Innovative Approaches to Microfinance in Post-Conflict Situations : Bosnia Local Initiatives Project

Over the past five years, the World Bank has developed useful post-conflict strategies that better meet the unique needs of war-torn countries. The Local Initiatives Project (LIP) in Bosnia presents a new standard of responsive social development i...

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Main Author: Kuehnast, Kathleen
Format: Brief
Language:English
Published: World Bank, Washington, DC 2012
Subjects:
Online Access:http://documents.worldbank.org/curated/en/2001/03/2813111/innovative-approaches-microfinance-post-conflict-situations-bosnia-local-initiatives-project
http://hdl.handle.net/10986/11389
id okr-10986-11389
recordtype oai_dc
spelling okr-10986-113892021-04-23T14:02:55Z Innovative Approaches to Microfinance in Post-Conflict Situations : Bosnia Local Initiatives Project Kuehnast, Kathleen POST-CONFLICT RECONSTRUCTION INSTITUTIONAL FRAMEWORK MANAGEMENT STRUCTURE NONGOVERNMENTAL ORGANIZATIONS STAKEHOLDER PARTICIPATION PARTNERSHIPS MICROCREDITS FINANCIAL MANAGEMENT BUSINESS MANAGEMENT MANAGEMENT DEVELOPMENT CLIENT SERVICES TECHNICAL ASSISTANCE TRAINING ASSISTANCE MICROFINANCING PERFORMANCE CRITERIA TASK MANAGERS PROJECT DESIGN FLEXIBILITY & SPECIFICITY LOCAL OWNERSHIP EXPERIMENTATION CONSULTATION CONSULTATIONS DEVELOPMENT NETWORK DISBURSEMENT EMPLOYMENT FACTORIES FINANCIAL INSTITUTIONS FLEXIBILITY HOUSING IMPLEMENTING PARTNERS INCOME INSTITUTIONAL ARRANGEMENTS LEGAL FRAMEWORK LOAN LOAN PORTFOLIOS MICROFINANCE MICROFINANCE INSTITUTIONS NATIONAL LEVEL NATIONAL LEVELS NONGOVERNMENTAL ORGANIZATIONS POVERTY REDUCTION PRIVATE SECTOR PRIVATIZATION PROJECT DESIGN RECONSTRUCTION SERVICE PROVIDERS SOCIAL DEVELOPMENT SOCIAL EXCLUSION STAKEHOLDER STAKEHOLDER INVOLVEMENT STAKEHOLDERS TASK TEAM LEADER TRANSPARENCY VILLAGE Over the past five years, the World Bank has developed useful post-conflict strategies that better meet the unique needs of war-torn countries. The Local Initiatives Project (LIP) in Bosnia presents a new standard of responsive social development in the Bank. While it demonstrates the need to use traditional project cycle practices, it also brings into focus many innovative approaches that may be considered in non-conflict settings as well, especially when pilot projects are used effectively. Post-conflict countries must deal with a great number of problems in short order. But such difficult predicaments also can yield important opportunities that should not be overlooked. The Bosnia Local Initiatives Project was able to cope with the problems and take advantage of the rapidly changing economic terrain. One advantage of the LIP was that the task manager (TM) was based in the field. The TM was able to track changes in attitudes and behavior of government officials and take advantage of opportunities for adaptive learning to redesign the project and create sustainable institutions. Because the economic and political arenas in a post-conflict country are fluid, having a task manager on the ground who was aware of both the local and national situations proved very useful. Extensive beneficiary and stakeholder involvement at design and implementation phases enabled the project to benefit from local leadership, experimentation, diversity, and mutual learning. Through the training components, alliances were also built among nongovernmental organization (NGO) partners, so that when it came time to downsize the original 17 NGOs to 5, a constructive process ensued that focused on the long-term success of the country's microcredit goals versus the NGOs' short-term ambitions. Transforming a pilot project into a national project required intensive stakeholder involvement at both the local and national levels. These types of coalitions for change need time to grow, but also need to see positive results as a way of mobilizing action for change. The use of a pilot project to initiate and test a national project enabled the team to work productively and quickly outside the bureaucracy of a skeptical government until the success of the pilot project was evident. 2012-08-13T14:56:06Z 2012-08-13T14:56:06Z 2001-03 http://documents.worldbank.org/curated/en/2001/03/2813111/innovative-approaches-microfinance-post-conflict-situations-bosnia-local-initiatives-project http://hdl.handle.net/10986/11389 English Social Development Notes; No. 50 CC BY 3.0 IGO http://creativecommons.org/licenses/by/3.0/igo/ World Bank World Bank, Washington, DC Publications & Research :: Brief Publications & Research Europe and Central Asia
repository_type Digital Repository
institution_category Foreign Institution
institution Digital Repositories
building World Bank Open Knowledge Repository
collection World Bank
language English
topic POST-CONFLICT RECONSTRUCTION
INSTITUTIONAL FRAMEWORK
MANAGEMENT STRUCTURE
NONGOVERNMENTAL ORGANIZATIONS
STAKEHOLDER PARTICIPATION
PARTNERSHIPS
MICROCREDITS
FINANCIAL MANAGEMENT
BUSINESS MANAGEMENT
MANAGEMENT DEVELOPMENT
CLIENT SERVICES
TECHNICAL ASSISTANCE
TRAINING ASSISTANCE
MICROFINANCING
PERFORMANCE CRITERIA
TASK MANAGERS
PROJECT DESIGN
