Tag: civil society

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Lima: World Bank / IMF Civil Society Session

For Better Accountability and Inclusiveness of the Bretton Woods Institutions: A Role for Civil Society Sponsor: Group of Lecce Panelists: Susanna Cafaro (The Group of Lecce); Sargon Nissan (Bretton Woods Project); Joseph Robertson (Citizens Climate Lobby); Moderator: Domenico Lombardi (Centre for International Governance Innovation); Final Remarks: Carlo Cottarelli (Italian Executive Director at IMF) The aim … Continue reading Lima: World Bank / IMF Civil Society Session

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A Call for Global Citizenship

Report from the World Bank / IMF Civil Society Forum

JR-question.jpgIn the years I have been attending and contributing to the World Bank / IMF Civil Society Policy Forum, I have witnessed a distinct and ongoing evolution. Multilateral institutions like the World Bank and IMF, which are funded by and directed by governments, and which do business with governments, have direct impacts on elements of society that are not in the room when decisions are made. So civil society organizations have an important role to play in highlighting and reducing major risk areas, and in shaping policies that lead to better outcomes.

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A Seat at the Table

World Bank Diary, Day 3 Friday, April 11, 2014: Today, at 11:00 am, we presented our second policy session at the World Bank Civil Society Forum. The session was an intimate seminar discussion designed to introduce a draft whitepaper outlining a 2-step global climate solution. We focused on implementing a carbon price first, to transform … Continue reading A Seat at the Table

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Citizen Engagement should be the Rule

Civil Society Spring Meetings, Day 2

Today, the running theme is citizen engagement. My day began with an online video conference with volunteer leaders in Bangladesh. These are smart, creative citizens, working to build awareness, openness to constructive collaboration, and political will for exemplary climate policy. They face a constant struggle against the cynicism most of us conscientiously teach ourselves to accept.

Working with Citizens Climate Lobby, I see people overcome that cynicism every day. The common refrain is: “People can’t change what’s wrong with the world,” “If it were possible to fix this, someone would have done it by now,” or at the personal level, “I don’t matter; what can I do?” Mobilizing citizens to engage in policy-making almost always requires overcoming such illusions.

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Challenging Global Institutions, Designing Better Outcomes

Civil Society Spring Meetings, Day 1

I am spending a few days at the World Bank Spring Meetings Civil Society Policy Forum, in Washington, DC. It’s cherry blossom season, and trees are in bloom all over town. Delegates from governments, global policy-making institutions and civil society organizations, are gathering to discuss ways to redirect economic policy, to better achieve the central aim of eliminating poverty and building transparent, empowered societies that provide value at the human scale.

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As a representative of Citizens Climate Lobby, I am here to engage in conversations designed to steer global policy toward a critical paradigm shift: to understand fully, and then to admit to the fact, that costs externalized to society through the climate and through other environmental mechanisms, are real, hard costs, and cannot be swept under the rug. Winning conscious agreement on that point is the first step to creating policies that tell the truth about cost and benefit, and that don’t build unnecessary harm into the future of affected human beings.

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Human Value at the World Bank Civil Society Forum

It rained, and the world gathered, and there were intensely held views on how far what we were doing took us toward the pervasive repair the world is crying out for. But it would be inappropriate to say anything about that before noting that it was a true privilege to be one of the people with the opportunity to speak for those who could not, who were not present, or who have not so far been considered.

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Efficacy, measurement, evidence, improvement, are keywords in circulation at the World Bank, during a week of meetings hosted by civil society organizations. People want these financial institutions of global reach to show their worth, to respond to criticism and to give evidence of responsiveness. Some question why we are here, but the fact that there is hope, and opportunity, is palpable, and has to be recognized as being of historic value.

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Illuminating the Landscape of Human-scale Policy Outcomes

The World Bank hosted its annual Civil Society Policy Forum last week, and the clear, and very conscious, theme of the meetings was the connection between high-level transparency, stakeholder outreach and the building and securing of a functional and reliable civil society. In recent years, stakeholder outreach has been moving to prominence in the deliberations … Continue reading Illuminating the Landscape of Human-scale Policy Outcomes