High-wire act that changed the Bank
World Bank turns to guarantees
Seven-point plan to save the world
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"Corporate change takes a minimum of
five years ...
I believe we're
through the trough" |
Is it true that Robert McNamara approached you, as he was preparing to leave the Bank in 1980, about becoming president and that you became an American citizen so that you could be considered for the job?
Bob submitted a number of names to president Carter to succeed him and he spoke to me and told me I was one of them. I had never previously given thought to this possibility although I was a huge admirer of Bob. It was discovered that you had to be an American citizen if you wanted to be president of the bank. So, inside of a week, given my long residence in the USA, the White House organized for me to become an American citizen and three weeks later president Reagan appointed Tom Clausen. It's a true story.
People who know you say that you see your presidency of the Bank as the capstone of your career, despite your many accomplishments in business and as a philanthropist. Where does your time at the Bank fit in?
I do regard my presidency of the World Bank as the most important thing I've ever done and I certainly don't expect to go back to investment banking.
What do you consider to be the most significant achievements of your first term at the Bank?
The accomplishments are, at the first level, trying to refocus the entire institution the Bank, IFC and MIGA on the fundamental issues of poverty and sustainable development. We have attempted to weld a consensus inside the institution that we needed to improve our procedures, to increase the level of accountability and to delegate greater authority to the people within the institution.
I think there is evidence that this has happened. We have made very considerable progress on the internal, administrative side. On the delegation of authority, we have spread significant staff to overseas offices. In terms of internal accountability and responsibility, we have done everything from 360 degree personnel evaluations to participatory approaches to management which draw down way below the vice presidential level. I think the first level of achievements, which I share with my management colleagues, is quite a significant one.
I do not think we're finished, but we have made enormous strides. If you conceive of the Bank as a tanker, I think we've turned the tanker but we've not yet reached port. This is part, I think, of a five-year process of change at an institution which had become quite large and quite encumbered by procedures. I would say that we're two-thirds of the way through it.
We have also more than doubled expenditures on staff professional training, including an advanced management course for managers, where, in addition, they live in a slum or a village for a week to better understand poverty.
The second thing which I think we have done is to reach out very much more than we ever have before to the partners in the development field at the UN, the regional banks, other multilateral institutions, as well as in the private sector and civil society. I think that this is a necessity because no single institution can solve the issues of development. Certainly the Bank can't do it alone. It's essential that we continue to work with and build on our daily close working relationships with our sister institution, the IMF, and with the whole panoply of the international community, both official and unofficial. And I believe that we have brought about a change in the perception of the institution and the reality of the institution which is ongoing.
The third thing which I believe that we've done is to develop a better relationship with our clients a partnership with clients to try to set with them objectives and the goals, which they own, not to play the role of headmaster. I think that certainly the feedback that I've had reflects that there has been a significant change which has been recognized by client countries. I think we're being more responsive across the board both in the Bank, IFC and MIGA.
I think that, on individual subjects, whether it be corruption, AIDS, debt relief, post-conflict reconstruction, environment, culture or technology, we have made great progress. I would guess that we're one of the leading institutions in dealing with that aspect of governance and the conduct of affairs in a country. I'm very proud of what we've done.
What are your goals for the future?
The primary goal is to confront the concern that I have on the poverty question. If you look at the trends in poverty, they're not very good. You've got approximately 3 billion people living under $2 per day, you've got 1.3 or 1.4 billion living under $1 per day in a global population of about 6 billion. And if you project out another 25 years, you will have an 8 billion population on the planet. So, you have population growth moving very quickly and environmental degradation also moving quickly.
So, the first goal that you must have is to start with that challenge. You have to reverse those trends: the trend toward poverty, the trend toward inequity between rich and poor, and the trend on degradation of the environment. So, my first goal is to try to see how we can play our part, in some cases, as a leader and, in some cases, as a follower, in trying to work with countries so that we can reverse what will otherwise be an inevitable trend in 2025. We easily could have 4 billion people living under $2 a day and 2 billion living under $1 a day. That's the challenge.
The way we're going to deal with it is to set clear priorities with countries as to what they believe they should do. There I refer you to the efforts on the Comprehensive Development Framework. Getting that started, I think, is an achievement of the last period and I think it will come into fulfilment in the next two years.