Straight Talk on Accountability
Download this articleStraight Talk on Accountability.pdf
Asia-wide Conference on Strengthening Governance and Accountability for Sustainable Development convened in Bangkok
Bangkok, July 10, 2009. On July 9, 2009, the World Bank Inspection Panel, in collaboration with the Mekong Environment and Resource Institute, Save the Children, Kasetsart University’s Economics Faculty and other institutions, held an international conference on “Strengthening Governance and Accountability for Sustainable Development: Lessons Learned and Future Prospects” at the United Nations Conference Center in Bangkok.
Around 90 participants from Thailand and other countries attended the day-long conference, among them leading members of the private and public sectors, academic institutions and civil society. International organizations represented at the meeting included the World Bank, Save the Children Japan, the Asian Development Bank, the United Nations Development Programme, the United Nations Environment Programme and the World Conservation Union.
The conference aimed to share knowledge and foster a dialogue on good governance, accountability and transparency. Particular attention was given to the need for accountability of all actors engaged in sustainable development, especially international development institutions, private corporations and non-governmental organizations. Keynote speakers included Mr. Sanjay Pradhan, Vice President of the World Bank and Director of the World Bank Institute in Washington DC, and Mr. Edilberto C. de Jesus, President of the Asian Institute of Management.
Mr. Werner Kiene, Chair of the Inspection Panel of the World Bank, emphasized in his opening remarks that the conference was unique by not only addressing accountability as a general responsibility of actors engaged in sustainable development, but also by seeking to bring an Asian perspective to the debate. He paid special tribute to Prof. Tongroj Onchan, President of the Mekong Environment and Resource Institute, who had recently completed his five year term as a distinguished member of the Inspection Panel and who had played the leading role in the organization of the conference.
In his keynote address, Mr. Pradhan gave a wide-ranging presentation illustrating the diversity of pathways and innovations in international experience on strengthening governance and accountability. “Avoiding corruption is good for business, as are voluntary ethical standards” he said, while discussing the need for private sector responsibility and accountability.
Mr. de Jesus endorsed this view but also pointed to the challenges ahead. “Stamping out corruption is fraught with difficulties and will require sustained efforts and political will.” Experience in the Philippines, he noted, has shown that a working democracy, a strong civil society and a vibrant press are in themselves not enough to prevent corruption. Both he and Mr. Pradhan underlined the importance of ethics. Commenting on the sub-prime financial crisis, Mr. Pradhan asked pointedly whether the root of this crisis was in fact “a crisis of integrity and ethics”.
Pasuk Pongpaichit of Chulalongkorn University gave a hard-hitting presentation in which she discussed malpractice and mismanagement in the Khlong Dan Waste Water Treatment Project in Thailand. She stated that “the collusive networks among businessmen, politicians and bureaucrats in large public projects make it very difficult to prevent bad projects from being implemented”. Drawing lessons from this experience, Prof Pasuk pointed out that while strategic environmental assessments can help “weed out bad projects even before they get to the planning stage”, preventing projects that are “environmentally acceptable but highly prone to corruption requires all-round vigilance through transparency, open access to information, and roles for civil society”.
A number of speakers echoed Prof Pasuk`s emphasis that social and environmental safeguards, and their enforcement, are crucial in making development programs accountable to citizens. In particular, they pointed to the enforcement of safeguard policies at international financial institutions. The insistence on a rigorous analysis of alternatives in project development and implementation, for example, provides a major protection against corruption. In this context the importance of community-led recourse mechanisms that provide a voice to affected people, such as the Inspection Panel of the World Bank, was also highlighted.
Mr. Hironobu Shibuya, the CEO of Save the Children Japan, paid special attention to the need for accountability and transparency in non-governmental organizations. The demand for accountability and transparency in NGOs, he said, is in fact greater than that for governmental institutions and private sector corporations. The credibility and accountability of NGO’s are solely dependent on their conduct and their institutional integrity since “no one elects them nor owns them”.
Professor Junki Kim of Seoul National University reinforced the point on NGO-accountability, highlighting that “good governance is important not only for the sustainable growth of the NGO sector but also for securing public trust in civil society”. Other presentations and comments from the floor noted that calls for accountability of the NGO sector need to be seen in broader context: strict accountability is needed, but it should not be misused as a way to question legitimate opposition and protest by affected communities and small civil society organizations.
Media Contacts:
World Bank Inspection Panel
Luis Schunk
Tel.:+1 (202) 473 1779
Email:lschunk@worldbank.org
Mekong Environment and Resource Institute
Tongroj Onchan
Tel.: +66 (02) 575 1522
Email: meriadmin@merimekong.