The World Development Report 2011: Conflict, Security and Development is shifting the language of international policy on supporting peace and development in fragile and conflict-affected countries. Monica Stephen of International Alert examines how the World Bank's operations need to adjust to support peace and development.
Accountability
Accountability
Background
Notes of meeting between UK Executive Director to World Bank and Civil Society Groups
Civil society organisations met UK Executive Director to the World Bank and staff from the Department for International Development to discuss water, the Bank's private sector approach, health and nutrition, safeguards review and energy strategy.
Accountability
News
Programmed for Results?
In August, the Bank released a policy paper and draft operational policy for its controversial new Program For Results (P4R) lending instrument, aiming to rush through its approval by the end of the year, despite significant concerns.
Accountability
News
Scandals threaten IFI governance
With the new IMF head and a Bank’s managing director under judicial investigation, questions continue to be asked about IFI governance, while implementation of existing reforms remains slow.
Accountability
News
US legislators try to cut funding to IFIs
In late July, a US House of Representatives sub committee, now controlled by the Republican party, moved to slash funding to multilateral institutions.
Finance
News
UK announces priorities for World Bank
In August the UK released its priorities for reform of the World Bank.
Accountability
News
South African loan to Swaziland hinges on IMF conditions
The crisis-hit government of Swaziland agreed a 2.4 billion rand ($324 million) loan from South Africa in August, which will be conditioned on the adoption of IMF-recommended fiscal reforms.
Accountability
News
Tribunal increases protection for World Bank whistleblowers
In June the World Bank Administrative Tribunal, an internal justice body that oversees the treatment of employees, ordered the Bank to reinstate a former staff member, John Kim, who was fired in 2007 for telling a journalist about conflicts between former Bank president Paul Wolfowitz and the Bank's board of directors.
Accountability
News
IEG annual report slates World Bank's education work
The Bank's Independent Evaluation Group (IEG) released its annual report at end August, again finding shortfalls and uneven results across the World Bank Group. While the Bank's leadership has steered the institution towards more private sector work, outcomes in the education sector and the Middle East and North Africa (MENA) region have dropped substantially.
Environment
Analysis
A faulty model?
This paper critically assesses the appropriateness of the Bank-housed Climate Investment Funds (CIFs) as a model for the Green Climate Fund (GCF). It takes proposals and recommendations by civil society groups and uses them as benchmarks to analyse the CIFs. It finds that in terms of institutional arrangements the CIFs have achieved some notable progress, however, in operations and performance there are serious concerns.
