies such as other development banks, UnitedNations agencies, and nongovernmental fundingagencies. Below are some examples of the ongoingand new partnerships established during the pastthree years.

Bank-Civil Society Pesticides Partnership inAfrica: Virtually every African country has stockpilesof obsolete pesticides and associated wastes thathave accumulated over the past four decades. Anestimated 50,000 tons of obsolete pesticides andtens of thousands of tons of contaminated soil con-tribute to land and water degradation and also poseserious health threats to both rural and urban pop-ulations. The Africa Stockpiles Program was launchedin 2002 to clean up and safely dispose of all obso-lete pesticide stocks from Africa and avoid futureaccumulation. Specifically, the program's objectivesare to clean up stockpiled pesticides and pesticide-contaminated waste in Africa in an environmental-ly sound manner, support prevention measures,and provide capacity building and institutionalstrengthening on important chemical-related issues.Housed in the World Bank, the program bringstogether the skills, expertise, and resources of adiverse group of stakeholders, including the Pesti-cide Action Network, the World Wildlife Fund, sev-eral African governments, and the United NationsEnvironmental Program.

Preserving the Amazon Rainforest: During theWorld Summit on Sustainable Development inJohannesburg in August 2002, the Brazilian govern-ment announced the establishment of a new envi-ronmental conservation program that will set asidean area twice as large as the United Kingdom andinclude samples of all 23 Amazonian eco-regionswith their varied landscapes and genetic resources.The new program, called Protected Amazonian Areas

27

and valued at more than $395 million, supportsBrazilian environmental CSOs and forest commu-nity groups in undertaking environmental assess-ments, managing parks, and monitoring compli-ance. This partnership is carried out by the Ministryof the Environment, the World Wildlife Fund, andthe Bank, and is part of the larger World Bank/ World Wildlife Fund Forest Alliance, which is work-ing with governments, the private sector, and civilsociety to create 50 million hectares of new forestconservation areas and protect an additional 250million hectares of the world’s productive forests.

Global Campaign for Education: Education for Allis a global partnership program launched at theApril 2000 World Education Forum in Senegal toachieve education for “every citizen in every socie-ty.” Specifically, the program is committed to ensur-ing that the Millennium Development Goal on edu-cation is met through fast track funding in 10 coun-tries for universal education and supported bybroad-based partnerships within countries. The pro-gram is managed by UNESCO and includes a dozengovernments (i.e., Brazil, China, Egypt, India,Sudan), CSOs (i.e., Action Aid, Africa NetworkCampaign on Education for All, Arab Resource Col-lective, Global Campaign for Education, and LatinAmerican Adult Education Council/CEEAL, andinternational organizations (i.e., World Bank,UNICEF, DFID, CIDA).

Critical Ecosystem Partnership Fund: In fiscal2001, the Bank joined Conservation Internationaland the Global Environment Facility to launch a$150 million Critical Ecosystems Partnership Fund toprotect the world’s threatened “biodiversityhotspots”—highly threatened regions where some60 percent of all terrestrial species diversity is foundand occupying only 1.4 percent of the planet’s landsurface. The fund will help find solutions that allowpoor people to have a better way of life while at thesame time conserving the biodiversity on whichtheir long-term survival depends.

Global Alliance for Vaccines and Immunization:The Global Alliance for Vaccines and Immunization isa public health initiative aimed at immunizing theworld’s children against vaccine-preventable dis-ease and widening disparities in vaccine accessamong industrial and developing countries. Part-ners include the Bill and Melinda Gates Founda-tion, the Rockefeller Foundation, the International

Federation of Pharmaceutical Manufacturers Asso-ciations, several governments, UNICEF, the WorldHealth Organization, and the World Bank. Theglobal fund received an initial $750 million grantand has supported vaccination programs in morethan 25 countries.

Promoting Corporate Social Responsibility

Corporate Social Responsibility has become in recentyears a worldwide movement promoting socially justand environmentally sustainable policies and prac-tices. At the same time, it has become an importantprogram area for various units in the Bank such asthe IFC, Private Sector Development Department,World Bank Institute, and Development Communi-cations Division. Corporate social responsibility isthe commitment of business to contribute to sus-tainable economic development, working withemployees, their families, and local communities toimprove their quality of life in ways that are bothgood for business and good for society at large. TheBank became involved in the global corporate socialresponsibility movement in the late 1990s throughthe Business Partnerships for Development program,which was established to promote partnerships withprivate companies, governments, and CSOs involvedin corporate social responsibility initiatives.

The Corporate Social Responsibility Practiceunit, located in the Private Sector Development VicePresidency, advises developing country govern-ments on public policy roles and instruments theycan most usefully deploy to encourage corporatesocial responsibility. The unit developed a diagnos-tic and appraisal tool in partnership with otherorganizations designed to help governments align

Training community leaders through Bank-supportedenvironmental program in the Brazilian Amazon

28

corporate social responsibility practices withnational development goals. In the Philippines, forexample, the tool allowed the government to iden-tify a need for broader civil society engagement inits corporate social responsibility initiative, leadingto the development of capacity building workshopsfor local stakeholders.

The corporate social responsibility program ofthe Development Communications Division, for itspart, helps promote dialogue on corporate socialresponsibility and also provides program advice.During fiscal years 2002–2004, the division workedclosely with companies, CSOs, and governments tosupport social responsibility initiatives in theEurope and Central Asia Region. In Poland, the divi-sion worked with the Bank’s country office, IFC, andthe Forum for Responsible Business to establish anadvisory group to promote social responsibilityamong foreign and domestic companies. The Devel-opment Communications Division also helped con-duct opinion surveys on corporate social responsi-bility in partnership with local CSOs in Bulgaria,Croatia, Poland, and Romania, the results of which

were presented at a regional corporate social respon-sibility conference in Warsaw in October 2003. As aresult, the division provides an independent elec-tronic platform for corporate social responsibilityinformation and best practices exchange, which hasattracted more than 40 regional business and NGOpartner organizations in the region.

An additional activity in this area has been effortsby the Bank’s Office of the Treasury in 2003–2004 toreach out to the socially responsible investors (SRI)community, which is a growing segment withinglobal finance, generating some $2.7 trillion a yearworldwide. Activities included issuing sustainabilitybriefs on issues of interest to SRIs and holding meet-ings with investors interested in knowing moreabout the Bank. In June 2004, a day-long workshopwas held in Boston between some 25 social respon-sible investor representatives and Bank staff to dis-cuss such issues as safeguard policies, anticorrup-tion measures, and extractive industries review. Formore information on the Bank’s work in this area,see the corporate social responsibility website inAnnex III.

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The World Bank Group continued to strength-en its civil society engagement efforts at theglobal, regional, and country levels over the

past three years. These included introducing newengagement policies, improving participatorymethodologies, organizing outreach events, andworking to better coordinate Bank staff. This sectionwill report on efforts primarily at the global andregional levels, but will also highlight the engage-ment work carried out in a few countries.

Reaching Out to Civil Society at the IFC

The International Finance Corporation (IFC), theprivate-sector arm of the World Bank Group, isincreasingly recognizing the role of stakeholderengagement in ensuring the success and sustain-ability of its private sector investments worldwide.Consulting with and listening to the views of affect-ed people is of particular importance to the IFCbecause, as part of the World Bank Group, its over-arching mission is to reduce poverty and improvepeople’s lives. The IFC has learned that effectiveengagement with stakeholders, particularly withCSOs, can be instrumental not only in promotingmore socially and environmentally sustainabledevelopment but also in providing tangible busi-ness advantage.

During fiscal years 2002–2004, the IFC contin-ued to promote its sustainability and disclosureagenda by actively consulting and engaging withcivil society groups on a number of policies andprojects. There was also a strengthening of existingand emerging institutional partnerships betweenCSOs and various IFC units that are realizing thebenefits of the technical expertise and local knowl-edge brought by their external partners.

In the policy area, the IFC is reviewing andstrengthening its disclosure policy to formulate con-sistent practices and policies such as third-party proj-ect monitoring reviews and to sponsor self-monitor-ing reports. This disclosure policy review is being

developed through a participatory process. The IFCalso launched the Equator Principles, which are first-of-a-kind guidelines adopted by 24 internationalprivate banks geared to promoting socially responsi-ble and environmentally sustainable lending.

The IFC has made a greater effort to involve localand national CSOs in the design, implementation,and monitoring phases of its projects. In the recent-ly approved Baku-Tbilisi-Ceyhan Oil Pipeline proj-ect, for instance, the project team held 80 meetingswith local, national, and international CSOs to lis-ten, consult, and provide information to ensure thatthe concerns of the citizens were taken into consid-eration. In addition to these meetings, the projectteam conducted six multi-stakeholder meetings inthe three countries to promote transparency andaccountability. For more information on thisprocess, visit the IFC website in Annex III.

During 2003, the IFC’s Civil Society Team under-took an internal study, on IFC–civil society relationsto assess and improve the IFC’s civil society engage-ment efforts. The study documented that during thepast decade, the IFC’s engagement with civil societyhas been moving along a continuum from “con-frontation” to “consultation” and eventual “part-nership,” based on shared values and interests.While much of this interaction has been difficult at times, it has had a positive impact, resulting inthe establishment of a compliance adviser andombudsman office, expansion of the number ofenvironment and social development specialists,and review of its safeguard and disclosure policies.For more information on the study, see Box 17.

The IFC will continue to promote a proactivecivil society engagement strategy that goes beyondresponding to CSO criticisms and demands. Initia-tives such as the Sustainability Framework and theEquator Principles are allowing the IFC to reach outto civil society and involve CSOs in its activities aswell as establish operational partnerships. The IFCengagement strategy must be structured to takeaccount of the diversity within civil society and

Civil Society Engagement at the Global, Regional, and Country Levels

4

30

determine the area of convergence between the IFCand CSOs.

Improving Coordination at the Global Level

The Bank currently has approximately 120 civilsociety focal points, or staff who work throughoutthe institution, reaching out to civil society, provid-ing greater access to the Bank, and promotinggreater civil society participation in Bank activities.These specialists are often senior social scientists orcommunications officers with longstanding experi-ence within the civil society sector, many havingworked in or led CSOs before they joined the Bank.They work in a variety of regional, network, anddepartmental units across the institution at head-quarters in Washington, D.C., as well as in 70 coun-try offices.

Because of the Bank’s decentralized structure, theapproaches and strategies adopted by these civilsociety specialists vary considerably, depending onthematic areas and country contexts. In order toimprove integration and knowledge sharing amongthe civil society specialists, the Bank introduced anew staff coordination structure in 2002. The newstructure consists of three levels—global, region-al/departmental, and country (see Figure F).

Civil Society Country Staff: At the country level,some 80 civil society specialists work in 70 Bank

offices around the world. Country staff carry out avariety of activities, including social analysis, liaisonwith local civil society, managing outreach pro-grams, and providing technical assistance to Bankmanagers and government officials in ways toinvolve CSOs in Bank-financed projects. The civilsociety engagement approach and activities adoptedin each country vary considerably and are necessar-ily shaped by the local context. Information on theactivities carried out by country staff is describedlater in this chapter in the sections on regional andcountry activities.

Civil Society Group: This group brings togetherabout 40 staff members who work at World Bankheadquarters in Washington, D.C., at both theregional and departmental levels in various geo-

The Moving Toward Partnership study had three objectives: toanalyze the IFC’s evolving relationship with civil society over thepast 10 years, to assess the current state of relations, and todevelop recommendations to improve the quality and effective-ness of its civil society engagement efforts. The study concludedthat the IFC’s relations with civil society have evolved positively inrecent years. Certain units of the IFC, such as the Environmentaland Social Development and Small and Medium EnterprisesDepartments, interact more actively with research and servicedelivery CSOs. This improvement in relations has been furtheredby several initiatives such as the establishment of the ComplianceAdviser Ombudsman office, the Equator Principles Initiative, andsenior management’s willingness to dialogue with CSOs.

The study noted that the civil society sector is immensely het-erogeneous in terms of geography (north and south) and work

(advocacy, service delivery, research). The IFC has interacted inrecent years more frequently with northern advocacy CSOsbased in Washington, D.C., and the often difficult nature ofthese relations has led to misperceptions and missed opportu-nities for collaboration between the IFC and broader civil socie-ty community. The study recommended that the IFC broaden itsengagement with civil society by actively expanding its contactand relations with southern CSOs. Internally, the study foundthat the IFC’s sustainability agenda and civil society engagementhave not been uniformly integrated, and as a result not allinvestment officers feel ownership of these policies. The studyrecommends a redoubling of efforts to promote greater staffunderstanding and adherence to the information disclosure andpublic consultation policies of the IFC.

Box 17: Study on International Finance Corporation–Civil Society Relations

Figure F: Civil Society Engagement Staff

Country Level

Regional/Departmental Level

Global Level

CSC

CSG

CST

31

graphic regions, thematic networks, funding mecha-nisms, and other units. Civil society specialists workin the regional departments, providing advice totheir regional vice presidents, formulating regionalcivil society strategies, and coordinating the work oftheir country-based civil society staff. Most majorBank units (i.e., the External Affairs Department andthe World Bank Institute) and thematic networks(i.e., the ESSD and PREM) also have staff responsi-ble for engaging with civil society. There are alsounits established to interact with specific con-stituencies such as labor unions, indigenous peo-ples, faith-based organizations, and foundations.Funding mechanisms such as the GEF, InfoDev, andDevelopment Marketplace also have staff responsi-ble for reaching out to civil society. Many of theseregional, constituency, and departmental units havetheir own regular publications and websites thatdescribe their policies and work. For information onhow to contact Bank civil society staff at the variouslevels and visit the respective websites, visit theBank’s Civil Society website, which has a completestaff list (see Annex III).

Civil Society Team: The Civil Society Team is asmall team from the External Affairs and SocialDevelopment Departments that coordinates theBank’s civil society engagement at the global level.The team provides institutional coordination by for-mulating strategy on engaging civil society, provid-

ing advice to senior management, undertakingresearch and dissemination, and liasing with globalCSO networks. The team initiated, over the pastthree years, several new activities to promote greaterinformation exchange and coordination among theBank’s civil society engagement staff. These include:a monthly internal electronic Civil Society eDigestwhich summarizes civil society views obtained byreviewing more than 60 leading CSO websites;bimonthly information exchange meetings amongBank civil society focal points in Washington, D.C.;and regular dissemination of materials on theBank’s civil society engagement work to countryoffices. The Bank’s Civil Society website wasrevamped in 2003 and now provides more up-to-date information on ongoing policy consultationsand coming events, as well as links to useful projectdatabases and documents across the Bank’s mainwebsite. Finally, the team continued to produce themonthly Civil Society Engagement eNewsletter,which is sent to hundreds of CSOs every monthwith information on Bank policy updates, new proj-ects, and regional initiatives.

Expanding Information Disclosure Policies and Programs

The Bank understands that transparency andaccountability are crucial elements for promotinggood governance and in recent years has adopted

Video conference between Bank senior management and CSOs in five countries. (Washington, DC—April 2003)

32

and implemented a more comprehensive informa-tion disclosure policy. The information disclosurepolicy that had been in effect since 1993 was updat-ed and expanded in 2001 after extensive consulta-tions with CSO and government representatives. Thepolicy review involved consultation meetings withcivil society, government, and donor agency repre-sentatives in 21 countries and an electronic discus-sion on the internet. The new information disclosurepolicy adopted in August 2001 expanded significant-ly the types and number of Bank documents placedin the public domain and improved access to Bankarchives. Project documents throughout the projectcycle, from preparation and implementation tomonitoring, are now publicly available. Basic docu-ments related to macroeconomic and social protec-tion adjustment loans are now public. The new pol-icy also gave access to strategy and sector documentssuch as CASs, PRSPs, and Sector Strategy Papers. TheImplementation Completion Report, which is pre-pared for every Bank project at its termination, isalso made available under the updated policy.

Several new programs were initiated to imple-ment the new disclosure policy, particularly at thecountry level. One was to strengthen the existing

Public Information Centers and establish new onesin order to improve access to information in devel-oping countries. As of November 2004, there were83 main PICs and 73 satellite PICs locatedthroughout the world, many established jointlywith governments, other donor agencies, or CSOs.These centers, generally located within or near Bankoffices, provide users with project documents, CASs,Bank publications, and access to the Bank’s website.Some Public Information Centers also organize the-matic seminars, policy dialogues, video conferences,and radio programs on development topics. Duringthe past two years, specialized staff were hired andexisting staff trained to manage the centers.

The Bank’s Information Disclosure Unit alsoundertook efforts to improve civil society access toBank documents in developing countries byexpanding translation into local languages. Athree-year Translation Framework was adopted toprovide a more systematic and consistentapproach to translation, employ more consistentquality standards, and decentralize translationservices to the country level. Information Disclo-sure Pilots were funded in 20 countries in order toimplement a variety of information disclosure ini-

(2)(2)

(2)

(2)(2)

(2)

(2)

(2)

(2)

(3)

(2)

This map was produced by theMap Design Unit of The World Bank.The boundaries, colors, denominationsand any other information shown onthis map do not imply, on the part ofThe World Bank Group, any judgmenton the legal status of any territory, orany endorsement or acceptance ofsuch boundaries.

MAIN PICs (83)SATELLITE PICs (73)

IBRD 33116R

NO

VEM

BER 2004

Figure G: Public Information Centers and Services (PICs) Worldwide, November 2004

33

tiatives. Activities funded included strengtheningthe Public Information Center (Brazil), organizingmedia seminars and producing short films (Bul-garia), and improving CAS consultations (Zam-bia). Finally, the Bank is mainstreaming informa-tion disclosure in its lending portfolio by encour-aging borrowing governments to be more trans-parent and accountable through adoption of newfreedom of information laws and introducing pub-lic information disclosure policies. For more infor-mation, visit the Bank’s information disclosurewebsite (see Annex III).

Regional Strategies and EngagementEfforts in Developing Countries

The Bank’s work in the developing world is organ-ized around six geographic regions: Africa, East Asiaand the Pacific, Eastern Europe and Central Asia,Latin America and the Caribbean, Middle East andNorth Africa, and South Asia. This section containsbrief descriptions of the civil society engagementstrategies and activities in each region and in high-lighted countries during fiscal years 2002–2004.

AFRICAThe Bank undertook a variety ofstrategic activities to engage andsupport civil society in Sub-Saha-ran Africa over the past three years.These included strengtheningsocial accountability and citizenparticipation, supporting civil society capacity-building efforts, and funding CSO communitydevelopment and AIDS prevention activities.

Regional staff have been directly involved insupporting participatory implementation of PRSPsin 18 African countries and advised several othercountry teams on how to promote more participa-tory strategy papers. As a result, countries such asMozambique and Zambia have developed strategypaper monitoring mechanisms involving CSOs. Tofurther strengthen these preliminary activities, theBank carried out social accountability training inGhana, Kenya, Malawi, Tanzania, and Uganda,bringing together community leaders, governmentofficials, and national CSOs to discuss and devisestrategies for social accountability. This has resultedin a variety of pilot social accountability initiativessuch as the citizens’ report card being used in Kenyaand the district-level accountability approach test-ed in Ghana. As part of PRSP strengthening efforts,

regional staff produced a research report titledMainstreaming Macro Participation in PRSPs andPRSCs (PRSPs and Poverty Reduction SupportCredits) that explores how national-level PRSP par-ticipation initiatives have worked in Cameroon,Chad, and Kenya to increase social and economicaccountability.

Community-Driven Development approachesand mechanisms are increasing in the Bank’s Africalending portfolio. In fiscal year 2003, of 61 opera-tions presented to the Bank’s Board of Directors, 28included CDD components. To be successful, thisapproach not only needs to ensure that CSOsreceive grant funds, but civil society must be incor-porated into the design and management of gov-ernment programs. Regional staff undertook severalinitiatives to strengthen and mainstream CDD pro-grams. These included hosting a distance learningprogram in 14 African countries which broughttogether community leaders, government officials,donor agency representatives, and national CSOs topromote such activities.

Regional staff also undertook a program to pro-mote the institutional strengthening of CSOs in sev-eral countries. Local Level Institutions action researchprograms took place in Burkina Faso, Chad, Kenya,and Niger. In the Chad/Cameroon pipeline project,a Local Level Institutions pilot project is encourag-ing CSOs to carry out bottom-up planning, improvetheir poverty reduction efforts, and expand moni-toring activities to ensure government accountabili-ty (see Box 18 for similar local development effortsin Nigeria).

The Small Grants Program provided $720,000 ingrants to CSOs in 19 countries during the period,

Bank-fundedHIV/AIDS Counseling andTesting Programin rural villageof Benin (January 2004)

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with the objective of promoting civic engagement.One program in Chad is supporting the efforts of alocal CSO to empower women and their organiza-tions through workshops and facilitation of contin-uing dialogue through local radio “listening clubs.”In light of the worsening impact of the AIDS pan-demic in the region, the Bank continued to expandthe Multi-Country AIDS Program, which channelsfunds to civil society AIDS prevention efforts. Of the$1 billion committed to date within that program,approximately $500 million has been earmarked forCSO initiatives. Bank staff developed a set of SocialAnalysis Guidelines to assist local CSOs in identifyingand analyzing the constraints and opportunities foreffective AIDS action at the community level. Final-ly, regional staff continued to support the efforts ofCSOs to participate in the Nile Basin Initiative,which was established to promote sustainable devel-opment in nine African countries. The Bank sup-ported the design and implementation of a large-scale project to promote civil society participation in

the basin initiative through public information,stakeholder involvement, and confidence building.

EAST ASIA AND THE PACIFIC The East Asia and the Pacificregion has undergone impor-tant political changes in thepast decade, as exemplified bythe greater public role for par-liaments and the media, opendiscussion of formerly taboo subjects such as cor-ruption and religious diversity, and the growth ofcivil society. Civil society has experienced dramaticgrowth in many countries, including Cambodia(from just 150 local CSOs in 1995 to almost 500today as well as nearly 180 international NGOs)and China (estimated at about one million CSOs).Indonesia, the Philippines, and Thailand also havevibrant and rapidly expanding civil societies thatplay a key role in poverty reduction efforts. Duringthe past two years, the Bank’s regional and country-based civil society teams acknowledged this growingrole of civil society by supporting their greater voicein societal dialogue, strengthening their participa-tion in the CAS and PRSP processes, and investing inCSO capacity-building and networking efforts.

This same participatory approach to policydevelopment took place at the country level. InCambodia, the Bank and CSOs debated the coun-try’s most critical and contentious issues, such asdeforestation, demobilization of combatant groups,and legal and judicial reform. In Thailand, the Bankworked to broaden the debate on environmentalpolicy by inviting academics, students, governmentofficials, CSO representatives, and the public to par-ticipate in workshops of the 2003 Thailand Envi-ronment Monitor, which is an annual review ofenvironmental issues, such as solid and hazardouswaste disposal. As part of the process to prepare theproposed Nam Theun 2 dam project in Laos, aseries of consultation meetings with local commu-nities were held during the first half of 2004, andstakeholder workshops with international NGOswere being planned for the second semester. Civilsociety groups in Vietnam have been activelyengaged in the Participatory Poverty Assessments,findings of which were integrated into the 2004Vietnam Development Report on Poverty, whichreports annually on development trends in thecountry. The Bank also actively supported civil soci-ety involvement in the PRSP process in six countriesof the region (see Box 19).

Civil society is in transition in Nigeria, as it enjoys new freedoms andtests new spaces for civic engagement. During the past three years, theBank has collaborated with CSOs at the national and local levels inimproving education, supporting AIDS prevention, and promoting eco-nomic literacy. The Small Grants Program supported rural infrastructureprovision, micro-credit development, women’s empowerment, and civicparticipation of marginalized and vulnerable groups.

The Bank supported civil society efforts to raise primary school atten-dance and completion rates through an assessment of girls’ educationcarried out by CSOs in 27 low-income communities in northern Nigeria.The study, which will be incorporated into a new Bank-financed educa-tion loan, found that gender bias, household poverty, and lack of femaleteachers have led to low school completion rates by girls.

The Bank supported civil society AIDS prevention efforts in 18 Niger-ian states. The National Action Committee on AIDS has channeled $3million for CSOs to carry out community treatment and preventionefforts with hard-to-reach groups such as out-of-school youth, sex work-ers, and truck drivers. It is estimated that one-third of the Bank’sHIV/AIDS funding in Nigeria (a $90.3 million International DevelopmentAssociation credit over five years) is earmarked for CSOs. The Bank hasalso been working to develop a coalition of faith-based organizations,including both Christians and Muslims, to combat HIV/AIDS.

