PARTICIPATORY SOCIETY FOSTERED BY WIDE RANGE OF FACTORS, SAY EXPERTS IN COMMISSION FOR SOCIAL DEVELOPMENT

10 February 1998

Press Release
SOC/4432

PARTICIPATORY SOCIETY FOSTERED BY WIDE RANGE OF FACTORS, SAY EXPERTS IN COMMISSION FOR SOCIAL DEVELOPMENT

19980210 Panel Discussion on 'Participation and Social Justice' Touches on Somalia, Megacities, Access to Information, Corruption

A wide range of factors contributed to the fostering of a participatory society, experts said this afternoon in the Commission for Social Development, during a broad panel discussion that touched on, among others, the collapse of central government in Somalia, urban poor in megacities, the impact on civic life of access to information, and corruption.

Moderating the discussion on "participation and social justice", Under-Secretary-General for Social and Economic Affairs Nitin Desai said that a participatory society should include a process to recognize and reconcile differences of interests. People became divided and exclusive when they feared their interests would not be adequately protected.

In addition to such a reconciliation process, a new information system was needed to foster democratization and social justice in the coming age, Dr. Marju Lauristin (Estonia), Professor, University of Tartu, told the Commission. Access to information affected people's ability to participate politically and economically, both on the national and international levels. The growing information gap between and within countries must be addressed as a matter of urgency.

Jamie Joseph, an urban sociologist with the Centro Alternativa of Peru, said that integrated development and participatory democracy went hand in hand. Development efforts should include community actors who tended to be excluded from national policies. Communities should be encouraged to develop businesses that responded local needs. That kind of local focus would ensure workers' participation in the community.

Participatory communities could be built, even in the absence of a centralized State, Hussein Adam, Professor, Holy Cross College of Somalia, told the Commission, based on his experience working on a development project in Somalia. With the collapse of the State in that country, market regulations had been discarded, leading to an atmosphere of adaptation and the introduction of new technologies. Somali society was now exploring new power-sharing alternatives, he said.

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Suchitra Punyaratabandhu, Vice-President for Administration at the National Institute of Development Administration of Thailand, said that corruption impeded participation at all social levels. Corruption tended to hurt the most vulnerable members of society, keeping them from making use of services and benefits. It created biases, obstructed the rule of law, and made public institutions non- transparent. Corruption must be addressed through formulating and enforcing laws and policies, allowing groups access to society and development.

The Commission will meet again at 10 a.m. Wednesday, 11 February, to continue its deliberations, with a general discussion on promoting social integration through responsible government.

Commission Work Programme

The Commission for Social Development met this afternoon for a panel discussion on the theme of "participation and social justice".

Discussion

MARJU LAURISTIN, Professor, University of Tartu, Estonia, in her opening statement, spoke about participation and access to information and education. She described the growing information gap between "info-rich" countries and groups, and the "info-poor". Access to information, or the lack thereof, affected people's access to political and economic decision-making and participation, both on the national and international levels.

The information gap was growing between countries, and within them, she continued. Information was more readily available in wealthy countries and areas than in poor regions. The wealthy paid less to obtain information networks, both in real terms and in terms of income percentages, than did the poor. While the information gap was widening worldwide, it was also a time of unprecedented economic growth. Education and training were needed to foster broad civic and political participation.

Information gaps were often the result of a dearth of resources, she said. However, sometimes such gaps were created deliberately by the privileged groups producing information. Organizations, universities, governments, and other "info-rich" elites must open new space for debate and participation. Enabling access to electronic media solely for ready-made entertainment would not lead to greater political and economic participation. Professionals must produce a new kind of information, opening information channels to ideas from the grass-roots level. Within and between countries, the information system should change and create a new paradigm for policy democratization and social justice in the coming age.

JAMIE JOSEPH, an urban sociologist with the Centro Alternativa in Lima, Peru, spoke on the problem of urban poor, local development and government in megacities. He said one of the main challenges faced in his development work in Lima was to overcome the traditional state programmes meant to eliminate poverty and replace them with development programmes that addressed political, economic and spiritual life. The focus of his development efforts were not on social policies but on community empowerment. Social integration based solely on social policies was not sustainable.

Genuine participatory democracy was essential to sustainable development, he said. Integrated development and democracy went hand in hand, they must advance together. Development strategies should give priority to sub-national areas, such as megacities, instead of on entire nations or global regions. Capacities for health care, employment and social welfare needed to

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be developed at the micro level. Efforts should include those community actors, such as women, who were excluded in national efforts and policies. That would mean allowing members of the community to develop businesses and the means of production that were usually controlled by businesses that did not have the interests of the community in mind.

He said production in a community should be focused on the needs of that community, including services needed and employment needs. Production for the people by the people gave a new meaning to the importance of productive work.

