Community ownership works – and now there’s a Nobel Prize to prove it

by Global Washington Policy Coordinator Danielle Ellingston

OstromThis week the Nobel Prize is causing a lot of excitement in the blogosphere.  No, I’m not talking about Obama winning the Nobel Peace Prize.  I’m talking about the Nobel Prize in Economics being awarded to Elinor Ostrom.  Ostrom was awarded the Nobel Prize “for her analysis of economic governance, especially the boundaries of the firm,” according to the Royal Swedish Academy of Sciences. “Elinor Ostrom has demonstrated how common property can be successfully managed by user associations,” challenging “the conventional wisdom that common property is poorly managed and should be either regulated by central authorities or privatized.”

In other words, community problems can be solved by the communities themselves at the local level.  Not the national or state government.  Not private sector businesses.  This idea holds a lot of potential for international development.  Indeed, many development problems are solved communally, especially in management of community resources, such as water and sanitation.

And when community resource problems are addressed by foreign governments and other actors like NGOs, they should take local institutions into account and use them whenever it makes sense.  Where local institutions to solve local problems don’t exist, the emphasis should be on creating an enabling environment for community action.  Or at least finding out why the community hasn’t found a solution, before plowing ahead with something imposed from outside the community.

Women’s Enterprises International is a Global Washington member that works with women’s groups in Kenya, Benin, Guatemala, and Indonesia to get clean water, education for children, and income-generating projects.  The Kenya project in particular is a good example of an NGO working with local community groups who are already organized to work on community problems.

Do you know of other organizations in Washington State that use a community leadership approach in solving the “tragedy of the commons?”  Tell us about them in the comments, and be sure to give links to websites!