Difficult Partnerships: The World Bank, States, and NGOs

Abstract

Since the early 1990s, World Bank officials in many countries have pressed their government borrowers to include nongovernmental organizations as development partners. What impact has this new partnership norm had in the bank's borrower countries, and why? This article investigates these questions through longitudinal analysis of three cases: Guatemala, Ecuador, and the Gambia. In their first iteration in the 1990s, these bank‐sponsored efforts generally failed to take root; yet by the 2000s, NGOs and state actors were engaged in multiple partnerships. This article suggests that over time, bank officials' repeated efforts to embed these new ideas fostered a social learning process that led NGOs to adopt more strategic partnership practices and government officials to see NGO partners as useful. Several factors may affect this learning process: levels of professionalism and the growth of professional networks, the presence of effective “bridge builders,” and the level of historical conflicts.

Government and the Nonprofit Sector in Latin America

“…The 1978 Constitution and elections in 1979 marked a key period in the development of civil society in Ecuador as the sector grew, and the state weakened. Thus, a supplementary relationship emerged during the 1980s and into the 1990s in Ecuador (Brautigam and Segarra 2007;Cabrera and Vallejo 1997;World Bank 2007). This supplementary relationship became adversarial in the 1990s and 2000s as "new social movements" related to environment, gender equity, and indigenous rights emerged (World Bank 2007).…”

“…In addition, mistrust of public institutions grew and civil society organizations protested government corruption, dollarization, and neoliberal dislocations. Social movements and civil society organizations thus became key players in the ousting of three presidents 4 (Brautigam and Segarra 2007;Heinrich 2007).…”

Protestas contra la minería en Guatemala. ¿Qué papel juegan las élites en los conflictos?

“…Dado que las ONG poseen conocimientos y habilidades de los cuales carecen muchos gobiernos, desde los años ochenta el papel de estas y de la sociedad civil se pensó como crucial para el desarrollo en todo el mundo. Por ejemplo, instituciones financieras internacionales, como el Banco Mundial, empezaron a presionar a los gobiernos para que incluyeran a las ONG como socias del desarrollo, y este es el caso de Guatemala (Bräutigam y Segarra, 2007). Una década después, cuando los Acuerdos de Paz estaban negociándose, muchas ONG de origen europeo empezaron a preocuparse por las relaciones de género, los pueblos indígenas y las problemáticas ambientales.…”

Public-Private Service Delivery Arrangements and Incentive Schemes in Developing Asia

“…For these supposed advantages, PPPs are now widely encouraged. However, such partnerships are not always feasible or successful, largely because of the failure of the parties involved to agree on the ends or means of the proposed partnership (Bräutigam and Segarra 2007;Brinkerhoff andBrinkerhoff 2002, 2011;Feiock and Jang 2009;Joshi and Moore 2004;Mcloughlin 2011).…”