Happy Holidays to all our Readers L[~------------------_ --------------------

The Bank and NAFTA

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BANK'SWORLD Vol 12/No. 12 December 1993

In this issue Arti,,'les

The Bank and NAFfA. David de Ferranti describes the Bank's lending program for Mexico and how it relates to the NAFTA debate .... 3

The Bank's Work in Plain Words. Read all about it. Michael Prest introduces Projects in Progress, Information Briefs and Development Essays, which describe Bank work in non-technical terms ...................... 6

Projects in Progress. Four sample issues .. .. ............................................ 7

Better Service Delivery through Civll Service Reform. Petter Langseth interviews Ugandan President Yoweri K. Museveni ...... ...... .... 15

A Banker in the Woods-Part ll. A loving (but humiliated) father tries to restore his macho image by Richard Skolnik ............................. 21

Deparllnenl."

On the Record. Dr. Fred Sai received the 1993 United Nations Population Award, and pays tribute to the women of Africa ................. 18

Staff Association. "It Ain't Just Me." David Delmontes final column .. 22

Around the Bank ................................ ............ ... ......... .... ..... .................... 24

Staff Changes ...... .... ......... .... ........ .. ......................................................... 26

AnswerLine ..... .. ....... ............. ... .. .. ....... ....... .... .... ... ................................ .. 28

Cover

A Winter Scene in Washington-the Jefferson Memorial. Photo by Curt Carnemark.

The Bank's World is published monthly in Washington, D.C., by the Infonnation and Public Affairs Division of the World Bank for all employees and retirees of the World Bank Group,

1818 H Street, N.W., Room T-8049, Washington, D.C. 20433. Fax 202-676-0648 Thierry Sagnier, Editor and Publisher

Jill Roessner, Associate Editor Morallina Fanwar-George, Editorial Assistant

Beni Chibber-Rao, DeSigner

2

The Bank and NAFTA Bank Data Central to Treaty

T he South Cotillion Room of the Washington Sheraton is packed: 55 journalists, five television cameras, and a hundred other people. At the podium are Bank President Lewis Preston, U.S. Treasury Secretary Lloyd Bentsen, Mexico's Finance Secretary Pedro Aspe, LAC Vice President Shahid Husain, and four others from the Bank and Mexico. Mr. Preston and Mr. Aspe are signing an aide-memoire announc­ing an environmental improvement program for Mexico, with $1.8 billion from the Bank and $2.2 billion from Mexico--$4 billion in all. A dozen media photographers press forward, blocking the view of television crews, who shout "Stills, get down in front. "

What is happening here is one of several events that brought the Bank into the limelight in recent months--on the North American Free Trade Agreement (NAFTA), Mexico, and its environmental needs.

Another occasion: Mickey Kantor, one of the top U.S. officials promoting NAFTA, is announcing to the press the new agreements between the U.S. and Mexico. The agreements will direct up to $2 billion to financing environmental improvements on the border. Mr. Kantor goes on to emphasize the importance of what the World Bank and Mexico are doing independent

of the NAFTA talks: $4 billion for the environment-twice the size of the NAFTA-linked new financial facility.

The Bank's analyses on key issues for NAFT A and Mexico-­concerning jobs, productivity, growth, the environment, and more-have been used widely by the media over the four months leading up to the NAFTA vote in the U.S. Congress. The Economist, Newsweek, CNN Cable Television, The Wall Street Journal, and numerous other information seekers regularly call Bank staff.

Bank's World talked to David de Ferranti, Mexico Country Operations Division Chief, who spearheaded the work that led to these events.

BW: How did all this begin? DdF: In the course of planning

our lending program for Mexico, we reached some conclusions that happened to be of great interest to those involved in the debate about NAFTA. One of these conclusions was that we were prepared to lend up to $1.8 billion over the next three years to help Mexico address environmental problems. In addi­tion, because our analysis shows that NAFTA would be of major benefit for Mexico (as for the rest of North America, and indirectly for the cause of development gener­ally), we've tried to be pro-active in

sharing information, and not just reactive. The press briefing with Mr. Preston, Mr. Bentsen and the others is an example.

The information we've dissemi­nated is, ironically, not new. The support we're planning for environ­mental work was fully discussed with the Board last June. Other material-facts and figures on Mexico, results of studies, estimates of the impacts of various options­has been publicly available before.

BW: There's been a lot of misinformation about NAFTA. Considering Bank practices about confidentiality and not appearing to advocate or lobby any country, what made it possible to get such a successful outcome?

DdF: Teamwork. Shahid Husain [the LAC VP], Edi Segura [the LA2 Department Director], myself, Eugene McCarthy [the Resident Representative in Mexico City], Frank Lysy [the Lead Econo­mist], Dan Oks [the Country Economist], Dan Crisafulli [the Country Officer], other analysts in the division, the support staff (who had all those calls and details to get right and recheck~all had crucial roles to play. From above, we got a lot of support and a clear sense of where we should be heading and what the pitfalls would be. From within the division, everyone just focused on what had to be done

3

NAFfA-What Its Impact The result: exports to Mexico have slowed it down. So concluded some skyrocketed from $15 billion to $41 people who ought to know: the MayBe billion since 1986. The U.S. now has a National Wildlife Foundation, the $5.9 billion trade surplus with Mexico, World Wildlife Fund, the Nature

Overall. NAFTA should have instead of the $5.9 billion deficit in Conservancy, the Audubon Society, net gains for both the u.s. and 1987. NAFTA, taking this opening of the Environmental Defense Fund, Mexico. Workers, consumers, and trade one step further, will lock in the Natural Resources Defense environmental protection on both these gains and stimulate further ones. Council and Defenders of Wildlife. sides of the border will be better off Which regions of the u.s. will Adequate funds--over $6 billion­with NAFTA than without. The gain/lose? All regions should gain, have now been committed to this benefits will start modestly in the even those far from the border. Forty­ effort, induding $1.8 billion from the first two years and grow substan­ eight of the 50 states have seen their World Bank. tially in the long run. exports to Mexico surge in the past five Workers rights, democracy,

Jobs in the u.s. NAFTA should years. and poverty reduction in Mexico. generate more u.s. jobs. Claims that Wages and Productivity. U.S. Mexico has much still to do in this there will be major losses of jobs wages should not fall-and may even area. Approving NAFTA enables the (some have argued that five million rise because of NAFTA. Mexican wages government to press ahead faster jobs would be lost) are not credible. should increase Significantly, narrowing with the important progress that the The most likely outcome will be a the gap between the two countries. Carlos Salinas administration has net increase of about 150,000 to Because U.S. productivity is so much made. 175,000 jobs over 10 years. Some higher, U.S. workers will not be at a Immigration. NAFTA, byworkers will be adversely affected. major disadvantage: though workers creating more economic opportuni­The total number of workers south of the border cost less per hour, ties for Mexicans at home, should displaced from their jobs should be the total cost of getting the same job reduce the flow north to earn a only slightly higher with NAFTA done is about the same on average. decent living. While NAFTA may not than without. Measures have been Wages in Mexico have been rising solve the immigration problem by proposed to help ease the transition rapidly since 1987 and the government itself, it will certainly help. into new jobs, including retraining announced policies in early October Effects beyond North and extended unemployment that will lead to even faster wage America. All of Latin America-with benefits. The cost is affordable, even improvement. And the U.S. ' productiv­ its 470 million customers for U.S. within a constrained budget but not ity advantage has not narrowed in the goods-is watching. Rejection of without sacrifices. past 12 years---contrary to what some NAFTA would have been a signal to

The economy and trade. Both NAFTA opponents have argued. every country south of the Rio countries will do better economi­ Environmental concerns. Grande that they would be better off cally, fueled by greater trade. That Mexico has major work to do to taking their business elsewhere. the U.S. will gain too, and not just improve environmental protection, With NAFTA in effect, Latin Ameri­Mexico, is clear from the evidence especially on the border. Adopting can countries will continue with the of the past five years, a period when NAFTA will help push that work promiSing economic reforms, social trade between the two countries forward; killing NAFTA would have initiatives, and democratization of opened up much more than before. recent years.

and how they could help. Visits to Mexico by Mr. Preston in March and by Mr. Husain and Mr. Segura in September paved the way for much faster progress on a whole range of issues , including the environment work.

BW: Tell us about the press briefing.

DdF: For the press briefing, we had to get a lot of people to agree on many details about which there were strong and not always consis­tent opinions. Three bureaucra­cies-from Mexico, the U.S., and the Bank-were involved, and each had numerous groups within it which had to approve everything. Getting closure on the exact

wording of every piece of paper (the document that was signed, the speeches, and the press materials) required innumerable changes-we really appreciated our first rate­office technology su pport.

BW: Any surprises? DdF: Some. For example, one

U.S. official , though well-meaning and supportive, kept making press announcements that mixed up the numbers on who was .committing how much money for what­leaving us with a lot of questions to answer to sort out the confusion. Another example was when the New York Times ran a story in which we were quoted, but buried it. That was annoying.

