As the negotiations on the 17th replenishment of the World Bank's International Development Association (IDA) pass the half way mark, a real-terms drop in IDA and stingier terms for borrowers have been agreed. The discussion has focussed largely on the private sector and fragile states.
Drawing on case studies, reports and evaluations, Bruce Rich paints a picture of a Bank still inflicting suffering on vulnerable populations, and calls on Bank president Jim Yong Kim to show real leadership so that the Bank can learn from experience rather than flee from it.
A new World Bank Group strategy will be signed off at the 2013 annual meetings. It prioritises greater use of the private sector and “transformational engagements”, but criticisms continue over the Bank’s desire to tell countries what to do.
This session gave an overview on the links between private sector and healthcare provision in tackling poverty.
This session featured a presentation from UN special rapporteur on the links between financial and housing crises, safeguards and the right to adequate housing.
2012 saw continued crisis in Europe, but also a turning point in the leadership selection of the World Bank. The choice of Dr Jim Yong Kim as new president, who brings a background in public health in developing countries, marked the first ever selection of a development practitioner to lead the institution. However, large bureaucracies are slow to change, as the International Monetary Fund (IMF) found out with its inability to extricate itself from the morass developing in the eurozone.
The World Bank Group's staff incentives and compensation schemes are considered important drivers of the Bank institution's successes and failures.
After winning over staff and shareholders in his first six months as World Bank president, Jim Yong Kim launched a publicly unexplained reorganisation of senior management at the Bank in late December, ahead of an expected strategy overhaul and deeper restructuring.
Criticism of the International Finance Corporation's lack of poverty focus has again caught the spotlight, as the IFC continues to fund projects that stretch the interpretation of development.
An annual Independent Evaluation Group (IEG) report on the Results and performance of the World Bank Group 2012 showed declining effectiveness at the Bank Group, with its worst ratings in the areas where its lending is increasing the fastest or it is prioritising work, such as infrastructure and public-private partnerships (PPPs).
This was a meeting on 1 October 2012, between the Minister of State of the UK's Department for International Development (DFID) and civil society representatives, focusing on the World Bank.
We, the undersigned organisations, welcome the audit by the Compliance Advisor/Ombudsman (CAO) on the International Finance Corporation's lending to the financial sector. The IFC's response to the audit fails to acknowledge the gravity of the findings and is notable for its lack of commitment to addressing them. In advance of the IFC's planned consultation with civil society this month, we urge you to commit to revise the IFC's strategy for investment in this sector.
New briefing by ActionAid USA and the Bretton Woods Project highlights research showing that IMF policy advice has undermined a just energy transition since the Paris Agreement was signed.
