Dialogue in Pursuit of Development - Are you looking for one of ...

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we in our own contexts had to build bridges between micro and macro
analysis and not preach anything we did not practise ourselves.
This dialogue took place over some years and we learnt a lot, but unfortunately
it has not been possible to bring it forward in spite of all the important
agreements and forward looking strategies. The main reason is that the
Zimbabwean organisation lost their founder and leader and my organisation
which I left four years ago has not had the possibility to invest the time
and strength needed to bring such an experiment forward. Dialogue takes
time and a sustainable willingness to listen, to learn and review your own
thinking. In a result-oriented world it is difficult to find that time, but during
the time I was involved in development co-operation I do not think I
have ever tried anything as important as this dialogue project.
Dialogue as development advocacy
Development is a concept which can mean many things and obviously means
different things to people depending on who is trying to define it. National
governments, international financial institutions, churches, people’s movements,
environmental groups etc have their own interpretation of sustainable
development.
It is important to accept this and try to enter into a dialogue to increase
our understanding while being prepared to review our own understanding.
In the beginning of 1996 the Church of Sweden made such an attempt
by inviting high representatives of the World Bank to visit Tanzania and our
sister church The Evangelical Lutheran Church of Tanzania (ELCT). A personal
invitation was made by the Swedish Archbishop to the Managing Director
of the World Bank, the Executive Director for the Nordic and Baltic
countries and the members of staff at the Bank responsible for East Africa.
A consultation called The Arusha Consultation was held for one week, including
seminars and discussions as well as field visits to expose the tough
reality under which so many poor people live. Host for the visit was the
Bishop of ELCT. The week ended with an open conference on Structural
Adjustment in Tanzania in which Tanzanian government officials also took
part.
The idea was to discuss and share views and experiences based on our
different roles and from different perspectives and find out how much we
had in common and where it was not possible to meet. The background was
of course the intense criticism of the structural adjustment programmes
from churches in Africa and their demand to replace them with something
meeting the needs of the poor, their demand for debt cancellation and a
democratisation of the financial institutions. The other important theme
was people’s participation and how to achieve that.
It was a good meeting with lots of time and opportunity to discuss and to
listen to each other. The meeting ended in a mutual understanding of the