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Compliance Advisor/Ombudsman (CAO)

IFI governance

Analysis

Spring Meetings 2025 Wrap-up: Don’t look up! Bank and Fund leadership self-censors on climate change and gender issues, as US tariffs rock global economic outlook

US Treasury Secretary Scott Bessent indicates US will stay in the Bank and Fund, claiming “America First does not mean America alone,” as tariffs and rising debt vulnerabilities prompt gloomy forecast.

30 April 2025

IFI governance

Analysis

Spring Meetings 2025 Preamble: geopolitical turmoil further muddies path of BWI reform and multilateral cooperation

As the World Bank and IMF prepare for the 2025 Spring Meetings, the US executive order reviewing its participation in global institutions has heightened long-standing concerns about the direction of the Bretton Woods system – with civil society turning to FfD4 to reimagine the future of multilateralism.

17 April 2025
Old Mulago Hospital, Kampala, Uganda. Credit: Joyce Nanjobe Kawooya/Wikimedia

Social services

Commentary

New report documents abuses at IFC-funded hospitals, further exposing consequences of the “billions to trillions” approach

Bloomberg investigation adds further evidence of negative consequences for people and governments of IFC’s for-profit healthcare model.

15 April 2025 | Guest comment
The World Bank's interactive new Corporate Scorecard on display at the 2024 World Bank and IMF Annual Meetings in Washington DC. Credit: Paul Blake/ World Bank.

Accountability

Analysis

Missing in action: accountability is noticeably absent from the World Bank Group’s new Corporate Scorecard

The Corporate Scorecard’s accountability gap is symptomatic of a broader failure on the part of the WBG to fully internalise, integrate and learn from the work of its accountability mechanisms.

12 December 2024 | At Issue

IFI governance

News

New report debunks claims that inadequate MDB transparency results from private sector concerns

Amid underwhelming private capital mobilisation, new report underscores poor state of transparency and disclosure of private sector finance by multilateral development banks and development finance institutions.

12 December 2024
World Bank cartoon lost in the middle of a forest

IFI governance

Analysis

New World Bank Corporate Scorecard: overlooking client priorities and ignoring development impact

The World Bank’s new Corporate Scorecard misses the forest for the trees as it lacks an indicator to measure the Bank’s contribution to economic transformation, a cornerstone of its development mandate.

16 October 2024

Private Sector

Commentary

IFC standards review must respond to UN’s call for rights-based transition mineral value chains

Amid escalating transition minerals mining, the expected 2025 review of IFC’s Performance Standards must result in a new approach.

16 October 2024 | Guest comment

IFI governance

Analysis

Spring Meetings 2024 Wrap Up: Despite mounting crises, persistent lack of political will to match rhetoric with action remains

Urgent BWIs reforms remain hostage to lack of political will in Global North as the G20 failed to deliver on important issues within a fragmented geopolitical situation.

24 April 2024
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Other news

Rights

News

Communities demand justice as IFC fails to address coal financing fallout

IFC faces backlash for failing to address social and environmental harms from its financing of coal plants in the Philippines, despite proven health and environmental violations.

15 April 2025

Accountability

News

CAO report adds to concerns about IFC's compliance with its own GHG emissions obligations

CAO report substantiates civil society findings about IFC’s failure to comply with its own requirements for GHG emissions measurement, alternatives analysis, mitigation and disclosure.

12 December 2024

IFI governance

Background

Adequate disclosure, public review, and consultation for environmental and social impacts before World Bank Group financing decisions

Notes from the Civil Society Policy Forum on 19 April 2024 titled, "Adequate disclosure, public review, and consultation for environmental and social impacts before World Bank Group financing decisions".

19 April 2024 | Minutes

IFI governance

Background

When exits and accountability collide: What happens when IFC exits projects mid-accountability process?

Notes from Civil Society Policy Forum on Thursday, 18 April titled, "When exits & accountability collide: What happens when IFC exits projects mid-accountability process?"

18 April 2024 | Minutes

Land

News

IFC approves loan to industrial agriculture producer in Brazil despite pleas for protection of sensitive grassland biome

World Bank’s IFC $200 loan for large-scale agricultural production in Brazil disregards serious human rights and environmental concerns, despite calls by 200 civil society organisations globally

21 July 2022

Rights

News

Report implicates IFC investments in human rights abuses of Uyghur and other minorities in China

New CSO research alleges that IFC investments have contributed to forced displacement and labour, detention, and other human rights violations of Uyghurs and other minorities in Xinjiang, China.

6 April 2022

Social services

News

Civil society hails IFC’s divestment from for-profit education provider Bridge International Academies

The divestment follows a 2020 freeze in new IFC direct and indirect investments in for-profit education providers.

6 April 2022

Accountability

News

Civil society calls for IFC and MIGA to build upon CAO reform

Civil society urges IFC and MIGA to act to maximise the benefits of CAO reforms

13 July 2021
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