The real truth, I believe, falls somewhere in between, reflecting the fact that neither government, nor international donor, nor corporation nor NGO can go it alone in this complex global environment, and achieve all of its desired outcomes, whether those outcomes be political legitimacy, social development, or financial profit.
The bottom line is that each "stakeholder"-government, non-governmental organization and corporation-wants a return on their investment.
So you see, in the end, the sectors really aren't that different from each other after all. They simply quantify their return on investment differently within the context of their respective goals, missions and mandates and, although it is true that not all corporations seek the greater public good for good's sake and, are instead, motivated by the need to achieve the highest possible return for their shareholders, it is also true and as widely accepted that not all governments or NGOs are democratic, transparent or capable, in spite of their supposed lofty social goals. NGOs are also scrambling over each other for that next grant for their own institutional survival and growth.
In spite of all the recent rhetoric from the top management of global firms, the World Bank, many NGOs and government, few among them truly know how to enter into partnership across the sectors. And although I am comfortable stating that there is real common ground and that there are already many outstanding best practices to learn from, by and large, partnerships between government, business and NGOs continue to be marred by mistrust, misinformation and missed opportunity.
It is, in my opinion, this continued mistrust and misinformation, on all sides, that led to the protests against the WTO in Seattle and against the bank and fund two months ago in Washington, D.C., and more recently in Prague.
And although I do not subscribe personally to the protests, neither do I subscribe to the belief that such protests are a bad thing or should be avoided. As the current Acting Head of an extremely diverse membership of NGOs, I must confess to you that as many Interaction members were marching in the streets in both cities as were sending letters in support of the bank, fund and WTO.
Although few will argue with the fact that things go out of hand in Seattle, the demonstrations in Washington, D.C. were a slightly different matter, and were more a part of an extremely important political process that makes America such a great place.
The only way to get at the root causes of the protests and to find sustainable common ground is through genuine and more expansive dialogue between the North and South and across the three sectors. There must also be a genuine commitment on the part of donors to help expand capacity among NGOs to deliver service and among donor and developing country governments to better negotiate their positions in trade and investment agreements and policies. There must also be a genuine appreciation among corporate leaders that intended returns on investment in developing markets can only be achieved to their fullest extent in partnership, among equals, with government and NGO partners.
