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Meeting Summary
1. Paul Spray opened the meeting by saying that he
was new to Latin America (especially Peru) as well as to his
post as Head of Latin America and the Caribbean and that his
aim was to provide a general overview of DfID's recent work
in the region. He was also keen learn as much as possible
from the other speakers taking part in the session.
2. His recent appointment took place in the context of a
decision to close DfID's Peru office in Lima, which was the
result of a general move to scale back operations in middle
income countries. He said this had necessitated the shift
towards a joined-up regional focus in Latin America where
providing increased funding to local NGOs and trying to influence
key players such as the World Bank and the Inter-American
Development Bank (IDB) was the new aim. Issues of focus included
market analysis and government sector reform.
3. Though he conceded that some programmes had been overambitious,
especially due to the level of funding they had been allocated,
he did point to the success of some recent projects. Work
with IDB and the World Bank on governance analysis, pro-poor
tax reform, and accountability issues in the health sector
had been very positive for instance. He also highlighted a
recent initiative where political parties and civil society
groups had been brought together to work on bringing excluded
people into the policy process.
4. In general, he said that DfID's main role had and will
continue to be as an interlocutor. Specifically, it would
play a facilitative role, using its established position in
the region to bring different stakeholders (regional organisations,
civil society groups and government) together to enable them
to engage in high level policy dialogue as well as general
lesson learning. It would also concentrate on enhancing the
impact of regional organisations by helping them disseminate
their work more widely as well as by providing networking
opportunities.
5. Mr. Spray ended by acknowledging the weakness of this
approach. He recognised that DfID's ability to play this new
role depended on its legacy of bilateral programmes in the
region. Therefore, work to maintain links with partners on
the ground - particularly local NGOs and civil society organisations
- would be key.
6. Esperanza Castro-Garcia began by introducing herself
as the director of Centro Ideas in Peru - an organisation
whose goal is to promote sustainable human development so
local communities, especially the poor and vulnerable, are
able to participate and benefit. In collaboration with national
organisations and NGO networks, its main focus is to facilitate
the transformation of government institutions; systems of
agricultural production; and regional economies.
7. Centro Ideas works primarily in the north of the country
where the economically active population is just 20% (and
amongst those the average wage is $5 a day); illiteracy is
30%; infant mortality rate is high compared to the average
rate in Latin America; and there are high incidences of violence
again women and children. Its work focuses on basic needs
and infrastructure projects and capacity building through
skills training and leadership programmes. In conjunction
with two congressional bodies - the National Decentralisation
Commission and the National Commission to Promote Organic
Agriculture - it also works to influence local and national
government.
8. She explained that she was keen for Centro Ideas to build
new European partnerships and strengthen existing ties in
the European Union as she was aware of the need to develop
strategic alliances with larger and more influential international
actors.
9. She also highlighted the local challenges to Peruvian
development which include:
a. the current unpredictable social, political and institutional
environment;
b. the fact that state institutions are inefficient and political
groups weak at fulfilling different social interests;
c. the popular dissatisfaction with economic results; and
d. the persistent climate of institutional mistrust
10. Ms. Castro-Gracia ended by saying that it would be a
mistake to only consider macroeconomic factors when formulating
a development strategy for Peru. Concerns such as satisfying
stakeholder interests, income disparity, demographic factors
and new issues relating to climate change should also be taken
into account.
11. John Crabtree dealt with the variety of ways development
can be measured. He prefaced his remarks saying that Latin
America seems to be slipping lower on donors' priority lists
and that this is misguided. His remarks were also made in
light of the evaluation he did on DFID's 2002-2005 Peru programme
'Alliances for Poverty'.
12. He said classification of a country is critical to whether
it receives support or not. Peru, along with several other
Latin American countries, is now classified as a middle income
country; a measurement based on per capita income ($2231 in
Peru). Crabtree criticised this measurement, saying it does
not say much about either poverty or inequality.
13. He pointed out a more nuanced method of measuring poverty
is the UNDP Human Development Index (HDI) which ranks countries
according to health and education indicators among others.
Peru is ranked 79th in the world which is towards the upper
end of the less developed countries. Again, this does not
tell us much about poverty or inequality.
14. Moreover, poverty is an inadequately defined concept.
According to the UNDP, 49% of Peru's population lives in poverty,
defined as living on less than $1 per day.
15. He argued inequality is more important from a political
point of view. Latin America's large number of wealthy people
distorts the average income. Peru is less unequal than Brazil
and Guatemala, looking at their gini coefficient values. However,
Peru's inequality in terms of shares of income is actually
worse than Brazil's. In Peru, the income of the poorest 20%
is 2.8% of the income of the richest 20%.
16. He highlighted several types of inequality. Peru's inequalities
are highly regional. There are large urban-rural disparities
and between the coast and the highlands and Amazon region.
