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Social Development Sector Days 23 February, 2009

Social Development Sector Days 23 February, 2009. Social Development and Urban: Urban Development in LAC Ivo Imparato, LCSUW. Social Development and Urban: Finding Common Ground. This year’s theme is From Principles to Practice: Operationalizing Social Development

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Social Development Sector Days 23 February, 2009

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  1. Social Development Sector Days23 February, 2009 Social Development and Urban: Urban Development in LAC Ivo Imparato, LCSUW

  2. Social Development and Urban:Finding Common Ground • This year’s theme is From Principles to Practice: Operationalizing Social Development • Social Development shaping Bank operations more than in the past • Scope in Urban is huge

  3. Social Development and Urban:Finding Common Ground • Social Development in tune with operational requirements • Nexus between Social Development and social safeguards compliance • Opportunity to move beyond compliance • Experience in LAC may help show the way

  4. Social Development and Urban:Finding Common Ground • Large scale slum upgrading in Brazil: search for operational answers • Need to organize participation and consultation within a project framework • Bank-financed projects have provided the venue: Guarapiranga in São Paulo, Ribeira Azul in Salvador

  5. Social Development and Urban:The Experience in Brazil • Projects provide resources and an organizing framework for participation to produce results • Need to organize participatory processes has generated a market for professional entities – at first organized as NGOs, now mostly as consultancy firms with planning, engineering and social staff

  6. Social Development and Urban:The Experience in Brazil • Experience of one such consultancy firm provides an illuminating example • Engineers and planners involved in slum upgrading came to appreciate the key role of social scientists and professionals in organizing the interaction between projects and local residents • Beginning in mid-1980s, a paradigm shift

  7. Social Development and Urban:The Experience in Brazil • From mid-1990s, a critical mass of professionals with operational capabilities in supporting participatory urban development • Articulated by projects with varying levels of consultation and participation • Vision is very operational and hands-on

  8. Social Development and Urban:The Experience in Brazil • Analogy to the work of the Bank: these firms and their teams work for governments • We too work with governments, and the point of view of TTLs and most Bank teams is shaped by that • Some clashes with social scientists who would rather work with NGOs and CBOs

  9. Social Development and Urban:The Experience in Brazil • Not all governments are crazy about participation • Sometimes the most a Bank team can do is ensure safeguards compliance • There is often an opportunity to go much beyond that • Example of Alagados: direct support to local organizations and their work

  10. Social Development and Urban:The Experience in Brazil • Some governments are very good at promoting participatory development, but many lack the political will or the skill set • Bank can work with client governments to help them deal with participation in a constructive way • Safeguards compliance an opportunity, not just one more hurdle

  11. Social Development and Urban:The Experience in Brazil • To comply with safeguard policies, governments need to build capacity, hire specialists, promote consultations • Safeguards compliance may open the door to a new way of doing business • Case of Alagados a clear example • Successful cases are real, but the way forward is fraught with difficulties

  12. Social Development and Urban:The Experience in LAC • Plenty of pitfalls along the way: many participatory processes are manipulated, or fall prey to political capture • Issue of representation is always at core: cases of People’s Participation Law in Bolivia, participatory budgeting in Mexico and Brazil • Who speaks for the stakeholders? Are vulnerable groups represented?

  13. Social Development and Urban:The Experience in LAC • Crucial role of social development professionals, helping TTLs and teams understand motivations and incentives of local stakeholders • Subprojects must be built around an understanding of local dynamics, which teams ignore at their peril • Payoff is huge in impact and sustainability

  14. Social Development and Urban:Finding Common Ground • How do we mainstream Social Development in Bank operations? • A two-way street: TTLs need to understand the importance of social development, and social dev. professionals need to understand requirements of working with governments under a tight schedules to prepare and supervise operations

  15. Social Development and Urban:Finding Common Ground • This is about all of us finding common ground • My experience in Brazil, in a consultancy firm, showed me it can be done • This was confirmed by my experience as a Bank TTL in Urban Development • There is still a long road ahead, but each successful project takes us further along

  16. Ivo Imparato, LCSUW (202) 458-2587 iimparato@worldbank.org

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