Bretton Woods Observer
World Bank board oversight mechanisms derailed
World Bank management’s proposal for a Multiphase Programmatic Approach erodes executive board oversight and suffers from lack of civil society consultation.
UN Independent Expert reports on World Bank and IMF human rights performance
UN Independent Expert publishes two reports on the World Bank and IMF human rights performance, finding the institutions must be…
Back to basics: How the World Bank can finally get education right
A critique of the World Bank’s education Development Report’s narrow focus. To get education right, the World Bank must go…
De-risking or risk shifting: The World Bank’s proposed strategy to bridge the ‘infrastructure gap’
This briefing analyses the implications of the strategy proposed by the World Bank for infrastructure financing. It details the type…
The World Bank’s new Women Entrepreneurs Finance Initiative: Recycling a broken model?
World Bank launches new We-Fi fund for women entrepeneurs, but concerns raised that fund won’t reach poorest women.
Flirting with disaster? World Bank’s push for climate insurance questioned
The World Bank continues to push climate and disaster insurance programmes, despite concerns that such schemes are being ‘oversold’ and do not address the root challenges of making countries more resilient to climate change.
IEG report finds Bank’s tax work lacks equity focus
IEG report on the World Bank’s domestic resource mobilisation work finds ad hoc approach focused on creating an enabling business environment while doing little to address equity issues.
Labour in Greece: With friends like the IMF…
IMF agrees to conditional participation in new Greek loan package and demands that the government maintains the suspension of collective bargaining despite rising inequality and decrease in wages.
The Parliamentary Network on the World Bank and IMF
This Inside the Institutions looks at how the Parliamentary Network on the World Bank and IMF has facilitated interactions between members of parliament and the Bank and Fund.
Will World Bank Global Gender-Based Violence Task Force recommendations have a discernible impact?
Global Gender-Based Violence Task Force releases report with recommendations for World Bank, CSOs concerned over its limited mandate while questions remain whether the recommendations will have a discernible impact on the Bank’s approach to GBV.
World Bank’s cascade into education: Liberia’s public-private partnership
Report by global union found privatisation and corporate capture are obstacles to progress on 2030 agenda. Independent research of education PPP trial in Liberia finds unsustainable costs.
Azerbaijani Laundromat to sully Bank’s reputation?
Scandal raises new questions about World Bank loans for Trans-Anatolian Pipeline (TANAP), after civil society previously raised concerns over human rights violations and the negative environmental impact of the project.
IEO finds IMF follows “nebulous standard” on social protection engagement
IMF’s Independent Evaluation Office published evaluation on IMF and social protection and found that the IMF’s targeting approach does not ‘mesh well’ with UN’s human-rights-based approach.
World Bank approves Uzbekistan cotton project despite forced labour concerns
World Bank approves new $145 million irrigation project in Uzbekistan, despite ongoing concerns about forced and child labour in the country’s cotton sector.
Controversial Sardar Sarovar Project dam set to displace thousands
Dam – supported by World Bank from 1985-1993 – formally opened by Indian Prime Minister despite resettlement being incomplete.
Indian plaintiffs seek US Supreme Court review of IFC’s “absolute immunity”
Indian fishing communities and farmers will ask the highest court in the US to rule on IFC’s immunity for its role in the controversial Tata Mundra coal-fired power plant in India.
CSOs await Guidance Notes for new Bank safeguards
Tier 1 Guidance Notes, outlining implementation of the new Environmental and Social Framework, could be published at the end of October.
Jon Sward joins the Project as Environment Project Manager
Jon will manage BWP’s work on the environmental impacts of World Bank policies and projects.
BWP edited volume on IMF’s policy impacts on gender equality
The Bretton Woods Project publishes edited volume on the impacts of IMF macroeconomic policies on women’s rights and gender equality.
Follow BWP’s coverage of the World Bank and IMF annual meetings
The World Bank and IMF’s annual meetings will be held on 13-15 October 2017 in Washington DC, the Civil Society Policy Forum will take place from 9-13 October. Check for updates on Bretton Woods Meeting Dispatch page.
