A complaint filed by Kosovo's Independent Energy Union (SPEK) with the Compliance Advisor/Ombudsman, the accountability mechanism of the International Finance Corporation (IFC, the World Bank's private sector arm), about a 2009 advisory project by the IFC for the privatisation of Kosovo's electricity grid has been accepted for a full audit.
Social services
Infrastructure
News
IMF and World Bank disagree over Ugandan taxes?
World Bank advice on taxes has been contradicted by a senior IMF representative who says that Uganda's tax system is "not fair".
Finance
News
IFC "needs to try harder" on development
NGOs continue to find that the International Finance Corporation (IFC), the World Bank's private sector arm, is off track in reducing poverty and promoting development, with concerns that the IFC development goals to be implemented in July will not help the poorest.
Accountability
News
Access for the poor?
As the G20 and the World Bank continue their push for increased investment in large-scale public-private led infrastructure projects, further scrutiny of the Bank's track record puts its strategy in question.
IFI governance
Background
Revolving doors: staff turnover between IFIs and African governments
The term 'revolving doors' refers to frequent staff turnover between institutions, usually relevant when these represent different interests working on the same policy issues. This serves to foster cross-institutional networks, practices and alliances. The staff turnover between international financial institutions (IFIs) and borrowing governments works as a mechanism through which specific ideas and practices learnt and promoted in IFIs are translated into policies in borrowing countries
Social services
Analysis
Infrastructure as an asset class
A forthcoming report on private equity infrastructure funds by Nicholas Hildyard of NGO The Corner House, More than bricks and mortar, looks at the connections between infrastructure funding and international financial markets, and at the wider political project that infrastructure embodies. In this briefing, Hildyard argues that the transformation of infrastructure into an asset class has environmental and social implications far beyond what can be handled by stronger safeguards on investments.
Conditionality
Background
A Global Shared Societies Agenda
Minutes meeting for A Global Shared Societies Agenda
Rights
News
Red Sea - Dead Sea project: World Bank intentions questioned
The Inspection Panel (IP), the Bank’s compliance body, issued a report in March considering “legitimate” environmental and human rights concerns regarding the Bank’s feasibility study for a project to channel water from the Red Sea to replenish the Dead Sea.
Gender
News
World Bank lagging on gender and disability
A recent report by the Australian NGO RESULTS International criticises the Bank for its lack of consideration of gender and disability in its education projects.
Gender
News
World Bank failing on reproductive health?
In an article for UK newspaper The Guardian, Elizabeth Arend of international NGO Gender Action questioned the World Bank's status as a "global leader" in reproductive health.
