Social Development and Public Governance > Social Development
Social Development - November 2005
From the Deputy Manager
The invitation extended to the IDB by DFID, the British international cooperation agency, to work jointly to increase knowledge vis-à-vis a rights perspective for development, was timely in terms of strengthening the Bank's social inclusion agenda. Rights issues are at the heart of the region's exclusion and inequality problems, and a consideration of their impact is key to advancing toward a state of social cohesion. Although the region has recorded progress in numerous areas of participation, social auditing, and gender equity, much yet remains to be done before all individuals will be able to exercise their citizenship and before government officials will cease to view, and use, social institutions as tools for 'granting favors' and/or for perpetuating themselves in power. Presently in the region,few in the general public are aware of the extent of their rights or the responsibilities that accompany them.
This collaborative endeavor launched by the Bank and the DFID, an activity in which both the World Bank and ECLAC have also agreed to participate,led to the implementation of a working session on 'Rights and Development in Latin America and the Caribbean' that took place in December of 2004 in ECLAC's headquarters in Santiago, Chile. This special edition of the newsletter highlights the principal conclusions of the discussions that took place during the technical meeting and the series of studies commissioned to guide the debates in Santiago.
The Santiago meeting is only a beginning, as there is still a need to generate a greater consensus regarding, among other things, the concept of rights-based development,its true value-added,and the institutional and fiscal implications of its application. The meeting was constructive in effectively placing the subject on the table, identifying potential synergies between this approach and conventional development practices, and propagating the lessons learned in Asia and Africa with projects designed to protect and promote the adoption of a rights perspectives. In addition to identifying the formative, operational and analytical value of this approach, the Santiago meeting also served to confirm that applying rights to development practice does not require an 'all or nothing' adoption. Merely incorporating a number of rights-related considerations, particularly during the resource allocation and prioritization process of policy or program formation, we learned, can help to better address the problems of inequality that continue to ravage the region of Latin America and the Caribbean.
Most of the documents dealing with the subject of rights and development are available on the Bank's website www.iadb.org/sds/soc/site_2529_e.htm. We will also conduct a follow-up seminar in February of 2006 with a view toward exploring in greater depth the key concerns identified in Santiago, as well as issues involving the right to identity. Please keep your emails and letters coming, as your comments are always welcome in our department.
Marco Ferroni
Deputy Manager
Sustainable Development Department
Last updated: 06/01/07