4

BW: How did the effort unfold? DdF: The basic idea came to us

nearly a year ago, but we had to wait for conditions to be right. We had to get our environment work advanced enough to constitute something substantial . We had to bring our dialogue with the Mexi­cans to the point where they were ready to go more public with information because it would help them get where they wanted to go which, among other things, was to support the case for NAFTA. And the NAFTA debate in the U.S. , and the interest of U.S. authorities in working broadly together, had to develop.

Once the chips fell into place, in about early July, we began to map out the specific steps required. The first step-an article in The Wall StreetJournal-appeared within days of the decision to go ahead. The September visit by Mr. Husain and Mr. Segura to Mexico helped immensely to get things into high gear.

The key was having a clear message and knowing what that message would mean for all the players in Mexico and the U.S. Fortunately, our message was one that just about everyone was happy to hear. That's one of the reasons we were convinced we should be spreading the word instead of being reticent.

BW: What about NAFTA? Everyone has been talking about it, but there seems to be a lot of confusion?

DdF: Our analysis found that NAFT A will be a major step for­ward-for Mexico, for the entire North American continent and, indirectly for the cause of develop­ment generally. Most people have a good intuitive grasp of why NAFT A will be good for Mexico-and those who want to know more could look at any of the many Bank documents that discuss the subject. And in terms of the U.S., the bottom line is that the U.S will be better off with NAFT A than without (see Box).

BW: What about the environ­ment work in Mexico? What will that entail?

DdF: Mexico has very serious environmental problems, with major issues in water pollution, air pollution (especially in Mexico City and other large urban areas), solid and toxic waste disposal, aquifer depletion, and devastation of ecosystems and biodiversity of exceptional worldwide importance. The government recognizes that major new efforts are needed now

Attacking Environ­mental Problems

As Mexico strengthens its environmental efforts, it is broadening its strategy to encompass two mutually reinforc­ing sets of initiatives. Action on particular regions, using a broad multisectoral approach. Priorities include:

• The states bordering the u.s. This area is important for NAFfA, and because Mexico urgently needs to meet its commitments under the border plan for environmental clean-up.

• The City ofMonterrey. After Mexico City, one of Mexico's largest and most seriously polluted urban areas.

• The GulfCoast region of Veracruz and Tabasco, where the petrochemical industry is a major polluter.

• Mexico City. Though major efforts have begun, more will be needed, especially on industrial pollution.

• Action on particular sectors, from a broad multiregional perspective, especially water supply and sanitation, solid waste, toxic waste, natural resources management (green issues), industrial pollution control (including the oil sector).

Eventually all regions and all sectors will be covered, step by step, over what may need to be a 10-year program.

Operations in both dimen­sions--regional and sectoral-are necessary and will be designed to complement each other. The former have advantages in assuring that cross-sectoral linkages are taken into account adequately, that the special features of particular areas (urban centers, river basins, etc.) are addressed, and that environmen­tal actions get beyond generalities at the central level and down to concrete decision-making at the state and local level. The latter have advantages in assuring that sectoral policies are well devel­oped downward from a nation­wide perspective.

5

to reverse neglect, and is moving toward a more comprehensive approach developed with us (see Box). We are now close to apprais­ing a major new project addressing problems on the border with the U.S. , and also have several other operations in preparation. Since April 1992, two major operations (the Mexico Environment Project with $50 million of Bank support and $30 million of Global Environ­mental Facility funding; and the Mexico City Transport Air Quality Project with $220 million of Bank assistance) have been approved. Further operations are planned that will deal with water and sanitation, solid waste, toxic waste , natural resources management, and institutional development.

BW: Any general conclusions or lessons here for other work in the Bank?

DdF: With the new emphasis on sharing information about the Bank's work and with the continu­ing high level of outside interest in our views and analyses of major public issues, we, as an institution, will have to devote increaSing attention to this dimension of our work. That has some important implications. We must be aware that this work can be time-consum­ing and require fast turn-around. It .can be tricky-in the sense that one has to bring together a lot of parties with different agendas, maintain a balance between conflicting needs, e.g., for confidentiality and open­ness, and keep in mind the con­cerns of the Board, the borrower (and internal conflicts or complexi­ties within borrower countries) , Bank policies, and the outside world. It can demand skills differ­ent from the technical and aca­demic qualifications that have traditionally been emphasized in the Bank. And it will have to be everybody's business , not just the business of a few people.

~iS supplement to Bank's World consists of a sample of three pieces from Projects in Progress, a series launched this summer by the External Affairs Department. Misconceptions about Bank projects among the general public are all too common, mainly because there is a lack of readable and interesting information about them. These articles, together with two other series recently introduced, aim to change that.

The Bank has entered an era in which it must explain far more than in the past exactly what it's doing and why. And it will have to explain not only to government officials, economists, politicians and other experts, who are at ease with the jargon and the statistics, but also to the average educated citizen who definitely is not. The ordinary person in the street who is inter­ested in development, while acknowledging that the Bank's publications are accurate and useful to other experts, often feels left out. All that mass of material can be incomprehensible and a bit dull.

That's a pity, because develop­ment is not only fundamentally important, but it's also usually engrossing, colorful and dramatic. It's about people and how they live -and that can never be dull.

So, the answer for the Bank's writers and editors can only be: use plain language, make it readable, make it interesting, and interview the people involved. Talk to a peasant farmer on a hillside in Colombia; a bureaucrat with piles of files in a Lahore ministry; an African doctor as he drives his jeep in the Sahel; an archeologist agog with excitement on a Cypriot site; a sanitary engineer in his office in the "S" building, tired but enthusiastic after a long trip across China-and let them explain their work or their lives in their own words. Let their voices come through.

Each of the Projects in Progress deals with a single Bank project. Each has been chosen because it is

The Bank's Work in Plain Words by Michael Prest

Deve~Bssay s "IId Projects hi Progress

The two Development Essays published are: "And Then Forgot to Ten Us Why," which looks at the campaign against riverblindness in West Africa (Stock o. 12382 English, 12383 French), and has a foreword by President Jimmy Carter; and "The Quiet Revolutionaries" which looks at the campaign against hunger fought by agricultural scientists and the CGIAR (Stock No. 12531 English· Spanish to come), and has a fOl'e\VORl by WDavid Hopper. who retired from the Bank in 1990 as Senior Vice President for Policy Planning and Research. The third essay, called IIOf Mosaics and Mosques," is on the preservation of cultural heritage and will be out early next year. It looks at the struggle to save the Roman mosaics in Paphos. Cyprus, and the Old Walled City of Lahore, Pakistan. A fourth essay will be on how Indonesia is reducing female illiteracy.

Other Projects in Progress available, besides the three published here are on malnutrition in Tamil Nadu (No.2), structural adjustment in Bolivia (No. 3), tuna fIShing in the Maldives (No.4), primary schools in Nepal (No. 5) agricultural reform in Yemen (No. 6), population control in Bangladesh (No.7), the drought in Southern Africa (No. 8), and water and sanitation in China (No. 9).

Copies are available &om Mary Helen O'Brien, Ext. 38357, or from the Bookstore.

a good example of the Bank's work, not necessarily a straightfor­ward "success story." The series will try to span the globe and cover as many of the Bank's interests as possible.

This approach is also used for another series called Development Essays, also launched this year by the External Affairs department. These are longer pieces-about 15,000 words-which examine, again in a highly readable way, an aspect of development such as health or agriculture. So far, two essays and eleven Projects in Progress have been published (see Box). David Wigg, a former foreign correspondent and now a writer­consultant to EXTIP, has written all of them.

The Projects in Progress and the Development Essays---along with a third series, Information Briefs, which provides simple factual information on development-have been distributed around the world to the press and the public. With­out exception, the Bank staff interviewed have welcomed the chance to talk (often at some length) about their pet projects, and have assisted in the later stages of checking and editing. We're very grateful for their help . Bank's World will publish further supple­ments of Projects in Progress now and again.

Editor's note: Michael Prest is Senior Editorial Counselor with the Information and Public Affairs Division, EXT. •

6

. II · The

PROJECTS IN PROGRESS World Bank _______________atWork

To ''Agetip'' Something Is to Make it Work Properly

An Agetip but/ding project in Dakar.

A new verb is being heard more and more in West Africa. It is "to agetip." It has come to mean to put something right, to fix it so that it works properly. A Senegalese Minister was once heard to joke that the whole of his government might have to be "agetipped."

It came about because of the success of a private, not-for-profit agency called "I'Agence d'Execution des Travaux d'Interet Public" ­hence Agetip. In English it is known as the Agency for the Execution of Works in the Public Interest. In only three years, it has started a minor revolution. It has goaded ministries and munici­

palities into rethinking their fundamental business processes. One economist gave a down-to-earth example: "The question is now being asked­does the municipality have to pick up the gar­bage, or should we pick up tax revenue and then pay the private sector to do it?"

It all started when Senegal, on the westernmost tip of Africa, was going through structural adjust­ment, or economic reforms, and was worried about unemployment. The government wanted to avoid having thousands of young, jobless men hanging aimlessly around the streets, so they asked the World Bank to come up with ideas to create jobs and incomes.

Here was a chance to be radical. Why not try to do something about urban poverty, while at the same time help develop the private sector, par­ticularly small and medium-sized businesses? Why not use private sector management techniques to save towns and cities from becoming slums? Why not bypass those inefficient public agencies and let energetic small firms, freed from red tape, take on the work?