Finally, the Bank worked with CSOs and media groups to carry outtraining and study tours to ensure peaceful elections, strengthen gov-ernment accountability, and promote transparent budgeting. Activitiesincluded election coverage training and tours of World Bank projectsites for journalists and civil society leaders.

Box 18: Strengthening Civil Society in Nigeria

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Part of the Bank’s efforts to promote civil societydevelopment in countries is helping to create theenabling environment for organizations to operateand flourish. In China, the Bank has undertaken astudy of the tax laws, rules, policies, and proceduresrelated to nonprofit organizations. The Bank was acosponsor of a Business and Civil Society Forum inBeijing in 2003, which brought together local andinternational CSOs and businesses to discuss arange of topics from corporate social responsibilityto governance and self-regulation of CSOs.

Promoting greater societal debate and opennessalso requires greater access to information, and inthis regard the Bank took important steps toimprove the availability of information in locallanguages. The Bank established local languagewebsites in Chinese, Vietnamese, and Khmer, andexisting websites posted key documents in Laot-ian, Tetum, Thai, and other languages. In Chinathe Bank also produced a Chinese languagenewsletter geared to CSOs and other stakeholders.In Indonesia, the team is expanding the reach ofthe Public Information Centers by establishing 10regional information outlets in academic centersthroughout the country. In Mongolia, the Bank setup a depository library at a local CSO, and thePhilippines established seven new “KnowledgeDevelopment Centers” in partnership with localuniversities.

Bank staff also continued to promote civil societyinvolvement in Bank-financed projects and pro-grams throughout the region. Here are some high-lights:

• In Cambodia, civil society members of theWorking Group on Weapons Reduction havebeen involved in supervision missions, stake-holder analysis, and training activities related tothe demobilization and reintegration project.

• In China, CSOs have been involved in a projecton HIV/AIDS/STDs prevention and control,mainly through information, education, andcommunication. Under five Bank-funded irriga-tion projects, the Bank has helped create some500 farmers’ water users associations to operateand maintain irrigation systems.

• In Lao PDR, the Lao Women’s Union (one of thecountry’s four mass organizations) is active inthe First Land Titling Project, carrying out com-munity outreach to inform women of the bene-fits and risks of land titling, resulting in increasedwomen land owners.

• In Indonesia, CSOs are involved in several Bank-financed projects and programs to promote trans-parency, participation, and community empower-ment, such as Justice for the Poor, Women’sMigrant Labor, and the Third Kecamatan Devel-

The Bank continued to promote greater civil societyparticipation in setting the national developmentagenda in the countries of the East Asia and Pacificregion by encouraging CSO participation in the Bank’sCountry Assistance Strategy and countries’ PovertyReduction Strategy Paper processes. In China, CSOshave been involved in consultations for the latest2003–2005 CAS through a client survey and a work-shop with civil society representatives. In the discus-sions held in Indonesia in 2002, more than 400 civilsociety representatives participated in five regionalmeetings to discuss the Bank’s development strategy.

Six countries in the region—Cambodia, Indonesia,Lao PDR, Mongolia, Timor-Leste, and Vietnam—areengaged in PRSP processes, led by the governments ineach country and involving consultations with a broadrange of stakeholders. The Bank is using a regionalgrant—Poverty Monitoring: Strengthening Civic

Box 19: Civil Society Participation in CASs and PRSPs in East Asia

Engagement and Social Accountability—to fund gov-ernment efforts to broaden participation and increaseaccountability in the process. In Mongolia, a trust fundgrant has been approved to support civil society andmedia efforts to improve information dissemination anddialogue on the strategy paper, as well as to strengthenthe capacity of CSOs to monitor and evaluate povertyprograms.

In Vietnam, CSOs participated actively in the Pover-ty Task Force, which has built a shared understandingamong government, civil society, and donor agencieson poverty reduction approaches and served as a keylink to the government team preparing the strategypaper. In Cambodia, the NGOs were invited to makeplenary presentations, be discussants at a nationalpoverty reduction conference, and facilitate discussionsbetween community leaders and Cambodia’s Senateand National Assembly bodies.

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opment Project, the largest community-drivendevelopment project in the world.

• In the Philippines, several Bank-supported pro-grams are promoting civil society involvement innational budget monitoring and advocacy. Theseinclude the Budget Advocacy Project, Govern-ment Watch, and Procurement Watch.

The Bank implemented the Development Mar-ketplace and Small Grants Program in most coun-tries of the region over the past two years. In thePhilippines and Vietnam this year, the World Bankworked with other organizations to sponsor Inno-vation Marketplaces to award grant funding toinnovative approaches to solving developmentproblems. In Vietnam, the country’s second Innova-tion Marketplace awarded a total $332,000 in seedmoney to 35 communities and groups working oninnovative ways to address HIV/AIDS.

The Small Grants Program was used to strength-en civil society in Cambodia, China, Indonesia, LaoPDR, Mongolia, the Philippines, Thailand, andTimor-Leste. The program provides small amountsof funding directly to local CSOs to address laborissues, disability rights, service delivery, and envi-ronmental conservation. In Cambodia, the Bankgranted $42,000 to seven local CSOs in 2003 tosupport policy analysis and advocacy, capacity-building of community-based organizations, pro-motion of gender rights, and good governance atthe local level. In Thailand, at the recommendationof Thai CSOs, the Bank has been using small grantsto support grassroots development efforts in theimpoverished northeastern region.

EUROPE AND CENTRAL ASIA Over the past few years, theWorld Bank’s collaborationwith civil society in theEurope and Central AsiaRegion has intensified, atboth the policy and projectlevels. During fiscal years 2002–2004, the Bankimplemented a civil society engagement strategy toincrease civil society participation in Bank opera-tions, strengthen the role of CSOs in policy dia-logue (including the PRSP), and provide assistanceto the Roma population.

The Bank continued its efforts to encourage civilsociety participation in Bank-financed programs andprojects in the region. One example is a regionalportfolio review carried out by the Bank’s SocialDevelopment Unit. It found that 82 percent of thenew loans approved in fiscal 2002 included meas-ures to encourage civil society participation in theproject cycle. In Azerbaijan, CSOs were subcontract-ed to perform project surveys related to social impactmonitoring under the Agriculture Development andCredit Project. In Kazakhstan, CSOs organized pub-lic consultations attended by farmers, governmentofficials, and environmental experts on the draftEnvironmental Impact Assessment of the Nura RiverClean-Up and Reforestation Project. In Turkey, sever-al CSOs joined the advisory board of a key compo-nent of the Social Risk Mitigation Project, and otherCSOs have been contracted to organize communitydevelopment efforts and provide social services. InUkraine, the Social Investment Fund Project is pro-viding funding for institutional and program man-agement training of CSOs and local governments.

The Bank continued to engage CSOs throughoutthe region in policy dialogue. For example, the Sec-ond Europe and Central Asia NGO Assembly heldin Belgrade in June 2002 brought together represen-tatives from some 300 CSOs from countriesthroughout the region, numerous internationalCSOs, the World Bank, and intergovernmental agen-cies. The purpose of the meeting was to discuss Bankpolicies, particularly those promoting economicreforms in the region, and propose new forms ofBank–civil society collaboration. The participantsagreed on several important next steps such as iden-tifying a number of priority areas (i.e., PRSP, civicengagement, and anticorruption) for future interac-tion, and also establishing a multi-stakeholderforum on emerging regional issues, which resultedin a regional meeting on the development needs ofRoma people.

Skills training for community leaders through a Bank-financedprogram in Cambodia

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The Bank undertook many activities to promotecivil society involvement in the PRSP process under-way in eight countries in the region. Several PRSPregional forums over the past three years broughttogether government officials, parliamentarians,CSO representatives, business leaders, and donoragency representatives to discuss ways to enhancestakeholder participation and poverty reductionstrategies. One such event was the Second Forum onPoverty Reduction Strategies for the Balkans, held inThessaloniki, Greece, in March 2004, whichbrought together some 200 participants includinggovernment officials, CSO representatives, andBank staff to define policy priorities and promoteparticipation.

The Bank also continued to support civil societyinvolvement in other national policy dialogues inseveral countries of the region. In Turkey, the Bankprepared a policy note that recommends greater civilsociety voice and improved legal framework forCSOs. The Bank is also collaborating with severalorganizations, such as the Open Society Instituteand the Turkish History Foundation, to develop aweb-based civil society database. In Croatia, theBank hosted a meeting with some 20 Croatian CSOsworking on disability issues to observe the Interna-tional Day of Disabled Persons and discuss disabili-ty issues (see Box 20 for policy dialogue undertakenin Russia).

Finally, the region carried out internal trainingworkshops and conducted regional studies toinform and equip Bank staff to carry out civil socie-ty engagement work. Regional managers held theannual retreat for civil society focal points in April2003 in Croatia, bringing together some 50 head-quarters and country office staff to assess the region-al engagement strategy, analyze best-practice coun-try initiatives, and discuss strategies for strengthen-ing legal frameworks for civil society. Staff also car-ried out a regional study in 2003 on the role civicengagement can play in strengthening the effective-ness and sustainability of community-driven devel-opment initiatives, social service delivery, policydialogue, and governance. While the study foundthat the region has taken impressive strides in pro-moting civil society participation and good gover-nance, it points to the many challenges that remainto develop strong civil societies.

LATIN AMERICA AND THE CARIBBEANThe Latin American and Cari-bbean Region adopted a civil soci-ety engagement strategy in fiscalyear 2002, Empowering the Poor andPromoting Accountability, which hasguided the work of the regional

The Bank recognizes the important role civil society hasplayed in Russia over the past 12 years of political tran-sition, helping to amplify the voices of the most vul-nerable people in the decisions that affect their lives,to improve development effectiveness and sustainabil-ity, and to hold governments and policy makers pub-licly accountable. The Bank has supported the impor-tant democratizing and service provision roles playedby the growing and varied civil society sector by under-taking a number of activities.

First, the Bank has established a Civil Society Advi-sory Council composed of CSOs from throughout Rus-sia. It provides guidance for the Bank’s work in Russia,including assessing the country strategy and providingfeedback on Bank policies and loans. Over the pasttwo years, senior Bank managers and country staffhave met with major civil society networks to discussissues such as civil society–government relations, civil

Box 20: Supporting the Democratizing Role of Russian Civil Society

society taxation policies, lack of funding for local CSOs,and the gender dimension of the Bank’s portfolio. Thecountry office also facilitated the participation of Russ-ian CSO leaders in several Bank policy consultations,including hosting a videoconference on the WorldDevelopment Report 2004 on service delivery. CSOswere also actively consulted at several stages of Bank-financed projects such as TB/AIDS initiative, ForestryProject, Northern Restructuring Project, and the ChildWelfare Project.

Finally, the Small Grants Program provided grants in2003 to seven CSOs totaling $45,000 for projects tar-geting empowerment of vulnerable groups. The coun-try office also helped 14 Russian CSOs participate in aregional videoconference on the Development Market-place to encourage them to submit proposals for theglobal competition.

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Civil Society Team over the past threeyears. Activities have included: build-ing social accountability mechanismsin adjustment loans; strengtheningthe capacity of CSOs to manage andmonitor social programs; leveragingresources to support civil societydevelopment initiatives; and promot-

ing civil society partnerships and networkingefforts.

The region has taken the lead in promotingsocial accountability in adjustment loans, such astwo recent loans in Peru—the Programmatic SocialReform Loan III and the Programmatic Decentral-ization Loan. The most innovative aspect of theseloans, which promote more targeted and effectivesocial services throughout the country, is that civilsociety involvement has been built into the designof the loan through mechanisms such as participa-tory budgeting, citizens’ report cards, and advisorybodies. Equally important is that a wide spectrumof national and local CSOs have been actively con-sulted in their design. Civic engagement also hasbeen incorporated into other adjustment loans,including the Poverty Reduction Support Credits inHonduras and Nicaragua, the Social Sector Pro-grammatic Credit in Bolivia, and the ProgrammaticFiscal and Programmatic Social Sector Loans inEcuador. The Regional Civil Society Team—com-

posed of staff based in Washington, D.C., and 10country offices—participated actively in the prepa-ration of these programs by undertaking stakehold-er analyses and social assessments, and assistinggovernments in consultations with CSOs through-out the process. They have also been involved in theformulation of the CASs in Argentina, Bolivia, Ecua-dor, Honduras, Mexico, Nicaragua, and Paraguay.

The region also developed and strengthened a regional network of trainers in participatory monitoring and evaluation to further promote theuse of social accountability mechanisms. Activitieshave included regional planning meetings, train-ing workshops, and a study mission to India andGhana. In addition, pilot programs in participatorymechanisms for monitoring and evaluation have taken place in several countries, includingArgentina and Peru. In Bolivia, a pilot initiativebegan in March 2003 in 15 municipalities to designmechanisms for social monitoring of poverty reduc-tion efforts at the municipal level. In Colombia, theBank worked with local governments and CSOs tostrengthen social capital and promote povertyreduction in conflict situations (see Box 21).

The regional team also supported various pro-grams to mobilize resources for civil society grass-roots development initiatives. Eleven countries inLatin America participated in the Small Grants Pro-gram in fiscal 2003 and focused on supporting

Several initiatives underway in Colombia are demon-strating that poverty reduction and social capitalexpansion can be achieved even in the midst of violentconflict. The Alliance Program for Poverty Reductionand Local Peace Initiatives, for instance, documented51 cases of local peace initiatives throughout Colom-bia, including some by “civic resistance” movementsthat support peaceful means to resolve the politicalconflict. The action research program conducted eightworkshops on alliance building and produced a how-tohandbook that is used by CSOs, universities, and gov-ernment officials.

The Social Capital Assessment Tool was launchedon a pilot basis among CSOs in the Department of ElValle with the objective of promoting and strengthen-ing social capital in the region. The tool is a set ofinstruments designed by the World Bank to measure“structural” (density, representation, and quality of

Box 21: Building Social Capital for Peacemaking and Poverty Reduction in Colombia

organizations in a community) and “cognitive” (trust,solidarity, and collective action) social capital. Theinstruments include household surveys, organizationalprofiles, and a community observation questionnaire.The assessment tool was translated, adopted, andapplied initially to a representative sample with controlgroups in the municipality of Ginebra.

The Cali City Resources Program is one example oflocal support for an innovative and useful peerexchange program among municipal workers from Cali,Colombia, and Arlington, Virginia (United States). Theobjective of this program, funded by the Bank andmanaged by the International Cities ManagementAssociation, is to help Cali learn from the city manage-ment experiences of Arlington in areas such as manag-ing solid waste, measuring social sector programachievements and problems, and expanding citizens’participation in local public policy decision making.

Bank-CSO Latin AmericanWorkshop on RegionalIntegration andEquity (Brazil,October 2003)

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poverty reduction and development of social capi-tal, particularly that of marginalized populations. InArgentina, for instance, the program funded proj-ects to improve the livelihoods of people with dis-abilities. In Brazil, Colombia, Guatemala, and Peru,country staff organized Country Innovation Days,as part of the Development Marketplace, which pro-vided funding for innovative and replicable initia-tives in areas such as income generation projects,prevention of discrimination and violence, andenvironmental conservation.

The Bank supported efforts to strengthen civilsociety partnerships and networks in a variety ofkey areas. The region has led the way in the WorldBank to incorporate the voice of youth in Bankactivities. The youth outreach program New Voices,which began in Peru and promotes internships byyouth leaders in Bank country offices, was expand-ed to Ecuador and Venezuela in 2004. The Bankalso continued to support an innovative programto support the strengthening of Afro-descendantand indigenous groups and networks in Argentina,Bolivia, Brazil, and Venezuela.

The regional team also organized several regionalworkshops to promote knowledge sharing, capacitybuilding, and networking on emerging issues such asempowerment, social monitoring, and PRSPapproaches. The Second Annual Regional ThematicForum took place in 2002 in Lima, Peru, on Gover-nance for the Empowerment of the Poor. The thirdforum was held in 2003 in Angra dos Reis, Brazil, onEconomic Integration for Social Equity. A workshopon Participatory Mechanisms of Monitoring andEvaluation was held in June 2003 in Punta Cana,Dominican Republic. These multi-stakeholder eventsbrought together government officials, academics,Bank staff, and a broad array of CSOs, includingNGOs, indigenous peoples’ organizations, laborunions, Afro-descendants’ groups, and faith-basedgroups, resulting in a rich learning opportunity.

The regional team also worked to analyze anddisseminate best practices, innovative experiences,and lessons learned about its civil society engage-ment work through numerous publications andelectronic media. The team published three edi-tions of its annual journal Thinking Out Loud,which analyzes local experiences and issues relatedto civic engagement, poverty reduction, and gover-nance. Other materials produced included a bookof case studies on social accountability, Voice, Eyesand Ears: Social Accountability in Latin America, aquarterly newsletter on team activities, and therevamping of the team's external website, which

contains materials in Spanish and English. Finally,the team implemented a regional loan-portfoliotracking system to monitor the levels of civil socie-ty participation in Bank loans.

MIDDLE EAST AND NORTH AFRICA The Middle East and North Africaregion pursued an active civil soci-ety engagement strategy during thepast two years. Activities includedworking with parliament and themedia in Morocco, undertaking agender study in Yemen, funding CSOs through theSmall Grants Program in several countries, andensuring civil society participation in the drafting ofa key regional study on governance.

As part of its regional parliamentary initiative,the MNA region organized a regional workshop inMorocco titled “The Role of Parliament in Over-sight and Financial and Economic Policy Making,”aimed at strengthening the dialogue between par-liamentarians, CSOs, and governments on budgetoversight. Representatives from the ministries offinance, parliaments, and CSOs from Algeria,Bahrain, Egypt, Jordan, Kuwait, Lebanon, Morocco,Tunisia, the West Bank and Gaza, and Yemenattended the 2-day workshop. The discussion anddebate were open and frank, and focused on threethemes: traditional oversight constraints experi-enced by parliament to monitor economic policy;limited space for civil society to effectively influ-ence policy making; and challenges of implement-ing innovations in financial management.

Also in Morocco, the Bank initiated a capacity-building program aimed at improving the media’sability to document Morocco’s development efforts.The Moroccan press union carried out a needsassessment of the media sector and organized twotraining workshops on the role of the media inMorocco, which brought together journalists, gov-ernment officials, and several dozen CSO leaders.These initiatives have enabled the Moroccan gov-ernment to reshape its communications strategy ina participatory fashion and to highlight the impor-tance of communication in development. Finally,the Bank prepared and issued a study Local Govern-ment-Civil Society Collaboration in Development Effortsand sponsored several workshops to promotegreater collaboration.

In Yemen, the Bank carried out several activitiesto strengthen the role of women in developmentwith the active involvement of national civil societygroups. First, the Bank commissioned participatory

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research on the role of gender by hiring local aca-demics who organized focus groups with govern-ment officials, CSO leaders, and donor agency rep-resentatives. The research team then developedbackground papers and a preliminary gender actionplan, which were presented and discussed at theSecond National Women’s Conference in March2003 in Sana’a. This event strengthened the abilityof the Women’s National Committee to reach out toa wider audience within civil society.

The regional civil society team continued tooperate the Small Grants Program and the Develop-ment Marketplace in several countries in the region.In Morocco, the Bank provided funding to 67 CSOsto build capacity and strengthen civil society net-works. The activities funded included civic engage-ment, gender and development, participatory devel-opment, and democracy and citizenship. In Egypt,the Development Marketplace joined with the NGOService Center, Sawiris Foundation, and EgyptianCenter for Economic Studies to carry out a CountryInnovation Day under the theme “Skills Enhance-ment for Development.”

In the West Bank and Gaza, the Palestinian NGOProject was renewed for an additional three years in2001. The project is $44.5 million social fund estab-lished in 1997 to deliver sustainable services topoor and marginalized Palestinians while strength-ening the development of Palestinian civil society. Itis funded by a consortium of donors, including theWorld Bank, and managed jointly by the WelfareAssociation, British Council, and Charities AidFoundation. Following the successful completion ofthe project’s first three-year phase, in 2001 the proj-ect was renewed for three more years with addition-al financing of $28.5 million. The second phaseincludes emergency programs, especially employ-ment generation, and strengthening the role ofCSOs in advocacy and policy reform. The civil soci-ety Supervisory Board for the Program will beexpanded to represent some 1,000 PalestinianCSOs. (See Box 22 for information on a communi-ty water project.)

Several other program initiatives and outreachevents allowed the Bank to engage civil society inJordan, Algeria, Lebanon, Egypt, and other countriesacross the region. The Bank held CAS consultationswith civil society in Jordan and Algeria, and PRSPconsultations took place in Djibouti. The Bank alsoconsulted with CSOs on two regional sector strate-gies—Social Development and Youth Strategies—through a series of consultation meetings. Bank stafforganized a series of brown-bag lunches in Wash-ington, D.C., to which prominent civil society lead-ers from the region were invited to present paperson a variety of issues from gender and education togovernance. CSOs in Lebanon and Jordan partici-pated in several videoconferences with Bank Presi-dent Wolfensohn and the 2004 World DevelopmentReport team to discuss issues such as Bank–civilsociety relations, global governance, and social serv-ices. The Bank also arranged for several dozen CSOleaders from throughout the region to travel andparticipate in policy dialogue meetings with seniorBank managers during the WB/IMF Annual Meet-ings held in Dubai, United Arab Emirates, in Octo-ber 2003.

Finally, the Bank actively involved CSOs in thedrafting and dissemination of the Bank’s first com-prehensive regional report on governance issues.Titled Better Governance for Development in the Mid-dle East and North Africa: Enhancing Accountabilityand Inclusiveness, the report highlights the impor-tance of participation and civic engagement inachieving greater development in the region. The

One of the flagship projects funded by the Palestinian NGO projectwas the Hebron District Community Development Program, providedwith a block grant of $533,497 in 1998. The project contained 24 inte-grated rural development projects in education, nonformal education,women’s development, and agricultural micro-credit programs (such assheep “lending”) benefiting 10,000 persons directly and about 35,000indirectly. Catholic Relief Services and two Palestinian NGOs––thePalestinian Hydrology Group and the Women’s Affairs Technical Com-mittees––managed the program. The project also worked through a consortium of CSOs, including rural groups, which helped en-sure greater impact of social services, geographical coverage, and ben-eficiaries.

The Hebron District Program has been expanded during Phase IIwith an additional grant of $820,000, signed in March 2003. A consor-tium of 14 CSOs administers this second grant, and an estimated 10,000people (half of whom are women) benefit directly from the projects in 14poor rural villages in remote areas of Hebron, Ramallah, and Gaza. Theproject focuses on improving access to water resources for agriculturaland domestic purposes, including recycling agricultural waste and usingtreated gray water for irrigation and summer “environmentalcamps/campaigns.” This second phase also provides support to a newPalestinian civil society learning network and strengthens the role ofwomen by integrating gender in project design.

Box 22: Empowering Palestinian Civil Societythrough Community Development

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report’s scope and content benefited from substan-tial civil society input, provided during a consulta-tion workshop with some 20 CSOs from the region.

SOUTH ASIA The Civil Society Team in theSouth Asia Region worked to con-solidate the Bank’s relations withcivil society, to facilitate CSOinvolvement in Bank-financedpoverty reduction efforts, and tostrengthen CSOs’ policy advocacy role. Below arehighlights of the Bank’s work over the 2002–2004period in Bangladesh, India, and Pakistan.

In Bangladesh, the World Bank continued tosupport civil society participation on three levels:government and Bank policy formulation process-es; project preparation and implementation; andmonitoring of government social programs. At thepolicy level, the Bank facilitated civil societyinvolvement in the preparation of the InterimPRSPs, the National Water Management Plan, andthe National Action Plan for the Welfare of Dis-abled People Program. The Dhaka Office organizedthe “Roundtable on Disability, Exclusion andDevelopment” in partnership with a local CSO,bringing together 25 organizations of people withdisabilities, other national and international CSOs,and Bank staff to discuss disability policies andissues. Civil society staff also organized formal con-sultation meetings with a variety of CSOs on therevision of the Bank’s operational policy on indige-nous peoples (OP 4.10) and on the draft WorldDevelopment Report 2004.

