Archives

by Dr. U. Sarat Chandran, Secretary-General, Colombo Plan Secretariat

First of July is the Colombo Plan Day. It was on 1 July 1951, half a century ago that the Colombo Plan, a regional inter-governmental organisation was established as a unique experiment in international economic cooperation aimed at faster economic and social development, as well as to enhance the well-being of the peoples of newly independent countries of South and South-East Asia.

The conceptualisation of a new methodology of international economic cooperation based on self-help and mutual help evolved at the Conference of Commonwealth Foreign Ministers held in Colombo, in January 1950, at which several world leaders representing their countries participated. Those world leaders included Percy Spender of Australia; Lester Pearson of Canada; Pandit Jawaharlal Nehru of India; Ghulam Mohammed of Pakistan; Frederick Doidge of New Zealand; D. S. Senanayake and J. R. Jayewardene of Sri Lanka; and Ernest Bevin of the UK. It was out of the sagacity and wisdom of those leaders that the great idea of the Colombo Plan was born.

Percy Spender and J. R. Jayewardene are jointly credited for this international economic cooperation initiative. The archives of the Colombo Plan reveal that there was an intense debate as to whether the initiative be called the "Spender Plan" or the "Jayewardene Plan," which was very diplomatically resolved by the Representative of New Zealand by suggesting it to be "The Colombo Plan".

In a way the Colombo Plan was ahead of its times in terms of the ideas it proposed when it was set up fifty years ago. The founding fathers delineated two themes, which underlie all Colombo Plan programmes. One was that of human capital as the key to unlock the door to prosperity of nations. The other was to consider all countries as partners in development, the idea of countries helping themselves and each other in the quest for increasing the welfare of peoples. The latter was to develop into a system of bilateral aid within a multilateral framework - the notable feature of the Colombo Plan. Indeed the two themes first articulated by the Colombo Plan later find echo in the development initiatives of other organizations, both regional as well as international.

While recognising the need for physical capital to provide the lever for growth, the Colombo Plan also emphasised the necessity to raise the level of skills of people to absorb new technologies so as to utilise capital more efficiently. Thus, in the early years of the Plan, the assistance of developed to developing countries consisted both of transfer of physical capital and technology as well as a strong component of skill development. Hence, while infrastructure in terms of roads, railways, dams, hospitals, fertilizer plants, cement factories, steel mills, etc. were being constructed in member countries through Colombo Plan assistance, large numbers of people were being trained to manage such infrastructure and the burgeoning industrial economies.

The contribution of the Colombo Plan in the development process of member countries has been truly amazing and has left its indelible mark in the economic progress of member countries. During the 50s, the 60s and the 70s the Colombo Plan fellowship programme was one of the few programmes available for professionals from developing countries of the region to get advanced degrees and higher training in developed countries.

In fact, for many the Colombo Plan is synonymous with its scholarship program. The alumni of the Colombo Plan is the largest for any inter-governmental organisation. The number of trained people under various programmes of the Colombo Plan is over three hundred thousand. Professionals from developing countries were trained in the areas such as general and technical education; medicine and health; food, agriculture and forestry; engineering; administration; social services; population studies; transport and communication; banking and finance; taxation; journalism; etc. to name a few. This provided a huge reservoir of human capital on which the countries could build on.

High growth

It is highly gratifying to note that countries which joined the Colombo Plan in the 50s, and the 60s as developing economies have transformed themselves into high growth and high income countries. The high priority given to human resource development over the years in several of the Colombo Plan member countries have helped them position themselves to tap the enormous possibilities for faster economic development in a globalized economy. Much of the groundwork for enabling countries of the region to benefit from the new knowledge based economy was laid over the years by the Colombo Plan. The most appealing fact of the Colombo Plan is that those very countries, which benefited from the various programmes of the Colombo Plan are giving their expertise to other member countries where the process of development is still gaining strength, in the true spirit of south-south cooperation which is the hallmark of the Colombo Plan.

