At the 2016 World Bank Spring Meetings, the Office of the Executive Director – EDS 05 won the “Open for Business” award for the most transparent website among the 25 World Bank Executive Directors’ offices. Ursula Müller, Executive Director from the Germany, received the award during the CSO Roundtable with World Bank Executive Directors on Tuesday, April 12th, 2016.
CIVICUS and BIC co-hosted the awards. As Alex Sardar (CIVICUS) presented Ms. Müller with the award, he emphasized the importance of transparency in facilitating cooperation between members of civil society and the World Bank. Click here for the full Open for Business Award Spring 2016 scorecard and rankings.
On March 2013, CIVICUS: World Alliance for Citizen Participation and its partners suggested that the World Bank Executive Directors deepen their engagement with civil society by increasing transparency on their official websites. This includes announcing official travel schedules for ease of arranging in-country meetings with constituents, listing names and contact information of key staff members and their areas of responsibilities, and publishing official positions on policies and projects brought to the Board of Directors.
CIVICUS and the Bank Information Center have since developed a scorecard measuring ED offices’ progress in increasing their transparency. The “Open for Business” award is given out during World Bank’s Annual and Spring Meetings in recognition of the most transparent ED offices. The last award, given during the 2015 Annual Meetings in Lima, Peru, went to EDS 01 representing the United States.