Samura Kamara writes: China’s decision to establish the Asian Infrastructure Investment Bank has sparked a lively debate among governments, global finance experts, and development specialists.
The mandates of individual development banks vary. The AIIB, for instance, will focus solely on infrastructure. The African Development Bank (AfDB), the presidency of which I am currently seeking, has a far more expansive mandate. But all of these institutions share an overarching goal: to lift people out of poverty and foster sustainable development.
Leaders of these organizations must make complicated choices in allocating their finite resources. For example, they must balance the battle against poverty and hunger against efforts to improve gender equality, increase access to education, or tackle corruption.
Fifteen years ago, the world adopted the Millennium Development Goals to achieve specific targets for improving human welfare in the new century. Today, despite the MDGs’ notable successes, too many of the targets remain unachieved. As the world prepares to agree upon new Sustainable Development Goals to succeed the MDGs, we must put in place the policies needed to ensure that the targets can be met.
A prerequisite for the success of any development bank or other multilateral institution is adherence to the highest standards of transparency and accountability.
Proper regulation and scrutiny is crucial to an international organization’s success, and robust environmental, labor, and procurement standards are essential to the mission of all development lenders. These institutions’ leaders must always remember for whom they are ultimately working; local communities must be empowered to play a role in shaping the development agenda, and more must be done to engage with them directly, through a fully devolved structure.
Mechanisms of accountability are not just auditing devices. Such lenders should not operate in a vacuum. Many governments possess years of accumulated institutional knowledge. Lending institutions that not only provide money, but also exchange ideas, can significantly improve the outcome of their work.
Indeed, by sharing knowledge, methods, and research with their peers and partners, organizations like the AfDB are better-placed to ensure that the highest standards and best practices are widely adopted.
The AfDB has already incorporated many of these practices into its operating framework, providing it with a foundation for continued growth and service. Those putting in place the policies, personnel, and practices of the AIIB would be wise to adhere to this model.
Cartoon by Polyp