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

by Global Washington Policy Coordinator Danielle Ellingston

This 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!

Obama and the Nobel Peace Prize

Some people are calling it a blessing. Others are calling it a curse. Nicholas Kristof is calling it premature. Check out his recent article at the NYT and let us know your thoughts on what Obama’s recent award means for global development.

On The Ground: Obama and the Nobel Peace Prize

Global WA Development Policy: The Blog!

by Global Washington Policy Coordinator Danielle Ellingston

Welcome to development policy posts on the Global Washington blog! You may wonder why we need another development policy blog, since there are so many great global development blogs already out there.  Well, this blog is different- we will bring you the news and noteworthy ideas on a weekly basis, with a special emphasis on issues of interest to the development community in Washington State.  Our state is second only to the “other Washington” in organizations committed to global development, and now the many voices of development in Washington State have a venue to come together to discuss and influence policy.

Here’s what you can look forward to in future posts to this blog:

·    Foreign Aid Reform status– progress with legislation and the administration’s efforts, such as the Presidential Study Directive
·    Ideas for making aid work better
·    Development and Policy News from around the state
·    What’s happening in other countries and the multilateral organizations
·   How you can become involved

First and foremost, the Presidential Study Directive is picking up steam and the Obama administration is looking for your input on where to focus foreign assistance.  We sent out a survey to our mailing list asking for input, which we will compile and send off to DC.  If you’re on our mailing list and you didn’t get this survey, you might check your email spam box.  We’ll be looking for more input in the future, so please make sure to put Danielle@globalwa.org on your safe list!  (And of course, sign up to be on our mailing list if you haven’t already done so.)

If you didn’t get a chance to respond to our survey, you can still make your voice heard by commenting on the Center for Global Development’s blog, where they are also collecting ideas.

Need more information? Check out this link to background information on U.S. Foreign Aid policy, with lots of helpful information and links, from the Puget Sound Millennium Development Goals Project.

And finally, some food for thought on aid – MCC chief economist Franck Wiebe writes about a new (and controversial) standard for aid effectiveness, making aid at least as good as cash from a helicopter. Read it here.

Globe photo by ToastyKen at Creative Commons