At project and program levels, the Bank facilitat-ed extensive civil society participation in the prepa-ration of many new Bank-financed governmentprojects in Bangladesh, such as Health and Popula-tion, Primary Education, Water Management, SocialInvestment Program, Financial Services for thePoorest, HIV/AIDS Prevention, National Nutrition,and Post- and- Continuing Literacy. In addition toparticipating in the design and planning phases ofthese programs, CSOs were encouraged to collabo-rate with government to implement the programs aswell as monitor the achievements of developmentobjectives.

At the local level, the Small Grants Programfunded eight local CSOs under the theme “Com-munity-Driven Governance and Civic Engagement.”These CSOs organized more than 100 local levelconsultations and published reports, newsletters,

posters, and other advocacy materials on issues suchas training on women’s legal rights, tribal culturalheritage, and reducing youth violence (for moreinformation on Bangladesh, see Box 23).

In India, the Bank’s relationship with CSOs hasimproved steadily over the past few years. Whiledialogue and collaboration were rare and civil soci-ety participation in Bank-funded projects was theexception a decade ago, today it is the rule. CSOengagement has improved in quality as well asquantity, with greater emphasis placed on civil soci-ety participation in the entire project cycle, fromplanning and implementation to monitoring proj-ects. Civil society involvement in policy dialoguehas also become more mainstreamed. Clear exam-ples are the recent CAS and World Developmentreport 2004 consultations. It should also be notedthat in the past three years CSOs have been moreinvolved in policy advocacy work on such thornyissues as the social impacts of structural reform, pri-vatization, and globalization.

Although overall relations between the Bank andcivil society have improved, CSOs feel improve-ments could and should be made in several areas.Rigid bureaucratic regulation, such as with procure-ment, frequently leads to frustration and delays

The Bank’s civil society liaison staff in the Dhaka Office organized twoinitiatives to support civil society efforts in governance and gender. Thefirst were four national workshops on transparency, good governance,gender equality, and the role of civil society in development organizedby a CSO, News Network, and funded by the Small Grants Program.High-level government officials, journalists, CSO leaders, and Bank staffparticipated in these workshops. The workshop “Women’s Empower-ment and Gender Equality” stressed the importance of reducing gendergaps and achieving women’s rights for economic growth and povertyreduction.

The second initiative was geared to promoting the ”gendering” ofthe PRSP. The Bank joined the Ministry of Women’s Affairs and otherdonors to support the establishment of the Gender Platform composedof government officials and CSO leaders in March 2003. The platformdeveloped terms of reference and an action plan, which led to publicconsultations and negotiations with the inter-ministerial PRSP Task Force.In addition, two independent consultants were recruited to analyze theinterim strategy paper, promote a series of workshops, and develop aroad map on how to incorporate gender analysis and concerns in the fullstrategy paper.

Box 23: Promoting Good Governance andGender Equality in Bangladesh

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when CSOs are involved in implementing Bank-funded projects. While decision making hasbecome more participatory, government officialsstill have a strong tendency to treat CSOs as con-tractors hired as program implementers, rather thanpartners in the development process. CSOs fre-quently complain about high targets, low budgets,and unrealistic time frames. The Bank is trying toaddress these issues by shifting the focus from a nar-row, target-driven emphasis on activities to a look atlarger policy outcomes. This is the case of the RuralWomen’s Development and Empowerment Project,where CSOs help develop sustainable livelihoodactivities, promote institutional capacity, andimprove the capacity of poor rural women to par-ticipate in decision making.

In Pakistan, the Bank’s civil society engagementefforts are geared to building strategic partnershipswith CSOs. These partnerships take various forms.At the policy level, the Bank holds consultationsand seeks feedback from CSOs on Bank policies andstudies. With regard to training, the Bank makesefforts to share knowledge with civil society, asexemplified by a workshop on Gender in Monitor-ing and Evaluation, which the Bank’s World BankInstitute hosted for CSO leaders and governmentofficials. At the project level, CSOs are consideredkey stakeholders, and they participate in variousphases of Bank-funded projects, from preparationto implementation. They are also encouraged toprovide technical assistance through provision ofconsultancy services, such as social assessments andstakeholder analysis. An example of CSO participa-tion in the implementation phase is the GhaziBarotha Hydropower Project, where an advisorycommittee composed of local and national CSOs

and government agencies meets regularly to overseethe implementation of the project.

Another interesting example is the EmpoweringRural Women in Punjab program. It is funded by aJapan Social Development Fund grant and imple-mented by the Social Welfare Department of thegovernment of Punjab. The grant aims to provide lit-eracy and life skills to 25,000 impoverished womenand girls. CSOs at the community level carry outsocial mobilization, supervise teachers, and carry outproject activities. In the process, CSOs build theirown organizational capacities and thus ensure long-term sustainability of the country’s development.Finally, the Pakistan Poverty Alleviation Fund projectis largely implemented through CSOs. The Fund hasprovided CSOs with funding to provide social serv-ices, promote micro-credit entrepreneurship, andbuild basic infrastructure to benefit impoverishedcommunities throughout Pakistan. In the past fouryears, for instance, the Fund has supported 38 organ-izations in 79 districts of the country to extendmicro-credit loans to more than 275,000 borrowers,45 percent of whom are women.

Bank Policy Dialogue and Consultations in Developed Countries

Even though the Bank’s most significant civil socie-ty engagement efforts occurred at the country levelin the 100 developing countries where it workedduring the past three years, the Bank also continuedto interact with CSOs in the developed world,namely, in Europe, Japan, and North America.These relations constituted policy dialogue on glob-al development issues with traditional Bank-watch-ers and advocacy CSOs, as well as increased contactswith international service-provision NGOs on waysto increase operational collaboration in the devel-oping world. Below is a summary of the policy dia-logues, joint research, training, and partnership-building activities by region.

EUROPEOver the past few years, the Bank’s European vicepresidency—responsible for relations with 18 coun-tries of Western Europe—has intensified its civilsociety engagement work. In fiscal years 2002–2004,outreach to European CSOs intensified, not onlybecause of increased demand from CSOs for infor-mation and policy dialogue, but also because thecivil society sector has become an increasinglyimportant actor in global development. A study car-ried out by the Organization for Economic Cooper-

WB–CSO conference on disabilities in Dhaka,Bangladesh

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ation and Development found that 2,700 develop-ment CSOs had mobilized at least $7.3 billion in1999 for overseas development assistance. EuropeanCSOs have also taken the lead in policy advocacycampaigns such as Jubilee 2000 (debt cancellation),the Global AIDS Fund, Education for All, and FairTrade. Interest in Bank activities has spread fromcivil society in Northern Europe to Central and East-ern Europe.

The Bank responded to this growing civil societyinterest by developing new tools for outreach, dia-logue, and partnerships with these groups, and byestablishing the European Civil Society Team. Theteam helped introduce two outreach mechanismsin 2001 to expand the Bank’s policy dialogue andconsultation efforts. The first is Global Video Links,regular videoconferences that connect CSOs inindustrial and developing countries with seniorBank managers and staff to discuss key issues andconcerns. The video link with Bank PresidentWolfensohn, which is organized by the Washing-ton-based Civil Society Team with the assistance ofthe European Civil Society Team, is now a biannualevent. Seven other videoconferences have takenplace during the past three years, linking dozens ofCSOs from 21 countries in Europe, Africa, Asia, andLatin America.

The second mechanism for policy dialogue,introduced in 2002 and funded by the governmentof Finland, is the Strategic Policy Workshops. These areretreat-like gatherings that bring together CSO lead-ers, mainly from Europe and developing countries,with Bank staff to carry out frank and open discus-sions of contentious issues and seek areas of com-mon ground. Three workshops took place duringthe period, the first in May 2002 on trade and devel-opment, the second in May 2003 on rural liveli-hoods, and the most recent in June 2004 onHIV/AIDS.

Bank staff continued to interact frequently dur-ing this period with European CSOs, particularly inthe Paris, London, Rome, and Brussels offices.CSOs based in those capital cities were frequentlyinvited to meet with visiting senior Bank managers,as well as participate in consultation meetings onBank policies and studies. Bank staff were alsoinvited to attend and speak at civil society events,leading to greater information exchange and insti-tutional synergy.

The regional civil society team also began toexpand and further intensify its outreach and dia-logue efforts to other countries such as Denmark,Finland, Italy, the Netherlands, Portugal, and Spain,

with different emphasis in each country. In Den-mark, Greece, Norway, and Sweden, dialogue wasstrengthened with trade unions. In Germany andItaly, Bank staff carried out training to CSOs on howto engage with the World Bank. In France, Bank staffcarried out a survey on CSOs–Bank relations, whichled to a joint civil society capacity-building initia-tive with a CSO network (see Box 24). Similar sur-veys were carried out during the past year in Italy (incollaboration with the Italian Association ofNGOs), Germany, and Austria. Based on these expe-riences, the Paris Office will produce a guidancenote for staff on how to carry out civil society map-ping studies.

JAPANThe Bank continued to increase its contacts andbroaden its relations with Japanese civil society overthe past three years. Relations centered in two areas:policy dialogue on global development issues, andoperational collaboration on Bank-financed proj-ects and programs. The 2000 launch of the JapanSocial Development Fund—a trust fund financingpoverty reduction efforts in the aftermath of the1999 Asian economic crisis—has allowed the Bankto expand its relations with Japanese CSOs involvedin international development. This was the casewith a consortium of three Japanese CSOs—Insti-tute for Cultural Affairs (ICA Japan), Associationalof Medical Doctors of Asia (AMDA International),and Nippon International Cooperation for Com-munity Development (NICCO)—which havejoined the Vietnamese government to implementthe Vietnam Northern Mountains Poverty Reduc-tion Program. Another example is Amis d’Afrique, a

WB, IMF, and CSO representatives discuss the PRSP during Annual

Meetings in Washington, DC (October 2004)

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Japanese NGO active in Africa, which is partneringwith the government of the Central Africa Republicto enhance implementation of the country'sHIV/AIDS community prevention efforts by manag-ing a grant-making mechanism.

To further expand relations with Japanese opera-tional CSOs, the Social Development Departmentand the Tokyo Office launched an innovative train-ing program to familiarize Japanese CSOs withBank policies and programs. Learning Across Bordersconsisted of four workshops in Tokyo, Manila, andWashington, D.C., during 2001, involving 20 Japan-ese CSOs and 10 Asian-Pacific CSOs. In 2003,Learning Across Borders II was launched, consistingof two three-day training workshops in Tokyo andColombo, Sri Lanka, focusing on community-drivendevelopment, as well as the internship program toplace staff from five Japanese NGOs in JSDF-supported projects in the East Asia and PacificRegion. The Bank continued to support Japanesecivil society through the Joint Japan/World BankGraduate Scholarship Program, which offers specialscholarships to Japanese graduate students whocommit themselves to work for Japanese interna-tional development CSOs on completion of theiruniversity programs.

Finally, the Tokyo Office expanded its outreachefforts to Japanese CSOs through the disseminationof a weekly electronic newsletter, eNews, whichreaches about 400 Japanese CSOs. The Civil SocietySpecialist and other Bank staff also continued toattend events organized by CSOs, receive CSO visi-

tors, disseminate Bank documents, and carry outconsultations on Bank policies and programsthrough face-to-face meetings and videoconfer-ences.

NORTH AMERICAThe Bank’s outreach to civil society in North Amer-ica occurred in Canada, Mexico, and the UnitedStates, but activities in Mexico are reported in thesection on the Latin America and CaribbeanRegion. Interaction between the Bank and Canadi-an CSOs was occasional during the period, gener-ally revolving around policy dialogue during BankAnnual/Spring Meetings, which policy advocacygroups such as the Halifax Initiative attended. Bankcivil society staff also attended a major conferenceon global governance in Montreal in October 2002and received several delegations of Canadian serv-ice-delivery NGOs at the Bank.

Relations with civil society in the United Statesrevolved largely around policy dialogue with NGOs,trade unions, faith-based groups, and foundationsbased in Washington, D.C., New York, Boston, andSan Francisco. The Bank continued to maintainlongstanding and frequent dialogue with Washing-ton-based development and environmental policyCSOs, such as the Bank Information Center,Oxfam/America, the World Wildlife Fund, InterAc-tion, Action Aid, Friends of the Earth, Center ofConcern and World Resources Institute. Severalmeetings a week were held between Bank staff andWashington-based policy advocacy CSOs on such

In 2001, the Paris Office carried out a survey of internationalservice provision NGOs to assess the status of the relationsbetween the Bank and French civil society. The survey involvedmore than 70 NGOs and was carried out in collaboration with aFrench civil society network, Association Conseil sur le Finance-ment du Développement (ACDE).The survey found that whilefew French development NGOs were familiar with Bank policiesand programs or had worked with the Bank, nearly all wouldwelcome more contact and collaboration.

Based on these findings, the Bank launched several initiativesto improve communications and relations with French civil soci-ety. The Bank and French network organized training sessions forFrench NGOs on Bank policies, and in collaboration with theBank’s Cameroon Country Office launched a pilot capacity-build-ing session for about 30 Cameroonian NGOs. The Bank pre-

Box 24: Consolidating Relations with French NGOs

pared a CD ROM in French with a guide on working with theBank and background materials. The CD ROM was distributedwidely in France and in African francophone countries.

The Bank and the French CSO network also organized threevisits by French NGOs to Washington, D.C., in 2002, 2003, and2004 during which they met with numerous policy and opera-tional staff from different geographic regions and thematic net-works. The visiting NGOs also made presentations on their ownexperiences to Bank staff, and a subsequent videoconferencehosted by the Bank focused on the experience of French CSOsin Cameroon. These visits have led to several new contacts andpartnerships between French NGOs and Bank offices at thecountry level, including participation in the 2003 DevelopmentMarketplace competition at which Handicap International Francewas awarded a $150,000 grant.

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issues as PRSPs, AIDS, Education for All, environ-ment, trade, and debt. This policy dialogue alsooccurred during the Annual/Spring Meetings and inconsultation sessions on specific policies, programs,and projects throughout the year. (See the sectionon “Dialogue on Global Issues” for more details.)

The issues that gained most prominence inBank-CSO relations during the period were global-ization, governance, and human rights. Severaldebates on globalization took place with CSOs in avariety of settings, including Washington-based uni-versities, churches, and the Bank itself. Several high-level meetings on human rights took place betweenCSO leaders and President Wolfensohn, and adozen CSOs organized an important workshop onhuman rights in September 2002. The most recentvenue for dialogue has been the bimonthly WorldBank–Civil Society Lunch Discussions initiated in June2003, in which civil society speakers are invited topresent studies or position papers to a mixed audi-ence of Bank staff and civil society representatives.This discussion series is intended to promote amore horizontal and thoughtful debate on currentpolicy issues and has included discussions onPRSPs, governance, infrastructure projects, andBrazilian government development policies.

The study on World Bank-InterAction engagement was launchedin March 2002 and coordinated jointly by the Bank’s Civil SocietyTeam and InterAction’s World Bank–Civil Society Initiative Team.The study, which was carried out by a research team from JustAssociates, used a participatory methodology, which began withthe establishment of advisory groups in both the Bank and Inter-Action to help frame and guide the study. The research method-ology included staff surveys, focus groups, individual interviews,and several joint Bank-InterAction discussions.

Overall the study found that there is a much wider range ofWorld Bank-InterAction relations than expected. More than 40percent of InterAction and 59 percent of World Bank respon-dents reported having operational relations in one or more ofthe following areas: HIV/AIDS, social/rural development, educa-tion, health, and employment. On the other hand, the studydocumented the existence of financial and bureaucratic con-straints to more effective partnership. In the policy area, bothsides noted as positive the role InterAction members play inbuilding the capacity of local CSOs to participate in CAS andPRSP formulation in several countries.

Finally, the study made several recommendations geared toimproving InterAction-World Bank collaboration, including theneed to: streamline and simplify Bank contracting and disburse-ment procedures; improve the quality of policy consultations,particularly around macroeconomic policies; strengthen Bankpolicy and practical guidelines for relating with civil society; andpromote greater technical and staff exchanges.

Box 25: Study on World Bank-InterActionRelations

Another important collaborative initiative was astudy carried out jointly by the World Bank andInterAction, an umbrella organization representing168 U. S. international development CSOs, on thestatus of their relations at the global and countrylevels. The study examined the scope and quality ofthe policy dialogue, as well as operational relations(see Box 25).

Handover of CSO “Unhappy Birthday” cards calling fordebt cancellation (Washington, DC—April 2004)

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As part of its efforts to expand its relationswith civil society, the Bank has developedpolicies and programs to reach out to specif-

ic constituencies. These include children and youth,disabled persons, faith-based groups, foundations,indigenous peoples, labor unions, gender groups,parliamentarians, and Roma populations. Engage-ment efforts to these constituencies have includedadopting new policies, undertaking research stud-ies, hosting meetings, providing grants, hiring spe-cialized staff, and setting up organizational unitswithin the Bank to coordinate this work.

Afro-Latino Populations

More than 150 million people of African descentreside in Latin America and the Caribbean. Lack ofaccess to basic services, such as healthcare and edu-cation, as well as discrimination in the labor mar-ket, makes Afro-descendants among the poorestgroups in the region. Since 2002 the Bank has beenworking with governments and CSOs to reach outto the Afro-descendant communities and strength-en the capacity of civil society groups to engage inpolicy dialogues with central and local governmentsto improve access to education, heath services, andland demarcation.

For example, the Bank supported workshops forAfro-descendants in Lima, Peru, titled Todos Conta-mos II, in October 2003. The regional workshopfocused on making the national census a tool forobtaining official, disaggregated data on race andethnicity. Cosponsored by the Inter-AmericanDevelopment Bank, the workshops brought togeth-er 100 representatives from 18 countries throughoutthe region. Participants included officials from theregion’s national statistics bureaus and Afro-descen-dant and indigenous groups. As a follow-up,national statistical offices and Afro-descendant civilsociety groups are being supported by the Bank toimprove census questions and household question-naires, and greater dialogue and cooperation has

been established between national census officesand Afro-descendant community organizations.

In San Jose, Costa Rica, the Bank sponsored anevaluation workshop as part of a Leadership Capac-ity Strengthening Program for Afro-descendantorganizations in Brazil, Central America, Peru, andUruguay. The program focused on building capacityto design and implement local development pro-grams, improving financial reporting and accounta-bility among Afro-descendant organizations, andtraining for participation in policy-oriented discus-sions at the national and local levels. In Hondurasthe Bank is working with government to regulateand title The Land of Afro-Honduras in the north-ern part of the country. Afro-Hondurans, or Garifu-nas, have historically occupied the coastal lands ofnorthern Honduras, but land demarcation, titling,and management plans of these Garifuna landshave been pending for decades. Finally, in Colom-bia the Bank participated in the Interagency Com-mittee on Race and Development during 2003.Through this entity, the Bank has supported the cre-ation of an association of mayors with municipali-ties with majority Afro-descendant populations.

Children and Youth

The Bank took several important steps during thepast three years to reach out more effectively to chil-dren and youth groups, as well as to address youthissues. The first step was the appointment of a Chil-dren and Youth Adviser in September 2002 to coor-dinate the Bank’s work in this area. The adviserestablished a working unit and brought in a CSOyouth expert from Plan International as a secondedstaff person, to provide civil society expertise andexternal perspective. The second step was to draft achildren and youth strategy to guide the Bank’swork in this area. While the Bank has financedcountless projects to assist impoverished childrenand youth, it has not had a strategy explicitlyfocused on these constituencies. The strategy aims

Outreach to Civil SocietyConstituencies

5

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to define the Bank’s role and niche in youth issues,better identify priorities for the Bank’s actions inthis area, and incorporate youth perspective intoother Bank policies, studies, and programs.

The Children and Youth Unit carried out numer-ous outreach events and formal consultations overthe past year on the draft strategy Investing in Chil-dren and Youth: A Strategy to Fight Poverty, ReduceInequity, and Promote Human Development. This out-reach effort has included consultation meetings,videoconferences, and web-based discussions.Videoconferences took place with young peoplefrom nine European countries to exchange viewsand discuss the new strategy. An electronic discus-sion over a five-week period in May–June 2003elicited participation from 1,300 youth. Through-out this period, Bank staff collaborated with youthCSOs and networks, including the YMCA, the Inter-national Youth Foundation, and the Global Move-ment for Children. Bank staff also participated inand consulted youth leaders at the World Congressof Youth in Morocco in August 2003.

The Children and Youth Unit organized theBank’s first major meeting with youth during thisperiod. The Paris Dialogue in September 2003brought together more than 100 youth leaders andrepresentatives of youth organizations from 70countries for two days of discussions with BankPresident Wolfensohn and other senior managers.Workshops and sessions discussed HIV/AIDS andrisky behaviors, education, conflict prevention, andyouth employment. One outcome was the Bank’soffer to provide training to young people throughthe World Bank Institute and to help strengthencommunications with participants. A follow-upmeeting was scheduled for 2004.

Disabled Persons

Of the estimated 600 million disabled personsworldwide, some 400 million live in developingcountries and have some type of physical, intellec-tual, sensory, or psychological disability. They arefrequently denied basic civil and human rights,resulting in exclusion from education, employment,adequate housing, transportation, and affordablehealth care. The Bank took an important step in2002 to address these problems by appointing thefirst-ever Disability and Development Adviser tocoordinate the Bank’s work in this area. The adviserestablished a small working team of professionals

with extensive knowledge in disabilities issues andcontacts with CSOs that work in this area.

As part of its outreach efforts, the Bank’s Dis-ability Unit has launched several policy dialogueand learning events involving representatives fromgovernment, disabled persons organizations, otherCSOs, and donor agencies. In 2002, the DisabilityTeam organized the Bank’s first-ever InternationalDisability Conference in celebration of the UnitedNations International Day of Disabled Persons.More than 600 participants from the greater dis-ability and development community attended thisconference, which called for the mainstreaming ofdisability into the international developmentagenda. A second international disability confer-ence was being planned for 2004. As part of thiseffort, the Disability Team helped establish theGlobal Partnership on Disability and Develop-ment, which is an alliance of more than 100 organ-izations representing disabled persons organiza-tions, governments, CSOs, donor agencies, andother stakeholders to further integrate disabledpersons issues on a global level. The Bank alsolaunched the Disabilities Learning Program, gearedto promoting disability issues among CSOs. Themost recent of these learning programs was held inGuatemala in May 2003 and focused on inclusiveurban management.

The Disability Team has provided technical assis-tance to Bank staff and other organizations onincorporating disabilities issues into larger develop-ment policies. The team worked with countryoffices in Brazil, Ethiopia, India, Philippines, SouthAfrica, Vietnam, and Uganda to develop Bank posi-tions on disability issues. It also collaborated withthe Bank’s Global HIV/AIDS Program and the YaleSchool of Public Health to administer a Global Sur-vey on HIV/AIDS and Disability and to publish itsfindings. Finally, the Bank provides governmentsand disability organizations funds to carry outdevelopment programs for populations of disabledpeople. The Vietnamese government ran a countrydevelopment competition focused on disability in2002, awarding 15 grants totaling $150,000.

Faith-Based Groups

The Bank established a work unit in September 2000to reach out to the world’s major religions—Mus-lims, Christians, Buddhists, Jews, and others—topromote dialogue and collaboration on issues of

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ethics and faith as they relate to poverty alleviationand social development. As a nonreligious develop-ment agency, the Bank feels it has much to learnabout the role religion and faith play in develop-ment. Over the past three years, the DevelopmentDialogue on Values and Ethics Unit has carried out aseries of activities with global faith-based and inter-faith organizations to promote greater dialogue,joint action, and exploration of a more comprehen-sive vision of development and poverty alleviation.

A seminal meeting took place in October 2002,where Bank President Wolfensohn and a formerArchbishop of Canterbury, Dr. George Carey, hosteda meeting of religious and development leaders inCanterbury, England. Participants discussed theMillennium Development Goals, issues of socialjustice, the impact of HIV/AIDS, and possible syner-gies between the worlds of faith and developmentin key areas of development. Other activities haveincluded speaking engagements, disseminatingmaterials, writing articles, organizing formal dia-logues, and cohosting interfaith events on a broadrange of development issues. Most recently the Unithas published two books, Mind, Heart and Soul inthe Fight Against Poverty, which presents a series ofcase studies of faith-development collaboration,and Millennium Challenges for Development and FaithInstitutions, which explores a range of issues relevantto this dialogue.

