Interest groups and organizations as stakeholders

Abstract

Traditionally, World Bank staff have used stakeholder analysis at the level of the individuals affected by interventions. However, it is the analysis of groups and organizations- both inside and outside government-as stakeholders to processes and outcomes that is critical to the success of any policy reform. It is through stakeholders within government that any reform will be mediated. Groups of stakeholders, both within and outside government, mediate access to resources and power and produce forms of stratification and obstacles to empowerment. In the first chapter of this volume, Robert Bianchi explains the process by which interest groups gain a stranglehold over a weak state. Bianchi's analysis has implications for the design and implementation of operations. During design, the task team needs to evaluate carefully why a particular project is needed to ensure that it does not merely flow from an entrenched interest. Task team members must examine the rationale for the project in theory and on the ground to ensure that the goals of the project reflect the interests of the poor. The task team also should make sure that implementation and design arrangements prevent capture of project benefits by local elites or international stakeholders, such as consultants and international firms. During implementation, the task team should constantly keep in view the medium- and long-term goals to prevent short-term accommodations to interest groups from hampering the accomplishment of pro-poor goals. In the chapter, Sherrie Kossoudji formulates a range of critical questions that the task team needs to ask when planning and implementing an intervention. Which individuals or groups are essential to success and need to be won over? Which individuals or groups are likely to resist and need to be isolated? Who is likely to be adversely affected and must be compensated? Which groups, especially poor and unorganized groups, are likely to benefit from an intervention but do not realize it? Which groups could benefit but will not be able to defend the benefits in case of resistance by more powerful groups? What, then, are the best strategies for persuading or isolating groups? These two chapters are part of an ongoing effort by the Social Development Family to develop further its methodologies in stakeholder, organizational, and institutional analyses.

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