17. Poverty data from the year 2000 show levels of extreme
poverty which are much lower in coastal areas (4.7%) compared
to highland (30%) and Amazon (31%) regions.
18. Peru is stratified along income and racial grounds which
severely restricts social mobility.
19. Education provision in Peru is far below the Latin American
average; its health system is one of the most unequal in the
region with hospitals concentrated in the coastal region.
Infant mortality is higher in Peru than in Bolivia, Nicaragua
and Brazil. Large numbers live without and access to health
care due to the cost barrier. Social spending is only 5.5%
of GDP compared to the Latin American average of 8.2%. Only
Guatemala and Ecuador rank below Peru.
20. He went on to say that Peru has gone through significant
political and social turmoil. The Commission for Peace and
Reconciliation estimates 70,000 people died in conflict with
Sendero Luminoso; a much higher figure than previous estimates.
He said it was not a coincidence that Sendero Luminoso originated
and grew in the poorest regions.
21. From a political point of view high levels of poverty
contribute to the difficulty of building solid institutions.
A growing distrust in congress, courts etc. and a lack of
proper democracy make it hard to achieve lasting changes.
22. On the DFID 'Alliances for Poverty' programme he said
it focused on politics and used a rights-based approach. It
tackled some of the issues outlined above and made a modest
contribution to the process of poverty reduction. Poverty
can only be tackled by people when they know they have rights
and how to claim them and they are able to make demands on
the system.
23. The programme worked at several levels. At local level
it used decentralisation to build an agenda with civil society;
at national level it worked with political parties and national
and international NGOs; and at international level it tried
to persuade the World Bank and the Inter-American Development
Bank to adopt a new view of how to achieve change.
24. He concluded that the programme sowed seeds of interesting
changes and initiatives (although nowadays the climate is
not so favourable). The strength of the programme was in how
DFID worked with other organisations, giving smaller ones
a bigger platform to stand on and providing intellectual input.
25. Discussion - Part One
The following points were covered in the first discussion
session:
- The UK seems not to have an overall strategy towards Peru.
Paul Spray responded that DFID focuses on low income countries
because they do not have the resources to reduce poverty but
that it recognises the politics of Peru impede effective spending
of its resources. DFID funds go to Peruvian regional level.
John Crabtree pointed out that UK-Peru relations now seem
to be based on investment.
- Effort is needed to build local government capacity to
spend income from high commodity prices. John Crabtree warned
that over the long-term Peru's integration into the world
economy through mining has been negative in terms of social
outcomes, and current high prices may be a temporary boom.
- What progress has the UK made getting the governance structure
of the World Bank changed? Recipient countries do not have
adequate representation. Paul Spray answered there was no
progress yet on this issue.
- How to deal with the crude methods used to classify countries
as 'middle income'.
- Where to focus finite amounts of development assistance.
John Crabtree responded that it is necessary to look more
flexibly at definitions and categories.
- Efficiency of aid flows and channelling funds via small
agencies, empowering people who have an interest in the local
area.
- Peru's diversity is both a strength and a weakness.
- Institutional mistrust. Esperanza Castro Garcia argued
that corruption robbed the population and led to high levels
of mistrust.
- How to use the 10,000 Peruvians in the UK to help Peru
and build relations between the two countries. Esperanza Castro
Garcia responded that the role of the Peruvian diaspora is
to deepen North-South dialogue and strengthen the quality
of debate. It is up to Peruvians to pressurise the Peruvian
Government. John Crabtree added that remittances are becoming
increasingly important in Latin America. In Peru they are
at least as high as income from copper exports. The impact
on poverty is difficult to discern but it is clear that most
migrants are lower middle class, not the poorest of the poor.
- Is DFID going to restore funding to Peru? Given this was
withdrawn at the start of the Iraq conflict, will it be restored
when the UK leaves Iraq?
- Local level mayors function well. John Crabtree said it
is not possible to generalise: local mayors are part of local
power structures and some are better than others. Local government
elections where restored in the early 1980s but until relatively
recently the levels of spending capacity are very variable.
- The potential for civil society to influence sub-national
political processes.
- Low levels of tax revenue: 4% compared to 12% in Chile.
No money to fund development.
- The knock on effects of DFID leaving middle income countries.
NGOs and civil society think they are no longer being supported.
Paul Spray stressed DFID is interested in middle income countries
(10% of spending goes to these). In particular, they are interested
in lesson learning between countries. A new division in DFID
is tasked with thinking about the future policy towards middle
income countries.
26. Constantino Casasbuenas said he sees Peru as an
example of what is going on in the region. He returned to
Esperanza's concept of 'interapredizaje' - countries learning
from one another. He said the most important change of last
the 20 years is Peru's role in globalisation process and the
possibilities and problems this has created.