FLEXIBILITY & SPECIFICITY
LOCAL OWNERSHIP
EXPERIMENTATION CONSULTATION
CONSULTATIONS
DEVELOPMENT NETWORK
DISBURSEMENT
EMPLOYMENT
FACTORIES
FINANCIAL INSTITUTIONS
FLEXIBILITY
HOUSING
IMPLEMENTING PARTNERS
INCOME
INSTITUTIONAL ARRANGEMENTS
LEGAL FRAMEWORK
LOAN
LOAN PORTFOLIOS
MICROFINANCE
MICROFINANCE INSTITUTIONS
NATIONAL LEVEL
NATIONAL LEVELS
NONGOVERNMENTAL ORGANIZATIONS
POVERTY REDUCTION
PRIVATE SECTOR
PRIVATIZATION
PROJECT DESIGN
RECONSTRUCTION
SERVICE PROVIDERS
SOCIAL DEVELOPMENT
SOCIAL EXCLUSION
STAKEHOLDER
STAKEHOLDER INVOLVEMENT
STAKEHOLDERS
TASK TEAM LEADER
TRANSPARENCY
VILLAGE
spellingShingle POST-CONFLICT RECONSTRUCTION
INSTITUTIONAL FRAMEWORK
MANAGEMENT STRUCTURE
NONGOVERNMENTAL ORGANIZATIONS
STAKEHOLDER PARTICIPATION
PARTNERSHIPS
MICROCREDITS
FINANCIAL MANAGEMENT
BUSINESS MANAGEMENT
MANAGEMENT DEVELOPMENT
CLIENT SERVICES
TECHNICAL ASSISTANCE
TRAINING ASSISTANCE
MICROFINANCING
PERFORMANCE CRITERIA
TASK MANAGERS
PROJECT DESIGN
FLEXIBILITY & SPECIFICITY
LOCAL OWNERSHIP
EXPERIMENTATION CONSULTATION
CONSULTATIONS
DEVELOPMENT NETWORK
DISBURSEMENT
EMPLOYMENT
FACTORIES
FINANCIAL INSTITUTIONS
FLEXIBILITY
HOUSING
IMPLEMENTING PARTNERS
INCOME
INSTITUTIONAL ARRANGEMENTS
LEGAL FRAMEWORK
LOAN
LOAN PORTFOLIOS
MICROFINANCE
MICROFINANCE INSTITUTIONS
NATIONAL LEVEL
NATIONAL LEVELS
NONGOVERNMENTAL ORGANIZATIONS
POVERTY REDUCTION
PRIVATE SECTOR
PRIVATIZATION
PROJECT DESIGN
RECONSTRUCTION
SERVICE PROVIDERS
SOCIAL DEVELOPMENT
SOCIAL EXCLUSION
STAKEHOLDER
STAKEHOLDER INVOLVEMENT
STAKEHOLDERS
TASK TEAM LEADER
TRANSPARENCY
VILLAGE
Kuehnast, Kathleen
Innovative Approaches to Microfinance in Post-Conflict Situations : Bosnia Local Initiatives Project
geographic_facet Europe and Central Asia
relation Social Development Notes; No. 50
description Over the past five years, the World Bank has developed useful post-conflict strategies that better meet the unique needs of war-torn countries. The Local Initiatives Project (LIP) in Bosnia presents a new standard of responsive social development in the Bank. While it demonstrates the need to use traditional project cycle practices, it also brings into focus many innovative approaches that may be considered in non-conflict settings as well, especially when pilot projects are used effectively. Post-conflict countries must deal with a great number of problems in short order. But such difficult predicaments also can yield important opportunities that should not be overlooked. The Bosnia Local Initiatives Project was able to cope with the problems and take advantage of the rapidly changing economic terrain. One advantage of the LIP was that the task manager (TM) was based in the field. The TM was able to track changes in attitudes and behavior of government officials and take advantage of opportunities for adaptive learning to redesign the project and create sustainable institutions. Because the economic and political arenas in a post-conflict country are fluid, having a task manager on the ground who was aware of both the local and national situations proved very useful. Extensive beneficiary and stakeholder involvement at design and implementation phases enabled the project to benefit from local leadership, experimentation, diversity, and mutual learning. Through the training components, alliances were also built among nongovernmental organization (NGO) partners, so that when it came time to downsize the original 17 NGOs to 5, a constructive process ensued that focused on the long-term success of the country's microcredit goals versus the NGOs' short-term ambitions. Transforming a pilot project into a national project required intensive stakeholder involvement at both the local and national levels. These types of coalitions for change need time to grow, but also need to see positive results as a way of mobilizing action for change. The use of a pilot project to initiate and test a national project enabled the team to work productively and quickly outside the bureaucracy of a skeptical government until the success of the pilot project was evident.
format Publications & Research :: Brief
author Kuehnast, Kathleen
author_facet Kuehnast, Kathleen
author_sort Kuehnast, Kathleen
title Innovative Approaches to Microfinance in Post-Conflict Situations : Bosnia Local Initiatives Project
title_short Innovative Approaches to Microfinance in Post-Conflict Situations : Bosnia Local Initiatives Project
title_full Innovative Approaches to Microfinance in Post-Conflict Situations : Bosnia Local Initiatives Project
title_fullStr Innovative Approaches to Microfinance in Post-Conflict Situations : Bosnia Local Initiatives Project
title_full_unstemmed Innovative Approaches to Microfinance in Post-Conflict Situations : Bosnia Local Initiatives Project
title_sort innovative approaches to microfinance in post-conflict situations : bosnia local initiatives project
publisher World Bank, Washington, DC
publishDate 2012
url http://documents.worldbank.org/curated/en/2001/03/2813111/innovative-approaches-microfinance-post-conflict-situations-bosnia-local-initiatives-project
http://hdl.handle.net/10986/11389
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