Examination of Witnesses (Questions 40
- 43)
TUESDAY 14 FEBRUARY 2006
PROFESSOR ADRIAN
WOOD AND
MR SUNIL
SINHA
Q40 Chairman: Is it not possibly
because they do not believe Museveni can lose?
Professor Wood: In other African
countries, the least hint of worry about succession or political
instability means the private sector calms down.
Mr Sinha: At the moment, I am
working for the DAC, producing a paper on promoting pro-poor growth.
Last year I worked on a paper on accelerated pro-poor growth through
private sector development, which Adrian was also involved in.
We recognise that pro-poor growth generated through the private
sector but with a state laying down the rules and foundations
of the game, is very good for economic poverty but we know that
poverty takes other dimensions. The message that is coming out
of the DAC now is that these dichotomies that we have seen, that
were painted in a way by Kurt Hoffman, are not very helpful. Pro-poor
growth would be promoted not only through addressing the rate
of growth of the incomes of the poor, but also by progress on
the other dimensions of poverty. This is reflecting what the World
Development Report 2006[9]
said: effectively, if you do not get political empowerment, it
is very unlikely that you will get the policies that you need
for private sector development or any form of pro-poor economic
growth. In many ways, DFID is at the forefront of some of this
thinking which is changing an agenda which was once called enterprise
development to what is now called private sector development.
In the most progressive DFID offices, what is happening is a change
from enterprise development advisers doing enterprise development
in isolation to pro-poor growth teams being brought together,
multidisciplinary teams, which will include a macro-economist,
an enterprise development adviser, a governance expert, somebody
who is good on basic social services like education and health,
trying to address the pattern and pace of growth holistically.
That is still restricted to a few offices.
Q41 Chairman: Where are the best
examples of that?
Mr Sinha: I can only answer from
my limited experience. I do not have an overall picture of DFID
offices. I have seen a lot of this happening in the Nigeria office
where I work a lot.
Professor Wood: Nigeria is an
example. Ghana is another example where they have had a very strong
team. Most of the Africa country offices are taking this focus.
Q42 Chairman: We are going to Malawi,
Mozambique and Botswana.
Professor Wood: You will see that,
I think, when you are there.
Q43 Chairman: Thank you very much
indeed for giving not exactly the other side of the story but
a different perspective. I take away from this that the private
sector only functions if the state functions. To the extent that
DFID has the capacity to help states function, private sector
development may well flow from that.
Professor Wood: That is an excellent
summary.
Chairman: Thank you very much indeed.
9 Available at www.worldbank.org Back
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