The International Monetary Fund (IMF) and the World Bank are undergoing a sea change in the way they do business, was the outcome of a town hall meeting in Washington between the newly appointed Managing Director of IMF, Christine Lagarde, World Bank President Robert Zoellick and civil society organisations (CSOs) including the one from Pakistan.
The IMF intends to not only pressure corrupt and incompetent governments to be more transparent and participatory but also not focus as much on macroeconomic numbers and instead on their effect on income, investments and welfare, stated Ms Iskander a member of a CSO.
For the first time ever the Fund staff has acknowledged that the Fund's "first frustration is the level and quality of engagement with civil society. Loans that will eventually be paid by citizens are worked out with governments with nominal and ad hoc consultations with the people," she added.
And what would find a welcome chord in the 180 million Pakistanis is the statement by Ms Iskander that "Governments have let us all down. We dream a game changing Bank that is pro-poor, does not damage the environment, and creates jobs with growth rather than jobless growth." The Fund accepted the civil organisations basic aid objective: "needs based and demand driven programmes are more empowering."
Another member of CSO noted that the IMF has broken its long tradition of secrecy, exclusivity and rigidity. Gone are the days when all of the Fund documents were marked "strictly confidential" and economic targets were cast in stone." Lagrade responded to these comments by stating that "I don't disagree with anything...said....I take your point about dealing with either corrupt or incompetent governments and yes you are right that we have to have that high on our agenda and that it should be part of the dialogue that we establish."
World Bank President Robert Zoellick in his address stated that the Bank is using communication networks to democratise development and that its website includes geo-mapping which would enable a visitor to the website to put up a country, point, and get the individual project and information on the project. The Bank is also developing the ability to interact with people in the community who can inform the Bank of what is really happening on the ground. Zoellick maintained that the World Bank is the only international institution that has put a Freedom of Information Act based on a negative list (or everything is open unless it falls into an exception and in that case it goes to a judicial panel).
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