SAN JOSE, Costa Rica – In a meeting with Latin American and Caribbean non-governmental organizations the IDB proposed to deepen its collaboration with civil society in the region.
“The IDB and civil society have complementary strengths,” IDB President Luis Alberto Moreno said in a dialogue session with representatives from 64 local, national and international NGOs held on Wednesday in the Costa Rican capital.
“The IDB has the financial and technical wherewithal to support large-scale investments in projects to improve the living standards of the poor in Latin America and the Caribbean (…). Civil society organizations have the capacity and the perseverance to carry out the social audits needed to ensure success in such projects,” he added. “The IDB and CSOs could and should work as real partners to increase the effectiveness of investments in development projects.”
Participants proposed mechanisms to improve communication between the IDB and civil society groups in order to have more fruitful exchanges and to ensure that the Bank’s social and environmental safeguards are correctly applied in projects it finances.
The IDB reiterated its commitment to establish civil society advisory committees in each of its 26 borrowing countries in Latin America and the Caribbean. These groups are to provide advice to the IDB’s country offices.
During the meeting participants talked about issues such as the prevention and mitigation of negative impacts caused by infrastructure projects; transparency in IDB-financed programs and the need to ensure more economic benefits for local communities where large investments are made, such as hydroelectric plants. Major plans such as the South American Initiative for Regional Infrastructure Integration (IIRSA) and Plan Puebla Panama were also discussed.
A proposal made in January by a committee of the IDB Board of Governors to provide debt relief to Bolivia, Guyana, Haiti, Honduras and Nicaragua also came up in the dialogue. Governors from the IDB’s 47 member countries must vote on that proposal before their next annual meeting in March in Guatemala.
Several participants urged the IDB to work more closely with grassroots organizations representing indigenous peoples and Afro-descendents. In that context Moreno mentioned a new IDB initiative, Opportunities for the Majority.
This initiative seeks to expand poor people’s access to tools and services that can help them accumulate assets and improve their living standards. The IDB will seek partnerships with private sector institutions and NGOs to support innovative projects capable of being scaled up to reach more people.
The IDB holds regional meetings with NGOs annually. The meeting in Costa Rica was the seventh of its kind.