The Senegalese government got together with the International Development Association (IDA), the arm of the World Bank that makes interest­free loans to the world's poorest countries, and the African Development Bank (AIDB). In 1988, IDA lent Senegal '$20 million, and the Senegalese government and the AIDB provided another $13 million in co-financing, to launch the experiment. The first Agetip was set up in 1989. It was based on ideas common in Germany and in France (the French call it "delegated contract management"), but this was a rare example of its application in Africa.

August 1993, Number 1

Agetip takes on commissions from ministries and municipalities. Peter Watson, a transport economist and division chief at the World Bank, said that Agetip is commiued to getting the job done efficiently and on time, and getting it done at reasonable prices. The key element, he added, is efficient and simplified procurement and pay­ment procedures.

Sheltered from political pressures, Agetip hires consultants to prepare designs and bidding docu­ments. It issues calls for bids, and then evaluates and adjudicates the bids and signs the contracts. It watches how the work is progressing and it pays the contractors. And it makes sure they get their money in less than 10 days.

In West Africa, Watson said, a small entrepre­neur may have to wait for as long as 10 months to get paid. Most of them cannot wait that long. They risk going bankrupt. When they do business with governments, they usually add on 100/0-20% to their costs because they know there will be delays. With Agetip, Watson said, "the small entrepreneur knows he will be paid right away, so the price of the project goes down. We reckon there's a 150/0 to 25% saving on project costs as a result of these procedures. And there is transpar­ency and accountability. Bidding is open. There are clear rules. And there are quarterly audits so everyone knows how the money is being spent."

Ready for the Africa Cup

Agetip lives or dies by results. When the Africa Cup for soccer was going to be held in Senegal, the minister responsible went to the Cabinet and apologetically told them that the stadiums were just not going to be finished in time. So, it was decided "to agetip" the problem. Agetip did the designs and hired the contractors, so that every­thing - the dressing rooms, the sound system, the floodlights, the turf (fortunately grass grows quickly in Africa) were ready for the first kick-off.

Is it having an effect on unemployment? Finns that were struggling to survive, and therefore could not employ people, are now in good shape ' and taking on workers. The agency alone cannot solve Senegal's unemployment problem (now as high as 25%), but the experiment is, after only three years, already "having an important impact at the margin, and there is an important demon­stration effect," Watson said.

"We keep a roster of entrepreneurs and local consultants," Magaue Wade, Agetip's executive director in Dakar, told the quarterly magazine "The Urban Age." "When a project comes up, between 20% to 50% of the funds available should go to salaries, to deal with the employment issue. This also promotes small enterprises in the con­struction business." Wade, who is Senegalese, and a former regional director of IBM, reports directly to the President of Senegal.

In fact, not only the executive director but all the 20 employees - engineers, lawyers, financial advisers - of Agetip's Dakar office are Senegalese. (There has been no external technical assistance for Agetip, except for training pro­grams). And the staff, like Wade, are from the private sector.

"That's the key to success," Leslie Pean, an urban economist in the World Bank, said. "We told the government that we couldn't accept people from the public sector because the culture of the government is not the culture of the private sector. An employee of Agetip is going to be judged by results, not by whom he knows."

An example of results is Rufisque, part of the urban sprawl that makes up Dakar. Because of Agetip, Rufisque now has clinics that boast elec­tricity and clean water, as well as restored com­munity centers, schools, tax collectors' offices, parks with basketball courts, streets and side­walks. After drainage canals were cleaned of garbage and re-lined, some elders remarked that it was the first time since independence in 1960 that they had seen the bottom of the canals.

A group of Dakarois neighborhood chiefs wrote a letter of thanks to Agetip about the garbage. Residents used to have to dig holes to bury it, they said. Because of Agetip, all that had been resolved with proper disposal, and, in addition, lots of jobs had been created. They wrote : "More than 100 young people have benefiued, and the owners of 10 donkey carts. We wish that these projects can be permanently undertaken. The residents now enjoy perfect health and complete cleanliness."

The "Agetip experience" has now spread to Niger, Benin, Burkina Faso, Mali and Mauritania, with Gambia, Togo, Madagascar and Chad next in line. And it is being looked at in Papua New Guinea - and even Siberia. (No 1. August 1993.)

The World Bank -1818 H Street, N.W. - Washington, D.C. 20433· (202) 473-1793· Fax (202) 676-0578

. II · The

PROJECTS IN PROGRESS World Bank ______________atWork

Mauritius: The ''Little Tiger' ofthe Indian Ocean

"You know what we say about our country," a Mauritian finance minister once said, "The situa­tion is always desperate but is never serious." That mixture of good humor and self-confidence has come to characterize this tiny Indian Ocean island nation, shaped like an oyster and fringed by coral reefs.

Mauritius is one of the developing world's success stories. Only 20 years ago, relying heavily on exporting its sugar, the average income was $400 a person. The average income now is $2,500, and the population growth rate is a mere 1% a year. It is already being called a potential NIC (a newly-industrialized country), a "Little Tiger" to be talked about in the same company as those South-East Asian "Tigers", such as Singapore and Taiwan, whose influence and aggressive growth at~ract much admiration.

There is no secret about how Mauritius pros­pered. It achieved relative political stability, it went through a program of stabilization and structural adjustment, it took full advantage of agreements that helped its exports, it opened special zones to attract foreign investment, it started to export textiles, flowers and fruit as well as its sugar, and it expanded its tourism industry. It is now pushing to become a regional financial center - a link between sub-Saharan African and those grown-up "Tigers" of South-East Asia.

Over the years, the World Bank, and the International Development Association, (IDA), the arm of the Bank that makes interest-free loans to the poorest countries, have lent $367 million to support its growth.

"Mauritians are exceptionally gracious people," Mrs Young Hoy Kimaro, an economist at the

World Bank, said. "When I was there I asked my driver why this was so. He thought maybe it's because four different races are trying to put their best foot forward to prove they're better than the other." The four races are the Indians (both Hindus and Moslems) who are the majority, the Creoles (mostly of African origin but also of mixed parentage), the Chinese, and the Europe­ans (the Franco-Mauritians).

After a few years of instability following inde­pendence in 1968, the politicians achieved social cohesion through a resilient democracy. Eight seats in the 70-seat legislative chamber, for example, are reserved for the "best losers" in the previous election.

"The government has to cater to a population and a press that are quite sophisticated politically, so it's constantly looking over its shoulders to make sure that it does deliver," Mrs Kimaro said. "The leaders are extreme pragmatists. They don't allow ideology to sway them. They do things that make sense for their economy."

The country went through structural adjustment - economic reforms such as liberalizing trade and cutting back public expenditure - in the early 1980s with the help of two loans from the World Bank of $55 million. Some of these policies were not popular, Mrs Kimaro said, but the leaders put tremendous effort in explaining the reasons for reform to the people. They held a number of town meetings. "The leadership was involved in public education, and when the leadership does that, even if the population doesn't understand exactly what it's all about, they are inclined to give the politicians the benefit of the doubt," she said.

September 1993, Number 10

The economy took off in the mid-1980s. Sugar­cane is grown all over the island and remains the backbone of the economy. The soil and the climate are suitable, and sugarcane stands up well to those fierce cyclones that come howling in from the sea, on an average of one every two years. Mauritius took full advantage of the Lome Convention, a 1975 agreement between the European Community and African, Caribbean and Pacific countries, which means that Mauritius receives prices which are above free market prices. It is an extremely favorable deal. The sugar wealth went first into the financial sector, setting up the largest private commercial bank, and then into the manufacturing sector, into the Export Processing Zone.

Usually when such zones are formed, a particu­lar area is marked out and companies that set up there are given incentives, such as tax holidays, free repatriation of capital and dividends, and duty-free entry of capital goods and raw materials.

In Mauritius it's a little different, Emmanuel Akpa, a World Bank economist, explained. "They wanted to use the zone partially to solve the unemployment problem. So you can set up a plant in any section of the island and employ people. You register under this provision, and the tax and other privileges apply to you. So it's a policy zone rather than a physical zone."

Large Pool of Educated Workers

The zone has proved to be hugely successful as foreign investors also rushed in, attracted by the incentives, by the business-friendly atmosphere, and by the large pool of educated workers who are bilingual in French and English. Some Hong Kong businessmen, nervous about that colony's future and reassured by the local Chinese commu­nity, brought their know-how, particularly of the textile and garment industries.

Pullovers and sweaters (the wool is imported from Italy) and other clothes are now sent off to Europe, again with more or less free access, and to the U.S . Large numbers of women were drawn into these jobs. Unemployment was at 20% in the early 1980s; there is now almost full employment. "The challenge today," Mr Akpa said, "is how to sustain the recent pace of progress with a short­age of labor."

Mauritius, after so much quick success, is at a critical stage. Some foreign investors are moving out, searching elsewhere for cheap workers and finding them in neighboring Madagascar or in China. The question is being asked whether the pressures within the European Community to reduce protection will mean that the country might some day lose those advantageous arrange­ments. Mauritius realizes it has to be more com­petitive; it is in search of alternatives.