The Unit has developed a range of key partner-ships with major faith and interfaith organizations.Since 2001, the Bank and the IMF have engaged in adialogue with the World Council of Churches,which aimed to hold a summit meeting of the lead-ers of all three institutions in the second semester of2004. It has included preparation of policy papersand workshops on issues such as the impact ofglobalization, water privatization, and PRSPs. TheBank has also been actively involved since 2001 in acolloquium entitled Giving Soul to Globalization,which takes place in the context of the Fez Festivalof World Sacred Music in Morocco. About 60 lead-ers participated in the 2004 symposium, whichfocused on the many complexities of globalization,the concept of global and spiritual citizenship, andthe social responsibility of corporations. Othermeetings hosted or attended by the Unit haveincluded consultations on environmental issuesand a workshop on anticorruption efforts withTransparency International. An important partnerin this outreach effort has been the World Faiths

Development Dialogue, which has facilitated con-sultations between the Bank and faith-based groupson several issues, including the World DevelopmentReport 2004 on service delivery.

Finally, among all the issues where greater dia-logue and cooperation between faith and develop-ment organizations are needed, none is moreurgent than HIV/AIDS. The Bank sponsored twoworkshops, one in Addis Ababa, Ethiopia in May2003 and a second in Accra, Ghana in January 2004,to discuss ways to combat HIV/AIDS with key faithcommunities and national AIDS councils from awide range of countries from East and West Africa.As part of the preparation for the Shanghai Confer-ence in June 2004, the Unit prepared a case studyexamining the experience of Uganda in fightingHIV/AIDS, which highlighted the role of faithorganizations.

Foundations

Foundations play an important role in develop-ment, often providing the seed money or institu-tional support needed by CSOs to launch innova-tive grassroots initiatives or scale up successfuldevelopment programs. The Bank designated aFoundations Coordinator in 2000 to establish bet-ter relations and explore areas of collaboration with

WB and IMF staff dialoguing with church leaders at the World Council ofChurches in Geneva, Switzerland (February 2003)

50

foundations. The Coordinator, in turn, established asmall unit and the Bank-wide Foundations WorkingGroup, which brings together staff from across theinstitution to support its outreach efforts. The Coor-dinator, with the help of the Working Group, isresponsible for deepening Bank-Foundation rela-tions, assisting foundations to understand the Bankbetter, advising Bank staff on how to collaboratewith foundations, and organizing outreach events.The foundations team produces a monthly elec-tronic newsletter, Foundations News, and managesthe Foundations website to keep Bank staffinformed of the latest initiatives in this area.

The Foundation Unit, in partnership with theSocial Development Department, launched a two-year Community Foundations Initiative tostrengthen community foundations and explorehow they can be integrated into the Bank’s com-munity-driven development approach at the coun-try level. Community foundations have not onlybeen the fastest-growing type of foundationsworldwide over the past decade, but they seem tobe particularly well suited for poverty reductionefforts. The two basic goals of the CommunityFoundations Initiative are to increase awarenessamong Bank staff about the concept and potentialcontribution of community foundations to devel-opment and to identify and support several com-munity foundations pilot projects that are integrat-ed into Bank community-driven development pro-grams and other operations in various regions ofthe world. Initial work is being undertaken inIndia, Moldova, and Thailand. Other potentialpilot countries are Ghana, Mexico, the Philippines,Sri Lanka, and Tanzania. The initiative is beingfunded by the Ford Foundation, the Charles Stew-art Mott Foundation, and the Bank. Several otherfoundations serve on the advisory panel: the Coun-cil on Foundations, the Triangle Community Foun-dation, the Vancouver Foundation, and the Coun-cil of Michigan Foundations.

During fiscal years 2002–2004, World Bank staffalso carried out a series of dialogues and partner-ship-building activities with international founda-tions on such topics as the PRSPs, MillenniumDevelopment Goals, Education for All, and HIV/ AIDS. One such initiative brought together theGates, United Nations, and Rotary InternationalFoundations with the Bank to establish the GlobalProgram to Eradicate Poliomyelitis, a partnership tobuy polio vaccine through buy-down loans to helperadicate polio worldwide by 2005. A similar part-

nership involved the Soros Foundation and theBank in support of the Global Partnership to StopTuberculosis. Other initiatives included involvingfoundations in PRSP processes in various countries,supporting development initiatives to complementthe Millennium Development Goals, and leveragingfoundation support to enhance CSO participationin various Bank policy consultations.

Gender Groups

World Bank research and experience on the groundshow that gender inequality typically lowers growthrates and impedes poverty reduction. For example,inequality between males and females in humancapital formation and economic resources reduceslabor productivity. Unequal power and resources ofmales and females found in most countries reducesthe efficiency of labor allocation in households andthe economy, intensifying the unequal distributionof resources. Gender inequality also contributes tothe non-monetary aspects of poverty; lack of securi-ty, opportunity, and empowerment. Althoughwomen and girls bear the largest and most directimpact of these inequalities, the costs cut broadlyacross society, ultimately hindering developmentand poverty reduction.

Established in 1996, the World Bank ExternalGender Consultative Group brings together a groupof gender specialists and leaders of women’s CSOsfrom around the world to meet with senior Bankmanagement and staff to strengthen dialogue ongender-related issues and to provide guidance onkey gender and development concerns. The mostrecent meeting of the Consultative Group tookplace in November 2003 and discussed the imple-mentation of the Bank’s gender mainstreamingstrategy. The meeting discussed the significantprogress that had been made, particularly on thepreparation of Country Gender Assessments, andlearned about the increased attention given to gen-der in core diagnostic economic and sector work, inCASs, in joint staff assessments of PRSPs, and inproject design and supervision. Members of thegroup emphasized that it is important to build onthe momentum that has been established. Partici-pants suggested that consultations at the countrylevel on all subjects—not only those traditionallythought of as women’s issues—should systematical-ly involve women’s CSOs. In addition, the groupsuggested that the Bank undertake a new initiativeto combat gender-based violence.

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Following the November 2003 ConsultativeGroup meeting, the World Bank hosted an intera-gency workshop on Gender Equality and the Mil-lennium Development Goals, which gathered les-sons and promising approaches that can be used tointegrate gender-specific actions into MDGs policiesand interventions. The meeting brought togethermore than 200 participants, including members ofthe Consultative Group, Bank staff, and representa-tives from CSOs, United Nations and donor agen-cies, and businesses from throughout the world.

Indigenous Peoples

Recognizing that their identities, cultures, lands,and resources are uniquely intertwined and espe-cially vulnerable to changes from outside, the Bankhas traditionally sought to “do no harm” to indige-nous peoples through its financing of developmentloans. Over the past decade, however, the Bank hasmoved toward a more proactive approach to pro-mote indigenous participation in development pro-grams. Now numbering more than 300 million andliving in more than 70 countries, indigenous groupshave begun to participate directly in Bank policyconsultations and receive support from Bank pro-grams.

As of August 2003, 227 of the Bank’s active proj-ects portfolio involved indigenous peoples’ issues,and another 80 were in the pipeline. In Africa, theBank is promoting awareness of indigenous knowl-edge systems and institutions, particularly in relationto natural resource management and biodiversityconservation. Some 56 projects in Asia and the Pacif-ic involve indigenous peoples in forestry manage-ment, education, community development, conser-vation, and natural resources management. Indige-nous peoples are involved in 110 projects in theLatin America and Caribbean region, in areas such asnatural resource management, land regularization,and community-based development. In addition,the Bank’s Small Grants Program provides supportto indigenous CSOs in Colombia, Brazil, Peru, andRussia. In 2003, the Bank launched a Global Fund forIndigenous Peoples to provide grants to support localsustainable and replicable development efforts byindigenous groups. The fund is managed by a boardof directors, half of them indigenous leaders selectedby their organizations. The fund is supporting acapacity-building program through the Fondo Indi-gena to strengthen indigenous organizations inBolivia, Colombia, Ecuador, Peru, and Venezuela.

On the policy side, indigenous leaders andindigenous-issue NGOs have also participated overthe past three years in extensive consultation meet-ings related to the review process of the Bank’sindigenous peoples’ operational directive 4.10. Thisprocess has involved half-a-dozen consultationmeetings worldwide and the Indigenous Peoples’Roundtable in Washington, D.C., in October 2002,which included 15 indigenous leaders from aroundthe world to discuss issues such as indigenous landrights, prior consent, and indigenous identity. TheBank is also providing support to strengthen theUnited Nations Permanent Forum on IndigenousIssues, a newly established advisory body to theUnited Nations Economic and Social Council thatgives indigenous peoples a stronger voice at theinternational level. The Development Gateway sup-ported the networking and policy advocacy effortsof indigenous groups by providing facilities for sev-eral videoconferences in 2001

Labor Unions

World Bank dialogue with the international unionmovement has increased over the past three years.The dialogue with labor has involved two majorinternational confederations—the InternationalConfederation of Free Trade Unions and the WorldConfederation of Labour—as well as the TradeUnion Advisory Committee to the Office of Eco-nomic Cooperation and Development, and severalglobal union federations organized by sector, suchas Public Service International. In addition, theBank regularly consults with the union movementon major studies and publications such as theWorld Development Report and Sector StrategyPapers.

Relations with the two international federationsintensified in 2000, as the Bank and the Interna-tional Monetary Fund decided to jointly establish aplatform for ongoing dialogue with them. It hasincluded the following activities: senior leadershipmeetings every two years in Washington, D.C.; tech-nical level meetings on policy issues of mutualinterest such as pension policies, PRSPs, and priva-tization; and staff secondments. The first seniorleadership meeting took place in October 2002, andseveral other leadership and technical meetingshave been held since on topics such as privatizationand core labor standards. Secondments of unionrepresentatives have taken place in three units of theWorld Bank, varying in length from six weeks to one

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year. One of the secondees carried out an importantstudy on the participation of labor unions in PRSPprocesses. Another looked into the consultation ofunions in World Bank public sector reform projects,and the third proposed changes to procurementdocuments that would cover health and safety pre-cautions and other labor standards for workers onBank-financed public works projects. Future assign-ments are under consideration.

At the country level, the Bank encourages con-sultation of trade unions in Bank projects and prod-ucts such as CASs and in the government’s socialdialogue process in general, such as through PRSPs.These efforts have included training workshops fortrade unions active in the strategy paper process,including a six-day workshop in December 2002 inLusaka, Zambia. The Bank has also established for-mal coordination with the International LaborOrganization to improve social dialogue in at leastfive PRSP countries.

Parliamentarians

As part of its efforts to reach out to a broad set ofstakeholders, the Bank initiated a program toengage parliamentarians from around the world.The Bank’s main parliamentary interlocutor, theParliamentary Network on the World Bank (PNoWP),was established in 2000 to help strengthen parlia-ments’ role in fighting poverty and monitoring theWorld Bank’s work at the country level. The networkis an independent, nongovernmental organizationwhose members engage in policy dialogue with the

Bank. It links more than 300 members of parlia-ments or congresses from some 80 countries. Thenetwork has carried out a series of activities duringthe past three years to further dialogue with theBank, monitor the Millennium DevelopmentGoals, and promote training.

Parliamentarian members of the network haveformed four regional and local chapters in India,East Africa, the Middle East, and Japan to discussBank operations and exchange information withBank staff in country offices. The network has alsobegun to monitor the implementation of the Mil-lennium Development Goals via the Parliamentari-ans’ Implementation Watch. The HIV/AIDS Com-mittee helps parliamentarians raise awareness,develop legislation, and work with World Bank staffon HIV/AIDS issues. The parliamentary network’sWorking Group on International Trade works tostrengthen the Doha development agenda.

The network has also begun to sponsor field vis-its to Bank-funded projects by members of parlia-ment. Field visits have occurred to projects in Alba-nia, Burundi, Ethiopia, Kenya, Serbia and Montene-gro, Uganda, and Yemen. This program is funded bythe Finnish government and allows parliamentari-ans to check results on the ground and make a polit-ical assessment of the PRSP process. The parliamen-tary network keeps in touch with its members andother groups via its website, a quarterly newsletter,and a global contact database of some 1,200 parlia-mentarians and their staff. The network held its fifthannual conference in Paris in February 2004, bring-ing together 190 parliamentarians from 80 coun-tries with World Bank President Wolfensohn, Inter-national Monetary Fund Deputy Managing DirectorAgustin Carstens, Brazilian President Lula da Silva(by direct video link), and other internationaldevelopment leaders.

The Bank coordinates its relations with the net-work through the Development Policy DialogueTeam in the European Vice Presidency and providesseveral ongoing services, including an online infor-mation service, a monthly electronic newsletter, andacademic conferences. It should be noted that theparliamentary network is not the Bank’s sole parlia-mentary interlocutor, as the Bank has establishedrelations with some 30 organizations, networks,and assemblies, and it gathered representativesfrom some 20 initiatives for a first “network of net-works” meeting at its Paris office in February 2004to map areas of cooperation.

High-level meetingbetween theWB and laborleaders from the ICFTU and WCL (Washington, DC—October2004)

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Roma Population

The World Bank also took concrete steps during thepast three years to reach out to the Roma peoples ofCentral and Eastern Europe. These efforts includedestablishing a grant fund and hosting a major con-ference to focus attention on the plight of the Romapopulation. The Roma have traditionally beensocially stigmatized and economically marginalizedin many countries and have grown increasingly vul-nerable as a result of recent political and economicchanges that have transformed the region. The Bankjoined European foundations to launch the PakivEuropean Roma Fund in March 2002 to supportRoma grassroots development efforts, carry outleadership and program management training, andpromote regional networking efforts. The fund,based in Bulgaria, has begun working in Bulgaria,Hungary, Romania, and Slovakia, but hopes toexpand to other countries over the coming years.

The Bank also supported a major conference inBudapest in June 2003 geared to promoting thedevelopment efforts of the Roma people. The“Roma in an Expanding Europe: Challenges for theFuture” conference brought together some 200Roma leaders, CSO representatives, governmentofficials, and donor agency representatives. It wasdesigned to raise public awareness of the uniqueeconomic development challenges and opportuni-ties facing the Roma and to identify policies andprograms that can effectively address structuralpoverty among the Roma. The World Bank, theOpen Society Institute, and the European Commis-sion cosponsored the event. Other contributorsincluded the United Nations Development Pro-gram, the Council of Europe Development Bank,and the governments of Finland, Hungary, andSweden. More recently, the Bank supported aregional training workshop geared to strengtheningmonitoring of government poverty programs andsocial accountability. The event, held in May 2004in Belgrade, Serbia, brought together 40 representa-tives of Roma civil society alongside governmentofficials and donor agency representatives from sixcountries in the region.

CONCLUSION

This report described the significant advances duringthe past three years in the Bank’s efforts to reach outand engage with civil society throughout the world.The many types and forms of engagement offer ademonstration of how diverse and multifaceted theBank’s relations have become with civil society, rang-ing from policy dialogue to operational collabora-tion. They also demonstrate how complex and mul-tilayered these relations have become over time.

While the report showed how these relationshave evolved, particularly at the country level, it alsohighlighted the opportunities and challenges facingthe Bank and civil society in the coming years. Onthe positive side, the report underscores the manyopportunities for greater synergies and developmentresults that can come from closer Bank–civil societyrelations. These include stepped-up and effectivedialogue on macroeconomic issues and on othercontested policies such as trade liberalization andprivatization. It also demonstrates the potential theCAS and PRSP processes have to promote govern-ment–civil society collaboration at the country level.

The report also points to problems and chal-lenges being experienced in these evolving relations,including the need for the Bank to reduce the gapbetween discourse and practice, particularly regard-ing its policies on participation, information disclo-sure, and accountability. The Bank also needs toimprove the effectiveness and consistency of itsstakeholder consultation efforts to reduce “consul-tation fatigue” and demonstrate to civil societyinterlocutors how the feedback received throughthese consultations results in improved Bank poli-cies and more effective Bank-financed operations.Another challenge is for the Bank to more effective-ly involve its government partners in theseBank–civil society engagement efforts, and evenmore important, to encourage governments andcivil society to dialogue and collaborate more effec-tively at the country level. Finally, the Bank needs toimprove its ability to monitor the results of its civilsociety engagement work to show the benefits suchengagement can bring to the development process.

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Country World Bank Approval Consultation EffortsBoard Dates

1. AFGHANISTAN Transitional Support Strategy

April 4, 2002, and Consultations with Afghan civil society were held in Islamabad and TehranMarch 11, 2003 as part of the preparation of the 2002 Transitional Support Strategy. The

subsequent strategy was enriched by inputs received through a series of con-sultations held in Kabul in January 2003 with representatives of govern-ment, civil society, the private sector, and international donor agencies.Those consulted emphasized, among other things, the importance of learn-ing from and building on the substantial experience of CSOs operating inAfghanistan, because the Bank has provided and will continue to supportgovernment programs implemented with CSO involvement. CSOs consult-ed included Solidarities, Handicap International, Afghan DevelopmentAssociation, Danish Committee for Aid to Afghan Returnees, CARE Inter-national, Coordination of Humanitarian Assistance, Public Health Programfor Afghanistan (IBNSINA), Agency for Rehabilitation and Energy Conser-vation in Afghanistan, Coordination of Afghan Relief, Peace Winds–Japan,International Assistance Mission, and World Vision.

2. AFRICA REGION Regional Integration (CENTRAL) Assistance Strategy

February 6, 2003 This Regional Integration Assistance Strategy for Central Africa is the secondformal response of the World Bank’s enhanced priority to regional integra-tion in Africa and a response to a request by the African Governors at the2000 Annual Meetings. It follows the strategy for West Africa presented tothe Board on August 2, 2001. Central Africa refers to CEMAC—Commu-naute Economique et Monetaire de l’Afrique Centrale—comprised ofCameroon, Central African Republic, Chad, Republic of Congo, EquatorialGuinea, and Gabon. This strategy has been prepared in consultation withregional institutions, governments, and representatives from civil society.

3. AFRICA REGION Regional Integration (WEST) Assistance Strategy

August 2, 2001, and Several governments, key West African institutions, donors, and representa-February 7, 2003 tives of civil society worked together to prepare the strategy. There is grow-

ing awareness within the business communities in favor of integration, andrepresentatives of civil society now have a voice in the debate as the mainstakeholders and beneficiaries of integration.

4. ALBANIA CAS

June 20, 2002 Roundtables and local consultations facilitated by the Carter Center tookplace during March and April 2002. Representatives of universities, mediaoutlets, professional associations, businesses, and CSOs attended theroundtables. Farmers and members of farmers’ associations participated inthe local consultations. These discussions were built on extensive exchanges

Annex I: Consulting Civil Society on Country Assistance Strategies, Fiscal Years 2002–200411

11 This table includes those Country Assistance Strategy where there was civil society consultation reported as part of the strategy's formulation process. These are summarydescriptions of civil society involvement, for more detailed accounts see the CAS documents themselves which can be found on the country office websites. The CASswere produced by the World Bank (WB), unless listed as “Joint WB–IFC,” which identify those undertaken together with the International Finance Corporation (IFC).

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4. ALBANIA, continued with CSOs involved in the formulation of the Growth and Poverty Reduc-tion Strategy, Bank-financed projects, and Bank policy documents. Feed-back included specificadvice on country strategy content and suggestionson the role of the civil society in strategy implementation. A strategy dis-cussion note, minutes of consultations, and relevant documentation wereposted on a special Albanian and English-language CAS website. Leadingnational newspapers and radio-TV stations also covered the consultations.

5. ALGERIA Joint WB-IFC CAS

June 26, 2003 A dozen consultations and sectoral workshops organized between January2002–April 2003 involved more than 1,000 stakeholders through severalthematic workshops. The January 2002 CAS workshop included academics,journalists, business executives, and members of the Economic and SocialCouncil. The sectoral CAS meeting held in Ghardaia in April 2002 focusedon rural development and agriculture and included professional organiza-tions, research centers, and universities. The June 2002 workshop on inte-grating a social perspective into the strategy engaged Algerian universitiesand research centers in debates on national development priorities.

6. ARGENTINA CAS

April 15, 2004 Broad consultations were held with representatives from government, civilsociety, and the private sector as part of CAS preparation in order to ensurethat the concerns and aspirations of key stakeholders were taken intoaccount. The Bank also incorporated lessons learned from the previousstrategy consultation process. In the area of social inclusion, the strategyconcentrates on the need for strengthened and more effective efforts toreach the most vulnerable societal groups such as the indigent poor, elder-ly, rural poor, indigenous populations, and youth at risk.

7. AZERBAIJAN CAS

July 27, 2003 Consultations on the draft CAS, held in March 2003, included representa-tives from government and civil society. Complementary meetings tookplace with the prime minister and council of ministers, parliamentarians,PRSP team, and representatives from civil society, the private sector, andinternational donor agencies. National and international CSOs and otherrepresentatives of civil society emphasized the importance of focusing onanticorruption efforts through improved monitoring in implementation ofBank-financed projects.

8. BANGLADESH Joint WB-IFC CAS

October 2003—ongoing Bank staff initiated consultations for the preparation of the results-based2004 CAS in October 2003. The process began with four retreats involvingBank staff based in Dhaka and one consultation with Bangladeshi citizensliving in the United States. A total of 10 consultation meetings were heldwith civil society including rural and urban poor, poor children and youth,university students, NGO leaders, academics, people with disability, factoryworkers, and indigenous peoples, as well as with business leaders. Severalconsultation meetings were also organized with the government’s PRSPcommittees. Major issues raised included: accelerating economic growth andenhancing the well being of Bangladesh citizens by promoting employmentand economic opportunities; reducing vulnerabilities; and improving gover-nance and efficiency of public and private sector.

9. BELARUS Joint WB-IFC CAS

March 14, 2002 Organization of broad consultations with the general public has become animportant pillar in discussing the CAS in Belarus. In 2001 thematic round-tables, focus groups, and information seminars were held in 14 towns of

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9. BELARUS, continued Belarus, which involved more than 1,500 representatives from environ-mental, social, educational, and other CSOs, media outlets, small andmedium businesses, academia, and students associations. A draft version ofthe strategy was disseminated beforehand to facilitate meaningful dialogueon issues such as HIV/AIDS,environment, impact of the Chernobyl disaster,needs of vulnerable groups, and private sector development. The first strat-egy draft contained comments and feedback collected during these consul-tations. The Bank discussed a second version of the strategy with stake-holders during a second round of consultations, and also posted it on theinternet to elicit wider public feedback.

10. BENIN CAS

July 1, 2003 Consistent with the core principle of linking the CAS to the PRSP process,the Bank has connected its CAS consultations with the nationwide consul-tations held both before and after the drafting of the PRSP. This countrystrategy draws on a number of documents that were prepared by the pover-ty strategy team and on a 2001 opinion survey. In addition, the Bank car-ried out consultations with the government, elected officials, civil society,the private sector, and international donor agencies. This process was initi-ated with a full week of discussions in June 2002 on the preliminary con-cepts of both PRSP and CAS strategies.

11. BOLIVIA Joint WB-IFC CAS

January 10, 2004 Four regional consultations were held as part of the CAS preparationprocess in the highlands (Potosi), lowlands (Santa Cruz), valleys (Tarija),and Amazon (Riberalta) regions. Two of the consultations were carried outbefore and two after the October 2003 governmental crisis. More than 250representatives of farmers associations, indigenous peoples organizations,NGOs, universities, youth and women’s groups, neighborhood associa-tions, small and medium enterprises, and labor unions participated in theseregional forums.

12. BOSNIA AND CAS Progress ReportsHERZEGOVINA

October 18, 2001, and There were consultations with key government and civil society stakehold-November 12, 2002 ers, as well as with international donor agencies, in the process of preparing

the 2001 CAS Progress Report. The consultations were structured to com-plement the participatory process underway for the PRSP process. The con-sultation process for the 2002 CAS progress report involved outreach at sev-eral levels and along several thematic lines. The civil society communityselected a CSO to manage local level consultations, which involved a num-ber of consultations on specified topics in 10 local communities. Thematicconsultations took place with a variety of stakeholders in government, par-liament, and civil society and among international donor agencies. A gen-eral media campaign was also launched to increase awareness of the coun-try strategy process among the general public.