27. He said there were two big changes resulting from globalisation:
changing export patterns and the pressure to sign free trade
agreements.
28. Traditional exports such as coffee still make up about
one third of exports. Minerals remain important. Yet non-traditional
exports (asparagus, onions) are growing.
29. He said some problems are exacerbated by free trade agreements. He argued agricultural policies in favour of non traditional
products for export have had an impact on investment, poverty
and the concentration of wealth through, for example, the
concentration of land for agribusiness in coastal areas and
the failure to use non-traditional agriculture as a tool for
rural development. The reform of the law on communal land
has led to land going on the market.
30.
In response, the indigenous movement is becoming stronger;
a new phenomenon in Peru, unlike Ecuador and Bolivia. Campesinos
see there is an international possibility of getting assistance
so they are mobilising. Institutions in Peru are getting ready
for agreements on water and other natural resources.
31. He identified two other important issues as relations
with the European Union and migration.
32. The 2008 EU-Latin America summit will be held in Peru
and the Andean nations need to decide how the will negotiate
with the EU as a group.
33. On emigration, he said 3 million Peruvians have emigrated:
10% of the population. Polls suggest many young people in
Peru would consider leaving. Remittances are higher than exports
yet this influx of resources is problematic in terms of distribution.
Most remittances go to coastal families (as migrants tend
to be from this wealthier region). Figures show that, overall,
3% of Peruvians are receiving remittances yet this figure
is 7% in Lima.
34. Casasbuenas concluded that Peru is important not only
because of poverty and inequality but because of the moral,
ethical and political responsibility to build on civil society
achievements to date. Peru can contribute learning to the
region.
35. Enrique Mendizabal presented on the role of networks
in Peru (see also the RAPID paper 'Influencing
policy processes in Peru: The role of networks' and other
RAPID work on Networks).
These are challenging the assumption that politics is reserved
for politicians. Civil society is establishing a role participating
in the political process using an evidence based approach.
His presentation was based on work done under the Civil
Society Partnerships Programme, in which Ghana and Cambodia
were used as comparisons.
36. The networks studied in Peru include:
o CIES (general economic and social policy)
o Foro Salud (Health)
o Foro Educativo (Education)
o Participa Peru (Regional governance)
o CONVEAGRO (Agriculture)
o Peru 2021 (CSR)
o The Mesa (on the elderly)
37. Challenges faced when trying to influence policy are:
1. High turnover of policy makers
2. The government is still closed to participation and receptivity
depend on a few individuals with close ties to CSOs
3. Lack of understanding or interest of the key issues among
the media
4. Lack of policy analysis
5. CSOs have no institutional memory
6. CSOs carry out mostly ad-hoc policy influence activities
38. Best practice developed includes:
1. Plan medium to long term communication strategies
2. Link the grassroots with the policymakers
3. Go after key individuals in the policy process
4. Create spaces for debate
5. Use the system and the spaces for policy engagement it
provides
6. Are media savvy and employ media experts
7. Create networks to provide strategic support and agency
39. Emerging themes:
1. Institutional vs. individual membership - networks need
to be treated in different ways
2. Policy influence alone vs. policy through empowerment -
networks work in different ways
3. Partnership vs. sub-contracting relations
4. Centralised vs. decentralised
5. Legitimacy via representation vs. credibility - good research
gives them credibility and access to the policy process. This
is especially important for smaller networks
6. Creating networks to fill gaps and develop strategic partners
7. Research capacity at the secretariat vs. the members
8. Managing change
40. Recommendations:
1. Define the purpose of the network
2. Find the right structure for the network; given the functions
is aims to fulfil
3. Strategic opportunism
4. Develop living institutional memories by introducing knowledge
management tools
5. Strengthen internal relations
6. Develop inter network relations
7. Integrate consultation with the members and policy influence
8. Use affordable and friendly social technologies
9. Make sure that members are constantly motivated to participate
in the network
41. How to support and respond to changing context:
o Civil Society Partnerships Programme (CSPP) Global Network
o Regional Network
- For lessons sharing (CIES and FARO)
- For networked action (CIES)
- For resources
o Action Research Projects (CIES)
o Capacity development
o Improved communications (LACG)
o Partnerships Building
42. Discussion - Part Two
Points raised in this short discussion session included:
- Negative effects of the increase in non-traditional exports
and free trade agreements. Peru and several countries have negotiated an FTA with the United States to ensure access to this big market for their non-traditional exports that are key to the economy and for promoting employment. Casasbuenas responded that Oxfam
is not in favour of FTAs in their current form. There is an
imbalance in negotiating powers and Peru has gained little.
- Influencing consultants might be a way for DFID to influence
policy with limited resources.
- Concentration of land and the fragmentation of land under
the communal land law. |
