22 U.S.C. § 262p–1 — Grassroots Collaboration Program

(a) Proposal for establishment; private involvement; projects or policies for alleviation of poverty and promotion of environmental protection The Secretary of the Treasury must instruct the U.S. Executive Director of the International Bank for Reconstruction and Development and the International Development Association to start discussions with other directors and propose creating a Grassroots Collaboration Program. It would build better ways to involve non-governmental organizations, directly or indirectly, in designing, carrying out, and monitoring development projects and policies these institutions finance or set, in order to fight poverty and protect the environment, including: (1) Encouraging borrowing-country non-governmental organizations to take part in all stages of project planning and country strategy work, to (A) minimize harm to the country's poor, (B) minimize harm to the country's environment, and (C) maximize how much these projects benefit the country's poor. (2) Increasing non-governmental organizations' direct involvement in project design, implementation, or monitoring whenever they have a clear advantage over other groups because of their grassroots connection to poor people, especially women, in a borrowing country. (3) Providing microenterprise credit for small-scale economic activities through non-governmental organizations. (4) Supporting the growth of borrowing-country non-governmental organizations' institutional capacity as development practitioners. (5) Setting up or supporting jointly funded intermediary mechanisms with non-governmental organizations, to increase collaboration between the bank or association and these organizations in borrowing countries. (b) Implementation and financing of program Congress believes the Grassroots Collaboration Program described in subsection (a) should be carried out and financed as part of the International Bank for Reconstruction and Development's and International Development Association's normal operations. (c) Flexible financing; initial grant If the program's activities need more flexible financing, Congress believes: (1) The activities could be funded through a grant from the International Bank for Reconstruction and Development's net income. (2) An initial grant of at least $50,000,000 should be made for these activities, with additional annual amounts as needed to let the program maximize collaboration with non-governmental organizations in fighting poverty and protecting the environment. (d) Repealed. This subsection was repealed by Public Law 101–240, title V, section 541(d)(4), on December 19, 1989. (e) Annual reports to Congress Every annual report to Congress by the National Advisory Council on International Monetary and Financial Policies must describe the status of setting up and running the Grassroots Collaboration Program, its activities, and how much money the program has spent.