DPI/NGO Annual Conference

PM Meeting

ECONOMIC RECOVERY CALLED PRIMARY ELEMENT IN PEACE-BUILDING,

AS DPI/NGO CONFERENCE CONTINUES

Economic recovery was called the primary element in peace-building, as the Fifty-fifth Annual DPI/NGO Conference continued its session this afternoon with a panel discussion entitled "From Less Than Zero:  The Challenge of Rebuilding Economies".

It was so important that it recently caused the World Bank to radically change its operating methods, according to Kazuhide Kuroda of the Conflict Prevention and Reconstruction Unit of the World Bank Group.  The Bank formerly had not gotten involved in early phases of recovery from conflicts.  In Cambodia in the 1970s and 1980s, the Bank had been completely absent for some 16 years.  Similar situations had occurred in Liberia and other countries in conflict or emerging from it. 

Mr. Kuroda said that the aftermath of the Balkans crisis had changed that approach in the early 1990s, when the United Nations was asked to take the lead in coordinating assistance to Bosnia and Herzegovina.  At that time, the Bank decided “it was about time to take a more systematic approach” to those countries, rather than treat them just like other client nations.  A lot of lessons were learned by the late 1990s, when a sense emerged within the Bank that there should be a policy branch to deal with conflict, since economic recovery and conflict were interlinked.  Since then, the Bank had been applying its expertise in a number of areas apart from macroeconomic stability issues, including education, demobilization and even demining.

Evgenii Vassilev, Chief Coordinator, Trails of Peace Project, Friendship Ambassadors Foundation-Bulgaria, said he was convinced that economics was at the heart of the Balkans conflict, even though some might classify the series of Balkans crises as being ethnic, religious or ideological in nature.  Agreeing that economic motives underpinned those crises meant looking for economic remedies.  If only 1 per cent of the billions of dollars spent by the United States and the North Atlantic Treaty Alliance (NATO) on bombing Yugoslavia had been invested in business projects in the region after the onset of change in Eastern Europe, maybe the war would never have happened.  Poverty remained the reason for war, he said. 

Indeed, before conflicts took their devastating toll on lives, they killed livelihoods, said Vincent Lelei, Oxfam Regional Director for the Horn, East and Central Africa.  A loss of trust between individuals, communities or countries resulted, in turn, in a loss of assets.  Trees were cut and animals were displaced, killed for food or died from other causes.  The cultural impacts of

those losses were greater than if those losses were caused by natural calamities.  But it was the loss of intangible assets -- relationships based on trust -- that actually eroded livelihoods in the most systematic and pervasive way.

Mr. Lelei said the capacity of Africa's communities to survive, recover and go on to develop was enormous.  That was an asset that always remained.  The local people should, as a consequence, be placed firmly at the centre of planning and delivery.  Grass-roots population needed to have some measure of control over decisions that impacted them and their livelihoods.  In the process of making those decisions in a community setting, trust could be rebuilt.  But he also advocated that global policies, in trade and other areas, be looked at critically, so that grass-roots populations could build relationships in a wider and more sustainable way.

In the question-and-answer period that followed the panellists’ presentations, much interest was generated by Mr. Kuroda's statements about the World Bank’s involvement in post-conflict recovery.  The other topics discussed ranged from the importance of women’s involvement in post-conflict economies to the roles of dialogue, education and employment in social and economic recovery.  Joining the panel for that final segment, Eugenia Date-Bah, Director of Crisis Response and Reconstruction Programme of the International Labor Organization (ILO), said that income generation was essential to improving the material welfare of the people and empower them for the enormous reconstruction tasks that lay ahead.

The next meeting of the DPI/NGO Conference will take place at 10:45 a.m. tomorrow, with a panel on the topic "Against the Odds:  The Process of Reconciliation".

Background

The Fifty-fifth Annual DPI/NGO Conference resumed its session this afternoon with a panel discussion entitled "From Less Than Zero: The Challenge of Rebuilding Economies".  The overall theme of this year's Conference is "Rebuilding Societies Emerging from Conflict: a Shared Responsibility".

