LONDON, FEB 23: Leading religious leaders from around the globe reached a landmark accord with the World Bank (WB) this week, one that aims to put spiritual, moral and social values back into the financial giant's balance sheets. ``This is an historic moment,'' said Wendy Tyndale, a spokesperson for the international development agency Christian Aid. ``For the first time in the 53 years of its history, the World Bank has opened its doors for a dialogue with the faiths.''Working groups between the faiths and the Washington-based financial Institution have been set up to discuss how best to ensure projects designed to eliminate poverty consider spiritual, moral and social factors as well as financial ones.
The two-day meeting, co-chaired by the head of the Anglican church, Archbishop of Canterbury, George Carey, and the president of the World Bank, James Wolfensohn, was held on February 18-19 at the Archbishop's residence in London, Lambeth Palace.
Participants included leading figures from of ninefaiths: Baha'i, Buddhist, Christian, Hindu, Jain, Jewish, Muslim, Sikh and Taoist. They conferred with senior World Bank staff and policy makers from major British based international aid orgnaisations, including Christian Aid and the Catholic Fund for overseas development. The Aga Khan, the spiritual leader or Imam of the Nizaris, the larger of the two main branches of the Ismaili Shi'a community, was also present.
Over the next 18 months, small working groups comprising people from different faiths and World Bank officials, will decide the role of the bank in this new alliance. ``We shall be exploring vital questions about the definition of what constitutes successful development, bearing in mind the importance of religious, cultural, social and environmental aspects of a society's long-term well being,'' said Carey in a statement. ``We shall consider together, against this background, the kind of criteria which need to be built into effective long-term development policies and projects, and how faithcommunities and the World Bank might work together to achieve beneficial changes in the fight against world poverty.''
The move, initiated by Carey and Wolfensohn over a year ago, has been described by development experts as a major change in World Bank policy. One of the key decisions to have come out of what Carey called ``frank and intensive dialogue'' was a shift in the bank's understanding of development to include cultural, ethical and spiritual issues, aid agencies here said. ``Up until now, the World Bank has ignored the importance of cultural, ethical and spiritual values in development projects because it has focused on economic values alone,'' said Tyndale.
Copyright © 1998 Indian Express Newspapers (Bombay) Ltd.
