Stressing the need to recognise the role of membership based organisations of the poor (MBOPs) in economic and human development as well as in poverty reduction, Ravi Kanbur, professor of world affairs and economics at Cornell University, US, said MBOPs can play a pivotal role in achieving equitable development. | |
| MBOPs are organisations, which poor members control and partially or fully finance. |
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| "MBOPs often challenge existing power structures at the local level, and their ground level perspectives may not fit conveniently into the macro world view of national or international policy makers. However, there are those in the policy world, who recognise the valuable and central role that MBOPs can play in achieving equitable development. It is particularly important for macro level policy makers to change their mindset -- to recognise MBOPs and to incorporate them into policy planning and discourse," he said. |
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| One of the ways to do this is to identify the types and numbers of MBOPs that exist in the policy maker's own country and to assess their capacities and needs, he suggested. |
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| Kanbur was delivering a lecture on 'Membership based organisations of the poor: Concepts, experiences and policy' organised by the Centre for Economic and Social Studies (CESS) here on Tuesday. |
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| Once, MBOPs start expanding their activities, they come into the orbit of legislations and regulations, he said. |
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| "However laws and regulations that impinge on MBOPs had not been developed from a systematic view. Country-specific reviews would reveal the major legal and regulatory constraints faced by MBOPs, and these could then be addressed legislatively," he opined. |
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| There is also a need for financial and other support to MBOPs as they scale up and gear up to address the complex issues faced by their members in a globalising world like strengthening capacity. |
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| This support can be given directly or indirectly through NGOs who in turn support MBOPs. However, such support has to be given with great care or else it will end up debilitating or destroying the MBOPs it seeks to help, he said. |
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