In a letter sent this week to the World Bank, over 30 civil society organizations from around the world called for substantial revisions to draft guidance notes for the Bank’s new Environmental and Social Framework (ESF). The ESF replaces the Bank’s longstanding safeguards, and represents a major shift from a rules-based system to one characterized …
The House Financial Services Committee passed the World Bank Accountability Act of 2017 today, authorizing U.S. participation in IDA, the World Bank’s fund for the poorest countries. The bill funds IDA at the level recently requested by the Trump administration, but conditions that funding on whether the Bank adopts certain reforms, which the bill’s sponsor, …
In response to the harm caused by the World Bank funded Uganda Transport Sector Development Project (UTSDP), including the sexual exploitation of teenage girls, BIC has conducted advocacy to encourage that the Bank takes steps to provide redress to the community and to prevent such harm from occurring in future projects. BIC has worked with …
On March 22, BIC’s Elana Berger testified before the House Financial Services Committee subcommittee on Monetary Policy and Trade. Berger’s testimony at the hearing entitled “Examining Results and Accountability at the World Bank,” focused on the impacts of the Uganda Transport Sector Development Project (TSDP) and the significant internal reforms at the Bank resulting from …
March 2017 Elana Berger, BIC’s Social Inclusion and Accountability Manager, will testify before the Monetary Policy and Trade Subcommittee of the House Financial Services Committee this Wednesday at a hearing titled, “Examining Results and Accountability at the World Bank.” Elana’s testimony will focus on the Uganda Transport Sector Development Project (TSDP), which led to devastating …
A global group of non-governmental organizations today called on the World Bank, European Investment Bank, Japan International Cooperation Agency, German Development Bank- KFW, French Agency for Development, and other international financial institutions involved with the Olkaria I, IV, and V geothermal projects in Kenya to take immediate action and demand that the project promoter, …
As we prepare to celebrate Human Rights Day on December 10th, we stand with dozens of other civil society groups around the world that are calling on development finance institutions, governments, and businesses to Stand up for Human Rights in Development On the 10th of December, Human Rights Day will be observed in honor of …
Despite promises from World Bank President Jim Kim over two years ago to personally assist in addressing tensions over indigenous land rights in Kenya, approximately 1200 families of the Sengwer indigenous community were told by the Kenya Forest Service (KFS) on Dec. 1 they had just 7 days to leave their ancestral land in the …
On November 22 the World Bank Board of Directors approved a Management Action Plan intended to address the Inspection Panel’s investigation of the Uganda Transport Sector Development Project (TSDP), which has been of long-term concern for BIC’s child rights program. Commitments in the Action Plan include strengthening the capacity of local governments in Uganda to …
While the recent election has cast a shadow of uncertainty over the future role of the United States in multilateral organizations such as the World Bank, it is worth reflecting on the progress that has been made at this institution and across the development finance landscape because of the leadership of the United States. The …