The IMF and Civil Society
ITUC's Peter Bakvis speaks at a IMF-trade union meeting on the World Economic Outlook.
Conversations with Civil Society, April 2008
April 7, 2008
The Fund undertook a series of meetings with a variety of civil society organizations since December 2007
March 18: A group of 38 senior trade union officials from several regions belonging to the International Trade Union Confederation (ITUC) and IMF staff participated in a day-long meeting at Fund headquarters to discuss the IMF's global economic outlook and financial stability; the globalization of labor; and globalization and inequality. Simon Johnson, Economic Counselor and Director of the Research Department, addressed the representatives at a luncheon.
March 12: IMF and World Bank staff met with member of the Trade Strategy Group of the Ecumenical Advocacy Alliance (EAA)— a ecumenical network for international cooperation in advocacy on global trade and HIV/AIDS — to discuss trade policy issues, in particular the findings of a recent EAA study exploring the impact of trade liberalization on rice farming in Indonesia, Ghana, and Honduras.
March 10: IMF and World Bank staff met with the Regional Director for Religions for Peace in Latin America and the Caribbean to follow up on a November 2007 meeting with religious leaders from the region. The same day, Anton Op de Beke of the IMF's Policy Development and Review Department met with a Transparency International (TI) UK staff member to discuss TI's work on promoting integrity and addressing corruption in defense establishments.
Vasuki Shastry, Chief of Public Affairs at the IMF, and Malcolm Damon, Director of the Economic Justice Network of FOCCISA, South Africa, at the IMF-World Bank meeting with the Ecumenical Advocacy Alliance (photo courtesy of EAA)
March 3-7: Ugo Fasano, IMF Resident Representative in Haiti, and EXR's Andreas Adriano, met with over 20 Haitian CSOs in Port-au-Prince. The meeting was organized by the Initiative de la Société Civil, which holds weekly gatherings with guests of interest to civil society groups. The cordial and lively debate covered questions on economic issues and poverty reduction. Fasano and Adriano also had meetings with journalists and parliamentarians.
February/March: The IMF Nicaragua team held a number of meetings with civil society. Mission Chief Luis Cubeddu met with staff from Oxfam International in Washington, and Resident Representative Humberto Arbulu-Neira met with a Oxfam delegation and Coordinadora Civil to talk about health and education spending in Nicaragua. Cubeddu and Arbulu-Neira also met with representatives of Nicaraguan civil society during a February/March mission to the country. They exchanged views about the Nicaraguan economy and the political and social situation.
February 27: Representatives from Oxfam Novib and Jubilee Nederland met with Jonathan Dunn, the IMF Resident Representative in Dhaka, Bangladesh, to discuss the Fund's work in that country, focusing mainly on technical assistance and surveillance, and Oxfam's work priorities in Bangladesh. Other issues covered were subsidies and domestic and external debt.
January 18: Staff from the African and External Relations Departments met with ActionAid International USA to talk about Kenya, Malawi, and Sierra Leone.
January 8: The IMF and World Bank Civil Society Teams met with a small delegation from the French NGO umbrella group Coordination Sud to discuss the IMF and WB's relations with civil society.