It has already started to diversify. Because of its distance from major markets, it has to concentrate on commodities of high value, low volume and low weight. It could export far more of its fruit to Europe - its litchis, pineapples, papayas and mangos, and more of its spices and flowers. It is now competing with Hawaii for the title of the world's largest exporter of anthurium, that exotic­looking flower with waxy leaves. Air Mauritius and Air France cargo planes regularly ferry fruit and flowers to their overseas markets. And fruit and flowers are already proving to be profitable when produced for the growing number of tourists.

The tourists, mainly from France, South Africa and next-door Reunion, have long discovered the wonders of Mauritius' beaches and luxury hotels. By the end of the century, it is estimated that half a million tourists a year will be arriving. The mushrooming of hotels, with its inevitable strain on the environment and on services such as water and electricity, has started the inevitable debate about whether it's all too much of a good thing.

The way ahead is more complex. The only real answer is to become more sophisticated, to go up-scale, to use more brainpower, to become more like that other small island state, wealthy Singapore. The government is looking at encour­aging the manufacture of products other than clothes, such as leather goods, optical goods and jewelery, and going into electronics, informatics and financial services.

"In the future," Mrs Kimaro said, "they have to talk about their ability to tap into the world market, their ability to absorb technology, their ability to provide industrial extension and re­search to backstop their industrial production. Because of their dynamism, and the quality of their leadership and their labor force," she added, "there is no reason for Mauritius not to be very ambitious." (No 10. September 1993).

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. II · The

PROJECTS IN PROGRESS World Bank ____________________________ mWolli

Emergency Help to Rebuild Villages After Earthquake Strikes India

"The houses had dirt and mud walls, two to three feet thick. On top of the walls were heavy beams, and on top of that were about 18 inches of dirt to provide insulation. That works well in the winter and in the summer. But not in earth­quakes," Robert Panfil said.

"The earthquake shattered the walls. The walls had no binding so the roofs caved in on the people. That was why there were so many people killed."

Panfil, an infrastructure expert at the World Bank, was in India on September 30, 1993, look­ing into an urban water supply project in Calcutta, when the worst earthquake to strike the country in more than 50 years devastated part of the western state of Maharashtra. It measured 6.4 on the Richter scale and killed almost 10,000 people.

"I didn't have any idea, at first, of the gravity of the earthquake," Panfil said. "In Calcutta, we didn't feel the effects, or at least I didn't notice them that night. When the Indian government accepted an offer of assistance from the World Bank, I was asked to go on behalf of the Bank and do an initial reconnaissance. I didn't go down until seven or eight days after the earthquake. It was better not to get involved sooner, as the relief effort was going on at that time."

He selected two Bank colleagues in New Delhi - Chandra Godavitarne, a senior sanitation engineer, and Sam Thangaraj, a specialist in relocation and rehabilitation who had once worked for Oxfam - to visit the damaged areas with him. They had initial meetings in Bombay with government officials, and the next day were provided with a plane which set them down some 200 miles east of Bombay. They then drove

Beautiful door-frames often remained in place.

another 50 miles to five ruined villages - Kallari (which was close to the epicenter) and Talani in the district of Lattur, and Sastur, Pet Sandvi and Narangvadi in the district of Osmanabad.

"We got the feeling that the relief efforts were going well," Panfil said. "There were no com­plaints from the people. Most were in temporary facilities, in tents or in bamboo structures with tin sheeting, put up in rows. They had health servic-

November 1993, Number 11

es, and wells were already being drilled to supply water to the new resettlement sites. There was no panic."

The Indian military had mounted its biggest peacetime relief operation, sending in tankers with milk and water, and air-dropping tons of food. The country had the expertise, the well­trained troops, the industrial base and enough emergency food to deal with such a disaster on its own, and had done so repeatedly since indepen­dence in 1947.

However, on this occasion, India did let in foreign relief teams - from countries such as the U.S., France, Britain and Pakistan, possibly be­cause of the magnitude of the disaster and possi­bly because India's new economic reforms have emphasized openness to the outside world. International agencies included CARE, Oxfam, Medecins sans Frontieres, Medecins du Monde and the International Federation of Red Cross and Red Crescent Societies.

When reporters arrived at the destroyed villag­es, they heard dramatic stories from some of the survivors. "I first heard a rumble like a thousand buffaloes, and then a bang," one woman with serious spinal injuries told Reuters news agency. "The earth seemed to be rocking. It was as if we were in a boat. Then I opened my eyes and saw the tin roof of the house falling on top of me. I blacked out."

Another man was luckier. He had spent four days celebrating the festival for the elephant­headed god Ganesh. Not wanting to disturb his wife, and wanting to get the first good night's rest in several days, he decided to sleep outside his house. He was awakened by a thud and his wife's voice yelling for him to save their children. "I lay in bed for at least three minutes thinking that a snake had bitten someone," he said. "Then I saw that the house had completely caved in on one side."

He pulled his wife and two sons from the rubble and ran with them to an open field, where they endured a series of terrifying aftershocks. "If c

it were not for Ganesh, I would have been inside the house and not able to save my family." he said. Many of the dead were women and children because they were the ones who usually slept inside the houses.

The earthquake struck when the World Bank and the International Monetary Fund were in the

midst of their Annual Meetings in Washington, so an Indian delegation was at hand to start immedi­ate emergency talks. Lewis Preston, the president of the World Bank, wrote to P .V.Narasimha Rao, the Indian prime minister, expressing his sympa­thies for "the loss of life, the human suffering and the massive destruction of property." He assured the prime minister that Bank and Indian officials were already working on a reconstruction credit which "can be processed quickly under our emergency procedures."

In a Memorandum of Understanding signed on October 5 by Heinz Vergin, the director of the Bank's India Country Department, and N.K.Singh, the Additional Secretary of the Department of Economic Affairs in India's Ministry of Finance, it was announced that the credit "may be of the order of $300 million." But this would be decided after Bank experts went out to Maharashtra to make an appraisal. One Bank expert estimated that the credit may, in the final analysis, be nearer $100 million. In the meantime, $1.5 million was lent for the preparation of a detailed report to set out exactly what should be done.

Although the World Bank is primarily a longterm development agency, it and the Interna­tional Development Association (IDA), the arm of the Bank that provides interest-free loans to the poorest countries, have helped in more than 130 crises that followed natural or man-made disas­ters. Since 1985, the Bank has lent 3-5% of its portfolio each year for such aid. It helped, for example, in the aftermath of the 1990 cyclone in India's state of Andhra Pradesh with an emergen­cy credit of $210 million, in the 1988 Nepali earthquake (see Projects in Progress No 5 August 1993), and in putting life back together for flood victims in Brazil and Sudan. The formal name of the World Bank is, after all, the International Bank for Reconstruction and Development.

So, World Bank staff have a lot of experience with emergencies. They learnt a great deal, for example, from the earthquake that rocked Mexico City in September 1985. Not only were many people killed, but it left some 250,000 people homeless and almost a million with damaged homes. Nearly 2,000 schools were ruined and 300/0 of the city's hospital capacity was destroyed.

"In Mexico, they got together a high level committee to cut through a lot of the red tape and get the project underway in a hurry," Panfil, who

Robert Panfil: Traditional construction "works well in the winter and in the summer. But not in earthquakes."

was directly involved in that reconstruction work, explained. "They signed an agreement with all the coordinating agencies and set a framework for the whole project." The response has to be quick and flexible, and this principle is being followed in India.

The Mexican effort was a success, the World Bank's independent Operations Evaluation Depart­ment which audits its projects, later declared. That, it noted, should dispel any doubts that the Bank has the capacity to undertake such emergency projects. The Bank offered immediate assistance by rechannelling $81 million from a stalled urban project and then approved a new loan of $400 million in March 1986. It had the wisdom to back a good program that was "fully 'owned' and managed by the Mexican authorities," the depart­ment said.

After an earthquake, one of the most important decisions is where to build the new homes. In Mexico City, new apartments were put up for the homeless on the sites of the ruined tenements. The victims had moved into camps close by, and, determined not to be forgotten, had started protest marches. By rebuilding on the same sites, the community was kept together, as were jobs and relationships with neighbors. Families worked

together to decide what materials to use, and where water tanks and shrines should be placed. Most of the work was done at night, so as not to disturb the life of the city. Some 2,500 tons of rubble were carted away, and new building material brought in, between midnight and five a.m.each night.

This was not what happened after earthquakes in Central America, where the victims seemed to be become almost invisible. In Nicaragua, many fled to other cities outside the capital and to their relatives' and friends' houses; in Guatemala they started rebuilding in the countryside; in EI Salva­dor they made their homes in the ruins behind the facades of the tenements or in gullies near the river.

In India the earthquake struck at villages, rather than beneath city centers. Most villagers reportedly said that they didn't want to live on the same site because their ruined villages were now cremation and burial grounds. Some had used the timber from their toppled houses to cremate their dead.

So the Maharashtra government decided that the new villages - about 82 of them with about 28,000 houses - would be rebuilt between one and two kilometers away. Chandra Godavitarne explained: "The land in every case will be within

close proximity to the original sites, as people don't want to be away from their fields. This isn't a poor region. They grow oil seeds and sugar­cane."

