As the World Bank prepares to gut its safeguard policies and budget cuts are suspended over the heads of an anxious staff, a leaked assessment of the Bank’s safeguard system by the Bank’s internal audit department (IAD) describes an alarming state of disarray. The report validates long standing Independent Evaluation Group (IEG) and civil society concerns that World Bank’s commitment to “do no harm” to people or the environment has become increasingly compromised by an obscure and underfunded system that allows safeguards to be routinely shoved to the margin of decision making.
With proposed reforms to World Bank Safeguard policies likely to shift investment to instruments with fewer clear protections, an even greater burden will be placed on World Bank safeguard staff. The IAD reports describes a safeguard structure at the World Bank that may be unprepared to assume these responsibilities due to lack of adequate budget, independence, incentives and line management protection to do their job effectively.
Read the full report here.