COMMUNITY DEVELOPMENT IN ECA

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COMMUNITY DEVELOPMENTIN ECA

• Accomplishments, Challenge and Strategy
• Jan. 27, 2000

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SUPPORTING COMMUNITY DEVELOPMENT IS A BANK
OBJECTIVE

• What is it that the poor reply when asked what
  might make the greatest difference to their
  lives? They say, organizations of their own so
  that they may negotiate with government, with
  traders and with NGOs. Direct assistance through
  community driven programs so they may shape their
  own destinies. Local ownership of funds, so that
  they may put a stop to corruption. They want
  NGOs and governments to be accountable to them.
  - J. Wolfensohn Annual Meetings, Fall 1999

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WHAT IS COMMUNITY DRIVEN DEVELOPMENT?

• When community organization have authority and
  control over decisions and resources to achieve
  their goals
• An indicator is the extent to which communities
  manage internal and external funds themselves

4
THE EMERGING BANK STRATEGY FOR COMMUNITY
DEVELOPMENT

• Wolfensohn has asked for a Bank Community
  Development Strategy
• A Bank working group is preparing the strategy,
  with regional representation
• Mr. Wolfensohn wants all projects under
  preparation to have at least community
  consultation

5
BANK EXPERIENCE TO DATE

• OED states that Bank projects managed by
  community organizations are slightly more
  successful than projects managed by other
  entities (82 satisfactory compared to 75 for
  all projects)
• South Asia and Africa report that community
  managed projects are significantly more successful

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MOST APPROPRIATE SECTORS FOR COMMUNITY BASED
PROJECTS

• Directly relevant in slum upgrading, natural
  resource management, education, health, local
  transport infrastructure, water supply and
  sanitation, micro-finance, and some types of
  productive services
• For most private goods, private enterprise models
  more appropriate.
• Public goods serving many communities are most
  often better provided by governments

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Bank objectives in ECA
Transition to Market Economy
Good Governance
Mutually Reinforcing
Community Development
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Community development and the promotion of market
economies in ECA

• Community involvement broadens participation and
  self help, contributing to creation of markets
• Community organizations often manage local public
  initiatives best, particularly smaller scale
  poverty reduction initiatives
• Participation encourages ownership and
  facilitates sustainability of public and private
  investment

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Community involvement and good governance in ECA

• Gives the poor a voice
• Limits corruption through mechanisms for
  accountability, (such as community report cards
  on local govt)
• Builds social capital and contributes to the
  foundation for good governance

10
Community Based Lending in ECA

• About 40 of ECA projects have used consultation
  with concerned communities in design and/or
  implementation (through social assessments,
  outreach to beneficiaries and stakeholders
  workshops)
• A number of projects have involved communities in
  design and implementation of sub-projects or
  components of projects
• 9 Irrigation drainage projects
• 8 Social Fund projects
• 7 Microcredit projects
• 7 Natural Resource Management biodiversity
  projects
• 4 Health and Education projects
• 2 Municipal development, 1 housing energy
  efficiency projects

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Albania Irrigation

• More than 200 Water Users Associations (WUAs)
  manage irrigation infrastructure and water
• self-organized associations of farmers
• managed by local, elected leadership
• WUAs manage Bank-funded irrigation systems
• Cost recovery is high, irrigation efficiency has
  considerably improved

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Latvia Rural Development

• Democratically elected local action groups define
  local development plans in rural areas
• Bank-financed commercial credit lines are
  available to finance business plans presented by
  these groups and implemented by them

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Moldova Rural Finance

• IDA credit on-lent through the Moldova Rural
  Finance Corporation to savings and credit
  associations
• The Moldova Rural Finance Corporation is 100
  owned by its members, mostly farmers.
• 185 savings and credit associations are community
  managed and owned.

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Lithuania Energy Efficiency/Housing Project

• Homeowners Advisory Centers provide
  organizational, procedural and technical advice
  to homeowner associations.
• Homeowner Associations decide on energy
  efficiency investments and borrow jointly for
  common improvements.
• First loans are repaid quickly and build
  confidence, leading to many second loans.