"Earthquake-proof" houses, known as "starter units", of three different sizes (250, 450 and 750 square feet) are proposed to be built and given free to the displaced villagers. "We are committed," Sharad Pawar, Maharashtra's chief minister an­nounced when he toured the zone, "to providing a house to each family which survived the earth­quake." The houses, he said, would be allocated without reference to caste divisions, which usually divide villages up into separate areas or streets based on caste.

The traditional houses, although in this case they proved lethal, were certainly cool inside against summer temperatures that soar to 48 degrees centigrade, and warm in the winters. Some had beautiful dOQr-frames which often remained in place, sturdy enough to survive the tremors.

But the new houses will probably have to be of a different and safer design. "We are extremely concerned about house design," Panfil said. "One of the most important things is to try and get the affected people involved in the decisions of how to reconstruct and rebuild, and in the designs of the houses." It was important that the government build some model houses, show them to the people and get their approval, before they started building on a large scale. The houses should be "cool, functional, and socially acceptable."

The state government has proposed that the houses be built by large, urban contractors. The work would,be completed, the state government said, by the end of January 1994, and then work would begin on schools and roads.

Some experts, however, argue that this is too soon a deadline, and that if the work is rushed, then thriving communities will fail to emerge from the rubble. They worry about whether the contrac­tors know enough about such essentials as the types of soil they will have to build on, whether . the owners of the land to be bought will be given a fair price, whether the survivors will get psycho­logical rehabilitation, and whether the owners of partially damaged houses in nearby regions will also get help - to strengthen their properties.

They also feel strongly that non-governmental

New houses will be ofa safer design.

organizations (NGOs) who want to help, and who have special expertise, should be brought in. Maharashtra has a strong tradition of NGO partici­pation, and NGOs could help organize the villag­ers and find out their needs. "If the affected people are to become a socially, economically and culturally self-supporting community, this is essen­tial," Sam Thangaraj said.

The world will never be free from natural and, alas, man-made disasters that cost billions of dollars every year. The World Bank doesn't help with instant emergency relief - other agencies exist to do that - but, as in Maharashtra, with recovery "within a development framework."

It also tries to help countries reduce their vulnerability to such catastrophes. Deforestation, for example, can mean that rivers silt up and cause severe flooding downstream; cities that expand rapidly may do so into flood plains or along fault lines. The World Bank's environmental, urban and other programs aim to reduce such risks. (No II. November 1993)

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Better Service Delivery through Civil Service Reform An Interview with Ugandan President Yoweri K. Museveni

The President of Uganda

L st summer, the Bank's Petter Langseth spoke with Uganda's President Yoweri K. Museveni. Mr. Langseth is currently seconded to the Government ofUganda as Chief Technical Adviser on Civil service Reform.

Question: Your government is in the process of implementing a major civil service refonn program. What prompted this?

Answer: Civil service refonn is, in my view, most appropriate in our current situation. I say so because a fundamental change in managing the public affairs of this country is necessary to support the changes being ushered in by the National Resistance Movement (NRM) Government.

Q: What was the civil service like when you came to power?

A: The 1970s and the early 1980s had been nightmare decades of shattered hopes for Ugandans. Those decades of

decline did not spare the Uganda Civil service which was in a very sorry state by the time we came to power in January 1986. The service was riddled with institutional defects and problems of human frailty which had made it totally unresponsive and ineffective. It therefore became clear that our progress toward creating an independent, integrated and self­

15

sustaining economy would come to a halt if the civil service were not fundamentally reformed so that it could support rather than hinder development.

Q: What immediate action did your government take to initiate fundamental change in the civil service?

A: Government appOinted a Public Service Review and Reorga­nization Commission (PSRRC) in April 1989 which presented its report in October 1990. Its 255 recommendations were aimed at molding an efficient, motivated and optimal sized civil service. Cabinet has already reacted to those recommendations in the form of a government White Paper. That paper will shortly be put forward to the National Resistance Council (NRC) for endorsement. Govern­ment has, meanwhile, already started to implement some of the PSRRC recommendations in a three­year implementation plan.

Q: Could you say more about some of the specific actions imple­mented so far?

A: Among the important initiatives taken so far are:

• streamlining the structure of the government, which has resulted in the reduction of the number of Ministries and Offices from 34 to 21. Government is also committed to divest itself from the provision of those services which are better executed by the private sector;

• the introduction of a comput­erized payroll and a payroll moni­toring and establishment control system for the traditional civil service, which has gone a long way in eliminating "ghosts" from the payroll;

• the structural and functional review of ministries aimed at establishing an optimally sized quality civil service which will reduce the number of civil servants on the payroll by 45 percent;

• progressive salary enhance­ment and monetization of civil service benefits targeted toward the payment of a minimum living wage of Uganda shillings 70,000 ($60) per month by June 1996. If we want people to work well for us then we must also pay them a living wage;

• capacity building in terms of infrastructure, equipment and staff development aimed at effective performance and improved service delivery; and

• interviewing and assessing all senior officials across the civil service to identify redundant staff. This delicate task has so far been performed quite satisfactorily by the Implementation and Monitoring Board, whose members are all well respected senior Ugandans. The recent reshuffling leading to the departure of 11 permanent secretar­ies was handled by the same Board.

Q: How do you see the role of your ministers and permanent secretaries in implementing the reform?

A: Successful change manage­ment needs the commitment of both the political and executive leaders of government-ministers and their permanent secretaries. It is therefore essential that they fully understand and accept the objec­tives of the program to ensure its effective implementation. Ministers and permanent secretaries have been involved in the policy dia­logue to obtain and share their views on the fundamental issues of the program. Their contribution will significantly assist the government in effectively guiding the reform exercise.

Q: What is the main challenge in managing this reform program?

A: The implementation of change is taking place at such speed that it calls upon us to adjust our style of management. Change is

expensive. It must, therefore, be carefully planned and managed in order to avoid wasting our meager resources. Ministers and permanent secretaries, as top government managers, must ensure that those changes take place in the proper context and direction, and that we get it right the first time. They should see change as a means of achieving defined objectives aimed at improving the standard of living of our people.

Q: What kind of management style is your government fOCUSing on in this reform program?

A: We are introducing results­oriented management (ROM) for improved service delivery. Through ROM setting clear performance objectives linked to service delivery of ministries and their staff, the performance of the entire service and of individual civil servants will be managed more effectively. ROM will thereby provide the basis against which to measure organiza­tional and individual performance. The introduction of this manage­ment style together with a leader­ship code for the civil service, will support the implementation of an evaluation system which will facilitate reforms by rewarding good performers and penaliZing inefficient and negative behavior.

Q: What will happen to those civil servants who do not perform well?

A: Those civil servants who do not measure up to the demands of their responsibilities will be liable to immediate disciplinary action, including dismissal. Further mea­sures will be taken to make all ministries and districts fully ac­countable for their performance. With accountability will go author­ity. To that end, ministries will be given effective instruments to plan and have full control over their manpower and will set programs to meet their objectives. Permanent

16

secretaries will be quasi managing directors of their respective minis­tries and will be free to determine the optimum resources needed to meet the targets set for their ministries. In turn, permanent secretaries will be assessed on the basis of their achievement against their set targets.

Q: You have said that a minimum living wage will be introduced to motivate civil ser­vants to meet their new service delivery objectives in the reformed civil service. What other support and motivation will civil servants need?

A: The most important aspect of the reform is to get the civil service to improve service delivery to the public. The Ministry of Public Service will be organizing a series of sensitization team bUilding and action planning workshops for all senior managers, including heads of department and commissioners at headquarters , district executive secretaries and district administra­tors. In these workshops, realistic and measurable performance standards will be agreed upon and later adopted as indicators for service delivery to the public. So we will be confirming the civil service's understanding of the need for and the objectives of the reform program, developing its capacity to manage, and at the same time working with it to develop the new performance standards.

Q: Your tough stand against corruption is well known. How does the reform program deal with this issue?

A: Another important aspect which will be introduced into the service is a new work ethic. Senior government staff, both ministers and civil servants, will be required to adopt a code of conduct, and they should evidence behavior that will serve as a good example to the lower cadres of the service. The leadership code will directly

address corruption and severe measures will be taken to punish corruption at all levels. The role of ministers and permanent secretaries in this process will be to introduce rules and regulations for individual conduct, to introduce systems and measures that limit opportunities for corruption and to ensure individual accour:tability at all levels of the service. Further, in the fight against corruption, legal, institutional and policy changes will be introduced with the objective of enforcing accountability and reliability in Ugandan society at large.

Q: You are known to value work excellence. How will civil servants be helped to improve their performance?

A: That is a very important question; we are addressing the improvement of managerial and supervisory skills of civil servants. To this end, a comprehensive capacity-building program is being developed. The main thrust of that program will focus on areas and disciplines that have been ne­glected in the past and where the lack of skills is acute. This will include, among other things, training in disciplines such as accounting and financial manage­ment, job evaluation and grading, as well as training in general management, manpower planning and economic planning and management.

Q: During the war much of the infrastructure, tools and equipment of the civil service was destroyed. What are your retooling plans?

