Chapter 6: Tracing the History of Violence Prevention at the IADB and the
6.2 Citizen security at the IADB: learning by doing?
6.2.4 Renewing priority to citizen security but without clarity in goal or strategy
During the recent period, the IADB reaffirmed the importance given to citizen security. This appears through a combination of institutional statements and operational documents. In 2010, the ninth General Capital Increase (GCI-9) took place with a report outlining the roadmap for the Bank for the next five years (2010-2015). For the preparation of the GCI-9, the IADB organised a survey of over 3000 representatives of civil society organisations. The objective was to identify the comparative advantage of the Bank in the region and the areas that should be prioritised looking forward. Among the top challenges identified, citizen security ranked third, following quality education and social security (IADB 2011:27). This gave a clear signal to IADB’s Management and Board of Governors. As a result, the GCI-9 report includes citizen security in its result framework. The output indicator that the Bank should reach by 2015 was to assist 32 cities in the region with citizen security programmes. The baseline indicator was the rate of homicides (27.5 per 100,000 inhabitants),96 but no target was set for 2015. As mentioned earlier, the GCI-9 sets the roadmap agreed by the Governors, the highest body and owners of the IADB. As such, the fact that citizen security was included in the result framework clearly indicates the importance given to the issue by the organisation. Yet, the chosen indicator is vague, and
the strategy of the Bank to affirm a comparative advantage in the sector is undefined beyond the Operational Guidelines that are themselves broad and vague (see Section 6.2.4).
Following the GCI-9, the IADB approved new sector strategies. Among them, two directly relate to violence prevention: the Sector Strategy Institutions for Growth and Social
Welfare and the Strategy on Social Policy for Equity and Productivity. Citizen security is
part of the first, while youth-at-risk, gender-based and domestic violence are included in the second, even though both documents refer to each other regarding those matters. The sector strategy on Institutions selected its priority areas based on the combination of regional development challenges, potential demand from clients and IADB’s comparative advantage (IADB 2011:9).97 Within the identified priorities, citizen security stands out as a ‘niche’ for the regional bank (opcit:5).98 It is formally part of the third priority area that aims to improve the enabling environment for growth and social welfare.99 In a similar fashion as for the 2009 Operational Guidelines, the strategy provides three broad directions for IADB’s involvement in citizen security.100, 101
Other institutional statements and documents show the growing importance given to the issue of citizen security at the IADB. The framework for Sustainable Cities includes a component on citizen security as safe cities. IADB’s President Moreno, a Colombian
97 The strategy specifies that the comparative advantages of the IADB involve ‘enough expertise and
knowledge and capacity to effectively add value to policymaking in borrowing countries. […] The comparative advantages of the Bank were assessed on the basis of an internal analysis of institutional mandates and limitations relative to other development organisations, prior operations, methodological tools and in-house knowledge.’ (IADB 2011:9)
98 A 2009 study by Reyes on the niches for the IADB states that 80 per cent ‘of the total financial flows from
multilateral organisations in support of citizen security projects come from the IADB.’ (Reyes 2009 cited in GN2587-2 (IADB 2011:5). Latinobarómetro and FLACSO surveys also show that citizens put citizen security in the top priorities for development in the region.
99 The three priority areas for the Institutions strategy are: (i) improving innovation and productivity for
growth and social welfare; (ii) improving the provision and utilisation of resources for growth and social welfare; and (iii) improving the enabling environment for growth and social welfare.
100 Which is unsurprising since the same team wrote both texts.
101 The three directions for IADB’s support in citizen security are: (i) Supporting public policy planning and
implementation; (ii) Preventing crime and violence, with a focus given on multi-dimensionality of the problem addressing several risk factors and targeting at-risk population; and (iii) Criminal and alternative justice and rehabilitation from a preventive perspective (IADB 2011: 27-28).
national, in his book A decade for Latin America: a real opportunity (2010), insists on the importance of citizen security for the region and includes it as a key area for IADB’s assistance in the coming years. The Office of Oversight and Evaluation (OVE), the independent evaluation unit of the Bank that reports directly to the Board of Directors, included the issue in its work programme for the period 2010-2014 (three evaluations in three years),102 which shows the importance of the issue both for the organisation and the region. In terms of operational translation of the importance given to citizen security, since 2009 and until 2011, the Bank approved three projects in citizen security (see Table 15 and Figure 14) and a major Citizen Security Initiative with up to 20 million US dollars in grants to facilitate cooperation and disseminate knowledge in the region (IADB 2012). New Country Strategies103 also included violence prevention as major components for the four years going forward. Uruguay is a recent example with its Country Strategy stating violence prevention as a priority.
The set of institutional and operational documents shows how the IADB considers violence and crime as a development issue and a priority for the region, and gives it the corresponding importance for the organisation, at least in rhetoric given the relatively small but increasing number of citizen security projects approved so far. The process tracing also reveals an evolution in terms of the preferred solutions to the issue with a greater emphasis on traditional criminal justice interventions in recent years, in contrast to the beginning of the period when the IADB really pushed forward the social and situational prevention agenda. Overall, what seems to be missing is a firm standpoint for the regional bank, that is, a clear goal and the corresponding operational strategy that sets priorities and provides concrete tools and staffing to implement the multi-sector approach set forth in both
102 In 2010, OVE did an evaluation of Citizen Security projects approved until 2009, mainly focusing on the
evaluability of Citizen Security projects. In 2012, OVE prepared a comparative project review that aimed to provide operational recommendations on the design of Citizen Security projects. In 2013, OVE undertook a comprehensive sector evaluation of crime and violence.
103 The Country Strategies are very important since the programming needs to be planned within and in
accordance with the Strategy. However, in terms of operational importance, Country Programming (done yearly) is the key instrument since it is when projects are included in the portfolio (or not). Teams depend therefore on Country Programming to prepare and propose investment loans to the Board. It can happen that Country Programming includes loans in sectors that are not included in the Country Strategy when the situation changes and the Government specifically asks for the assistance on a particular issue.
guidelines approved to date. The gender dimension also appears limited to the mention of domestic and gender-based violence, and do not explicitly acknowledge the link between gender inequality, patriarchy and the reproduction of violence. Such acknowledgement would have given a clear stance for the organisation in its understanding of violence. The following section examines these questions in the case of the World Bank.
6.3 Violence and crime prevention at the World Bank: a cautious and selective