IN the war on poverty, an unusual pincer movement is taking shape that may offer new hope. On one side are growing concerns about problems that cannot be handled effectively within national boundaries. On the other, are the activities of ordinary people working together in their communities. While the state continues to play a central role, it is important to look both above and below’ it at the kinds of global and local activities that are changing the way the world works.

Just as the corporate world has addressed the challenges of globalization through cross-border alliances, new’ supply chains, and mergers and acquisitions. so too are International development institutions and their partners looking at new' ways of addressing the problems that countries cannot deal with alone, like contagious diseases and environmental hazards that straddle international boundaries.

Global partnerships in the health area are especially promising ;

• Donor countries agreed at a World Bank meeting in Lisbon earlier last month to provide $1 billion in soft loans to fight HIV/A1DS and other communicable diseases like malaria and tuberculosis in the world's poorest countries, especially in sub-Saharan Africa.

• A UN-led consortium Is working with several major pharmaceutical companies to broaden access to care and medicine for people suffering from HIV/AIDS.

• Meanwhile, the Onchoseri-asis programme, w'hich brings together regional governments. NGOs. industrialized country donors, the World Health Organization. the UN Development Programme and the World Bank, has virtually eliminated river blindness In 1 I countries of West Africa.

Another new-age network is the coalition between interna-

tional financial institutions and global civil society, which last year contributed to the expansion of a high-profile plan to remove the burden of unsustainable external debt in the world s heavily indebted poor countries, known as the HIPC Initiative. Following months of consultations — from Maputo to Oslo to Tegucigalpa — and a web-based policy discussion hosted by the World Bank, governments around the world last September endorsed an enhanced initiative to deliver "deeper, broader and (aster-debt relief and a sharper focus on poverty reduction. While much hard work remains to secure full financing, the collaboration which provided the Intellectual and political foundation for this breakthrough shows what can be achieved when committed men and women, from different backgrounds and affiliations, work together with trust and a shared vision of what is possible.

But global action is only half the story. Increasingly we are coming to understand how-poor people are taking advantage of their relationships with one another to manage risks, share resources, and act collectively These networks help people to acquire a wide range of assets, to get the ear of decision-makers and gain access to markets. Good examples are women's micro-credit arrangements in Bangladesh, village organizations formed under the aegis of the Aga Khan Rural Support Programme in the Northern Areas of Pakistan. and the community networks that flourish in many areas emerging from conflict.

This kind of social glue, which is increasingly described as social capital, is central to people's ability to chart their own future within their communities. The Job of public agencies Is to foster cooperation with communit) groups without stifling local efforts

A constant threat to the success of community and global networks is the capture of benefits — markets, public programmes or the networks themselves — by more powerful groups or individuals. There is a long history of this in nation states. It can be a more acute problem with globalization, thus exacerbating disparities within and between countries. While governance arrangements for global networks can help guard against this, they too are at risk of domination by their most powerful members.

Participation, transparency, and accountability are critical factors in enabling poor people not only to benefit from development but to determine how it works in practice. Yet many of the risks and opportunities faced by poor people reflect the impact of forces not just beyond their community boundaries. but beyond their national borders.

Development experience over the past few years has taught us that a focus on but economic growth and so< ml capital is critical to success in the tight against poverty. To make progress, we need answers to some tough questions : how can poor people get more voice in the global networks that have a big role to play in poverty reduction? Who best represents their interests and speaks on their behalf in these forums? And how can we build and pay for bridges between community and global net-w’orks?

The United Nations Special Session on Social Development that opens in Geneva on June 26. 2000. will not be able to provide all the answers. But as an assembly of nations drawing together partners representing global and local networks, it oilers an opportunity to gel a firmer grip on the problems of people living in extreme poverty.

The author is Managing Director of the World Bank.