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Moldova Social Investment Fund

• Decisions on small scale investments are made in
  community meetings. All members of the community
  can participate
• Communities form a micro-project committee to
  manage the micro-projects funded by the MSIF
• Communities receive training in management and
  are encouraged to create associations to manage
  micro-projects after the end of MSIF funding

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Lithuania Social Policy and Community Social
Services Development project

• 14 community multi service centers have been
  created to support day care for handicapped
  children, elderly, battered women, farmers, and
  prisoners
• Centers are operated with strong involvement of
  the local community and have contributed to the
  reduction of the use of institutional care.

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CONSTRAINTSpart 1 Governments often resist
community participation

• Governments provide little space for community
  initiatives
• Most revenues flow from communities to the center
  leaving little, if any, for local use
• Community participation is very rarely on the
  agenda of governments municipal reform
• Community based projects that do exist are often
  driven by donors or foreign NGOs rather than
  relying on self help and local financial
  contributions

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CONSTRAINTSpart 2 Local expectations are low

• Successful examples of autonomous local action
  are few people still depend on the state for
  resources and guidance
• The Poor doubt that they can be effective in
  community action, based on experience
• Social fabric unraveled
• Relationships still being sorted out
• In most countries, people lack the trust in one
  another that is needed to foster community action
  groups
• Community groups can also discriminate and
  exclude minorities or the poor

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CONSTRAINTSpart 3 The ECA Region of the Bank
has limited capacity to support community driven
development

• Our experience is still limited (but growing)
• Interpretation of procurement and financial
  management guidelines for community development
  remain an issue
• Community driven development though sometimes
  included in projects is not fully integrated in
  our work on decentralization and government
  reform.
• Participatory approaches to policy and project
  design require more time and money up front
  confronting our budget constraint

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Strategy Elements 1 Scale up

• Develop an explicit ECA strategy for support of
  community based development, including
  distribution of functions between various levels
  of government and community organizations
• Agree to begin project design with local
  consultations in say 90 of ECA projects
• Increase the share of ECAs projects using social
  analysis, social and beneficiary assessments
• Many types of community groups have proven they
  can be efficient scale up in-country and across
  ECA
• water users associations, microcredit groups,
  social funds, freely-elected municipal
  governments, parent-teacher associations,
  voluntary and business associations
• Include community development in country
  strategies
• Resolve internal World Bank obstacles to working
  with local communities (procurement, financial
  management, staff training)

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Strategic Elements 2Build capacity of community
organizations in Bank projects

• Improve knowledge of local informal and formal
  institutions which is the basis for community
  development
• Expand decision-making and implementation
  responsibilities of community groups in Bank
  projects
• Strengthen the accountability mechanisms of
  community groups through project components
• Build community group revenue generation (cost
  recovery) and management in projects

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Strategic Elements 3Assist Government To Give
Communities Room

• Help determine appropriate balance between
  government and community management of
  development in key sectors (e.g. health,
  education, agriculture infrastructure)
• Promote economic reform which transfers power and
  resources to local government and to community
  groups in a balanced way
• Help local government be accountable to
  communities, and develop local government
  capacity
• elected community representation
• audits
• revenue-sharing

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SOME SPECIFIC STEPS FOR THE BANK TO TAKE IN ECA

• Complete the ECA community development strategy
  soonest
• Identify some pilot CASs in which to propose a
  significant community development strategy
• Strengthen capacity of Social Development team to
  assist and monitor use of consultation techniques
  and models for community participation
• Train Bank staff in community development
  techniques and expose them to experience of
  Latin American and Western economies.
• Develop project models in appropriate sectors
  using community organizations as implementation
  agencies
• Sector work to include the place of community led
  development in overall reform of the state and
  allow for a better understanding of local level
  institutions
• Link the work on community driven development to
  the work on decentralization