Driving the Demand for Good Governance: GROOTS International at the World Bank
June 2-3, 2008 | Washington, DC
Building strong linkages with the World Bank has always been a priority within the Huairou Commission and its member networks. The Demand for Good Governance Learning Summit was an opportunity to re-establish our relationship with the Social Development Unit as well as build new linkages to other units and departments within the Bank.
With GROOTS International taking a lead, the Huairou Commission, represented by practitioners from India, Nepal, the Philippines (via Korea), Jamaica, Italy, Guatemala and the U.S.A., was a strong presence in the Summit. In addition to presenting a discussion paper, “Beneficiaries to Stakeholders: Grassroots women’s groups drive the demand for good governance through pro-poor development,” GROOTS was invited to present innovative practices in driving the demand for good governance from the community perspective, along with the Social Development Department’s stocktaking of demand-driven good governance practices within the Bank itself. While the Bank’s focus on the demand side of good governance emphasizes anti-corruption initiatives, it was of particular importance to the GROOTS network to emphasize the multiple dimensions and aspects of ensuring good governance at the community level. The GROOTS’ presentation highlighted three aspects on the demand-side that are necessary to strengthen for improved good governance - affordable and accountable basic services, responsive local and national governments, and organized women’s groups and networks, citizens platforms and constituencies. In order to realize these, GROOTS International focuses on the following strategies:
- Shifting the identity of organized women’s groups from that of beneficiaries to citizens and problem solvers.
- Repositioning grassroots women’s networks as users and collaborators for delivery of basic services infrastructures.
- Addressing governance by keeping empowerment and engagement at the center.
Using examples from India and the GROOTS’ thematic campaign on resilience, as well as the experience of Fundacion Guatemala in creating mechanisms to ensure rural and indigenous women have access to land funds, the presenters demonstrated what women’s groups working at the community level can do to create citizen participation mechanisms that increase government transparency and accountability.
From recovery to resilient development – Creating collaborative citizen participation mechanisms
Facilitated by SSP, organized women’s groups were able to establish collaborative mechanisms for engagement with local government. They did this by positioning women’s groups as communication facilitators at the community level. They created a community action plan and held regular community meetings. This process enabled sustained and long-term relationships to be developed with government officials. In addition, experiences and lessons from the process were transferred to communities in Gujarat, Tamil Nadu and other countries such as Turkey.
In Guatemala, Fundacion Guatemala was able to build relationships between rural and indigenous women’s groups and local authorities to create mechanisms within the Land Fund (Fon Tierra) that was responsive to women’s needs and accessible at the grassroots levels. Fundacion Guatemala helped facilitate this process by analyzing the established mechanisms in terms of women’s access, looking at the challenges (high interest rates, limits on who can apply) and opportunities. From this analysis they began to engage additional stakeholders, including the Women’s Ministry, to work collaboratively to develop facilitating mechanisms for women to access the Land Funds.
Download Prema and Maite's Powerpoints here
On the second day the Huairou Commission, represented by Suranjana Gupta, presented its approach to developing institutional partnerships with community-based groups. Focusing on the Local to Local methodology, the Women’s Land Link Africa initiative (WLLA), and the Huairou Commission partnership with the ProVention Consortium, the following key points were made:
- Global coalition and constituency-based organizing enables groups to claim and transfer knowledge to scale up effective practice
- Global partnerships enable local and national grassroots women’s organizations to get the attention of national and local governments
- Engagements and learning around documenting best practices and virtual networks are not as useful as learning by doing
- It is essential to create openings for grassroots women’s networks and federations to participate in the implementation and monitoring of the MDGs to drive demand for good governance
As a member of the World Bank Demand for Good Governance Learning Network, GROOTS International and the Huairou Commission will continue to develop partnerships within the Bank as well as outside the institution with organizations interested in promoting and supporting initiatives that strengthen the ability for communities to engage in decision-making processes, hold their governments accountable and contribute to efficient delivery of basic services.
Check back soon to download the GROOTS International Paper: “Beneficiaries to Stakeholders: Grassroots women’s groups drive the demand for good governance through pro-poor development,”
