Conflict and Development
Syndicate content

Rebuilding trust and relationships through local processes

Nigel Roberts's picture

Nigel Roberts, co-director of the World Bank’s 2011 World Development Report, speaks with AusAid’s ODE Talks. The podcast and transcripts available below and at ODE Talks.

“…if you look at the experience of low-income, fragile states over the last 25 years, the lack of progress in health and education is pretty stunning… No single low income fragile state has achieved or will achieve any of the Millennium Development Goals. And believe me, this is not for lack of trying, it is not for lack of investment in health and education, it is for a lack of success in transforming institutions.”

Part 1: Demonstrating results in fragile situations through community-based development, working with women, building institutions and creating employment. 

Interview with Nigel Roberts - Part 1 (15 mins) [MP3 19.7mb]

Part 2: Lessons in leadership and legitimacy from recent events in the Middle East, opinion polling in fragile states, and how donors can support institutional transformation. 
 
Interview with Nigel Roberts - Part 2 (15 mins) [MP3 19.7mb]

Transcript of Nigel Roberts audio [PDF 80kb]

Comments

Submitted by Vijayendra Rao on
On this topic, Nigel Robert's was careful to restrict his comments to evidence from Indonesia - and in particular to the KDP (Kecamatan Development Project) which is considered one of the most effective and innovative projects ever implemented by the Bank. But before we extrapolate from the KDP experience to endorsing such approaches globally, it would be important to keep in mind that the evidence does not suggest that large-scale community based approaches to inducing improvements in trust have been effective in other parts of the world, and - indeed - there is evidence to suggest that it has not worked very well in other Indonesian projects such as the Urban Poverty Project (which is the urban equivalent of KDP). As Nigel says, it is important to keep the context in mind and be humble about the ability of large scale development interventions to make a difference in complex social interventions.

Add new comment