Hivos partners in Washington
In April 2011, two Indonesian partners of Hivos visited the World Bank to promote a sustainable energy strategy.
For over a year now, Hivos has pleaded for a drastic change in the energy policy of the World Bank. The World Bank’s large investments in coal plants are bad for the climate and bad for the inhabitants of developing countries. In the first version of its new energy strategy, the World Bank carefully stated that the funding of new coal plants should be limited and energy strategy should focus more on combating poverty. Middle income countries such as China and India were furious, creating a nasty controversy.
Influence
At the beginning of April 2011, Fabby Tumiwa and Tri Mumpuni from Indonesia were in Washington to influence the World Bank’s new energy strategy. Tri Mumpuni is the director of Hivos
IBEKA. She travels all over the world to convince people of the need for clean, sustainable energy sources.
Fabby Tumiwa is the director of the Institute for Essential Services Reform ( IESR). He closely follows the heated debate within the World Bank. “The World Bank should focus and stick to its mandate of combating poverty,’’ says Tumiwa. "We spoke to a number of executive directors in Washington. Our message was clear: people who live in remote areas do not benefit from investments in large energy plants. Instead they need small-scale energy projects."
Alternative
Hivos facilitated this lobby of the Indonesian partners in Washington and is convinced that more lobbies need to take place in the future. Hivos works together with the Bank Information Centre (
BIC), an international organisation with a great deal of know-how and experience in influencing the World Bank. Together, Hivos, the BIC and the IESR wrote an
alternative energy strategy for the World Bank.
Photo credit: Flickr/ thisisbossi
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