13. BRAZIL Joint WB-IFC CAS

December 9, 2003 In agreement with the Brazilian government, the Brazil country team undertook consultations for the preparation of this CAS with numerous membersof Congress, state governors and secretaries, members of the Council ofSocial and Economic Development, academics, civil society representatives,members of the international community (embassies and other multilater-al aid organizations), members of youth organizations, union leaders, andCatholic bishops. These meetings took place between June and October2003. The consultations included more than two dozen meetings involving

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13. BRAZIL, continued several hundred individuals. During the preparation of the private sectorstrategy of the CAS, IFC and Bank staff consulted with representatives of theprivate sector, including banking and industrial associations.

14. BULGARIA Joint WB-IFC CAS

May 9, 2002 A series of town meetings, roundtable discussions, and smaller caucuseswere held to discuss the draft CAS with more than 500 local officials, CSOleaders, business executives, donor agency staff, and the general public. Afterthe strategy was approved by the Bank’s Board, it was translated into Bulgar-ian, posted on aspecial CAS website, and distributed widely to governmentagencies, CSOs, and business associations that participated in the consulta-tion. Bank staff also partnered with a CSO to make presentations on thestrategy throughout the country. A number of issues identified during thisprocess that reflected a measure of consensus between Bank, civil society,and other stakeholders were incorporated into the strategy. These includedsocial and economic issues such as unemployment, HIV/AIDS, poverty, andthe need for social safety nets; governance concerns such as decentralization,municipal finance, public administration, and corruption; and other sector-specific topics related to agriculture, environment, and private sector devel-opment.

15. BURKINA FASO CAS Progress Report

April 8, 2003 The CAS Progress Report draws from the participatory processes conductedas part of the two annual PRSP progress reports. Consultations with gov-ernment, civil society, donor agency representatives, and other stakeholderson the country strategy progress report took place in Washington, D.C., andOuagadougou in February 2003.

16. CAMBODIA CAS Preparation

2003 Preparation of the CAS began in 2003 with a series of formal and informalconsultations on the country’s development challenges and the role of theBank. These were held in Phnom Penh with international and nationalCSOs, and at the provincial, district, and commune levels with youth organ-izations, commune councils, religious groups, and indigenous organiza-tions. The Bank joined the Asian Development Bank and DIFD in sponsor-ing joint consultation meetings in September 2003 with representativesfrom government, civil society, private sector, and donor agencies. Prepara-tion of the respective country strategies was delayed as a result of politicaldeadlock following the July 2003 elections, and the additional time wasused for strengthening outreach to youth and civil society groups, includingregular publication of a newsletter, field visits to CSOs in the provinces, andconsultation on specific topics. Follow-up consultations on the draft CASalongside Asian Development Bank and DIFD assistance strategies tookplace in November 2004.

17. CAMEROON CAS

September 11, 2003 National CAS consultations were held in May 2003 in Yaound. These con-sultations were attended by 19 cabinet officers, approximately 30 CSO rep-resentatives, religious leaders, media professionals, and donor agency staff.These consultations produced broad agreement on strategy objectives, out-comes, and conformity with the PRSP, as well as appreciation for theresults-based format of this country strategy.

18. CHAD Joint WB-IFC CAS

December 11, 2003 National consultations on the CAS were held in N’Djamena during Sep-tember 2003. The consultations involved in-depth discussion on the diag-

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Country Approval Dates Consultation Efforts

18. CHAD, continued nosis and content of the draft strategy with a broad range of senior govern-ment officials and representatives from civil society, the private sector, andinternational donor agencies. Overall, consultation participants found thetwo pillars of the strategy to be well aligned with the country’s developmentpriorities as expressed in the PRSP and in keeping with the Bank’s compar-ative advantage. Regarding the Bank, they expressed the view that the Bankcould play a critical role in ensuring that oil revenues be used for povertyreduction, and that environmental and social safeguards are mainstreamedinto oil production and transportation projects.

19. CHILE CAS

February 19, 2002 Two consultations took place in November 2001. The first consultation,sponsored by the University of Chile, included more than 200 academics,students, and policy makers. Both groups gave substantial feedback on howto strengthen local administrative capacity in implementing social pro-grams, measuring poverty, and undertaking more in-depth and systematicevaluations of social programs. On a related planning process, 10 social pol-icy advocacy and research CSOs were consulted on the Bank’s PovertyAssessment report for Chile. The CSOs also provided inputs on the new par-ticipatory legislation, which was under preparation in Chile at the time thecountry strategy was being prepared. The outcome of this consultation wasused as input for the strategy.

20. CHINA Joint WB-IFC CAS

December 19, 2003 A series of CAS consultation workshops were held in Beijing and severalcoastal and western provinces during June–July 2002 in the context of theOperations Evaluation Department’s ongoing preparation of a CountryAssistance Evaluation. Workshop participants included representativesfrom government ministries, provincial officials from throughout China,and civil society leaders involved in such areas as economic reform, pover-ty reduction, environmental protection, rural development, and health pro-motion. The CAS consultations reflect the Bank’s increasingly active stake-holder outreach efforts in China, which involve the private sector, researchinstitutions, media, civil society, and other development partners.

21. COLOMBIA Joint WB-IFC CAS

January 16, 2003 The CAS consultation process involved two full-day seminars with a broadcross-section of Colombian civil society, including religious groups, aca-demic institutions, business associations, indigenous peoples organiza-tions, and NGOs. The consultations took place in Cali and Barranquillawith some 90 civil society representatives. While participants presented var-ious points of view on how best to promote equitable and sustainabledevelopment, they reached consensus on the three proposed pillars for theBank’s work in Colombia: promoting rapid and sustainable economicgrowth; equitable distribution of economic gains; and accountable andtransparent governance. There was also agreement on the need to addressregional inequalities as part of the Bank’s policy formulation and programdesign. The Bank, for its part, acknowledged the important role civil socie-ty can play in promoting: peace, sustainable development, and the fightagainst poverty. Finally, the process reaffirmed the need for the Bank to con-tinue increasing information disclosure and civil society involvement inBank-financed projects during CAS implementation.

22. COSTA RICA Country Partnership Strategy

May 18, 2004 A workshop was held in San Jose, Costa Rica, in January 2004 to discuss thedraft Country Partnership Strategy, which brought together a wide spectrumof stakeholders. There were more than 50 participants, representing trade

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22. COSTA RICA, continued unions, NGOs, research centers, business associations, academic centers,churches, community-based organizations, environmental groups, andindigenous and Afro-descendant organizations. The Bank staff included Cen-tral America’s Country Director, sector managers, and staff representing eachof the key sectors. The government was represented by the vice minister offinance and local officials from San Jose and Puerto Limon. The workshopwas organized and facilitated by two leading research and training insti-tutes—the Latin American Faculty of Social Sciences (FLACSO) and the Cen-tral American Institute of Business Administration (INCAE)—which alsohelped to identify and invite workshop participants. Workshop participantsdiscussed the Bank’s country analysis, particularly socioeconomic develop-ment trends, and the development objectives and financing priorities con-tained in the draft partnership strategy.

23. CÔTE D’IVOIRE Joint WB-IFC CAS

June 11, 2002 The CAS supports the policies and priorities contained in the PRSP andfollows a similar consultative approach in reaching out to civil society. InMay 2001, a national workshop was held to launch the preparation of thepoverty strategy paper, which had the participation of representatives fromgovernment, academia, civil society, the private sector, and internationaldonor agencies. The CAS will be updated once the PRSP is finalized.

24. CROATIA Joint WB-IFC CAS and Progress Report

October 18, 2001 The Zagreb Country Office has consulted with civil society on a numberofimportant policy initiatives and development programs such as thedesign of social policies and environmental action plans, in addition to theCAS. Stakeholders have included trade unions, NGOs, community-basedorganizations, media outlets, and international donor agencies.

More recently, in June 2004, the Croatia Country Office held a series ofregional CAS consultations in preparation for the 2005–2008 strategy.These involved a range of stakeholders, including representatives of centraland local governments, parliamentarians, small businesses, labor unions,and CSOs. The following issues were identified as key challenges: improv-ing the education system, reforming the judiciary and public administra-tion, improving the investment climate, reducing regional disparities,increasing the efficiency of social assistance, and improving the competi-tiveness of the agriculture sector. More detailed information on the consul-tative process and findings of these consultations can be found on theBank’s Croatia website.

25. ECUADOR CAS

May 27, 2003 CAS consultation workshops took place during January–February 2003 innine Ecuadorian cities and towns in various provinces. Participants includ-ed approximately 300 representatives from business associations, laborunions, indigenous and Afro-Ecuadorian groups, urban neighborhoodassociations, farmers groups, research centers, women’s organizations, envi-ronmental groups, local and international NGOs, and the Catholic andEvangelical churches. Feedback was integrated into the CAS and reportedback to participants. The strategy consultation process was an outgrowth ofongoing efforts to increase civil society participation in Bank-financed proj-ects as well as to promote dialogue on Bank policies.

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26. EL SALVADOR Joint WB-IFC CAS

December 4, 2001 CAS consultations were held in San Salvador on April 3–6, 2001. More than250 CSO representatives met with members of the cabinet and congress toexchange ideas and provide feedback on the strategy. Civil society repre-sentatives included environmental NGOs, women’s groups, indigenouspeoples organizations, and church groups. These consultations built on the1997 strategy consultation process and expanded the scope of participationby CSOs.

27. ETHIOPIA CAS

April 17, 2002 The CAS consultation process has involved broad discussions with a widespectrum of stakeholders through various thematic workshops held in2002. Participants included: officials from the federal, regional, and localgovernments; members of parliament and regional government councils;and representatives from schools, professional organizations, NGOs, andinternational donor agencies. These workshops focused on key themes ofthe strategy—capacity building, decentralization and service delivery, pri-vate sector development, and pro-poor growth. These discussions generat-ed several important ideas for the Bank and the government to act on:greater community involvement in project development; mandatory dis-closure of budget expenditures by local governments; enhanced role for themedia at the local level; and improved enabling legal conditions for CSOsto contribute to district or woreda-level service delivery.

28. GAMBIA CAS

March 6, 2003 CAS consultations have followed a participatory PRSP formulation processand consultations on the role of the IDA in the country’s development.Consultations were held in April 2002 with a wide range of stakeholders.In addition to meeting with government representatives, the team heldmeetings with civil society in several towns and villages. Specifically, ninemeetings were held with the following groups: CSO umbrella organiza-tions, press and radio outlets, parliamentarians, Gambia Teachers’ Union,entrepreneurs and business leaders, women’s organizations, and rural pro-ducer associations. In each meeting, the Bank staff sought feedback on theimpact of the Bank’s work in The Gambia and on what the IDA prioritiesshould be.

29. GHANA Joint WB-IFC CAS

March 16, 2004 The CAS consultation process consisted of several participatory initiativesinvolving Ghanaian authorities, civil society, and international donor agen-cies. It began in March 2003 with a multi-stakeholder retreat focusing oncountry strategy design. A series of policy dialogue sessions was thenlaunched in the first quarter of 2003 to focus on key thematic areas. In June2003 the Bank carried out consultations with civil society in five regions ofthe country, with the assistance of the Institute for Economic Analysis, anAccra-based research center. This was followed by the principal countrystrategy mission conducted in October–November 2003, which activelyconsulted representatives from government, civil society, the private sector,and international donor agencies. A detailed feedback matrix with the com-ments and recommendations received during the mission was circulatedwidely.

30. GUATEMALA CAS Progress Report

June 25, 2002 Consultation on the CAS Progress Report was carried out in conjunctionwith the PRSP and a country poverty assessment because both reports were

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Country Approval Dates Consultation Efforts

30. GUATEMALA, continued to consider critical inputs for the formulation of a fuller and more partici-patory country strategy. Consultations were held in Guatemala City withthe participation of government officials, academics from a number of uni-versities, researchers, NGO representatives, religious leaders (includingthree from the World Faith Development Dialogue representing theCatholic, Jewish, and Mayan religions), and donor agency staff. The inputsreceived through this interrelated consultation process were discussed bythe country team and included in the CAS Progress Report.

31. GUINEA CAS

June 10, 2003 CAS consultations were organized jointly by the Bank and the Economicand Social Council of Guinea and involved government, private sector, andcivil society stakeholders. The consensual position that emerged from thediscussions was that in order to ensure successful poverty reduction andincreased economic growth it is necessary to strengthen governance, whichinvolves improved management of public finances, increased anticorrup-tion efforts, and a more independent justice system.

32. GUYANA CAS

September 19, 2002 The CAS is based on the useful analysis, views, and recommendations thatemerged from consultations at the community, regional, and national lev-els during the preparation of the PRSP. Further consultations on the draftcountry strategy were held with government, civil society, private sector, anddonor agency representatives in May 2002.

33. HONDURAS Joint WB-IFC CAS

June 24, 2003 Formal CAS consultations took place in Tegucigalpa in April 2003. Theyincluded representatives of the National Anti-Corruption Council, women’sorganizations, indigenous peoples organizations, academics, NGOs, andreligious groups. Participants stressed the important role civil society plays informulating public policy and implementing Bank-supported projects. As aresult of these consultations, a number of important shifts were made in theproposed country strategy program. These include a greater emphasis onforestry, increased urban services, and the inclusion of additional prioritiesgeared to supporting youth-at-risk, microfinancing, judicial reform, regionaltrade, and indigenous and Afro-Honduran communities.

34. HUNGARY CAS Progress Report

April 25, 2002 The CAS Progress Report for Hungary laid out a non-lending, pre-gradua-tion strategy for World Bank partnership in Hungary in preparation forHungary’s ascension to the European Union. In addition to having beenamply discussed with government officials, European Union agencies, andother international donor agencies, the draft progress report was posted onthe Bank’s external website, in both English and Hungarian, and dissemi-nated widely among civil society for comment and discussion. The progressreport was also sent to CSO networks, Small Grants Program grantees, andpolicy advocacy CSOs. The few opinions received were largely supportive ofthe broad strategy while advocating that greater priority be given to areas ofpoverty in Hungary and to the issues of Roma exclusion as emphasized inthe Bank’s strategy.

35. INDIA Joint WB-IFC CAS

August 26, 2004 The fiscal 2005–08 CAS for India is designed to support India’s Tenth Five-Year Plan, which is the Government’s own poverty reduction strategy. In thecourse of formulating the Bank Group country strategy, consultations withvarious tiers of government, civil society, private sector, and donor agenciestook place over more than a year. About 1,000 people from government,

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35. INDIA, continued civil society, academia, the media, and the private sector were invited to par-ticipate in a two-part opinion survey to share their views on key develop-ment issues in India and on the Bank’s effectiveness and priorities. The twoparts were a detailed quantitative questionnaire (to which 581 responded)and a series of smaller qualitative focus group discussions on some of thekey shifts proposed in the country strategy. The Bank hosted several half-dayworkshops in Delhi, Mumbai, Bangalore, and Lucknow, with invited repre-sentatives from central, state, and local governments, CSOs, private sector,academia, the media, and donor agencies. Noted Indian economists out-side of government also provided informal review and comments at boththe concept note stage and during drafting. Before being finalized, the draftstrategy was posted on external websites in English, Hindi, Kannada, andTelugu for public review and comment for a period of about four weeks.Annex 3 to the strategy (which can be downloaded from the Bank’s exter-nal website) details how the consultation process influenced the design ofthe country strategy.

36. INDONESIA Joint WB-IFC CAS

November 25, 2003 The CAS has been designed to be fully consistent with the emerging PRSP,and it has been prepared in collaboration with the PRSP core team. TheCAS consultation process was undertaken between March and July 2003and involved more than 400 civil society representatives. A variety ofmethodologies, including focus groups, interviews, and feedback work-shops, were employed in both Jakarta and five regions of the country. In-depth interviews were held with approximately 60 CSO leaders, businessleaders, elected officials, and academics. Four two-day focus groups wereorganized on such topics as governance, decentralization, micro-credit,land reform, investment climate, rural development, public service delivery,and macroeconomic issues. The feedback received through this process wasincorporated into drafts of the country strategy and discussed by theIndonesia Country Team. A follow-up consultation meeting on the strategy(with support from the Norwegian Government) was held in Jakarta inOctober 2003 with CSOs to discuss a “response matrix” indicating howtheir recommendations were integrated into the strategy document.

37. JORDAN Joint WB-IFC CAS

January 21, 2003 A meeting with a wide range of stakeholders took place in Amman in Octo-ber 2002 to discuss the CAS and its main priorities. The meeting was con-vened by the Ministry of Planning and brought together some 45 represen-tatives from civil society, the private sector, the media, and academia. Issuesraised included competitiveness, information and communications tech-nology, the role of the media in developing countries, micro-credit and job-production for women, and Jordan’s vulnerability in the region. Partici-pants also raised questions involving the Bank’s policies on intellectualproperty rights, the Heavily Indebted Countries Program, small enterprisedevelopment, and capacity building of CSOs.

38. KYRGYZ REPUBLIC Joint WB-IFC Progress Report

December 4, 2001 The CAS has been prepared based on consultations with the government,CAS including a series of meetings with a wide range of ministries in February May 15, 2003 2003. The strategy also benefited from consultations with CSOs around the

IDA portfolio review and implementation of several grant making instru-ments geared to civil society. The Bank held consultations on the IDA,chaired by the United Nations Coordinator, with about 44 civil society andprivate sector representatives, and also carried out a client survey with 114individuals. The opinions and suggestions gathered have helped shape the

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38. KYRGYZ REPUBLIC, continued association’s priorities and operations. Outreach to CSOs on the CAS wasalso complemented by the recent establishment of a Community-DrivenDevelopment network, the ongoing Small Grants Program, and theplanned regional Development Marketplace’s Innovation Day.

39. LATVIA Joint WB-IFC CAS

April 25, 2002 Consultations in Riga formed the basis of the first draft of the CAS. Theseconsultations meetings occurred in July–November 2001 and involved rep-resentatives from government, business associations, research centers, tradeunions, and NGOs. The consultation process generated useful feedback andspecific suggestions, including the need to strengthen enforcement of theInformation Openness Law and support for developing doctoral study cen-ters at five leading Latvian universities.

40. LIBERIA Country Reengagement Note

March 9, 2004 The Country Reengagement Note reflects closely the strategy contained inthe government’s Results-based Transition Framework, which sets out avision for the country’s transition. The framework, which was based on aJoint Needs Assessment carried out by the Bank, contains priority outcomesin nine sectoral clusters and defines expected results for the two yearsthrough December 2005. The chairman and senior members of the Nation-al Transitional Government for Liberia were involved in the needs assess-ment and the design of the framework, thus strengthening country owner-ship of the framework. A national stakeholder consultation meeting and ahigh level summit also took place in January 2004 involving more than 200participants, including legislators, ministers, leaders from former warringfactions, political leaders, and civil society representatives.

41. MACEDONIA CAS

September 9, 2003 The CAS consultation process consisted of several quantitative and qualita-tive feedback instruments: a quantitative baseline survey carried out in Feb-ruary 2003 to evaluate knowledge of the Bank and views on key develop-ment challenges; in-depth interviews conducted in March 2003 with 20experts and opinion makers; and 24 focus groups (10–12 participants each)held in Skopje and in cities throughout the country. The focus groups con-sisted of representatives from local government, CSOs, universities, studentgroups, trade unions, and the private sector. Parliamentarians, media pro-fessionals, and donor agency staff were consulted in separate focus groups.A summary report of the public consultation was completed in April 2003,which identifies country development priorities and suggests criteria formonitoring the Bank’s development strategy. The issue of corruptionemerged as a key concern expressed by a majority of participants, and as aresult improved government transparency was selected as a core goal in theCAS, along with identifying monitoring indicators.

42. MADAGASCAR CAS

November 18, 2003 The Secretariat Technique de Z’Ajustement (STA) which acts as a technicalsecretariat of the PRSP and is comprised of representatives of governmentministries, CSOs, and academia, facilitated the comprehensive participato-ry process for both the PRSP and CAS processes, which were inter-related.Key stakeholders consulted included representatives from government,political parties, NGOs, faith-based organizations, and international donoragencies. The consultation was structured around six thematic workinggroups (rural development, infrastructure, health, education, private sectordevelopment, and governance), which were established in late 2000 andmet regularly throughout the process. In March 2003, the Bank, STA, and

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42. MADAGASCAR, continued various ministries hosted the National Consultation Workshop on the draftpoverty paper, which brought together more than 600 participants, includ-ing a former chief of state and the current prime minister. The discussionidentified the following priorities: governance, institutional development,justice, corruption, growth, infrastructure, education, health, AIDS, agricul-ture and environment, and water and sanitation.

43. MALAWI CAS

June 10, 2003 Consultations took place in August 2002 in Lilongwe and Blantyre with theparticipation of civil society. Participants recommended more holisticapproaches to food security, skills building, HIV/AIDS prevention, trans-parency, and micro-financing. The consultations were done in four meet-ings held in Mzuzu, Lilongwe, Blantyre, and a last meeting in Lilongwe towrap up. The CSOs which participated in the meetings included WorldVision, Oxfam, Save the Children, Hunger Project, Umoyo network, BanjaLa Mtsogolo, and Malawi Economic Justice Network.

44. MALI CAS

July 31, 2003 The CAS consultation process involved a series of meetings held with a broadcross-section of stakeholders including representatives from central and localgovernments, civil society, private sector, and international donor agencies.The first was a retreat in Mopti held in late May 2002 with more than 60 par-ticipants. This was followed by a Client Survey Feedback Workshop held inNovember 2002 with more than 45 participants, which generated concretesuggestions for improving the Bank’s future service delivery and operationalprograms. A Country Portfolio Performance Review meeting held in January2003 reviewed the Bank’s portfolio for the first time since 1995 and proposedshort- and medium-term actions to improve its quality and performance.Regional consultations were held in Segou, Mopti, and Timbuktu during Feb-ruary 2003, which brought together community leaders and national gov-ernment officials to focus on ways to improve the decentralization anddeconcentration process and the implications for Bank operations in Mali.Finally, a workshop was carried out in Bamako in March 2003 with morethan 70 participants to discuss the draft strategy before it was finalized.Women’s organizations were actively consulted throughout the process andtheir participation resulted in greater emphasis on gender-related issues.

45. MAURITANIA CAS

June 18, 2002 The CAS formulation process began in 2000 with a survey of 50 opinionleaders on the effectiveness of the Bank’s poverty reduction efforts. In lateMarch 2002 the Bank discussed the draft strategy in Nouakchott with repre-sentatives from government, private sector, civil society, and donor agencies.The comments and recommendations generated were incorporated in thefinal strategy document. In particular, the stakeholders emphasized theirsupport for the Bank’s strategy of focusing on long-term programs in therural, education, and urban sectors. Moreover, the representatives encour-aged the Bank to work closely with them and other stakeholders in theimplementation of these programs. During the course of country strategyimplementation, the Bank has carried out regular consultations with civilsociety and other partners on the progress being made. These consultationsalso build on the government’s own participatory efforts, which are carriedout in the context of the annual PRSP Progress Reports. More specifically, theBank consulted civil society in the context of the 2002 and 2004 CountryPortfolio Performance Reviews, through regular supervision missions of allBank projects, and through active outreach by the Bank’s Mauritania office.

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46. MAURITIUS CAS

May 7, 2002 The CAS preparation process involved active consultation with a wide rangeof organizations and low-income workers throughout the country. Theseincluded government agencies (Trust Fund of the Social Integration of Vul-nerable Groups of the Ministry of Finance), business groups (Board ofInvestment), labor unions (National Trade Unions Confederation), churchgroups (Caritas), women’s organizations (Rodrigues Women’s RegionalCommittee), and NGOs (Transparency International). Fishermen from thepoorest southwestern region were consulted through focus group meetingsduring the strategy preparation mission in November 2001. A round ofstrategy consultations was held in January 2002 in Rodrigues and covered avariety of government funded poverty alleviation programs. In addition,specific consultations were held with labor unions to discuss proposed edu-cational reforms. The draft strategy document was shared early with thestakeholders consulted, and joint diagnostic studies were carried out withother international donor agencies. The strategy document incorporatedspecific suggestions made by CSOs during these consultations, and thesewere reported by the Mauritian press (TV, radio, and newspapers).