A: The capacity-building exercise will be reinforced by a comprehensive re-tooling of the civil service. This will enable serving officers to make the most effective use of their skills through the utilization of modern office equipment and technologies. Individual ministries and districts will be given the facilities necessary

to carry out their functions, pro­grams and plans in the most efficient and timely manner.

Q: Mr. President, without a proper communications strategy, how will both the public and the civil service develop a commitment to the reform program?

A: It is true that the success of the reform program will also be dependent upon the development of a comprehensive and reliable information and communication strategy-to keep both the general public and civil servants abreast of the latest achievements, problems and objectives. This strategy will be based on an open and transparent delivery of information using all suitable media and communication channels. It is necessary to keep the public and the civil service informed about progress and successes as well as failures if we are to have their commitment to change.

Q: Finally, what key advice would you give to the top manag­ers in the Uganda civil service?

A: Top managers shall not only be expected to perform better, but also to be effective agents of change and better managers and advisers of government. The tasks of these top managers are formi­dable, but the challenge must be faced squarely and adequately if Uganda is to sustain the momentum of development ushered in by the NRM government. I do not expect that they will find solutions to all our manifold problems at the start of the reform program. However, the adoption of results-oriented management, leadership code and a new way of working through teamwork, better communications, and the exchange of ideas and inspiration drawn from one another will lead to new and better per­spectives on solutions to the challenge of managing change and the successful implementation of the reform program.

17

A Tribute to the Women of Africa

Dr. Fred Sai

L ast September, Dr. Fred Sai, President ofthe International Planned Parenthood Federation, received the 1993 United Nations Population Awardfor "his leadership in the field offamily planning. "Dr. Sai was Population Adviser for the Bank from january 1985 to july 1990. Here are excerpts from his acceptance speech:

My family and I were really thrilled to learn of my being selected as a joint recipient of the U.N. Population Award for this year. On the occasion of receiving the award, I would like to pay tribute to some of the many people who have truly had a hand in shaping my development and progress through life, and particularly in helping me to forge an under­standing and enthusiasm in the field of family planning for whiCh this citation has been made.

Let me state, first of all, that right now in Accra there is an old lady of 92, room-bound because she has lost her sight. My mother-illiterate and widowed early-nevertheless had the fortitude and foresight years ago to see that her only son would have as much education as possible. As if that were not enough in itself, she was prepared to let me travel to far-off lands she had never even heard of. Through scholarships of various kinds I was able to continue my education at universities and into the fields of postgraduate studies. The poverty that was rampant during my childhood affected my family too, and yet with courage and faith in the future my mother, with the help of a paternal uncle who finally finished his family with 13 children, permitted me to have as much education as I could possibly endure.

And then I pay tribute to my wife and family, who have supported me in my choice of career and have not wavered in understanding my love for the then unrewarding fields of public health, particularly that of clinical and public health nutrition. It was truly from the field of nutrition that I came to appreciate the need for family planning. I remember the horror of the condition Kwashiorkor (protein-calories malnutrition) which was associated with the concept of a child being deposed from the breast by an oncoming pregnancy or the too-close arrival of a sibling. Unfortunately this condition is still with us today.

There are many around the world who have dedicated their lives to family planning in the fight against ongoing problems such as Kwashiorkor with whom I have worked. It would be impossible for me to mention all my many mentors by name. But I would like to say special

18

thanks to Professor Nevin Scrimshaw of MIT and Harvard and to the late Professors Ben Platt of London and of Harvard and Tufts. work in

planning took on an interna­tional dimension when I worked with Dr. Julia Henderson at the International Planned Parenthood Federation in London, and I wish to thank her for her and friendship all these years. In my current role as of the IPPF, I wish to ac­vr"'YI:",,pr,np the work of my many both volunteers and staff. Little little we have worked side by side, on a better life for humankind. It is a mission of dimen­sion, and not one which can be tackled alone.

And I salute the many millions of volunteers who share my concern for mother and child who respect that most basic of human ability to choose the size and timing of one's witness for themselves the drastic improvements in the quality of life that family can bring. Such is their dedication that devote their free time to the cause, without personal reward or re(:o~~nl1]Oll.

But above perhaps the people who have most greatly shaped my career are the malnourished chil­dren themselves. among whom I have had the oppor­

and the parents of those children. The mothers, despite their lack of education and

to grasp the concept of the diseases we were nevertheless trusted in the future. I can recall

the mothers who willingly helped in our various studies, mothers who were themselves so unsure of their hold on life that while were and joking they barely knew if they would survive to see the next rainy season. It is to these women, who represent the backbone of the courage of Africa and the hope of Africa, that I would like to dedicate this I am rAr'A."""."o

In the in a Churchyard, had this to say:

"Here rests his head upon the lap ofEarth, A vouth to fortune and to fame unknown.

Fair 'd not on his humble birth, And Melancholy mark'd himfor her son." These words were written quite some time ago

the 18th century in to describe conditions faced in rustic England. But we know that citizens of .LdAF>,,,.AA'-& are no longer of education or access to science or her and if I could rewrite the famous quote to describe Africa today, particularly in relation to our and womenfolk, I would say:

"Fair not on HER humble And Melancholy marks HERfor her own. " The comes out of the drudgery of life,

a with which babies are born and carry through with them until they go to their untimely graves through excessive child or unregulated

with little attention paid to their nrpccino

health needs. The drudgery and melancholy are directly related

to the lack of access to science education which we know to be so closely linked with contra­

and the ability to take care of oneself and of one's children. In too many parts of Africa today the proportion of young who are exposed to even three or five years of education is quite small. Even there are countries where 20 percent of the girls are in school. When we look at secondary school enrollment, we should ask what r\rr'\r\r'\rt;r'\n of our Q:irls are exoosed to this kind of education.

Yes, I am aware of the international conferences and the numerous times consensus has been reached about the need for the education of our people,

of our But the attainment is so woe­fully inadequate at present that I would like to use this

to call on Africa, on my own folk in '-JHaua, and on the U.N. system, to us see that this particular need is addressed and is addressed quickly.

Let us work to establish an "Education Peace which will bring that greatest of knowledge-to the women of the world, especially in Africa. Todav in Africa. we have larQ:e numbers of

19

school graduates unemployed. In a few countries there are even university graduates with no regular work to do. Is it beyond the capacities of our national, regional and continental, political and other institutions to seek the financial and other support of friendly nations to help us harness this manpower for an assault on the curse of illiteracy? In my view, only a crash program of gigantic proportions can get the job done in a reason­able time frame to help improve the lives of our women. Let us empower our girls through education, and transform their lives through insight, giving them the tools to embark on the path of life on a firm footing, in equal stride with their male peers.

In addition to their education, there is a need to look at the kinds of practices which are now interfer­ing with the lives and livelihoods of girls and women in Africa and other regions and making life such a drudgery to them. Far too often we are allowed to hide behind anachronistic traditions and cultural practices, some of which are really morally indefen­sible, and do things to women which should not be permitted. Female circu~cision is one such example. There is no reason at the present time for any child to be coerced into marriage and to be forced to start having children, deprived of time to enjoy her child­hood before she becomes a woman and then a mother. This we do in the name of tradition and culture. Tradition and culture which so discriminate against some members of the society cannot be accepted as a great help to the people at large.

Since 1987, we have been calling for more atten­tion to the issues of safer motherhood. I must say that despite over five years of this constant call, we cannot see any real breakthrough. Is it because this condition affects only women that progress has been so slug­gish? This is a field in which we must really see the violence we are committing against our own species, our own kin, and address the needs as quickly as possible.

The technologies for tackling the issues for safer motherhood today exist in abundance. The delivery

systems required to make the technologies effective have already been identified to a very large extent. What we need now is the political will and leadership that will bring the technologies to bear on the problem and bring relief to the people who need it so badly. For the women of Africa and South Asia it is not an academic issue, a scientific nicety or a figure in the cost-control books---it can be and often is a matter of life and death.

More than that, it can mean the living death of so many infants and young children.

Finally, on the issue of safe motherhood, let me say once more that nothing has been found to be as effective as the ability for women to control their own fertility . Let us make it possible for all women the world over to have full control of their reproductive rights by providing them with the quality information and services to achieve that. And we must remember that the methods to control fertility, imperfect though they may be, are available. As we approach the 21st century we must examine our consciences and make it our duty, our moral obligation, our ultimate goal to make these methods accessible to the women and the families who need them and are requesting them. This we must do with sensitivity and care, and in a way that accords with their own views and expectations.

At this point, let me make a special plea. Let all those working for women's health, family planning and reproductive and sexual health generally close ranks. Let us stop using the 20/20 vision of hindsight to ascribe bad faith to those doing things differently from us. There is a great diversity in the conditions under which sexual reproductive health services are to be provided. Let us not try to make the best an enemy of the good. We have enough forces working against us as it is. Let us deal with our problems not from our own preconceptions of what should be but from our careful examination and understanding of the needs and the desires of the women who we should be serving.

20

A Banker in the Woods Part II The Trutl:r-as Told by the Loving Father,

Wannabe male role model and fanner high school wrestler Richard Skolnik, claiming to be doing

pushups at 11 ,000 feet with a 55-pound pack on. Photo by Aaron Skolnik

In the October edition of Bank's World, you read a too-clever article by my son about our backpacking trip to New Mexico. You will recall that the major premise of the article was that my son served throughout the trip as my male role model. You will also remember that my son delivered this message with good humor-meant to humiliate his dad.

