Published Monday, April 12, 2004
World Bank Pioneer Katherine Marshall Visits IEP
International Education Policy Monday Seminar Series
By Katy Attanasi

“There is no silver bullet for development work and, it is much less easy to see clear paths,” began Katherine Marshall in her talk to the IEP cohort last Monday.

Marshall shared her own story and addressed some of the issues pertinent to her work as the Director and Counselor to the President for the Development Dialogue on Values and Ethics for the World Bank. She assumed this post after years of serving in various capacities at the Bank, in Latin America, Asia and Africa.

The Bank is presently engaging religious communities around the world in three key areas: building stronger, bolder partnerships, constructing a comprehensive, holistic and integrated vision of development and moving from dialogue to practice and action.

Faith Based Organizations (FBO’s) are crucial but often neglected players in the development world. “In conflicted and failing states, often the FBO’s are the only ones left standing,” Marshall said. “Religion isn’t the source of conflict, but its distortions cause it.”

The project has met with some resistance among people who fear that involvement in religion signifies political engagement, and view religion as the opposite of development and as has having a low priority.

Marshall argued that it will be impossible to achieve the millennium development goals without collaborating with FBO’s, which are already doing crucial work in health, gender issues and environmental concerns.

She notes that by some accounts, 26 percent of global health care is provided by the Catholic Church. Other organizations make other significant contributions. Marshall argues that it is important to collaborate with these organizations in order to work together to enable people to shape their own lives.

Katy Atanasi is an Ed.M candidate in IEP.