Explicit mention of human rights obligations has long been a taboo subject at the World Bank.
Sub-Saharan Africa
Rights
News
World Bank project fails to protect Tanzanian pastoralists from serious human rights abuses
New report by Oakland Institute shows World Bank failing to uphold human rights standards resulting in violent assaults and evictions of Tanzanian pastoralists.

IFI governance
Analysis
G20 press conference analysis Spring Meetings 2024: Concrete actions fail to materialise despite strong Brazilian push
In the absence of a G20 Communiqué or Chair statement, Brazilian minister of finance, head of the central bank and other senior officials took questions at a short press conference, with discussion focused on the impact of continued restrictive US monetary policy on the global debt and development finance and the need for more responsive and better capitalised MDBs.

IFI governance
Analysis
V20 communiqué analysis Spring Meetings 2024: Climate vulnerable countries issue call to action, as net-negative flows result in ‘millions in, billions out’ amid growing debt burdens
V20 members are expected to pay $904.7 billion in debt service between 2022-2030, as debt, lack of financing and low projected growth hampers prospects for green economic transformation.

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.

IFI governance
Background
Beyond size in IDA21 replenishment: What about socio-economic transformation?
Notes from Civil Society Policy Forum panel 19 April titled, "Beyond size in IDA21 replenishment: What about socio-economic transformation?"

IFI governance
Background
Agriculture, financialization, and gender: Exploring the World Bank’s response to interlinked phenomena
Notes from the Civil Society Policy Forum on 17 April 2024 titled "Agriculture, financialization, and gender: Exploring the World Bank’s response to interlinked phenomena"

IFI governance
Background
The future of Special Drawing Rights as a development finance tool: What's next?
Notes from the Civil Society Policy Forum session on 17 April 2024, titled "The Future of Special Drawing Rights as a Development Finance Tool: What's Next?"

IFI governance
Analysis
IDA21: Moving beyond a focus on ‘historic’ replenishment
Calls for a ‘historic’ IDA21 replenishment risk diverting attention from the policy framework necessary for IDA to support countries to break their dependence on development finance and undertake the ecologically sustainable and just economic transformation long sought by their populations.

Land
News
World Bank land tenure approach contributes to displacement and food insecurity
The World Bank’s efforts to increase security of land tenure have largely amounted to a ‘formalisation’ of land property rights, which reinforce land inequalities and the disenfranchisement of rural peoples.
Environment
News
Civil society raises concerns about Resilience and Sustainability Trust’s green conditionality as Fund conducts interim review
CSOs and experts question the suitability of ‘green' policy conditions attached to RST loans.
Environment
Analysis
Gambling with the planet’s future? World Bank Development Policy Finance, ‘green’ conditionality, and the push for a private-led energy transition
BWP's review of energy sector conditionality in World Bank Development Policy Financing from fiscal years 2018 to 2023 reveals the Bank has followed a pattern of promoting neoliberal reforms in many countries' energy sectors, with climate action increasingly being viewed as the rationale for these changes.