Besides human resources development, another theme which the Colombo Plan pioneered was the concept of each nation helping itself and others in the process of economic development. The Colombp Plan stressed that development need not be a one way process of learning, where developing countries merely adopt the blue print of developed countries for growth but through sharing of development experience and in the adoption of best practices, the collaboration between the developing and developed countries in the growth process could be made even more meaningful. This could not only be through cooperation among the developing and developed countries but more importantly through cooperation among developing countries themselves.

The concept of north-south and south-south cooperation which evolved out of the framework provided by the Colombo Plan has now become an important component of any sustainable international economic cooperation effort. Because of its decades of experience in experimenting and fine tuning the concept of south-south cooperation, the Colomb Plan has been recognised as a pioneer as well as a proponent of this theme of development in the region. The very composition of the Colombo Plan member countries has contributed to the organisation being able to experiment as well as deduce new paradigms in this sphere.

While the Colombo Plan started off with seven countries, three from South Asia i.e. India, Pakistan and Sri Lanka and four developed countries: Australia, Canada, New Zealand and the UK, over the years the composition of the membership expanded to include not only countries of South Asia but also those of South East and East Asia and the Pacific. At present the member countries of the Colombo Plan include: Afghanistan, Australia, Bangladesh, Bhutan, Cambodia, Fiji, India, Indonesia, Iran, Japan, Korea, Laos, Malaysia, Maldives, Mongolia (provisional member), Myanmar, Nepal, New Zealand, Pakistan, Papua New Guinea, Philippines, Singapore, Sri Lanka, Thailand and the United States of America. Vietnam became the latest member when it joined the Colombo Plan in 2001, the fiftieth anniversary year.

When one looks at the composition of the member countries of the Colombo Plan, it is not difficult to realise the comparative advantage the organisation has in promoting south-south cooperation in developmental activities. Members comprise several developed countries, countries of the Commonwealth in the Asia Pacific region and countries of regional groupings such as ASEAN and SAARC. These countries are in varying stages of economic development and integration with the world economy where each country has some unique development experience to share with one another.

The current programmes of the Colombo Plan are in the areas of public policy formulation in an environment of globalisation and market economy, private sector development as a prime mover for growth, and south-south cooperation as an instrument for evaluation, dissemination of information and technology and sharing of best practices. The Colombo Plan also provides skill development opportunities for technicians in the middle level - an indispensable human resource required for productivity increases, through another of its programmes, the Colombo Plan Staff College for Technician Education in Manila, the Philippines. The Colombo Plan has also a Drug Advisory Programme, which is one of the oldest in the region and recognised as an initiator of several creative approaches to tackle the problem of drug abuse in member countries.

By establishing linkages among institutions of excellence in the region, the Colombo Plan facilitates interaction of professionals in different development fields, which promotes generation of new ideas and approaches to social and development issues. In all the programme activities, the Colombo Plan works closely with member governments, regional organisations, international organisations and NGOs so that the synergy and resources of all participating organisations could be utilised most efficiently.

Most effective

Besides promoting human resources development and south-south cooperation in the development process, the uniqueness of the Colombo Plan is in the structure of the organisation itself. When one considers international organisations it conjures up huge bureaucracies which are incapable of adaptation and change. Endowed with a lean bureaucracy and a flat organisation set up, the Colombo Plan has emerged as a most effective mechanism for programme delivery. The Colombo Plan is a good example of institution building where the institution evolves organically to meet new challenges. The Colombo Plan was visualised as an organisation which has at its core the capacity and flexibility to change according to the changing needs of member countries. It was a masterly achievement in fashioning a framework for an inter-governmental body devoted to developmental issues, which while providing adequate room for consultations and deliberations, avoided the mistake of having too many committees and decision layers which enlarges bureaucracy as well as slows down decision making.