HUSSEIN M. ADAM, Professor, Holy Cross College, Somalia, discussed the concept of social development in the absence of a State with a centralized government. State collapse was characterized by the evaporation of army and police forces, courts, prisons, banks, ministries, social services, schools and hospitals. In Somalia, and the self-declared Somaliland, the effect of such state collapse on social development had never been addressed.

The State environment in Somalia was now characterized by a desire for autonomy, existence of power-sharing alternatives, and enhanced role of women, he said. The Islamic revival movement could become a basis for social and moral revival. In Somalia, the market was utterly free from state control. All regulations had been discarded; people built where they wished, cut trees where they wished. There was, therefore, an interesting atmosphere of adaptation and introduction of new technologies. The press in Somalia, which was vibrant and somewhat chaotic, could be channelled to become the basis of a democratic and critical information centre.

In 1994, he had taken part in a rural participatory training project, aimed at enhancing the capacities of local actors to meet the needs of the community, he said. It had become evident that development planning and participatory community action could proceed in advance of the emergence of a new State. The project had helped ease conflicts by encouraging cooperation on projects that benefited all those involved. In Somalia, the participation of United Nations bodies was of great importance. The common people trusted and wanted to work with the technical organs of the United Nations. Also, international non-governmental organizations should link up with local groups to foster social development.

SUCHITRA PUNYARATABANDHU, Vice-President for Administration at the National Institute of Development Administration, Thailand, spoke on the topic of participation, the rule of law and countering corruption. She said that, while participation was an essential means to empower communities, participation was impeded greatly by corruption at all levels. Corruption also tended to hurt the poorest and most vulnerable members of society, keeping them from services and benefits. These vulnerable groups were also most in need of an open and fair legal system to protect their rights regardless of power or money.

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On the rule of law, she said, a fair and just legal system was needed and that legal system must be given sufficient resources to process claims. There should also be access to free representation and pro-bono services for those who otherwise could not afford to participate in the legal system. Also law enforcement agencies must be, or seen to be, honest. Without the rule of law, participation would be hard to obtain.

Corruption also hindered participation, because it created biases, obstructed the rule of law, made public institutions less transparent and resulted in an inadequate distribution of public services, she said. There were basically three levels of corruption: street level, kick-back corruption and the sale of public office. Street level or petty corruption resulted in exclusionary affects of people living in poverty because they did not get access to basic services, and it contributed to social ills, such as gambling. Kick-back corruption resulted in inefficient use of public monies and was contrary to the notion of administrative and political accountability. The sale of public office rendered merit systems impossible and led to incompetent administration.

She said that measures to combat corruption included providing mechanisms to publicize cases of corruption, ensuring that corruption was punished when it was exposed, and making processes of government transparent and accountable.

The representative of Finland asked, how could technology be used by counties to aid development and how was it possible to use technology to encourage participation of the more marginalized groups?

Ms. LAURISTIN said that the countries that had recently started introducing technology into schools had caught up and even passed those countries who began years ago. That was due to the rapid changes in technology and the superiority of new systems. In Estonia, computer companies, education officials and government officials had combined efforts to better use technology in development efforts and to focus strategies, not only on market planning, but on development needs.

Mr. JOSEPH said that development depended on a population that understood and knew how to use technology. In Lima, Internet access was offered to schools, businesses and government offices and it led to rapid growth in communications and information exchange. That equipment must be made available to those making decisions.

The representative of Jamaica addressed questions to each of the panelists. She asked what were the factors contributing to the inequalities of information. On promoting local production to meet local needs, she asked what was the scope for market growth where a local population was small. In the case of Somalia, she asked whether there was renewed energy because there

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was more scope for participation without centralized control. Turning to the issue of the rule of law, she drew attention to the different treatment of racial or economic groups by law enforcement.

Ms. LAURISTIN said the imbalance in access to information required strategic development plans targeted at creating infrastructure. Development would follow the creation of such infrastructure and market forces would follow in turn.

Mr. JOSEPH said that the market approach he described required certain conditions. It was important to determine which geo-political spaces could support such markets. Exports and imports should not be ruled out, but the focus should be on trying to fulfil local needs by local actors.

Mr. DESAI described, as an example of a successful local initiative, a cooperative venture in which thousands had been employed to cook and deliver home-cooked food to persons working in offices. That effort had been supplanted by fast-food restaurants, which had resulted in worsened nutrition and lower employment.

Mr. ADAM said that Somalia's reaction to state collapse had been the specific response to the downfall of a brutal government. The reaction would not be repeated in another area, with different realities. Somalia had moved from tyranny to anarchy, with the result that particular factors, such as decentralization, stood out as important to its people.

Ms. PUNYARATABANDHU said she was in complete agreement about the different treatment of different groups by law enforcement, who were often rewarded for unjust treatment of certain groups.

The representative of Austria said strategies for social integration should balance the different and often combating needs of different groups.