Statements

JULIA TAFT, Assistant Administrator and Director of the Bureau for Crisis Prevention and Recovery of the United Nations Development Programme (UNDP), said the United Nations was an important partner in assembling many of the needed building blocks for rebuilding economies.  The UNDP was an active partner in those initiatives at all stages of conflicts.  However, local citizens were also there at all stages, and they were the true engines of recovery.  All others must work with those citizens, who bore the burden of the recovery and must shape it.

KAZUHIDE KURODA, Conflict Prevention and Reconstruction Unit, World Bank Group, highlighted three bottom lines in dealing with post-conflict situations: each situation was different; local ownership of reconstruction was imperative; and partnerships could best face the challenges.  The World Bank formerly had not gotten involved in conflict issues.  Indeed, it took the first plane out of a country until the United Nations said it was time to return.  In Cambodia in the 1970s and 1980s, for example, the Bank had been completely absent for some

16 years.  Similar situations had occurred in Liberia and other countries in conflict or emerging from it. 

He said the aftermath of the Balkans crisis had changed that approach in the early 1990s, when the United Nations was asked to take the lead in coordinating assistance to Bosnia and Herzegovina.  So, the Bank decided “it was about time to take a more systematic approach” to those countries, rather than treat them just like other client nations.  A lot of lessons had been learned by the late 1990s, when a sense emerged within the Bank that there should be a policy inside the Bank to deal with conflict.  Formerly, the Bank had not wished to speak either about conflict or corruption; that was not part of its parlance.  But, out of those lessons had come a number of recommendations, including that the Bank needed to be more forthcoming in dealing with conflict issues. 

Indeed, he continued, the Bank had a comparative advantage in a number of areas, apart from macroeconomic stability issues.  Those areas included education, demobilization and even demining.  The Bank was now trying to apply its expertise in countries it was presently dealing with, such as East Timor and Afghanistan. Presently in the Democratic Republic of the Congo, while the Bank was busy sorting out arrears, it had telecommunications specialists and others on the ground working on related issues.  That process of interaction had given the Bank enormous knowledge about many development issues.  A further example of its new role was the bringing together of people in Sierra Leone who had successfully demobilized 76,000 soldiers with their Congolese counterparts.

VINCENT LELEI, Oxfam Regional Director for the Horn, East and Central Africa, said it was important to ask what to do with those who were still living so that they did not die, and so that they could lead lives of dignity.  Before conflicts took their devastating toll on lives, they killed livelihoods -- either instantaneously or slowly.

Such conflicts, he said, resulted from a loss of trust between individuals, communities or countries, which then caused a loss of assets.  Trees were cut and animals were displaced, killed for food or died from other causes.  The cultural impacts of those losses were greater than if those losses were caused by natural calamities.  But the loss of intangible assets -- relationships based on trust -- actually eroded livelihoods in the most systematic and pervasive way.

Belying the title of the afternoon, "Less Than Zero", he said the capacity of Africa's communities to survive, recover and go on to develop, was enormous.  The local people should, as a consequence, be placed firmly at the centre of planning and delivery.  The challenge then was not rebuilding economies but livelihoods, families and communities.

For that purpose, a review of Oxfam's programme in Rwanda had concluded that poverty reduction was severely impeded without a minimal level of coexistence, which he defined as the capacity to resist resorting to violence and to decide among alternatives to violence and destruction.  In addition, grass-roots populations also needed to have some measure of control over decisions that impact them and their livelihoods.

As a consequence, he said, Oxfam had developed a programme in Rwanda called "Imagine Coexistence" that addressed both coexistence, through conflict management training, and community, to allow communities to make decisions on provision of basic services and the development of livelihood-related initiatives.  In the process of making those decisions in a community setting, trust could be rebuilt.  But he advocated that global policies, in trade and other areas, be looked at critically, so that grass-roots populations could build relationships in a wider and more sustainable way.

EVGENII VASSILEV, Chief Coordinator, Trails of Peace Project, Friendship Ambassadors Foundation-Bulgaria, said the project concerned the restructuring of economic development in the post-war Balkans region.  The idea had great potential to spur economic motivation underlying the peace efforts of many stakeholders in the Balkan crises.  Recent historical evidence showed that contemporary conflicts occurred in regions of underdevelopment, regardless of the ideological “camouflage”.  Above all, combatants fought for control, distribution and consumption of the sparse available economic resources.

