Engaging Civil Society: Hats Off to the GEF

Last week was a very absorbing week for BANGO with the Inter-American Development Bank (IADB)/Caribbean Development Bank (CDB) dialogue and the United Nations' Global Environmental Facility (GEF)/Small Grants Programme (SGP) for Barbados and OECS workshop focused on the environment.

Both of these meetings brought a core group of Civil Society personnel from across the region. The IADB/CDB meeting brought together representatives sitting on the Civil Society Advisory Councils (CSACs) of the IADB, as well as representatives from national Civil Society Organisations (CSOs) across the region.

The purpose of this dialogue was to come up with a "Strategy for promoting Citizen Participation in Bank Activities". While the meeting was very informative, one criticism from the outset is that after we sat there and took in nearly two days of information about IADB and CDB, when the time came for Civil Society to deliberate we only had one hour.

The rationale behind the practice of limiting Civil Society deliberations, which become lengthy as Civil Society members share experiences giving examples of similar problems, is that once you know that something is a problem; no need to repeat examples of it ad nauseam.

However, on the other side of the coin, this arousing of troubled waters helps to cement the gravity of the problems and highlights the urgent need to seek solutions that address the issues. There is a need for Civil Society to pour over their issues in order to come up with practical strategies and solutions.

Without this discussion (which would also tend to build relationships), it will take much more time to resolve issues, bridge gaps, mend fences and generally arrive at strategies that will lead to better cooperation and collaboration among CSOs and between CSOs and these international institutions.

Opportunities for this kind of discussion are very important because while these institutions come up with crucial programmes to address the developmental needs of the region, they can become useless and fall by the wayside if Civil Society is not sufficiently armed with the knowledge and strategies to help overcome some of the road-blocks in the way.

Certainly the Justice Improvement Programme (JIPS) is a good example of how things can go wrong without the input of Civil Society; not only to advise on the management or administration of the programmes but also for properly monitoring and evaluating the outcomes of the projects.

Another lesson that should have been learnt from JIPS is that this mistrust of Civil Society must end and a professional approach is required. For this to happen there must be mutual respect. For example, in the same way that Government is the expert when it comes to Government business, so is Civil Society the expert when it comes to Civil Society business. Government must recognise this.

Hats off to the GEF/SGP for utilising existing Civil Society structures rather than handpicking its own Civil Society advisors in order to revive its programme. What this does is further empower and encourage a national approach to environmental issues.

It is also to their credit that they have appointed national CSOs to have hands-on management of the GEF/SGP programme alongside their own personnel and Government, but overwhelmingly weighted in favour of Civil Society. This ensures that community concerns are addressed on the ground and that consequently the country benefits as a whole.

Finally, the substantial difference in approaches is that Civil Society input started on the afternoon of the first day of the GEF workshop and went right down to the end of the second day. As a result CSOs left the GEF Workshop with responsibilities, empowering them to act - rather than a promise of performance that is out of their control.

Roosevelt O. King
Secretary General - BANGO
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