Given the 67 mail messages I received about the article, I can only surmise that (a) this was the most widely read piece in the history of Bank's World [Editor's note: Sorry, Richard. A fascinating piece about the 1984 job Grading Exercise generated far more com­ment}; and (b) most of the readers actually liked the article, laughed a lot at my expense, and questioned genetic theory. A sample of the EMs I received indicates the remarkable appreciation for the story:

"I loved it. Will your 16-year­old son marry my 24-year-old daughter?"

This was from a Bank director. "Great article. My sympathies to

Aaron. He must be nuts to be willing to spend 12 straight days with you in the wilderness." This was from one of my former divi­sion chiefs.

Richard Skolnik

"Fantastic. Knowing you, I find it hard to believe the kid could do something this good!" This was from one of my closest friends in the Bank.

"You are not very good looking anyway. However, the picture really made you look bad. Are you OK?" This was from the executive assistant to one of our VPs.

In light of the accolades given to my son and the scorn heaped on me, I would like to set the record straight about our trip. [Editor's note: He begged for equal time.} It will become apparent, as you read this, that I was the real role model for the Boy Scouts with whom I hiked. It will also become clear to you that it was I who taught them the "code of the woods" and not the other way around. Let me cite a few examples of what really happened on our trip. To assist all the World Bankers who read this, the examples will be organized by the themes touched upon in my son's article.

Packing. My son's piece indicated that I could pack in a day to go to India, but that he had to pack for me to go on our camping trip. I fooled him. The truth is that I was packed in an hour, more than two weeks before the trip. How­ever, to ensure he was given the opportunity for personal develop­ment that scouting is supposed to

21

provide, I unpacked, tossed the goods about, and asked him to help.

High Altitude Hiking. My son implied that I had some fear of hiking at high altitude. Nothing could be further from the truth! The fact is I thrived on it and managed to keep a quick and steady pace throughout our hikes. The breaks that I took occasionally were meant to help the young scouts on our trip who had a hard time keeping up with the scoutmaster and me. In addition, I wanted to slow down from time to time so the boys could take photographs of the beautiful scenery.

The Prison Economy. My son's comments could easily have been misinterpreted. They might even have led readers to believe that I was not only trading for food, but actually stealing food froll! the mouths of scouts. Again, nothing could be more distant from reality. I do not relish fatty foods. The scouts, however, adore fatty food . It was clear to all that a Pareto optimal solution to our food problems could be had with a simple exchange. Power Bars for sticks of beef jerky. If anything, I gave them more than a fair deal.

Keeping Clean. My son com­pletely failed to mention the important example I provided concerning personal hygiene.

Scouts, in general, do not worry much about hygiene while on camping trips. Yet, we all know, as the Scout Handbook says, "Cleanli­ness is next to Godliness." Hence, I was always the first in camp to use triangulation and other scientific methods to find the latrines, which were often hidden behind thick forest. In addition, I immaculately cleaned my eating bowl after each meal, leaving bacteria no chance

for survival. Finally, I was the only one able to manage sponge baths out of a canteen of water. If the scouts made fun of my cleanliness, it could only have been out of jealousy for my cleverly thought­out methods.

Despite my son's efforts to discredit me, it should be obvious from the above that it was I, and not he, who was the real role model for our trip. It should also be clear that I did exactly what the

Scouts tell you to do, taking a low­key approach and helping the scouts learn from dealing indepen­dently with the wilderness. It would have been good if I could have remained silent about all of this, but the hundreds of EMs praising my son and mocking me left me no choice but to reveal the truth. [Editor's note: Hundreds, Richard? The number quoted earlier was 67}

"It Ain't Just Me" by David Delmonte, Chairman, Staff Association

T his column will be my last as Chairman of the World Bank Group Staff Association. I don't think anyone really can tell from the outside how extraordinarily reward­ing-and demanding-this position can be. I must say that I have more respect for at least some politicians than I did before I sought this job, as the stamina required for this sort of work is enormous.

Were I an entrepreneur, I could be as opinionated and thin-skinned as I wanted to be, or hire and fire as I see fit, because, as an entrepre­neur, it's my money and my company. But, as an elected official, I (and my fellow officers) have been entrusted by the elector­

ate with the responsibility of representing the views of staff and working to create consensus among our incredibly diverse constituency, while upholding the values ex­pressed in our Constitution. It requires being thick-skinned enough not to take criticism personally, while remaining thin­skinned enough to hear what people are saying. If you don't think that's a lo~ of work, you must never have done it.

But enough about how tough it is. The rewards are pretty great, too: it's nice to win one at the Board, which we did this year on compensation; it's nice too, to see a group of staff and management

representatives come to agreement after long and tough hours of discussion.

What went well over the past two years? Our relationships with staff, management and the Board are generally in sound shape. We instituted the SA Weekly Summary for delegates and constituents as a regular update on SA develop­ments. We established regular meetings of all Working Group chairs in order to maintain a broad consistency of effort at the working levels. In an effort to strengthen our rapport with our colleagues in the field, we launched an initiative to provide closer ties between HQ SA and the field. The first part of that

22

1992 SA Executive Committee

First Vice-chainnan: Second Vice-chainnan:

Secretary: Treasurer:

Members-at Large:

Lisa Fonick Dirk Mattheisen Paul Arendal Luis Landau Oanuary - April) Virginia Bautista (April- December) Virginia Bautista Oanuary - April), Richard Becker, Grace Gabriel (October - December), Nancy Mattson, Albert Osei Oanuary ­October), Azmat Taufique, Paul Vandenheede, Louis Vassiliou.

1993 SA ExecutiVe Committee

First Vice-chairman: Lisa Ponick Second Vice-chainnan: Balwant Garcha

Secretary: Roger Slade Treasurer: Vuginia Bautista

Members-at Large: Paul Arendal Oanuary - June), Linda Byron, Brendan Horton, Fred Kalema-Musoka Oune - December), Peter Ngomba Louis Vassiliou Oanuary - September), James Wilson

initiative consisted of a visit to eight of the larger offices by our Staff Relations Officer and me. I hope that this expanded relationship will become a normal part of the way the SA does business. Our meetings and consultations with management continue to be a normal part of the way the Bank does business; but no longer is it any cause for excitement per se if we make a presentation to the Board or one of its committees. And that's as it should be.

What would I have like to have seen go better? Primarily, I think our SA tends, like the rest of the Bank, to be a bit too inward and

narrowly focused. I think the next few years will be crucial for the Bank as we flesh out our mission in a world that has changed dramati­cally from what it was just five years ago. The challenge for the SA will be to meet, along with the rest of the Bank, the upcoming changes facing forward and looking outward.

But it hasn't just been me here in my corner office. None of what we accomplished in the past years could have been done without the endorsement of the respective Delegate Assemblies. Our Working Groups continue to form the technical backbone of the SA. They are the hundreds of volunteers who

23

provide the technical, analytical framework that is the basis for the credibility of our consultations. My thanks to all of you for the long and exhausting hours you put in on behalf of your colleagues.

My thanks go also to the Executive Committees who served with me (see Box). I have to know: did you really read all of those reams of papers we sent you, or were you just bluffing? Anyway, your firm votes of confidence provided me with the continued assurance that we were represent­ing the best interests of staff.

My thanks to the Field Office staff, whose warm welcome and confidences during our recent trip to the field has left me with a special sense of responsibility for seeing that your concerns are heard and addressed. I plan to carry on that responsibility by remaining as the HQ contact for the Field Office Virtual Working Group.

My thanks to the SA office staff in N-135. Doing this job would be unimaginable without their support. Marie-Claude Helman and her predecessor, Betty Ray Wiseman, made sure that I got to the right meeting at the right time with the right papers in hand. Considering the turnover we have had among our secretarial staff here, that was no mean accomplishment. Among those who made and continue to make contributions here: Katie Hall, Sabina Beaulieu, Susanna Duffy, Gladys Gicker, and Jay Mukherjee. The SA office seems to me unthink­able without Lois Williams, who has provided continuity here since what seems like time immemorial. And thanks also to Gene Miller, who does writing, editing, research, and some of our graphics work for us.

Thanks again to all who have had a part in furthering the work of the Association, and my best wishes to the incoming Chairman.

Victory (Again)

It's fall. Time for falling leaves, brisk walks, crisp air and, of course, tennis. The annual Witteveen Cup Championship held in mid-October at Bretton Woods Country Club saw the Bank team once again maintain its status as first-ranked. On Saturday, INTELSAT fell, and on Sunday it was the IMF team's turn.

The Bank team players from left to right are (back row): Srish Kumar (Captain), Martin Herman and Jose Moscoso. (Front row) Ivo Njosa, Maria Fernanda Cash, Yvonne Sin, Katerina Taiganides, John Briscoe, Pam Glass.