He said that some might classify the series of Balkans crises as being ethnic, religious or ideological in nature.  He was convinced that economics was at the heart of the conflict.  Agreeing that economic motives underpinned those crises meant looking for economic remedies.  If only 1 per cent of the billions of dollars spent by the United States and the North Atlantic Treaty Alliance (NATO) on bombing Yugoslavia had been invested in business projects in the region after the onset of change in Eastern Europe, maybe the war would never have happened.  Poverty remained the reason for war. 

Trails of Peace was created to replace the path of war across the previously warring territories of the Balkans, he said.  Those trails were tourist itineraries aimed at illuminating the natural and manmade beauty of the neighbouring countries, highlighting both their differences and similarities.  He undertook that project by first compiling a comprehensive questionnaire covering all aspects of a destination in the region.  After reviewing a number of issues, he made a kind of passport for each destination.  Destinations were linked by category, such as geographical, historical, religious, gastronomical, and architectural.  But, more funds were needed to advance the project. 

Discussion Session

Responding to a series of questions about who could “shop” at the World Bank and how a non-governmental organization (NGO) could gain the Bank’s support,

Mr. KURODA said that any institution was organic, and the Bank was changing, just as the United Nations was changing.  Since last September, the Bank had changed even more.  In terms of funding, its counterparts, or clients, were governments.  But, in the context of post-conflict situations, when government machineries were not fully functional, the Bank was exploring ways to reach out to the people. 

Through its new parlance, “CDD”, or community-driven development, the Bank was trying to see at what level it could enter countries.  Often, at that point, NGOs were very functional.  To fund such involvement and support projects on the ground, the Bank had created a post-conflict fund of approximately $8 million per year.  Corruption was another agenda inside the Bank.  All staff members were required to attend a session on anti-corruption practices, so education in that regard was seen as very important.  In cases where the Bank thought its advice could be useful, it offered strict comments on ways of allocating revenues, and it conducted public expenditure reviews.

To a further question, he said the impact of NGOs was much bigger than just on the World Bank or International Monetary Fund (IMF). Non-governmental organizations were becoming more noticeable and more appreciated, and their sphere of influence was much greater than they realized.  More and more, they were becoming an integral part of whole discussions from the beginning. 

Responding to a question about debt, he said the Bank’s Heavily Indebted Poor Country Initiative (HIPC) was a way to write off some debt by having a newly formed government live up to certain commitments, such as transparency and inclusion in decision-making.

Replying to a question about reconciling the differences between the history taught in the various countries of the Balkans region, Mr. VASSILEV said that problem had been addressed at a reconciliation seminar series held in Bulgaria, Hungary and Romania.  Young people and university students attended from the various countries.  So, reconciliation had already been achieved with a small group of young people in the region.  He believed that youth, some of whom had experienced atrocities, would overcome the problems.

Ms. TAFT, acknowledging the absence of Viloyat Mirzoeva, Director, Gender and Development Organization, added that in any number of post-conflict issues –-

reconciliation, economic revitalization, changing attitudes and values –- women’s participation was key.  In post-conflict situations, the bad new was that many women had lost husbands, family members and children, and were now heads of households with no particular skills.  The good news was that they were the ones who, if the world invested in them, were more willing to talk with the neighbour across the street from another ethnic group.

Mr. LELEI reiterated the value of dialogue.  In Rwanda, when different tribes had come together, certain issues had been resolved, starting with what kind of stalls should be built to sell potatoes.

Education tended to top the list of priorities, including in sub-Saharan Africa, Mr. Lelei replied to another question.  That was deemed an entry point into other areas of development.  Health, food production and diversification came next, but education tended to come first, once true security had been attained. 

Contributing to the discussion, EUGENIA DATE-BAH, Director, Crisis Response and Reconstruction Programme of the International Labour Organization (ILO), said the ILO was doing enormous work around the world to help rebuild institutions in the labour market, which could promote employment.  Income generation was essential to improving the material welfare of a people, giving them dignity, and empowering them for the enormous reconstruction tasks that lay ahead. 

Noting that ILO assistance was both financial and technical, she said that could be channelled through any of its 80 offices on the ground in the various regions, as well as through headquarters in Geneva.  That was not a donor or funding organization, so it often lacked resources, but it did have enormous expertise and accumulated insights into handling the employment aspects of reconstruction.

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