Foreign Policy: NGOs: Fighting Poverty, Hurting the Poor

Foreign Policy: NGOs: Fighting Poverty, Hurting the Poor

"The World Bank’s predicament is part of a larger conundrum that bedevils globalization. In many of the world’s rich capitals, and especially in Washington, public policy is decided by a bewildering array of interest groups campaigning single-mindedly for narrow goals. A similar army of advocates pounds upon big international institutions like the bank, demanding they bend to particular concerns: no damage to indigenous peoples, no harm to rain forests, nothing that might threaten human rights, or Tibet, or democratic values. However noble many of the activists’ motives, and however flawed the big institutions’ record, this constant campaigning threatens to disable not just the World Bank but regional development banks and governmental aid organizations such as the U.S. Agency for International Development. If this takes place, the world may lose the potential for good that big organizations offer: to rise above the single-issue advocacy that small groups tend to pursue and to square off against humanity’s grandest problems in all their hideous complexity.....

"The fight is not over yet. The NGOs that campaigned against the Camisea project are pushing the IDB to adopt new environmental safeguards at least as tough as those of the World Bank—safeguards which NGOs can then use to block future projects. If they win, the IDB will have embraced the agenda of the environmental movement, to the possible detriment of poor borrowing countries."