47. MEXICO Joint WB-IFC CAS

May 16, 2002 A series of consultations for the preparation of Mexico’s 2003–06 CAS took CAS place in the context of the democracy strengthening process underway in theApril 15, 2004 country. The process revolved around three full-day seminars held in Mexi-

co City, Monterrey, and Oaxaca in March 2002. More than 120 civil societyleaders participated, representing trade unions, NGOs, religious groups,academic centers, foundations, rural producer organizations, and businessassociations. A summary report and detailed minutes of the consultationshave been distributed to participants and are available on request. Mexico’s2005–2008 Country Partnership Strategy was also prepared, using a similarconsultation approach. Three full-day workshops were held in Oaxaca,Guadalajara, and Mexico City to consider the views of government, privatesector, and civil society representatives.

48. MOLDOVA CAS

December 14, 2004 CAS stakeholder consultations were undertaken during the preparation ofthe new strategy for fiscal 2005–2008 in spring 2004. The consultationswere conducted in the form of roundtables and meetings and included thePresidency, the government (central and local levels), the parliament, busi-ness and financial community, civil society, media, academic institutions,trade unions, opposition parties not represented in parliament, and donoragencies (bilateral and multilateral). A CAS website, with an electronic dis-cussion forum, was also launched to provide added scope for dialogue withstakeholders. Stakeholders welcomed the consultation process andexpressed concerns about the limited involvement of CSOs in policy for-mulation, stressing the important perspective they can bring. Other issuesraised were: the need for a better business environment; corruption; directfinancing of beneficiaries to circumvent state bureaucracy; infrastructuredevelopment; education and health; and the need for greater transparencyin government–World Bank relations. A follow-up phase to the CAS con-sultation will involve continued dialogue on the development challengesfacing Moldova. This will be initiated following Board discussion of theCAS scheduled for December 14, 2004.

49. MONGOLIA CAS Progress Report

April 29, 2004 Consultations conducted in preparation for the CAS included a two-dayretreat with the Mongolian prime minister and cabinet, as well as various

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49. MONGOLIA, continued multi-stakeholder consultation meetings in Ulaanbaatar and provincialcenters with government officials, members of parliament, civil societyleaders, business executives, and donor agency staff. While participantssupported economic growth as a tool for poverty reduction, they also urgedgreater attention to governance, rural needs, and the sustainable use of envi-ronmental resources. Participants also raised questions about donor effec-tiveness and called for greater civil society participation in the design,implementation, and monitoring of development projects. The countrystrategy is broadly aligned with the Economic Growth Support and PovertyReduction Strategy, which was developed through a consultative process inboth urban and rural areas and involved representatives from government,civil society, private sector, and donor agencies.

50. MOZAMBIQUE Joint WB-IFC CAS

November 20, 2003 This CAS is based on extensive consultations with a variety of stakeholdersincluding the government, CSOs, business associations, opinion leaders,and donor agencies. A first round of consultations with external stakehold-ers was held in December 2002 and a second round, on an initial draft ofthe strategy, held in August 2003. Discussions focused on the Bank’s expe-rience in implementing the previous strategy as well as on strategic choicesconfronting the Bank over the next few years. The country’s own develop-ment priorities were not discussed, as these are articulated in the ActionPlan for the Reduction of Absolute Poverty (PARPA) or PRSP , which thecountry strategy supports and which was itself based on extensive discus-sions. Bank staff worked closely with the key donors, including particularlythe G11 (Group of Donors Supporting the State Budget) and those that arepreparing their own country strategies. The country strategy also drewextensively on the first, full-day meeting of the Poverty Observatory, openedby President Chissano in April 2003, which analyzed the implementationof the PARPA, with the active participation of 10 cabinet ministers and rep-resentatives of local government, CSOs, business associations, faith-basedgroups, and donor agencies. The Country Team has disseminated the coun-try strategy widely by posting it on the country website and through a short-er, more easily read brochure.

51. NEPAL CAS Progress Report

December 19, 2002 The Bank consulted widely with civil society as part of the process of draft-CAS ing the CAS Progress Report. The strategy benefited from the broadNovember 18, 2003 consultations undertaken in the drafting of the Tenth Plan, or the country’s

poverty reduction strategy. One of the key objectives of this process was toassess the possibility of improving service delivery at the district and vil-lage levels. Two multidisciplinary teams of economists and social scientistscarried out the consultations over a period of two weeks. Field visits werearranged to ensure that both hill and terai districts were represented in thesample in three of the five regions of Nepal. Local stakeholders consultedincluded forest user groups, women, landless farmers, NGO staff, districtdevelopment committee members, government officials, school teachers,students, unions leaders, and businessmen. The main messages and obser-vations of the consultations were attached to the strategy progress reportand subsequently used to help define the CAS that was presented to theBoard 11 months later.

52. NICARAGUA Joint WB-IFC CAS

March 13, 2003 CAS consultations were concentrated around a two-day workshop spon-sored by the national Economic and Social Planning Council and held inManagua in August 2002. The council is a multi-stakeholder body that has

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52. NICARAGUA, continued representatives from government, the private sector, and civil society. Themeeting used an interactive “options finder” survey methodology andfocused on the Bank’s role and track record in financing development andpoverty reduction. Participants suggested that the Bank focus attention onpromoting equitable economic growth through raising rural productivityand investing in human capital.

53. NIGER CAS Progress Report

November 20, 2001 The CAS outreach strategy has been carried out in conjunction with nation-CAS wide consultations on the PRSP, in keeping with the objective of ensuring January 14, 2003 policy consistency between both country strategies. Consultation meetings

were held in 2002 involving a wide range of stakeholders, including civilsociety, and devoted to discussing country strategy-related issues within theoverall framework of the country’s poverty strategy. The country strategy wasalso based on recent Participatory Poverty Assessments, an opinion surveyconducted in 2001, and other independent and Bank diagnostic studies.The final draft of the country strategy was discussed in a half-day workshopin November 2002 with relevant government ministers. The key messagesemerging from this discussion included the need for the Bank to strength-en aid effectiveness and to focus the Bank’s portfolio toward programmaticlending and community-driven development projects.

54. PAKISTAN Joint WB-IFC CAS

June 11, 2002 CAS preparation involved broad consultations at the village, provincial, andnational levels and involved more than 5,000 stakeholders from govern-ment, civil society, political parties, and the private sector. The processincorporated lessons learned from past country strategy consultationprocesses. A first round of consultations took place between October 2000and February 2001 in the Sindh, Punjab, and Balochistan provinces andinvolved government officials, business executives, women, tribal leaders,and NGO staff. It also involved visits to local districts in each of the fourprovinces. A second round of consultation meetings, organized jointly withCSOs, occurred in May 2001 at both the provincial capitals and federal lev-els. Participants at these sessions suggested that the Bank increase its role instrengthening reforms geared to improving governance, creating jobs, andenhancing the quality of education and health services.

55. PARAGUAY CAS

December 16, 2003 A series of consultation meetings on the CAS were held with a wide rangeof representatives from the civil society and private sectors, both in Asun-cion and in the interior of the country. A diverse set of organizations par-ticipated in the discussions, including faith groups, trade unions, farmercooperatives, small and medium enterprises federations, indigenous peo-ples organizations, research centers, women’s organizations, youthalliances, and local and international NGOs. Local and regional govern-ment officials were also present. Throughout these meetings, Bank man-agement and staff sought to promote an open and frank discussion aboutthe role of the Bank and the quality of its portfolio. In addition, the Banksought to receive practical suggestions geared to improving its povertyreduction efforts in Paraguay. The feedback generated through these meet-ings was presented as an annex to the country strategy and posted on theBank’s website. These consultations revealed that the public, especially inthe interior of the country, has limited information about the Bank, oftenleading to a misconstrued view of the Bank’s work. For example, while mostof the projects the Bank finances in Paraguay work directly with rural water

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55. PARAGUAY, continued juntas, farmers’ groups, and school-parent associations, a recurrent themeof the consultation was that the Bank should increase involvement of localorganizations in the design and implementation of Bank projects. Otherrecommendations called for the Bank to provide institutional support toCSOs and disburse funds directly to them.

56. PERU CAS

September 17, 2002 The new transitional government that took office in 2000 initiated a broadconsultation with civil society on proposed structural reforms and publicpolicies. In 2001, the government established citizen roundtables for pover-ty reduction at the national, departmental, and municipal levels. TheseMesas de Concertacion para la Lucha contra la Pobreza were established withthe assistance of the Catholic Church, CSOs, and local governments to fos-ter dialogue among stakeholders on development priorities and policies,increase public expenditure accountability and transparency, and enhanceregional planning. In addition, an Indigenous Amazon Peoples Multi-sec-toral Mesa was formed to provide a forum for conflict resolution and con-sultation with indigenous peoples organizations.

57. PHILIPPINES Joint WB-IFC CAS

April 2002 The CAS consultation process began with a series of daylong consultationmeetings on sectoral issues held in October–November 2001 and involving,for the first time, a cross-section of government, legislative, private sector,and civil society representatives. The meetings brought together both poli-cy advocacy and service provision CSOs and focused on such sectors as ruraldevelopment, urban development, and infrastructure. This consultationapproach was based on the experience of the 1999 CAS, and the issues andpriorities identified reflected the Medium-Term Philippine DevelopmentPlan. The views and recommendations generated at these consultationmeetings were summarized in a report that was presented to Bank staff andgovernment officials, posted on the website, and later included as an annexto the country strategy document The views and recommendations alsohelped shape the thinking of the sector staff not only in the general direc-tion of the strategy, but in specific ways of designing projects.

58. POLAND Joint WB-IFC CAS

December 10, 2002 CAS preparation included the use of several consultation instruments.They included: a quantitative baseline survey carried out in June 2001;web-based consultation from February–May 2002; and in-depth interviewsconducted with 58 opinion leaders, carried out in January–February 2002.CAS consultation meetings were held in Poland’s three major cities (Gdan-sk, Warsaw, and Katowice) in April 2002, as well as in outlying regions.Each meeting brought together representatives of NGOs, professional andbusiness associations, academic research institutions, trade unions, andmunicipal authorities. Two separate meetings were conducted with agroup of local officials and businessmen in Szczecin. Polish and Englishversions of the draft strategy were posted on the country’s website alongwith the feedback received during the consultations. The final countrystrategy document was modified to reflect a number of views and recom-mendations made by CSOs. Changes were incorporated in several sectionssuch as the poverty analysis, gender, labor markets, education, health,infrastructure, and environment. For those comments that were not incor-porated, consultation participants were assured that the Bank would for-ward these to the government.

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59. RUSSIA Joint WB-IFC CAS

June 6, 2002 The CAS consultation process involved two stages. Bank staff began by vis-iting a number of Russian regions, including Siberia, the Urals, and North-west Russia, for discussions with local government officials, business exec-utives, and civil society leaders on strategy design. Following these meet-ings, Bank staff presented a preliminary strategy paper to leading represen-tatives of the Russian political, academic, civil society, and business com-munities in a series of meetings and seminars in Moscow. These events cul-minated in a high-level workshop in February 2002 involving key policymakers in government and from several research centers. Workshop partic-ipants expressed their support for the three priority areas outlined in thedraft CAS which were improving the business environment and enhancingcompetition, improving public sector management, and mitigating socialand environmental risks. The consultation process continued during strate-gy implementation. In 2002 Bank staff visited seven regions of Russia (Mur-mansk, Voronezh, Rostov-on-Don, Perm, Novosibirsk, Khabarovsk, Nizh-niy Novgorod) to discuss the country strategy with local CSOs networks,business associations, and authorities. These meetings allowed the Bank tomake mid-course corrections and improve dissemination through regionalstakeholder networks and web-based consultations. The feedback receivedduring the regional round of consultations was placed on the Bank’s website for further comments and discussions.

60. RWANDA CAS

December 3, 2002 In the early stages of CAS preparation, the Bank and the PRSP CoordinationUnit organized a two-day consultation workshop in Kigali with representa-tives from government, private sector, civil society, and donor agencies. Dis-cussions focused on progress and findings of the PRSP process, emergingdevelopment priorities, assessment of Bank portfolio implementation, andpossible areas for Bank assistance. The Bank also held discussions with gov-ernment ministries, poverty strategy formulation team, and national com-missions working on reconciliation, legal and constitutional affairs, andhuman rights.

61. SENEGAL Joint WB-IFC CAS

April 17, 2003 The CAS consultation process began in November 2002 when a first draftof the Senegal strategy was discussed in public meetings with representa-tives of the government, private sector, NGOs, community groups, laborunions, and international donor agencies. Bank staff presented the strategicpartnership matrix, country strategy lending and advisory services pro-grams, and the triggers for levels of IDA assistance. This presentation waswell received and led to changes in the triggers and in the content and focusof the association’s proposed program. The public consultations carried outin the PRSP process were also used as inputs to the Bank’s country strategy.The key recommendations emerging from the consultations, which wereincorporated into the final version of the country strategy, were the needfor: more effective and sustained poverty reduction efforts; expansion offinancial services; support to agricultural growth, and employment creationinitiatives.

62. SIERRA LEONE Transition Support Strategy

March 26, 2002 The Transition Support Strategy preparation encompassed consultations inFreetown in December 2001 with government, civil society, private sector,international NGOs, and donor agencies. A second round of consultationswas conducted in February 2002 in Freetown, which led to governmentendorsement of the Transition Support Strategy.

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63. SLOVAK REPUBLIC Country Partnership Strategy

June 1, 2004 The Country Partnership Strategy consultation process consisted of severalfeedback instruments and events. A background baseline survey was con-ducted covering a nationwide sample of 1,040 respondents, requestingfeedback on the potential role of the World Bank in the country after itsascension to the European Union. First the draft strategy was presented togovernment officials at the Joint Portfolio Review Meeting in February2004. Second, the Slovak and English language versions of the strategy wereplaced on the Bank’s website in March 2004 for a web-based consultation.Finally, a series of consultation meetings were held in three major cities:Kosice, Banska Bystrica, and Bratislava during March–April 2004. The draftpartnership strategy was distributed to more than 700 organizations beforethe consultation meetings, including CSOs, research centers, local govern-ments, and business associations. The feedback received was made availableon the World Bank website. A variety of recommendations were receivedfrom civil society including; the need for the Bank’s strategy to focus moreon fighting corruption and clientilism; gender issues, training, and contin-uing education; greater transparency of government reforms; regional dis-parities; and fiscal decentralization. All of the comments were carefully con-sidered and published as an annex of the Country Partnership Strategy. Theconsultation process had a significant role in shaping the final version ofthe strategy, particularly in the emphasis on training and transparency ofgovernment reforms.

64. SOMALIA Country Reengagement Note

April 22, 2003 In formulating the Country Reengagement Note, the Bank worked closelywith the United Nations Development Program to consult as wide an arrayof stakeholders as possible under the existing constraints of 2003, includ-ing the lack of a legitimate national government, general lack of security,and inability of Bank staff to travel to Somalia. Nonetheless, the Bank con-sulted representatives from government, private sector, civil society, andinternational donor agencies such as UNESCO, UNFPA, UNICEF, UNIFEMand the World Health Organization. The strategy also benefited from feed-back received through the Somali peace process, to which the Bank con-tributed by providing technical assistance. The Bank will follow the samebroad consultative approach in the implementation of the Country Reen-gagement Note by working with a variety of stakeholders including govern-ment agencies, civil society, private sector and donor agency representatives.

65. SRI LANKA Joint WB-IFC CAS

April 1, 2003 CAS consultation meetings were held in June–November 2000 and organ-ized in collaboration with the Asia Development Bank and the JapaneseBank for International Cooperation. Participants included local and nation-al government officials and a wide range of stakeholders including politi-cians, teachers, students, religious leaders, union leaders, journalists, youngentrepreneurs, NGO leaders, business executives, fishermen, plantationworkers, donor agency representatives, and representatives of professionalassociations and chambers of commerce. Detailed summaries of the feed-back received in the meetings were first submitted to the participants fortheir review and then disseminated more widely throughout the country.Consensus emerged around a few issues such as the needs to find lastingsolutions to the armed conflict, improve economic opportunities for thepoor, strengthen governance, and advance educational reforms. The CAS wassubsequently postponed until 2003, in large part because PRSP preparationwas underway. Further widespread consultations with civil society were notcarried out given that the country strategy was based on the PRSP, whichitself was prepared through a consultative process.

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66. THAILAND CAS

December 10, 2002 With the recovery of Thailand from the 1997 economic crisis, the WorldBank Group embarked on a consultative process with stakeholders fromvarious sectors to prepare its post-crisis country strategy. A series of consul-tations were conducted during 2001–2002 with representatives from gov-ernment, parliament, civil society, private sector, donor agencies, and theNational Social and Economic Advisory Council on Thailand’s develop-ment challenges and the World Bank’s role and future activities. The con-sultations proceeded in two phases. Phase one in 2001 focused on a broadset of issues, ranging from globalization and poverty to the enabling envi-ronment for civil society. The major consultations revolved around twolarge meetings with civil society in Prachuab Kirikhan and Pitsanulokprovinces. Those meetings had a major impact on the Bank’s outreachapproach, leading it to hold additional consultations in the poorest region,the northeast, and to gain a better understanding of poverty. The secondphase in 2002 concentrated on the specific development challenges facingThailand, the government’s national agenda, and the role the World Bankmight play. The consultation process was co-organized with several localorganizations, documents were translated into Thai, and discussions wereoften conducted through simultaneous translation. The final CAS docu-ment was translated into Thai and shared with the participants of the vari-ous discussions.

67. TUNISIA CAS

June 3, 2004 A limited number of CAS consultations were held in December 2003 with25–30 members of the private sector, trade unions, and women’s organiza-tions. The consultations confirmed the importance of improving the invest-ment climate and continuing to make progress in giving women equalrights and access to economic opportunities. They also indicated that stake-holders in Tunisia are very eager to engage with the Bank on developmentissues and have access to Bank publications.

68. TURKEY CAS

November 6, 2003 The Bank team held consultations with different groups of stakeholders togauge their views on economic priorities and the Bank’s role. CAS consul-tations took place in Ankara, Istanbul, Gaziantep, and Izmir and includedparliamentarians, local leaders (governors’ and mayors’ representatives),business executives, CSO leaders, and donor agency staff. The discussionsrevolved around four main themes: reform of the public sector and bettergovernance; improvement of the business climate; human development;and environmental management and disaster management. The views col-lected were incorporated to the country strategy document as an annex.

69. UKRAINE Joint WB-IFC CAS

October 23, 2003 The CAS consultation process has used two main approaches to engageCSOs: dialogue and capacity building. The consultations were held in Kyivand four regions of Ukraine (Lviv, Odesa, Poltava, Donetsk) during Octo-ber 2002–May 2003 in close cooperation with the IFC. One NGO perregion was selected, on a competitive basis, to assist with organizing theconsultation meetings. These NGOs were responsible for setting up themeetings, developing a list of invitees from their respective region and twoneighboring ones, and distributing CAS background papers to the partici-pants beforehand. Two roundtables were conducted in every city, one forCSOs and one for business and professional associations. IFC representa-tives took an active part in the meetings. CAS consultations in Kyiv were car-ried out through a number of thematic brainstorming sessions involving

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69. UKRAINE, continued Bank staff, CSO leaders, business leaders, academics, and government offi-cials. Meeting notes, including recommendations provided by CSOs, werepublished on a special website, which included an online discussion space.A report on how the recommendations were or were not incorporated intothe assistance stragety was prepared and presented to the stakeholders inMay 2003.

70. UZBEKISTAN Joint WB-IFC CAS

February 22, 2002 The CAS preparation process involved an extended series of discussionswith the Uzbek authorities during the second half of 2000 and throughout2001. Consultations with civil society posed a challenge because of Uzbek-istan’s political environment, which is characterized by strong governmentcontrol, existence of only a small number of independent NGOs, and lim-ited civil society autonomy. Nonetheless, the Country Office organized aseries of CAS consultations in late April–early May 2001, using the strategy’sexecutive summary and the country manager’s oral briefing as a framework.These consultations endorsed, albeit with some proposed changes, thebasic thrust and content of the proposed strategy.

71. VIETNAM Joint WB-IFC CAS

September 3, 2002 The Vietnam 2002 CAS and the 2004 progress report are fully aligned Joint WB-IFC CAS with Vietnam’s Comprehensive Poverty Reduction and Growth Strategy, Progress Report and the CAS consultative process was carried out in close conjunction with February 19, 2004 the consultative PRSP process involving donors and civil society, including

national and international NGOs. The 2002 CAS and the 2004 progressreport were prepared in close partnership with the government of Vietnamand with the active involvement and support of a wide range of stakehold-ers both in Vietnam and in the international community, including nation-al and international NGOs. In addition, the country strategy and progressreport drew on recent Participatory Poverty Assessments and opinion sur-veys. The comments and recommendations generated through these con-sultative processes were incorporated in the final country strategy docu-ments and helped focus the strategies on three main issues: completing thetransition to a market economy; enhancing equitable, socially inclusive,and sustainable development; and adopting a modern public administra-tion, legal, and governance system.

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1. ALBANIA PRSP

June 20, 2002 Civil society has been involved in the drafting of the National Strategy forPRSP Annual Progress Reports Social Economic Development as well as in the follow-up to its implemen-June 13, 2003 tation. CSO participation has occurred through national information work-July 20, 2004 shops, focus groups, interviews, public information campaigns and public

debates. CSOs are also represented in the PRSP Steering Committee, alongwith the Council of Ministries and the Economic Policy Committee. Othergovernment reform programs that have involved civil society are the decen-tralization of social service delivery and anticorruption strategy. Interna-tional NGOs and United Nations agencies have assisted in capacity-build-ing training of Albanian CSOs and in facilitating consultations with gov-ernment. CSOs also participated in roundtables held in 2003 to monitorand evaluate the strategy paper.

2. ARMENIA PRSP

November 20, 2003 A steering committee was established to organize the formulation of theInterim PRSP and coordinate the preparation of the full PRSP. It was head-ed by the Finance and Economy Minister and consisted of line ministries,the National Assembly, the National Statistical Service, political parties,CSOs, and international donor agencies. A smaller PRSP working group wasestablished with involvement of government, CSOs, and internationalorganizations to draft the final document, provide information on programcomponents, and ensure its transparency. A wide variety of stakeholdersparticipated in the consultation process, including a national association ofCSOs, five academic institutions, numerous political parties, a labor unionconfederation, an anticorruption coalition, and the mass media, including11 TV companies, 6 radio stations, and editorial boards of 14 newspapers.Even diaspora organizations of Armenians living overseas participated inthe process. The consultations were carried out through roundtable discus-sions, technical seminars, and workshops, which involved more than 1,800people. The process also included the use of questionnaires which, togeth-er with the meetings, generated approximately 700 specific recommenda-tions and more than 100 articles published in various national and provin-cial papers. These consultations helped the government develop a strategypaper that reflects a broad range of views on development priorities.

3. AZERBAIJAN Interim PRSP

July 5, 2001 The Interim PRSP was developed with the participation of representatives ofPRSP 34 government agencies and CSOs, who were included as members of theMay 27, 2003 official working group headed by the deputy minister of the economy.

Annex II: Civil Society Participation in Poverty Reduction Strategy Papers,Fiscal Years 2002–200412

12 While the guiding policy for Interim Poverty Reduction Strategy Papers do not call for the same level of stakeholder involvement in their formulation as dofull PRSPs, we have included them in this annex because many governments have attempted to involve civil society in their planning and drafting phases.These are summary descriptions of civil society participation in the PRSP processes; for more detailed accounts see the PRSP documents themselves whichcan be found on the Bank’s PRSP website (see Annex III).

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3. AZERBAIJAN, continued Some of these representatives attended Poverty Reduction Seminars inMoscow (Russia) and in Manila (Philippines) in order to learn from expe-riences of other countries. Consultations on the strategy paper itself wereheld at the sectoral, regional, and national levels, including events in Baku,Guba, Nakhichavan, Massally, Ganja, and Sheki. The interim report wasprepared with the support of 15 Sector Working Groups that included gov-ernment, CSOs, and internationaldonor agencies. The regional consulta-tion process reached 63 villages and cities and included 120 focus groupsinvolving an estimated 2,000 participants, in addition to some 1,000 indi-vidual interviews and questionnaires. The secretariat of the State Programon Poverty Reduction and Economic Development will publish an annualreview of the strategy paper implementation process with assistance froman advisory board on which civil society is represented.