Most of the decisions of the Colombo Plan are made at the Council represented by heads of missions of member countries in Colombo, and long-term strategies are chalked out at the Consultative Committee which meets biennially. One of the characteristics of the Colombo Plan which has unique value and which few inter-governmental organisations have in the same measure is that the Colombo Plan provides a forum where no resolutions are voted on and where decisions are arrived at consensually among member countries. The promotion of effective development is the sole interest and objective of the organisation in which development issues of whatever kind are open for cooperative and constructive discussion in which all countries participate on equal terms. The spirit that imbues the Colombo Plan is one of respect by member countries for each others' views, and the sharing of experience, knowledge, technology and assistance among member countries is one marked by humility in giving as well as in receiving.

Technology

The world economic environment has changed dramatically in the last fifty years. Since the Colombo Plan was established several of the member countries which were developing countries when they joined the Colombo Plan and benefitted hugely from the various Colombo Plan programs have now graduated to the status of developed countries. Many member countries have become fast growing middle income countries. Several are in the early stages of growth. With this changed economic status of member countries, the Colombo Plan in the coming years can play even a greater role in the flow of technology, skill development, experience sharing and adoption of best practices using the concept of south-south cooperation in the region as well as outside the region.

Quite apart from its regular programmes, the Colombo Plan has embarked on several new initiatives in the recent past. One among them is the Colombo Plan Africa Initiative, under which the development experience of the Colombo Plan region is shared with African countries. It was really heartening to hear delegate after delegate who participated in some of the recent programmes conducted under this initiative say that what Africa needs is an organisation like the Colombo Plan which can mobilise the creative energies of nations in finding lasting solutions to the difficult social and economic issues facing Africa. Another initiative has been the forging of a partnership with the private sector in matters of economic and social development, human capital development and south-south cooperation. Other initiatives include forging closer collaboration with non-member governments and other inter-governmental organisations in adding value to the programmes of the Colombo Plan.

Development of human capital the software aspect of growth has been central to all Colombo Plan activities. As the benefits of knowledge and information revolution deepens, human capital would become even more important for faster economic growth as well as for the well-being of peoples of member countries. In such a changing environment where creative knowledge is setting the pace of growth, where the most valuable resource for a country is its human capital, the relevance of an organisation like the Colombo Plan specialising in human resources development becomes even more pronounced and crucial.

As the Colombo Plan looks beyond fifty years, the vision of the Colombo Plan would be:

- to play a proactive catalytic role in enabling member countries to capitalise on the ever expanding opportunities for speedy economic growth and well-being of peoples of the region which the knowledge based economy provides;

- to strive towards excellence in human capital development and south-south cooperation; and - emerge as the premier inter-governmental organisation in the region in propagating creative ideas for economic and social development basing on successful country experiences.

At a time when deliberations in world bodies are more discordant than cooperative, it is indeed refreshing that the Colombo Plan, one of the oldest inter-governmental organisations continues to provide a unique atmosphere of its own characterised by cordiality and cooperation where all member countries come as equal partners in development attempting at finding ways to tackle pressing issues of development and poverty reduction. In a world where globalisation in the economic sphere is providing strong centripetal forces of integration, while at the same time political and nationalistic movements are taking the world in disruptive ways, an organisation which has cooperative endeavour among nations as its credo, can play a strong harmonising influence and provide a stable foundation where, nations, communities and individuals can pursue individual well-being without losing the global outlook which is so necessary for collective well-being of all peoples of the world.

The concept of enhancing the well-being of the peoples of member countries through cooperative effort releases the creative energies of nations and sparks a sense of participation and solidarity in economic processes which transcends boundaries.

The unique experiment which the Colombo Plan started in international economic cooperation stressing human resources development and south-south cooperation seems to echo the same if not greater relevance and appropriateness in the knowledge based economy of the new century as it was when it was originally conceived.

News | Business | Features | Editorial | Security
Politics | World | Letters | Sports | Obituaries |

Produced by Lake House
Copyright 2001 The Associated Newspapers of Ceylon Ltd.
Comments and suggestions to :Web Manager