World Bank Campaign - Europe

This effort to change World Bank policies relies on the strategies of collaboration and participation for advocacy. Organised by a large civil society network (76 NGOs, as of this writing), the campaign involves asking citizens to participate in democracy and governance.

In order to educate them about the issues prior to engaging in advocacy, the coalition members (described as having "fundamental concerns about the way the Bank operates") have set up an interactive website. It provides access to the campaign declaration, titled "Put Your Money Where Your Mouth Is: A Challenge to European Governments to Leverage Reform at the World Bank", as well as the signatory list, and further details - many of which are offered in multiple languages. The site also features analsysis (a selection of recent reports and studies on economic policy conditions and energy lending, plus links with longer listings to explore) and a series of case studies. Online videos exploring environmental and economic issues in more depth - with titles such as "Dirty Aid, Dirty Water", "The Big Sell Out", and "Pumping Poverty" - are also available for viewing here.

Having been thus oriented to the campaign, European citizens are asked to cast their vote online to tell their development minister to, in essence, consider "redirecting funding away from the Bank through other mechanisms which respect country ownership and take the necessary leadership in addressing climate change." Specifically, by visiting a dedicated "VOTE NOW!" page on the Campaign website, citizens may submit an online email form that will be sent to their Development Minister. The "vote" itself is a strategically framed term, since it involves asking the Minister in question the following: "What's your choice? Yes, I want my government to ensure that development aid is spent in the interests of the world's most impoverished people" or "No, my government should spend development money in the interest of multinational companies and should not be too worried about climate change." Those who wish to get even further involved are provided, on the website, with various campaign materials (e.g., a postcard, flyer, logo) in several languages so that they might create a ballot box to take to big meetings or festivals.

Along those lines, in addition to using ICTs for advocacy, the coalition is organising a number of public events. For example, a stunt was organised in Paris, France in March 2007 in front of the Ministry of Finance. A large cheque was displayed to ask European governments to make their contributions to the International Development Association (IDA) contingent on further change on the World Bank's use of economic policy conditionality and financing of fossil fuel energy projects. The live voting action of the campaign was launched with a mobile ballot box at the Alternative G8 Summit in June 2007. Then, in August of that year, Eurodad and Comité pour l'annulation de la dette du Tiers Monde (CADTM) took the campaign to the World Music Festival 'Esperanza' at Abbaye de Floreffe in Belgium. Representatives from these 2 coalition members talked to approximately 600 people about World Bank policies; all of those in attendance then cast their vote in the ballot box.

Development Assistance, Economic Development.

The Campaign describes the World Bank as follows: "the world's largest multilateral development bank and one of the most powerful international organisations, providing financing and promoting policy paths which affect the lives of hundreds of millions of people across the developing world. The official main goal of the institution is to reduce poverty world wide." Members of the coalition have said that the World Bank is "criticised more strongly than ever by donor and borrower governments as well as civil society organisations and local communities for increasing rather than reducing poverty by imposing harmful economic policy conditions; for environmental devastation; for contributing to conflict; and for failing to respect local peoples' rights. Evidence of harm from the ground has been corroborated by a series of official reviews of the Bank's activities."