4. BANGLADESH Interim PRSP

June 17, 2003 The Interim PRSP participatory process was carried out in two stages. ThePRSP first stage, which consisted of identifying sectoral priorities included 21 out-to be completed by March 2005 reach events. Some were held at the district or upazila level with the partici-

pation of community associations, NGOs, women’s groups, churches, andlocal governments. At the division and national levels, other stakeholdersparticipated, such as professional associations, national NGOs, governmentministries, and international donor agencies. The Bangladesh RuralAdvancement Committee facilitated the consultation process at this stageand produced a report that was used for drafting the interim PRSP, whichwas posted in the government’s website in April 2002. A second stage, gearedto detailing the first interim draft involved 12 consultation sessions withgovernment stakeholders, as well as separate events with women’s organiza-tions, advocacy NGOs, business groups, and academic centers. The secondinterim paper draft was posted in September 2002 for final comments.

In order to draft the full PRSP the Government established a steeringcommittee chaired by the Principal Secretary of the Prime Minister andbased at the Planning Commission. A total of 17 Thematic Groups (TGs)consisting of government officials and CSO representatives were estab-lished, which prepared draft strategy documents in a consultative process.The PRSP committee also organized six regional meetings with citizens toobtain their feedback on the draft strategy. The draft PRSP will be discussedwith different groups in December-January and finalized in March 2005.

5. BENIN PRSP

March 20, 2003 The National Commission for Development and the Fight Against Povertycoordinated the PRSP formulation process. The participatory process wasundertaken at the municipal, departmental, and central levels, at differentstages and with the involvement of civil society. Three national preparatoryworkshops were held to raise awareness about the strategy paper’s objec-tives, the formulation process, and expected civil society participation. Inaddition, three national thematic workshops were organized on strategicissues, and two rounds of regional workshops were conducted in 2001 and2002 to identify sectoral priorities at the regional level and establish pover-ty profiles. The three-day consultations at the departmental level involvedthe national government, parliament, NGOs, women’s associations, localproducer unions, youth groups, parent-teacher associations, associations ofhandicapped, churches, and business groups. The final document alsoincluded a plan for disseminating information through the media. Themonitoring of the strategy paper will be carried out by the Observatoire du

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5. BENIN, continued Changement Social (Social Change Observatory) established in November2000. The observatory will track sector-level and state progress throughmacroeconomic and social development indicators as well as with data pro-vided by the Municipal Monitoring Committees and Departmental Moni-toring Committees, both of which have participation from civil society.

6. BOSNIA AND HERZEGOVINA Interim PRSP

October 2, 2002 The PRSP process has been led by the Office for Coordination of EconomicPRSP Research and Monitoring. A total of 213 representatives from government June 15, 2004 agencies, NGOs, labor unions, youth groups, academic centers, and busi-

nesses participated in the consultation process to define priorities for thePRSP. One of the priorities identified through this process is to strengthenthe dialogue with farmers’ organizations and ensure their participation inthe drafting of new cooperative and associational laws. CSO participationalso occurred in public debates about the adoption of the Action Plan forCombating Corruption. CSOs will continue to participate in strategy paperimplementation working groups, and the government has budgeted fundsto ensure their involvement in specific strategy paper-related projects. Aspart of its plan to monitor and evaluate the strategy paper, the governmentwill strengthen the capacity of its statistics agency as well as partner withCSOs and donor agencies.

7. BURKINA FASO PRSP Progress Reports

December 6, 2001 PRSP monitoring has taken place mainly through the Ministerial Oversight November 5, 2002 Committee, the Inter-ministerial Technical Monitoring Committee, and March 25, 2004 Sectoral Monitoring Groups. While none of these mechanisms include

CSOs as members, they report on strategy paper implementation to the civilsociety, the private sector, and international donor agencies on a regularbasis. The Inter-ministerial Technical Monitoring Committee prepared apreliminary report on the implementation of the strategy paper, which wasused for information purposes at regional consultations. Regional work-shops were held in Tenkodogo and Ouahigouya (July 2001), and in Bobo-Dioulasso and Ouagadougou (August 2001), with a total of more than 450participants, and they served to intensify the ongoing discussions on pover-ty reduction among central and local governments, private sector, civil soci-ety, and international donor agencies. They also helped to strengthen theparticipatory process associated with the implementation and updating ofthe strategy paper. A national workshop held in November 2002 on sus-tainable human development and CSOs provided an opportunity to civilsociety to learn more about the strategy paper, the existing system, and indi-cators developed for its monitoring and assessment. The workshop includ-ed the participation of government, private sector, civil society, and inter-national donor agencies.

8. BURUNDI Interim PRSP

January 22, 2004 Consultations on the Interim PRSP were conducted from January2000–January 2002 and their results were endorsed at the feedback semi-nars organized in February 2002. These events brought together representa-tives from community groups, NGOs, churches, women’s and youth asso-ciations, business associations, parliament, and government ministries.Consultation meetings were held in Bujumbura and at four regional centerswith representatives from 17 provinces. In total, more than 3,400 peopledelegated by their communities participated in the consultations, 30 per-cent of them being women. The consultations revealed that problems of

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8. BURUNDI, continued governance and the recent social and political crisis have exacerbated pover-ty in Burundi. They also identified that a key priority of the interim strate-gy paper is to promote decentralization and participation by: creating viablecommunity mechanisms to improve the management of public services;developing local leadership; and strengthening the institutional capacitiesof Community Development Committees. The participatory approachdeveloped to formulate the interim strategy paper will now be expandedand strengthened in order to guide the PRSP process.

9. CAMBODIA Interim PRSP

January 18, 2001 The formulation of the interim National Poverty Reduction Strategy began in PRSP May 2000 parallel to work on the Socio-Economic Development Plan II for February 20, 2003 2001–05. There were three national workshops to discuss civil society par-

ticipation and formulate the first draft of the national strategy, which wasreleased during the Third National Workshop held in August 2002 andattended by more than 200 people. The second draft of the strategy was pre-sented at a fourth and final National Workshop held in November 2002 toprovide CSOs an opportunity for additional inputs and comments beforethe finalization of the national strategy and to discuss next steps for imple-mentation. In a parallel process, the NGO Forum of Cambodia organizeddialogues on development issues, culminating in a National CSO Work-shop held in October 2000 and attended by 85 CSO representatives, most-ly Cambodians.

Responsibility for drafting of the full National Poverty Reduction Strate-gy was transferred to the Council for Social Development, an interministe-rial body chaired by the minister of planning and including representativesfrom civil society and international donor agencies. In order to facilitate theconsultation process, the council hired a full-time local participation con-sultant in January 2002 and held monthly planning meetings. The nation-al strategy monitoring and evaluation process involved a broad group ofstakeholders. First, commune councils and representatives of the targetedbeneficiaries generated inputs into the “early warning system” on naturaldisasters. Second, CSOs, including both local and international organiza-tions, shared information, experiences, and opinions from sectoral groups,then formulated a statement on the first year of implementation of strate-gy. Third, the strategy is being implemented through several technical work-ing groups, many of which include NGO representatives. The preparationof the annual progress report involved considerable consultations withinthe government, and CSOs were invited to comment on the draft. Whileseveral radio programs about the national strategy have been broadcast inan attempt to reach out to the general public, citizen participation in imple-mentation and monitoring the NPRS is still limited. Civil society groupshave broadly adopted the national strategy as a framework for advocacy onseveral specific issues such as land security, local dispute resolution, traf-ficking, of women, youth and development.

10. CAMEROON PRSP

July 31, 2003 The PRSP was prepared via intensive consultations and broad representa-tion of stakeholders, including civil society, private sector, and internation-al donor agencies. In January 2000, a national workshop was convened tolaunch the PRSP consultative process and design its institutional frame-work. The consultations, held over the period of 2000–2002, involved 203constituency groups (about 10,000 people, two-fifths of whom werewomen) representing a broad cross-section of the population and coveringthe main geographical regions of the country. Workshops were organized in

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10. CAMEROON, continued July and December 2002, where representatives from government, civil soci-ety, and the private sector discussed preliminary ideas and drafted the docu-ment. A draft of the strategy paper was then presented and discussed in meet-ings with CSOs in December 2002. The PRSP was finalized and formallyadopted by the government in early April 2003 and established the Nation-al Participatory Development Program and the Community DevelopmentSupport Program to promote participatory community development.

11. CAPE VERDE Interim PRSP

April 8, 2002 The formulation process of the National Poverty Reduction Program waswidely participative. At the local level, every municipality of the countrydrafted and discussed a poverty alleviation program. In addition, everymunicipality established and maintains a Committee of Partners (Comitéde Parceiros) composed of representatives from local governments, NGOs,and community associations. This body is responsible for establishingdevelopment priorities and implementing the municipal developmentplans. The interim strategy paper presents a clear participation plan thatoutlines broad steps for the consultative process, including workshops,forums, a qualitative survey, and dissemination seminars. Although plansfor future consultations are clear, it is not evident from the interim paperwhat role civil society will have in designing the full PRSP.

12. CHAD PRSP

November 13, 2003 The PRSP preparation included a broad consultative and participatoryprocess. The National Poverty Reduction Strategy Steering Committee con-sulted with civil society groups in all regions of the country. In December2000 and January 2001, a countrywide participatory consultation processwas held involving 7,700 representatives from churches, women’s groups,young people’s associations, parent-teachers associations, universities, andassociations of handicapped and retirees. A national seminar to identifystrategic approaches and actions took place in May 2001, involving 150 par-ticipants from all of Chad’s municipal governments, CSOs, business associ-ations, and international donor agencies. Their input was incorporated intothe second draft of the PRSP, which was released in June 2001.

13. CONGO, DR Interim PRSP

June 11, 2002 The drafting of the Interim PRSP occurred in two main stages. The first stageconsisted of establishing the technical committee to devise, prepare, imple-ment, monitor, and evaluate the strategy paper. This committee is com-posed of representatives from government ministries, universities, civil soci-ety, and the private sector. The second stage involved organizing pilot con-sultations in four of the provinces under central government control. Theconsultations were carried out with the participation of community groups,national NGOs, and donor agencies. The Participatory Poverty Assessmentmethodology was selected during the international workshop held in Kin-shasa in January 2004. Training manuals were prepared for the provincialcommittees that carried out consultations on the assessments.

14. CÔTE D’IVOIRE Interim PRSP

March 28, 2002 Ten regional workshops were held to ensure meaningful participation ofmultiple stakeholders from government, private sector, and civil society indifferent parts of the country before the completion of the draft InterimPRSP. Monthly meetings took place between government ministers, busi-ness leaders, and civil society representatives under the presidency of the

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14. CÔTE D’IVOIRE, continued PRSP Supervision Committee to discuss the monitoring process. The com-mittee also incorporated the results of regional planning workshops andconduct thematic discussions at the national level. Additional civil societyparticipation will be ensured through a national PRSP conference headedby the National Consultative Committee.

15. DJIBOUTI Interim PRSP

November 27, 2001 The PRSP formulation process was coordinated by the InterministerialPRSP Steering Committee, which was strengthened as recommended by the inter-June 8, 2004 im PRSP process. The committee was assisted by a national advisory com-

mission chaired by the Minister of Finance and composed of senior govern-ment officials, representatives from the national assembly, business leaders,and civil society representatives. The advisory body, in turn, had eight the-matic working groups, which had the participation of CSOs. The advisorycommission organized a number of national and regional workshops andseveral rounds of consultations with government agencies, NGOs, tradeunions, women’s groups, and business associations. The commission host-ed a national seminar in July 2002, which brought together almost 200 per-sons over a two-day period to debate the role of civil society in develop-ment. As a culmination of the PRSP formulation process, a revised versionof the paper incorporating recommendations made by various stakeholderswas presented by government officals during a national workshop.

16. DOMINICA Interim PRSP

December 19, 2003 The government undertook consultations with CSOs, private sector organi-zations, and political parties as part of its consultation process. It held reg-ular meetings with the Economic Stabilization Consultation Group, whichbrings to the table representatives from trade unions, NGOs, and businessassociations. The Independent Monitoring Group, made up of civil societyrepresentatives who bring their own analysis of the government’s perform-ance, will supersede the economic stabilization group, thus enabling abroad strategy paper consultative process.

17. ETHIOPIA PRSPs

September 17, 2002 The government undertook broad consultations in preparing the PRSP, andFebruary 17, 2004 the draft national strategy was amply discussed within government and

with parliament, civil society, and international donor agencies. The con-sultation process was officially launched in August 2001, and consultationswith CSOs and other stakeholders were held in more than 100 of the 550districts (woredas). These regional consultations were carried out in Febru-ary and March 2002 and included about 2,000 participants. A nationalPRSP consultation conference held in March 2002 brought together 450participants, including high-ranking government officials, sector regionalbureaus, journalists, religious leaders, CSO leaders, and donor agency rep-resentatives. A related process, which is expected to strengthen participationin the PRSP, is the review of the Ethiopian Social Rehabilitation and Devel-opment Fund, a large social services fund financed by the Bank. During anational conference held in February 2002 to discuss ways to improve localgovernment and CSO participation in a proposed second stage of the reha-bilitation fund, the Ethiopian government expressed the intention to deep-en the participatory process in both the rehabilitation fund and PRSPprocesses.

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18. THE GAMBIA PRSP

July 16, 2002 The PRSP process includes several participatory instruments which involvegovernment agencies, business associations, and CSOs. These include directconsultations with the poor at the village level through the discussion of theParticipatory Poverty Assessments and the Strategic Planning Process; divi-sion-level technical workshops to assess the Interim PRSP process; and afact-finding mission to Uganda to learn from their PRSP experience. TheGambian Association of NGOs participated actively by organizing work-shops at the divisional level covering all six divisions across the country andinvolving 6,000 people. A national workshop was held in 2002 to discussthe final PRSP draft, which incorporates the views of key stakeholders andoutlines the nature of the participatory process. The draft states that themain objectives of participation are: to promote consultation and debate;ensure transparency and accountability; promote decision making linked toresource availability; help manage and sequence a fair and just process forpolicy considerations by cabinet and national assembly; and empower localcommunities to share control over priority setting in the poverty reductionprocess.

19. GEORGIA PRSP

November 6, 2003 The Economic Development and Poverty Reduction Program of Georgia isthe first full PRSP prepared by the government. It was prepared through abroad-based participatory process at the national and regional levels. Thegovernment used a variety of consultative methods, including technicalworkshops, public forums, and a media campaign to obtain input fromcivil society. The Community Mobilization Project supported by the Unit-ed States Agency for International Development facilitated consultationswith almost 400 community organizations. Two coalitions of CSOs organ-ized more than 30 debates and workshops to discuss both procedural andsubstantive issues relating to the development of the strategy paper. Thefinal PRSP draft calls for the economic development program to organizenational poverty reduction conferences to institutionalize participation anddialogue between the government and key societal stakeholders, includingcivil society. The government employed diverse methodologies and reachedto multiple constituencies in its public consultations of the PRSP. Partici-pants included social activists, political leaders, business executives, aca-demics, and United Nations agency specialists. The United Nations broughttogether more than 300 community-based organizations to provide inputsinto many of the policy options detailed in the final economic develop-ment program.

20. GHANA PRSP

May 8, 2003 Drafting of the Ghana Poverty Reduction Strategy included consultationsPRSP APR within government and between government, civil society, and the privateJuly 13, 2004 sector. Consultation meetings were held in 36 communities, and work-

shops were held in 12 districts and 6 administrative regions. The final set ofindicators presented in the monitoring plan is the result of broad consulta-tions with key stakeholders who are expected to produce and use the indi-cators for tracking inputs, outcomes, and social impacts associated with thepoverty reduction strategy. Implementation of the strategy began in 2002with the establishment of National Intra-Agency Poverty MonitoringGroups based on the key thematic areas of the national strategy. Thesegroups include participation by government agencies and CSOs selected fortheir knowledge of the thematic area. The strategy has also generated new

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20. GHANA, continued cooperation between civil society and district assemblies around participa-tory budgeting approaches. CSOs such as the Center for Budget Advocacyhave worked very closely with many district assemblies to bring citizenvoice into budget formulation processes at the district and national levels.

21. GUINEA PRSP

July 25, 2002 The PRSP is the result of intensive consultations undertaken during2001–2002. The strategy paper involved participation by government agen-cies, academic institutions, NGOs, professional associations, labor unions,and donor agencies. At the community level, the government organizedgrassroots consultations and “communications and culture" thematicgroups in Conakry and in the four regions of the country. The recommen-dations of these consultations fed into the major policies defined in thestrategy paper. The government is now committed to setting up a perma-nent participatory mechanism to sustain the progress made and to give cit-izens more responsibilities in strategy paper implementation. These effortswill focus on: strengthening the community councils of the Rural Develop-ment Communities; setting up prefecture development councils as deliber-ative bodies; and promoting partnerships between local associations andlocal governments.

22. GUYANA PRSP

September 17, 2002 The Guyana PRSP builds on the National Development Strategy and on acomprehensive public participation process. The Participation Action Plan,drafted after a consultative workshop with 25 civil society representatives,helped to create an enabling environment for strategy paper consultation,which included the establishment of a Poverty Reduction Strategy Secretari-at and Regional Consultations Supervisors. The participation processinvolved more than 8,000 people. More than 200 consultation events con-sisting of 109 community meetings and 98 workshops were conductedthroughout all 10 regions of the country. Many of the issues and recom-mendations from the public consultations have been incorporated into thePRSP. The strategy secretariat also utilized call-in programs on local televi-sion stations to bolster interest and encourage larger attendance and moreinformed participation at regional consultations. While the government hasagreed on the importance of disseminating information on PRSP imple-mentation, it has not yet decided on how CSOs will participate in monitor-ing the strategy paper or formulating the annual progress report.

23. HONDURAS PRSP

October 11, 2001 The government adopted a three-pronged approach for consultations on thePRSP Progress Report PRSP. First, it hosted 19 regional consultations aimed at reaching the generalFebruary 26, 2004 population and local CSOs all over the country. Second, it has maintained

ongoing dialogue with CSOs operating at the national level. Third, it heldmeetings and solicited views from the Congress and the presidential candi-dates of the November 2001 elections. This participatory process involvedthe direct participation of 3,500 small farmers, urban workers, media rep-resentatives, businessmen, church leaders, women, academics, indigenousleaders, and NGO representatives. In addition, the final draft of the PRSPwas reviewed by small-farmer groups, NGOs, and indigenous groups.

As part of the PRSP implementation process, the government has devel-oped a regulatory framework to promote reforms and strengthen trans-parency and participation at various levels. This framework has included theestablishment of several government bodies including: the Civil Society Par-ticipation Commission for reconstruction and national transformation; the

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23. HONDURAS, continued Reconstruction Supervision Commission; a special commission chargedwith formulating proposals for improving the administration of justice; andthe National Anticorruption Council. At the local and regional levels, thegovernment is encouraging the establishment of Municipal and Departmen-tal Development Committees which will oversee the formulation of munic-ipal development plans along the lines of strategy paper priorities. As part ofthe strategy paper implementation, nine workshops have been held with theparticipation of more than 450 government, civil society, and internationaldonor agency representatives.

24. KENYA PRSP

May 6, 2004 In June 2003, the government launched its Economic Recovery Strategy forWealth and Employment Creation, which outlines the key economic andsocial aspirations for 2003–2007 and was submitted as the country’s PRSP.The economic recovery strategy reflects results of consultations with keystakeholders from government, civil society, and the private sector at localand national levels. In-depth consultations were undertaken in 25 districts,and less in-depth consultations were undertaken in 45 districts. Participa-tory poverty assessments were undertaken at the community level in 10selected districts. Consultations will be strengthened and institutionalizedthrough continuous dialogue with stakeholders in PRSP working groupsand thematic groups. Plans were laid out to establish the National Eco-nomic and Social Council, which will have representation from key socie-tal stakeholders, thereby ensuring the development and implementation ofan inclusive stakeholder agenda.

25. KRYGYZ REPUBLIC Interim PRSP

December 4, 2001 The interim National Poverty Reduction Strategy was formulated based on PRSP the findings of an interim PRSP as well as the Comprehensive DevelopmentFebruary 27, 2003 Framework. Both of the preparatory processes, as well as the strategy itself, PRSP Progress Report involved a constructive dialogue with all branches of government, civil soci-July 6, 2004 ety, and private sector. More than 20 multi-stakeholder working groups,

which included government and civil society representatives, were estab-lished to promote dialogue on specific topics such as sustainable econom-ic growth, social protection and human development, and effectiveness andtransparency of state governance.

The government has now established a joint government-citizens coun-cil, chaired by the Prime Minister and composed of 25 government, CSO,and private sector representatives, to oversee PRSP implementation. Thefirst activity undertaken by the council was a series of forums to identifycivil society inputs in the process of implementation of the strategy and theframework. One such forum, held in February 2003, discussed mechanismsfor citizen monitoring of government services through surveys, and anoth-er one held in May 2003 brought together representatives of 45 media agen-cies and international CSOs to discuss ways to involve the media moreeffectively in the monitoring and evaluation of PRSP implementation. TheParliament has also been involved in this process through its Budget andEconomic Policy Committee, which has undertaken multi-stake hearingson the need to support PRSP implementation at the regional level.

26. MADAGASCAR PRSP

November 18, 2003 PRSP preparation included significant consultations with a wide spectrumof Malagasy society. The process was organized by the Secretariat Techniquede I’Ajustement, which acts as a technical secretariat to a strategy paper tech-nical committee, composed of representatives of all sector ministries, sever-

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26. MADAGASCAR, continued al CSOs, and academia. The secretariat constituted six thematic workinggroups, including CSO representatives responsible for drafting key sectorstrategies: rural development, infrastructure, health, education, private sec-tor development, and governance. The secretariat also organized 10 the-matic workshops in all parts of the country, covering such topics as goodgovernance, HIV/AIDS, gender inequalities, rural development, forest fires,urban poverty, education, health, and the environment. Regional work-shops at the end of 2001 took place in each of the country’s six provinces todiscuss a first draft of the overall strategy. Large national consultation work-shops to discuss the strategy paper were organized in November 2001 andMarch 2003 with more than 500 participants each. Numerous CSOs partic-ipated actively in national workshops and included organizations such asOxfam, CARE international, Catholic Relief Services, ANDRA (a localProtestant NGO), the World Wildlife Fund, Conservation International,Population Services International, Red Cross, and Médecins Sans Frontières.

27. MALAWI PRSP

August 29, 2002 The Malawi PRSP process has involved key societal stakeholders includingPRSP Progress Report government officials, NGO representatives, religious leaders, politicians,October 23, 2003 community elders, and academics. A ministerial committee led the process

by providing political direction and policy guidance, and a national steeringcommittee of principal secretaries has carried out the overall management ofthe process. The preparation phase of the strategy paper consisted of contri-butions from 19 thematic working groups and broad bottom-up consulta-tions. The working groups were composed of relevant government officialsand representatives from academic centers, NGOs, religious organizations,business associations, and international donor agencies. Consultations witha wide array of stakeholders were held in all 27 districts. The final draftingteam comprised members of the government technical committee and CSOrepresentatives, and was carried out through an iterative process in whichcomments from all stakeholders were solicited at various stages and fed intosubsequent drafts. The PRSP official launch ceremony in April 2002 wasattended by the President of Malawi, Parliamentarians, government officials,civil society leaders, and donor agency representatives. As described in thestrategy paper, the monitoring of the strategy will be overseen by a monitor-ing committee that will include government officials, parliamentarians, aca-demics, CSO representatives, and media. The participatory nature of the strat-egy paper encouraged the emergence of the Malawi Economic Justice Net-work, a coalition representing a broad spectrum of CSOs, which is expectedto have an active role in the monitoring and evaluation of the PRSP.

The first annual PRSP progress report, covering only the first six monthsof implementation, was presented in October 2003, following substantialconsultations. The report was revised to cover the whole of fiscal years2002–2003 in spring 2004. The second annual progress report is being pre-pared and should be finalized in December 2004. As before, the prepara-tion is following a widely consultative process.

28. MALI PRSP

March 6, 2003 The government officially launched the PRSP process in November 2000, PRSP Progress Report within the framework of a broad consultative process. A seminar held onJune 29, 2004 February 1, 2001, enabled government, civil society, and donor agency rep-

resentatives to reach agreement on a participatory approach to ensure broadinvolvement in the preparation, implementation, and monitoring phasesof the process. This participatory approach included: establishing a mecha-

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28. MALI, continued nism for dialogue at both the political and technical levels; involving a widerange of constituents including government, civil society, private sector, anddonor agencies; making special arrangements to involve local communityleaders; conducting opinion surveys in low-income communities; andorganizing multi-stakeholder seminars, workshops, and videoconferencesat various stages of the process. As the drafting of the PRSP got underway,the National Technical Committee established 11 thematic working groupsto focus on specific thematic areas and ensure broad participation. Theseworking groups, which had the participation of relevant government agen-cies as well as CSOs such as national NGOs, women’s organizations, pro-fessional associations, and community associations, also carried out region-al and national-level consultations on the draft strategy report. Thisapproach resulted in the identification and consideration of key develop-ment constraints and strengths for each region, as well as a greater partici-pation in the formulation of the PRSP.

