Growing the Wealth of the Poor - World Resources Institute

D R I V I N G T H E S C A L I N G P R O C E S Scracy and the business community. Working in tandem in thisfashion may be an especially effective model to support scalingup across culturally or geographically diverse communities. InGuatemala, rivalries between the various international andlocal NGOs working with the communities created theopposite effect, with the fledgling enterprises failing to worktogether and share best practices in the early years.6. Accountability Remains ImportantPart of the maturation process for local institutions andenterprises is developing appropriate accountability mechanismsso that community interest in maintaining collectiveaction persists.One of the consistent lessons of successful nature-based enterprisesthat scale up is that they maintain significant involvementand trust of community stakeholders over time. Stakeholderinterest is influenced by many things, such as the value of theresources being managed (the greater the potential benefits, thegreater the interest). But trust in community institutions isfostered by transparency of processes and regular accounting fordecisions taken. In Bangladesh, all meetings of the ResourceManagement Organizations are public, and most RMOs haveestablished a separate subcommittee to conduct financial auditsand discourage corruption. Biological and socioeconomic dataare routinely collected and released so that the community, thegovernment, and funders can measure progress and assessbenefits and costs. In addition, the two-year terms for executivecommittee members mean that elections—the most basic ofaccountability mechanisms—are held frequently.Sometimes, accountability mechanisms can be as simple asa public billboard. In some state-funded watershed restorationprojects in India, local NGOs have used billboards with greateffect to let community members know what kinds of publicinvestments have been promised, how much they have cost so far,and what benefits have accrued.Such accountability mechanisms may seem like just therudiments of responsible public action, but they are not trivial,and they are not always easy for inexperienced community institutionsto apply consistently. Training in applying such transparentpractices as regular audits and public reporting of decisions is oneaspect of capacity-building that should not be neglected.7. High-Level Governmentand Donor Commitment Is NecessaryNo matter how well local demand is marshaled and localcapacity expanded, community-driven enterprises stillrequire active acceptance and participation of governmentsand donors in order to scale up effectively.It may seem axiomatic, but without a clear, public, andongoing commitment by government, no strategy to fosternature-based enterprises for poverty reduction can succeed.Government is entwined in nearly every aspect of naturalresource management—from granting resource tenure toregulating the transport and sale of ecosystem products.Government’s planning, permitting, and oversight roles meanits involvement is nearly always required, even when controlover resources has been devolved to the local level. Government’spotential to be an obstacle thus looms large ascommunity-based organizations struggle to learn how tomanage local ecosystems sustainably and profitably.But government as potential partner also beckons.Government backing can support pilot projects, ease access tocredit, make technical assistance available, and providecapacity development programs that train people in crucialresource management skills. Government also brings a uniquesynoptic view. It can look broadly at ecosystems regionwide toidentify resource trends and assess where there may beconflicts between resource users. It can also look broadly atcommunity-driven enterprises, and when it sees a promisingmodel it can help bring that to scale, bringing the state’splanning, budget, and communication powers to bear.As we see in the cases, the role of a committed government,working in partnership with other key actors, evolvesfrom that of an institution that dictates to communities to onethat ensures that conditions are right at every stage for enterprisesto grow and prosper. In Bangladesh, the governmentworked hand in hand with ISOs and communities to analyzethe fisheries problems these communities faced, identify alternativesto current practices, design and fund new governmentand community institutions, and make skill-buildingprograms available for low-income families. In Namibia, theMinistry of Environment and Tourism worked in tandemwith conservancies and ISOs to improve wildlife management,create tourist infrastructure, and build tourism demandso that conservancies could capitalize on their wildliferesource. In all these efforts, government involvementextended over years and was at a depth that allowed promisingprograms to mature naturally.Donors play a similar and complementary role. Onekey insight from the cases is the importance of determination,patience, and long-term commitment on the part ofboth governments and donors. The involvement of the USAgency for International Development in the Namibia,Bangladesh, Guatemala, and Niger cases provides a goodexample, spanning at least a decade in each instance. Otherbilateral donors like the UK Department for InternationalDevelopment and international NGOs such as the WorldWildlife Fund have shown similar persistence in these cases.Their mode of extended participation and financial supportspeaks forcefully to the point that effecting a permanentchange in the expectations and livelihoods of the poorrequires a long-term approach.167