Local participation, international politics, and the environment: the World Bank and the Grenada Dove

The process of locating waste disposal sites in the Eastern Caribbean country of Grenada illustrates important lessons in the implementation of new international mandates to invite stakeholder participation in projects with environmental and social impacts. This case study analyzes the participatory methods and results of the World Bank-funded project in Grenada, including an unexpected shift in the policy agenda toward habitat protection for the elusive Grenada Dove, the national bird of Grenada. We conclude that the impact of new requirements for stakeholder inclusion by funding agencies such as the World Bank and Global Environmental Facility has been palpable, but mixed. As the catalysts of more participatory methods, funding agencies still must give more careful consideration to the methods by which their participatory requirements are implemented. In particular they must develop more effective knowledge of and relationships with a broader range of stakeholders than are routinely considered by existing methods, allow for and learn from unexpected contingencies, and be flexible as to project goals and methods.