World Bank puts its money behind indigenous forum

UNITED NATIONS – The World Bank put its prestige, and even more importantly, its money behind the Permanent Forum on Indigenous Issues, now holding its second annual meeting at the UN headquarters.

In a special presentation, senior officers of the international development institution, a powerful organization that operates independently of the UN, announced plans for a special fund to go directly to indigenous projects around the world. A large portion of the fund would support the budget of the Permanent Forum, which depends on voluntary contributions.

Ian Johnson, vice president and head of the Environmentally and Socially Sustainable Development Network at the Bank, cautioned that the fund still had to be approved by the World Bank’s Board of Directors, which meets in early June. But he added that he was reasonably certain that Board members were “enthusiastic” about the idea. Johnson spoke with authority, since he heads the Bank’s programs on cultural and social development and reports directly to its president, the former Wall Street financier James Wolfensohn.

Johnson said that the fund would start with $700,000 and would solicit donations as it established itself. He said that the first $150,000 would go to the Voluntary Fund for the Permanent Forum. Although North American indigenous people would not be eligible for grants because of the affluence of their nation-states, Johnson said he expected to derive valuable advice from Native leaders. He singled out Rebecca Adamson of the First Nations Development Institute, a columnist for Indian Country Today, and said the World Bank programs would be heavily influenced by her micro-lending strategy.

“What Rebecca has done is very, very impressive,” he said.

The announcement represented a deepening relationship between the World Bank and indigenous leaders, developed through a series of sometimes contentious meetings. In spite of frequent criticism, the Bank has spent years developing a policy for treatment of indigenous people in its development projects that is nearing a final draft.

Johnson told Indian Country Today that he was looking to the Permanent Forum as the possible institution to mediate its relations with indigenous peoples around the world. He said, “there is a real seriousness of purpose here that I’m very, very encouraged about.” He said it would be hard in any other forum to match the talent of the indigenous leadership meeting here.