David DeOrio Named MacArthur Fellow

The letter, from the Chairman of the MacArthur Fellow Program, began by saying " ...It gives me very great pleasure to inform you of your selection as a 1993 Fellow. Fellowship awards are made to individuals who have evidenced exceptional dedication to better­ment of the human condition.... "

Thus David DeOrio, a 34-year­old Private Sector Development Specialist with the Finance and Private Sector Development Grou p of EMTPS, was officially notified of the prestigious award. The letter

went on to cite a variety of factors that were involved in his selection, particularly his work in Micronesia . "At the age of 22, you played a pivotal role in writing Micronesia's First Five Year Indicative Develop­ment Plan and in helping the peoples of Micronesia plan for their subsequent independence. The Government of Micronesia and UN staff who worked with you men­tioned your exceptional dedication and their belief that your individual

contributions had a major impact on the lives of the peoples of Micronesia . "

Mr. DeOrio's involvement as a counselor to juvenile offenders and to young AIDS patients was also referred to, along with his having trained to be a Jesuit.

In the new year, we'll have an article about Mr. DeOrio and his activities prior to joining the Bank in April 1993. Meanwhile, Bank's World congratulates him for this splendid achievement.

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To the Editor:

Sony, guys, but I must take exception to the Staff Association's "Big Iron" article (Bank's World, November 1993).

First, the article furthers the myth that the Bank fmances big projects. Based on the records of the Interna­tional Conunission on Large Dams, the Bank was involved in fmancing only 3 percent of the large dams built through­out the world since 1951. So no "big iron" there. (Despite the Bank's minimal role as a fmancer of big dams, its dam safety standards have had considerable influence and are increasingly applied to dams the Bank does not fmance')

Second, the article states that "one of the best ways to break out of the 'big iron' mentality is to get closer to our clients." Wrong again. Many of our clients love big dams, canals, the works, and we have strenuously opposed government proposals in numerous client countries for all kinds of white elephant projects.

Projects should not be judged by size alone; strong economic and sector work is the only antidote to choosing the wrong project-be it big or small. Jose Olivares, OEDD1

Editor's note: A successful dam project cofinanced by the Bank earns a stamp ofapproval. See next article.

Stamp of Approval

The M'Bali Dam in the Central African Republic (CAR) was fi­nanced by IDA for $11 million and cofinanced with the African Devel­opment Bank and the Kuwait Fund for Arab Economic Development. Now, it is pictured on two CAR stamps that may become collectors' items.

The main purpose of the dam, which was inaugurated September 2, 1991, is to store some 250 million

cubic meters of water during the rainy season for power generation during the dry season. While one stamp boasts "food crop self­suffiency," the lake created by the dam is also producing quantities of fish and many former farmers and herd raisers have become fisher­men.

A stamp soon to be issued by the CAR will probably depict tourist activities around the lake. •

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25

Senior . Staff

Mahsood Ahmed Pakistani Director, International Economics Department, effective December 1.

Vlnay Bhargava Indian Chief, Poverty, Population and Human Resources Division, China and Mongolia Depart­ment, East Asia and Pacific Region, effective December 1.

Barbara Kafka Brazilian Chief, Industry and Energy Operations, Country Depart­ment II, Middle East and North Africa Region, effective December 1.

Deborah Danker American Senior Manager, North America, Asia and Pacific Division, Financial Operations Department, effective November 1.

Gedlon Nkojo Ugandan Resident Representative, Resident Mission, Lusaka, Zambia, effective October 15.

26

Robert V. Pulley American Resident Representative, Resident Mission, Kingston, Jamaica, effective January 1994.

Malcolm D. Rowat Canadian Chief, Public Sector Modern­ization Division, Technical Department, LAC Region, effective November 15.

New Staff

Members Barbara Aiken Ireland Staff Asst./AF6/ 11/22

Claude Barras Switzerland ED's Asst./EDS/ 11/1

Mourad 8elguedj Algeria Sr. Energy Spec'/IEN/ 11/8

Myles D. Brennan. United Kingdom Investment Ofcr./INV/ 11/22

Peter H. Dinsdale United Kingdom Textile Engineer/ IFC/ 1111

Dominique Dwor-Frecaul France Country Economist/EC2/ 11/ 1

Yoko Eguchi Japan Environmental Spec'/MN1/1 1/15

Maria Flores Philippines Staff Asst./IFCI1 0/25

Victor Gabor Hungary Economist/EC3/11/15

Cellne Gavach France Language Staff Asst'/PAD/ 11/ 1

AnnaGueye France Language Staff Asst'/PAD/ ll/ 15

Ella G. Hornsby United States Staff Asst./ AF6111/1

Jan Janssens Belgium Sanitary Engineer/ AF5/ 11/1

Cannen Laureole Philippines Staff Asst./EC1/ 11/ 15

MariMinowa Japan Human Resource Econ./LA2/ 11/15

Deochand Narain United States ED's Asst./EDS/ll/l

Ellen C. Newfield United States Information Ofcr./OPR/10/25

Oumelkheir Ouaoua Algeria ED's Asst./EDS/ 11/8

Helene Paris France ED's Asst ./EDS/ l1 /6

Claire Poilane France Language Staff Asst./PAD/ll/15

William R. Porter Canada Sr. Energy Spec./IEN/ 11/1

Robert A. Robelus Netherlands Environ. Assess. Spec'/ENV/ 11/ 15

SyahrU Sabirin Indonesia Financial Econ./MN2/ 11/ 1

Charles G. Schueller United States Information Ofcr./OPR/11/22

Vladimir Shekoyan Armenia ED's Asst./EDS/ 11/ 15

Eleanor C. Slease United States Staff Asst./EC2/11/1

Warrick P. Smith Australia PSD Specialist/PSD/10/25

Shane Streifel Canada Energy Econ./IEC/ 11/ 15

Mehrnaz Teymourlan Iran Financial Analyst/ AF3/ 11/15

Nadege L Thadey United States Staff Asst./AFT/ 11/ 15

Harold B. Vance United States Staff Asst./EDI/ ll /8

Brigita woods United States Staff Asst./EDS/ ll/8

Mariam Yousufzi United States Staff Asst./CFS/ ll/22

Fixed-term and regular appointments

27

The purpose ofthis column is to answer questions ofbroad interest concerning the World Bank Group's policies and procedures. Please include your name and room number so we can send you the answer to your question, even if it is not selected to appear in the maga­zine. Your confidentiality will be protected and your name will not be submitted to the managerfrom whom the answer is sought. An anonymous question can be answered only if it is ofsufficiently broad interest to be included in the magazine. Send your questions to: AnswerLine, Bank's World, Rm. T-8044. ...

Question: H I am away from HQ and don't have access to All­in-I or Internet, but I do have a modem, how could I send a WordPerfect document from my computer to the Bank? I suppose I would need to know the address of some electronic "bulletin board" there?

Answer: Given the parameters you have stated, (no All-in-l or INTERNET access), there is no way currently supported to do this. The Bank does not at present support a publicly accessible electronic bulletin board. Please contact me directly if you need further informa­tion. Ramesh Siva, Unit Chief, Information Delivery Unit, ITF

Question: I read with inter­est the June AnswerLine. In particular the question about the buildup of Young Professionals

in senior management positions seems to m~and to many other staff-very relevant. Sally Zeijlon, the yP Program Admin­istrator [who provided the response] was a yP herself, and therefore quite biased. The fact is that at professional, lower staff levels of 21 to 23, which is the entrance level of most YPs, the YPs are outnumbered by a factor of 10 or more by other professional Bank staff. So how is it possible that the YPs end up occupying about one-third of all higher and senior positions in the Bank if promotion opportu­nities are supposed to be equal to all staID Maybe the Bank's Personnel Management Depart­ment should pay more attention to career development of non­yP professional mid-career staff and put a better evaluation system in place to identify potential candidates for mid­level and senior management positions at a much earlier stage, guiding them as inten­sively as it does the YPs.

Answer: On joining the Bank, Young Professionals participate in a two-week training program on Bank poliCies and areas of empha­sis. They undertake two six-month rotational assignments in different parts of the Bank Group. At the end of this first year and based on satisfactory performance, they graduate from the yP program and are reassigned to Gl; regular position. From that point on, they have access to the same career guidance and opportunities available to other staff in their sector or discipline.

Because systematic career planning is beneficial both to individual staff and to the institu­tion as a whole, a process called the Career Development Review (CDR) is being introduced through­out the Bank. The CDR provides a forum for regular and fixed-term staff to formally explore their development needs and medium­to long-term career objectives with their managers. It allows managers to provide career guidance to staff so that they can jOintly plan strategies for fully developing and utilizing staff members' talents.

In addition to serving as a tool for career guidance, one of the key features of the CDR is its link to the Internal Staffing Process (ISP). Through the CDR, staff can express specific interest in reassignment, knowing that these interests will be systematically considered through the ISP whenever suitable vacan­cies arise. This link also increases the likelihood that staff will be shortlisted and interviewed for vacancies where their qualifications and experience match the job requirements, and that they will receive useful feedback. By facilitat­ing appropriate reassignments, the Career Development Review and the Internal Staffing Process can help staff at any career stage to acquire the skills and experience they need to compete for positions of increased responsibility. For division chiefs and other senior staff at level 26, the CDR serves as an important input to the Bank's succession planning process. john Waterston, Chief, StaffDevel­opment Division, PMD •

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