29. MAURITANIA PRSP Annual Progress Report

June 18, 2002 The PRSP implementation phase and the preparation of the annual PRSP Progress Report progress reports have been carried out in a participatory manner. The gov-July 18, 2003 ernment took important steps to disseminate the PRSP, publicize its main

results, and intensify both the debate on poverty reduction and ownershipof the process. The Commission on Human Rights, Poverty Reduction, andIntegration, for instance, worked to ensure the involvement of the poor inits implementation. Several regional workshops were held in September2001 to discuss the annual progress report, and a national conference wasorganized in Nouakchott in January 2002 for the same purpose, involvingrepresentatives from government, private sector, civil society, and interna-tional donor agencies. A preliminary annual progress report was presentedto the consultative group of donors in Paris on December 2003. It describesseveral concerns raised about the PRSP and recommends adjustments need-ed to ensure greater civil society involvement in the monitoring and evalu-ating phases.

30. MONGOLIA Interim PRSP

September 27, 2001 The Interim and final PRSP processes have been coordinated by the Min-PRSP istry of Finance and Economy, which has actively involved sectoral min-

istries September 9, 2003, and CSOs in the formulation of the EconomicGrowth and Poverty Reduction Strategy. The first nationwide consultation,structured as a series of regional seminars, was organized in the first quar-ter of 2002 with assistance from the World Bank and the International Fundfor Agricultural Development. Broad involvement of CSOs was ensuredthrough their participation in sectoral research, regional consultation meet-ings, thematic working groups, and in the National Coordinating Commit-tee. A working group comprising 12 CSOs took an active part in the con-sultation process at all levels. A PRSP Trust Fund was established tostrengthen the participatory process through greater information dissemi-nation, increasing stakeholder involvement, and support for an associationof herders. In order to monitor and evaluate PRSP implementation, the gov-ernment will develop a system of tools and benchmarks for regular collec-tion, monitoring, and publishing of statistical livelihood indicators. Thegovernment will provide capacity-building assistance to CSOs, businessgroups, parliamentarians, and donor agencies to monitor the PRSP, as wellas enlist the assistance of CSOs to provide social services.

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31. MOZAMBIQUE PRSP

September 25, 2001 The Action Plan for the Reduction of Absolute Poverty attempted to ensurePRSP Progress Report civil society participation through three main components: consultations atJuly 25, 2003 the sectoral level on strategic plans, priorities, constraints, resources andJuly 6, 2004 planned actions; consultations and dissemination at the central and provin-

cial level of analytical documents and strategies for economic and socialpolicy (PARPA 2000–2004); and meetings on general and specific issuesduring the more advanced phase of the PRSP. These consultations were heldwith specific stakeholder groups—which included businesses, communityleaders, media, CSOs, and international donor agencies—to discuss earlydrafts of the full strategy paper. The consultations demonstrated that theaction plan had indeed identified the priority areas for poverty reduction,but also stressed the need to improve implementation and delivery as wellas address problems of governance and corruption.

In February 2003, the government issued an annual progress report onimplementation of the action plan covering the period of 2001–2002,which was prepared by the ministry of finance in close collaboration withthe sectoral ministries. CSOs and parliament were not involved in the pro-duction phase of the report though, as was called for in consultativemethodology of the action plan. In the period ahead, the authorities intendto use the report to resume the dialogue with stakeholders on the PRSP. Tothat end, the government has established a Poverty Observatory to strength-en the integration of the action plan with other major planning tools suchas the central budget. The observatory includes a civil society focal groupthat issues annual reports on action plan implementation. In February2004 the government established the Economic and Social Plan, which willreport annually to the parliament on the status of the the action plan. Final-ly, the government is piloting a similar participatory poverty observatory atthe provincial level.

32. NEPAL PRSP

November 18, 2003 The Tenth Plan, Nepal’s PRSP, has been prepared through a participatoryprocess beginning with the interim plan in August-September 2000. In June2001 five regional consultations were held (with 60-80 participants each)bringing together government officials, academics, ethnic leaders, CSO rep-resentatives, business executives, and community leaders. Another meetingwas organized in October 2001 to discuss district poverty reduction plansand establish linkages between district plans and the national plan. Thismeeting was carried out in collaboration with the Association of DistrictDevelopment Committees of Nepal, bringing together the chairpersons anddeputy vice-chairpersons from all 75 districts of the country. A separate con-sultative meeting was also organized for parliamentarians. After these con-sultations were concluded, the draft strategy paper was finalized and sub-mitted to the National Development Council for its comments and approvalin January 2002. The council is composed of all ministers, representativesfrom all political parties, chairpersons of various House of Representativescommittees, university vice-chancellors, and representatives from the privatesector, academia, ethnic minorities, labor unions, women’s organizations,community groups, and national NGOs. The council approved the PRSPwith some revisions. During strategy paper preparation, consultations—organized by various agencies (including the district development commit-tee association, line ministries, donor agencies, NGOs, and community-based organizations—continued from time to time to develop key sectoralprograms and build broad consensus and wide support for the strategy

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32. NEPAL, continued paper and its associated structural reform program. The government intendsto further deepen the participatory approach during PRSP implementationand monitoring stages. In total, more than 2,500 people participated in theconsultations.

33. NICARAGUA PRSP

September 25, 2001 The preparation of the Strengthened Growth and Poverty Reduction Strategy PRSP Progress Reports involved intensive consultations within the government and with civil soci-December 11, 2002 ety stakeholders. Fundemos, a national NGO, organized a series of localJanuary 22, 2004 workshops from February–April 2001 to discuss the local programs and

projects of the strategy, as well as ways to improve local decision making inthe process. During that same year, a confederation of CSOs—the CivicCoordinating Group for the Emergency and Reconstruction—completed amore comprehensive analysis of the strategy, which included a review ofpolicies and programs in all regions. In addition, four municipalities devel-oped a poverty reduction strategy through a comprehensive local consulta-tion process. A related planning initiative was the National Program for theAnalysis and Formulation of Public Policy, which the government under-took in 2000 and 2001 with the assistance of the United Nations Develop-ment Program and the Government of Denmark.

The PRSP implementation process has led to the strengthening or adop-tion of several new participatory mechanisms. A presidential decree wassigned in March 2002 to improve the local-level representation and policyinfluence of the National Council for Social and Economic Planning, whichis a formal consultation mechanism that seeks to incorporate the voices ofwomen, youth, and autonomous region representatives in national policydiscussions. In late 2002, the government began to design the NationalDevelopment Plan to strengthen the poverty reduction strategy. The devel-opment plan has been formulated with input from a wide range of civilsociety stakeholders and is geared to facilitate the preparation of depart-mental development strategies with citizen participation.

34. NIGER PRSP

February 7, 2002 Civil society participated in the preparation of the PRSP mainly through itsPRSP Progress Report involvement in thematic groups and consultative events that included local November 19, 2003 workshops, public debates in each region, and national seminars. The draft

strategy report was discussed and the strategy finalized in a national semi-nar held in Niamey in late November 2001, giving national stakeholdersand development partners an additional opportunity to provide input. Thefinal document was approved by the Cabinet of Ministers in early January2002 and submitted to the National Assembly for information and discus-sion. Dissemination was carried out through widespread circulation of thedocument, media coverage, and public workshops.

The PRSP progress report was put together with feedback from a donorforum held in June 2003 and a national workshop held on July 2003,which endorsed the report. A large group of stakeholders from government,civil society, and the private sector were consulted during its preparation.

35. PAKISTAN Interim PRSP

December 4, 2001 The Pakistan Interim PRSP was drafted by the ministries of planning andPRSP Report finance in consultation with other ministries, as well as with district andMarch 11, 2004 provincial governments, CSOs, and international donor agencies. Addi-

tional feedback was elicited from the general public through the posting ofthe interim report draft on the ministry of finance website.

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35. PAKISTAN, continued The PRSP participatory process was facilitated by the national PRSP steeringcommittee, which is headed by the federal Secretary of Finance. It involvedfour national level workshops held between March 2002–February 2003,which had the participation of federal and provincial governments, donoragencies, and CSOs. Indicators prepared during these workshops are to beused for tracking progress in strategy paper implementation. The consulta-tion process also included a one-day workshop with parliamentarians fromvarious political parties to discuss strategy paper formulation, implementa-tion, monitoring, and evaluation. Several local governments and CSOs havedeveloped their own PRSP for implementation at the provincial level. ThePRSP secretariat developed a comprehensive communication strategy, incollaboration with DFID, to ensure dissemination of information throughbriefings, informational packs, media coverage, and workshops.

36. RWANDA PRSP

August 6, 2002 The preparation of the National Poverty Reduction Program built on theInterim PRSP participatory process and involved government agencies,political parties, members of the national assembly, and key nongovern-mental stakeholders such as local authorities, commune development com-mittees, religious groups, NGOs, and community associations. The consul-tative process of the full PRSP concentrated at the grass roots levels, and theresults of the process have informed the identification of strategy paper pri-ority areas. Sector ministries participated fully in the national validationworkshop that reviewed the priorities, and in developing the expenditureframeworks that reflected the results of the consultations. A conference heldin November 2001 in Kigali was attended by representatives from CSOs andinternational donor agencies who provided feedback on the draft strategypaper and indicated their support for its implementation. Government dis-semination plans included publishing the national program in English,French, and Kinyarwanda and conducting workshops and other consulta-tions on PRSP implementation issues. The coordination unit of the nation-al program will be transformed into the Strategic Planning and PovertyReduction unit, which will provide assistance to government agencies toimplement the PRSP and monitor its results.

37. SENEGAL PRSP

December 23, 2002 The PRSP is based on a broad participatory process at the national, region-al, and local levels involving a broad cross-section of stakeholders, includ-ing representatives from government, parliament, civil society, and the pri-vate sector. The preparatory phase of the PRSP benefited from a compre-hensive survey of CSOs which identified useful information on the civilsociety sector and also provided an opportunity to disseminate informationon the objectives and participatory approach of the PRSP. The nationallaunching seminar held in June 2001 was attended by more than 200 par-ticipants, including representatives from government, unions, women’sgroups, farmer organizations, religious groups, associations of the handi-capped, research centers, businesses associations, and media outlets. At thenational level, five thematic groups (50 persons per group on average) wereestablished to develop a consensus among stakeholders on the broadthrusts and priorities of the PRSP. These groups collected feedback fromgovernment ministries, CSOs, and experts, which was discussed in livelyworkshops and resulted in broad consensus. At the regional level, PRSPconsultations were led by governors and involved a broad array of partici-pants including mayors, farmers, youth, women, and handicapped. At the

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37. SENEGAL, continued local level, Perceptions of Poverty surveys and village-level workshops provid-ed an opportunity for the local population to express their views. The feed-back from this process led to a list of actions and priorities, which were inte-grated into the final PRSP.

38. SERBIA AND MONTENEGRO

Interim PRSP The Interim PRSP process in both republics included consultations with aAugust 8, 2002 wide range of stakeholders through formal advisory committees comprised PRSP of government, parliamentary, local government, media, labor union,March 16, 2004 NGO, business, and donor agency representatives. In Serbia, the PRSP steer-

ing committee is composed of nine ministers and chaired by the primeminister, as well as a seven-member advisory committee. The advisory com-mittee includes representatives of the national assembly, local government,NGOs, labor unions, businesses, and donor agencies. A partnership wasestablished with Catholic Relief Services, which facilitated dialogue and car-ried out civil society outreach. Parliamentary committees were also activelyengaged in both republics. The strategy was presented in different formsand in a large number of cities and municipalities through approximately80 meetings and forums with more than 3,300 participants. Local partici-patory initiatives were implemented in approximately 40 municipalitiesand more than 100 villages in Serbia during July-August 2003 with the aimof strengthening participation in the PRSP process. This mechanism wasused in the implementation and the monitoring process of the PRSP.

39. SIERRA LEONE Interim PRSP

September 25, 2001 The government has developed, in consultation with civil society, a two-PRSP Preparation phase approach for PRSP designing and planning strategies to rebuild theStatus Report shattered economy. During the transition period (2001–2002) focus wasFebruary 12, 2003 given to the immediate social needs of internally displaced persons,

returnees, and the most vulnerable war victims, as well as to the rehabilita-tion of basic infrastructure and economic recovery. Focus on these immedi-ate goals delayed PRSP preparation. The National Poverty Alleviation Strat-egy Coordinating Office was set up in March 2002, and a proposal for aconsultative process launched in 2003. The governance and the institution-al arrangements proposed in the interim PRSP have been established andare functioning. A collaborative arrangement between the coordinatingoffice and the National Commission for Social Action has been initiated toensure sustainability of the Participatory Poverty Assessment approach. Thefocus discussion groups are to be sharpened, specialized, and custom-designed for particular contexts and decision making bodies such as parlia-ment. A complementary participatory tracking system, the Public Expendi-ture Tracking Survey, was introduced in October 2001 to gauge beneficiar-ies’ views through citizens’ report cards.

40. SRI LANKA PRSP

April 1, 2003 The Government prepared the PRSP in consultation with a wide range ofstakeholders, including government ministries, CSOs, academia, researchorganizations, businesses, and donor agencies. As part of the process, itestablished a number of steering committees and task forces responsible forensuring continued consultation and implementation of the strategy paper.In October 2001, representatives of two of the largest CSO networks, repre-senting 150 organizations, convened to provide civil society input into theidentification of major priorities for the PRSP. This was followed in May2002 by meetings with NGOs, community-based organizations, and agro-business councils to obtain feedback on the strategy paper draft. In Novem-

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40. SRI LANKA, continued ber 2002, government agencies, businesses, and trade unions met to reviewand discuss the PRSP at an International Labor Organization-sponsoredworkshop. Nevertheless, despite the fairly wide consultation process, theareas characterized by armed conflict were not included and certain groupsfelt excluded. An improved consultation process is a major priority for thenew government when launching the next PRSP process in January 2005.

41. TAJIKISTAN PRSP

December 5, 2002 The PRSP was developed through a broad participatory process thatinvolved representatives from government, civil society, private sector, andinternational donor agencies. Nine sector working groups were establishedto ensure broad participation from government ministries, parliament,local authorities, universities, businesses, and CSOs. A poverty assessmentthat involved focus groups and a local community assessment were under-taken in March and May 2001 in order to generate diagnostic data for thePRSP. Many of the proposals and recommendations generated from thesestudies were incorporated into sector notes prepared by the government forthe strategy paper. Between March and June 2001, 56 seminars and round-table conferences involving more than 2,000 participants were conductedto discuss the sector notes. PRSP goals and actions were broadcast via tele-vision and radio stations to a broad audience. Other international organi-zations such as the International Monetary Fund, Asian Development Bank,and United Nations Development Program also took part in the prepara-tion of the strategy paper.

42. TANZANIA PRSP Progress Reports

November 27, 2001 In preparation for the PRSP Annual Progress Report, the authorities heldMay 27, 2003 several zonal and national workshops on key sectoral strategies, as well as aJune 8, 2004 national consultative workshop in July 2001 on the entire document,

involving civil society, private sector, and donor agencies. A wide range ofstakeholders, including CSOs, reviewed the final version of the report dur-ing the consultative group meeting in September 2001 in Dar es Salaam. Ajoint statement by the donor agencies present at this meeting stronglyendorsed the report. The 2004 PRSP progress report benefited from thedeliberations of a Poverty Policy Week in October 2003, involving a widerange of stakeholders. The findings of the report were reviewed by CSOsduring a stakeholders meeting in January 2004. The final version of themost recent annual progress report has been posted on the national PRSPwebsite and was also printed for wider dissemination to the general public.

43. UGANDA PRSP Progress Reports

July 23, 2002 Uganda’s overarching poverty reduction strategy is the Poverty Eradication September 9, 2003 Action Plan. In preparing the plan and the annual progress report, the gov-

ernment engaged a wide spectrum of stakeholders in a series of consulta-tion meetings. Production of the report was initiated in November 2001through a workshop involving representatives from government, privatesector, civil society, and donor agencies. Preparation of the PRSP report hasinvolved the Participatory Poverty Assessment Project, which involves doc-umenting and disseminating the perspectives of the poor in order to helpguide policy at both national and district levels. So far the assessment proj-ect has taken place in 21 of Uganda’s 56 districts. Finally, the revisionprocess of the PRSP includes two national consultative meetings involvingwide representation of stakeholders such as politicians, ministers, CSOleaders, business persons, and local authorities.

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44. VIETNAM PRSP

July 2, 2002 The Comprehensive Poverty Reduction and Growth Strategy benefited from PRSP Progress Report consultations carried out through a 1999 Participatory Poverty AssessmentFebruary 19, 2004 that involved 1,800 poor people and local officials. The Ministry of Plan-

ning and Investment took the lead in preparing the PRSP, which began inJune 2001 and involved a wide range of representatives from government,civil society, and donor agencies. Their participation occurred through aseries of workshops organized at both central and regional levels, whichbrought together government officials, mass organization leaders, scientists,NGO staff, and donor agency representatives. Subnational levels of govern-ment were involved through four regional workshops, which broughttogether approximately 500 officials from the provincial and district levelsof the administration to discuss the content of the draft strategy. In addi-tion, six village and commune consultations were organized by NGOs (forexample, Save the Children Fund United Kingdom, Oxfam United King-dom, Catholic Relief Services, International Plan, and Action Aids) in col-laboration with the World Bank. In a related initiative, the National Com-mittee for the Advancement of Women poverty task force drew up an actionplan for mainstreaming gender issues into the PRSP. This involved con-ducting provincial and commune-level workshops with the Women’sUnion and hosting a high-level roundtable dialogue with the PRSP draftingcommittee.

During the first year of the strategy implementation, a wealth of newquantitative and qualitative information on poverty was collected. Partici-patory poverty assessments were carried out in 12 sites in Vietnam, facili-tated by international NGOs, local NGOs, and local research organizations.Based on this information, the annual progress report was prepared by theMinistry of Planning and Investment and the PRSP secretariat under theguidance of the interministerial working group established to oversee theimplementation of the strategy. A draft of the report was circulated amonginternational donor agencies, researchers, and local and internationalCSOs, all of whom were encouraged to contribute comments in writing.The drafting team made a number of important changes and edits inresponse to the comments received, including a strengthened focus oninequality and the challenges of reducing poverty for excluded groups.Local and international NGOs participated in the Poverty Working Group,the main forum for government, civil society, and donor agency interactionon PRSP implementation. CSOs also participated in the PRSP paper rolloutinitiatives to strengthen pro-poor planning processes at subnational levelsof government.

45. YEMEN PRSP

August 1, 2002 The PRSP preparation has been characterized by strong government owner-ship and broad consultation. The national committee for the preparation ofthe strategy paper had 21 members, chaired by the Vice Minister for Plan-ning and Development, and included officials from six central ministries(planning and development, finance, labor and social affairs, health andpopulation, tourism and environment, and education), as well as represen-tatives of the Central Statistical Organization, the National Committee forHuman Rights, the National Women’s Committee, universities, planningexperts, and a CSO representative. Preparation of the strategy paper includ-ed broad consultations with parliamentarians, journalists, literacy groups,women’s organizations, community self-help groups, and internationalNGOs (Oxfam, CARE, and ARDA). A number of workshops (thematic and

World Bank Board Country Presentation Dates Participation Efforts

45. YEMEN, continued regional) and consultative meetings were held throughout the country,beginning in early 2000 for the interim PRSP and extending up to the con-clusion of the strategy. An early survey among the poor was conducted in2000, followed in 2002 by field visits and discussion with poor residents in20 districts with the highest incidence of poverty.

46. ZAMBIA PRSP Progress Report

June 15, 2004 The PRSP has been developed through a participatory process involving gov-ernment, private sector, civil society, and donor agencies. The process includ-ed working groups, consultation workshops, and a national stakeholdersummit. Although most of the preparatory work was undertaken before theelections in December 2001, it was endorsed by the incoming government.Its key recommendations were presented to the parliament in the context ofbudget discussions. The PRSP monitoring and evaluation frameworkencourages the involvement of government agencies, CSOs, businesses, anddonor agencies in assessing results. In the government realm, sector adviso-ry groups and provincial and district development coordinating committeesperiodically provide inputs to the ministry of finance and national planning.A national (indaba) convention held in 2003, involving various stakeholdersincluding civil society, issued recommendations to be integrated into eco-nomic governance and social reforms. These have included the technicalcommittee for electoral reform, the constitutional review process, and theanticorruption coalition. The implementation of the PRSP is also activelyand independently monitored by civil society. The Civil Society for PovertyReduction is an umbrella organization of approximately 90 CSOs whichindependently evaluates the implementation of the PRSP and posts itsanalysis on its website for ample dissemination.

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Civil Society Budget Initiativehttp://www.internationalbudget.org/CSBI.htm

Children and Youth Engagementhttp://www.worldbank.org/childrenandyouth

Compliance Advisor Ombusdman (CAO/IFC)http://www.cao-ombudsman.org

Consultative Group to Assist the Poorest (CGAP)http://www.cgap.org

Civil Society Engagementhttp://www.wordlbank.org/civilsociety

Corporate Social Responsibilityhttp://www.worldbank.org/privatesector/csr

Development Gateway’s NGO pagehttp://www.developmentgateway.org/civic

Development Marketplacehttp://web.worldbank.org/WBSITE/EXTERNAL/OPPORTUNITIES/GRANTS/DEVMARKETPLACE/0,,menuPK:180652~pagePK:180657~piPK:180651~theSitePK:205098,00.html

Europe Civil Society Engagementhttp://wbln0018.worldbank.org/EURVP/web.nsf/Pages/Brussels+-+Civil+Society+-+Activities+in+Brussels

Europe and Central Asia Region Civil Society Engagement http://lnweb18.worldbank.org/ECA/ECSSD.nsf/ECADocByLink2/The+World+Bank+and+Civil+Society?OpenDocument

Faith-based Dialoguehttp://wbln0018.worldbank.org/developmentdialogue/developmentdialogueweb.nsf/weblinks/CTON-56S5VA?OpenDocument

Foundations Engagementhttp://www. worldbank.org/foundations

Global Environmental Facility (GEF)http://lnweb18.worldbank.org/ESSD/envext.nsf/45ByDocName/WorldBank-GlobalEnvironmentFacility

Annex III: Websites on World Bank Civil Society Engagement Programs

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International Finance Corporation Safeguard Policieshttp://ifcln1.ifc.org/ifcext/enviro.nsf/Content/SafeguardpoliciesIndigenous Peoples Engagementhttp://lnweb18.worldbank.org/ESSD/sdvext.nsf/63ByDocName/IndigenousPeoples

InfoDevhttp://www.infodev.org

Information Disclosure http://www1.worldbank.org/operations/disclosure

Inspection Panelhttp://worldbank.org/inspectionpanel

Labor Unions Engagementhttp://wbln0018.worldbank.org/HDNet/HDdocs.nsf/0/b53b69444a28ee2585256aab003ffb5a?OpenDocument

Latin America Regional Civil Society Teamhttp://www.worldbank.org/laccs

Parliamentary Network on the World Bank (PNoWB)http://www.pnowb.org

Parliamentarian Engagementhttp://www.worldbank.org/parliamentarians

Participation and Civic Engagementhttp://www.worldbank.org/participation

Post-Conflict Fundhttp://lnweb18.worldbank.org/ESSD/sdvext.nsf/67ByDocName/ConflictPreventionandReconstruction

Poverty Reduction Strategy Papershttp://www.worldbank.org/prsp

Roma Population Engagementhttp://www.worldbank.org/roma

World Bank-Civil Society

Engagement

Review of Fiscal Years2002–2004

Civil Society TeamThe World Bank1818 H Street, N.W. Mail Stop: MC3-309Washington, D.C. 20433 USA

Phone: (202) 473-1840 Fax: (202) 522-7131E-mail: civilsociety@worldbank.org

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