As VOs become more comfortable in dealing with donors as partners, they will probably seek greater involwement in early project planning in the hope of reducing some of the negative social and environmental consequences of large development projects. Donors might find the establishment of _national_ VO advisory groups to be usefuL just as some have experimented successfuHlly with _intenadonal_ VO advisory groups. One important issue that donors will need to face is the secrecy of their own proceedings and documentation. Donors typically treat their own planning documents as privileged information to be shared only with authorized representatuves of the recipient government. It is the rare representativa of a donor agency who is prepared to openly share such information with individuals or groups that might be critical of their content. There are reports of indigenous NGOs in Asia being able to obtain documentation on World Bank projects being planned or implemented in their countries only by working through U.S. NGOs that could more readily acquire documents from the Bank in Washington. Some NGOs are demanding that Bank documentation be treated as a matter of public record accessible to any citizen of either donor or recipient country. Nearly all U.S. government information is available on request to US. citizens under the Freedom of Information Act, and some NGOs want this principle to be applied to international development agencies.

The greatest resistance may come from borrowing governments. Most governments, including many democracies, insist on some confidentiality regarding public business. It must be remembered, however, that it is ultimately the people who are borrowing the money, not the government. It is the people who must uitimately pay, as particularly the poor of debt burdened countries have sadly learned. They have a right not only to know what is being borrowed in their name, but also how it is being used.

Some donors are becoming more forthcoming, but there is a long way to go before the critical information on donor plans and projects becomes public information subject to the kind of public scrutiny that is necessary to insure that public moneys are being used in benefcial and environmentaly sound ways. Donors are asking NGOs to be responsible critics. To do so VOs will need open access to donor records and technical data, as should be their basic right.

# S. Building Development Partnerships

The involvement of VOs in development partnerships differs in essential respects from the more

> 1 10. IntW-SctoMI Colabomtobn. : In IndonlsU thO Institu for Soco-Economl' Researh, Trainin and In an LlES). amaor vountaly agecy, has be siing t aionaltb ostrengthen vofllOIlt .ln IIlPIf devoe ld managen. W finding and thial rt SUipO(t *om the' Ford undatio :lth U.Sf :ntenatal-D the Iistitute his assited the Mtniiel o PUblc Wbfk. Home MaiAfaIrand 'aQIcM`u.A InIy thl y tined a]ndsUpWlecld gov mnt: CommrJnity aln enien -n p1ot prW"s atmred at e0=liwcn fame **IGIs-** in the: dIevoIpr6ent of ri tems. AA the Instftute became awr o X a d polly Impediments to buWld water users' organiations, thy exponded thelr efforts to Include studies and dialogue with govemment offcials- about the% lea status and powers of User. organiz. Even in smalli rrigationssystems,the go ment usually held managemer uthoritW.. In 1987 the WOrd Bank, draMwng on the Wofk -of-the Institete, agreed.with the-, g mrent to uppofrt. transferrn m rSponlSbblty for ll system.1 the gemment to water usrasociati pJtet inos8 the Institute in a key olto: traln govrnment employees for prildng th aseoclato to take on these ni. responsibUltles.e Insttite Is iwo adBIng on the Institutnal changes needtsu. port1thenew policy. The Institute p tion In this projiet is.financed:by the Ford Foundation.

t$orco Franoes F. Dfn...: conventional involvement of VOs in the implementation of a government- or donor-initiated project. In effective partnerships, VOs often assume leadership roles. Even when VOs are not the partnership initiators, in the type of development partneships we are advocating they are equal participants in planning, problem-solving, and action-taking process rather - rather than simply implementors of projects initiated, designed and funded by others This gives maximum scope for the VO to perform its institutional catalyst role in a way seldom available in more conventional projects.

The case described in Box 10 involving a collaboration between an Indonesian VO, three gem-

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