Ms. LAURISTIN said that the starting point for that effort was the articulation of interests. Many groups were not represented in political bodies and were, thus, weak compared with other groups. The promotion of public debate among different groups could lead to a democratic balance of interest.

Mr. JOSEPH said development and democratization processes should be integrated. He had observed that groups often adopted a "zero-sum" approach when engaged in problem solving, which led to conflict. Immediate gratifications should be deferred to the medium-term goals.

Mr. DESAI said that what was needed was a process that recognized and reconciled different interests. Redistribution, for example, would never come from consensus. The United Nations sought to provide a platform for the

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articulation of shared values and to give voice to opinions that would otherwise be unheard.

The representative of Canada, speaking as a development professional rather than a governmental representative, recalled the Secretary-General's report on social integration, in which various levels of institutional participation had been described. The intermediate, or meso-level, required strengthening.

Mr. JOSEPH agreed that processes at the meso-level should be institutionalized. Meso-institutions did not exist solely as intermediaries between upper and lower levels. To the extent that the other levels were consolidated, institutions at the meso-level should also get their message across. The development of the meso-level would vary in countries that sought to achieve their own form of development, rather than responding to an external perception.

Mr. ADAM said that in Somalia, in the absence of a State, local-level groups had filled in gaps and effectively taken power. Working together, they had forged a kind of meso-level structure.

The representative of Indonesia asked what role the international community could play in strengthening social integration and fostering participation.

Mr. ADAM said an international body could only help if it took into account the differences and the specific character of each case. In the case of Somalia, for example, the international community should not have tried to establish a new State. Only the people themselves could set up a new government. International groups, however, could help formulate social planning and strengthen civic and social groups. Instead of trying to establish a State, the goal should be to establish a civil society.

Ms. LAURISTIN said that after the collapse of totalitarian rule there was a great need for international organizations to provide standards and help civil society recover. In the aftermath of totalitarian regimes, societies were destroyed. They needed to develop civil organizations and social programmes to help the needy.

The representative of Turkey asked, given the high cost of technology and the infrastructure needed to support it, how could countries avoid the exclusion of people from the information superhighway?

Ms. LAURISTIN said it was time to make the information superhighway a priority, but government alone could not provide access to the new technology. Efforts must be made by people themselves to learn technology and make it available in the schools. Access to technology could also be supported by new

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tax policies. However, if the government made technology a priority, there might not be funding for education and health services.

The representative of the United Kingdom asked what role the international community could play to stop the disintegration of society. Could it do more in investing in human capital to prevent that disintegration?

Mr. ADAM said that efforts to establish a State in Somalia failed, because the people were opposed to the traditional type of government that they had once had and they did not want to return to the same situation. The current, limited role of the United Nations in Somalia was positive, however, because it provided health services and other support for civil society. All attempts in the region to support a quick national government failed, because that could only be done through organic movements.

Mr. JOSEPH, responding to questions posed by non-governmental organizations on ethics, said that development must be approached from the perspective that every individual had irreducible value. That perspective should be instilled through education. Incorporating it into governmental policy was a complex matter.

Mr. ADAM, answering an non-governmental organizations's question about refugees, said that in Somalia, many people from Mogadishu had relocated to their traditional clan areas, as a response to the conflict. Those displaced persons had then brought skills to their underdeveloped regions. While it was, of course, important that Mogadishu return to being a multi-clan city, a result of the migration had been the diffusion of skills throughout the country. Every country had its own divisions, which could become politicized. In Somalia, the clan factor had become divisive because of manipulation by political actors.

Ms. LAURISTIN said that common global and cooperative identities were needed. Ethnic conflicts were rooted in old structures, which fostered exclusive identities. At the same time, globalization and widespread information made the loss of identity a new danger. What was needed was personal identity within multiple identities, as a basis for mutual understanding.

Ms. PUNYARATABANDHU agreed that identities were changing in the globalized age. The panel had seemed to approach the concept of social participation as requiring new modes of behaviour, perceptions and institutions. However, the good should not be thrown out with the bad. Some social institutions promoted ethical behaviour and carried on philosophical traditions, in all societies. Those should be identified and strengthened.

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Mr. DESAI said it had been a fruitful panel and would provide the Commission with ideas and information to facilitate its work. On the issue of identity, he recalled a left-wing society in his college which, it was said, consisted of three members and four factions. Identity was not a finite and definitive variable. He could be defined as a son, a father and a brother. He was a citizen of New York and Bombay, as well as part of a community and a neighbourhood. His identity was also defined by religion, language, and nationality. Identity was a vector, he added.

Social participation, too, should be seen that way, he continued. Participation at the local level would be incomplete without participation at the global level. Identifying factors became problematic under certain conditions. Fear was the source of social disintegration. The reduction of fear was needed for the creation of a participatory and just society.

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