2014 Spring Meetings

When: Wednesday, April 9, 11:00am – 12:30pm
Where: I 2-220
Sponsors: American Jewish World Service, WBG (GLOBE), Bank Information Center
Coordinator: Martha Coe

Chair: Ingrid Hoven, German Executive Director to the World Bank
Panelists: Jonas Bagas, Executive Director, The TLF Sexuality, Health and Rights Educators Collective Inc. (SHARE); Andrea Quesada, Senior Project Coordinator – Women’s Environment & Development Organization

The World Bank’s safeguard policies are designed to mitigate social and environmental risks associated with its investments. The Bank has never adopted a safeguard for women, girls, and gender/sexual minorities who often face discrimination and human rights abuses. This panel introduced a model safeguard, developed by civil society organizations, to address this lack.

When: Wednesday, April 9, 12:30-2:00pm
Where: I 2-210
Sponsors: IFI Watch Myanmar, US Campaign for Burma, Bank Information Center, Kachin Peace Network
Coordinators: Jelson Garcia, Elizabeth Hlaing

Panelists: Khon Ja (Coordinator, Kachin Peace Network), Sai Sam Kham(Executive Director, Metta Development Foundation), Rachel Wagley (Policy Director, US Campaign for Burma), Representatives from Asian Development Bank, WBG, IMF (TBC)

Since 2012, MDBs and other donor agencies have stepped up their wide range of activities to support Myanmar’s economic reconstruction. As they expand their analytical and investment services, they are also developing their medium term strategies with broader geographic reach and sectoral scope and bigger lending commitments.

This panel explored: How do agriculture and regional economic cooperation and integration play out in their strategies? In addition to the regulatory framework for agricultural financing, how are they approaching the different forms of resource conflict and the environmental and social risks that will be associated with their investments? What can they draw from local agricultural practices and innovations in the country as well as the risk management systems in cross-border projects to inform their partnership frameworks for poverty reduction and inclusive development in Myanmar?

When: Thursday, April 10, 12:30-2::00pm
Where: I 2-250
Sponsors: Sierra Club, Oil Change International, Bank Information Center
Coordinator: Elizabeth Bast

Access to clean energy is a significant development challenge. Billions of people still lack access to the most basic energy services, particularly in Africa and Asia. Supporting the goal of ‘universal access to sustainable modern energy’ by 2030 requires an increased emphasis on off-grid, micro-grid, and mini-grid renewables, as outlined in the IEA’s 2011 ‘Energy for All’ report. MDBs can be an important part of this shift, but improved metrics are needed to measure how energy financing is reaching those currently without access. This panel explored current MDB financing for energy access, particularly decentralized renewables; the role of entrepreneurs in the success of energy access initiatives; current efforts to expand energy access for the poor; and possible measurements of success.

Moderator: Elizabeth Bast (Managing Director, Oil Change International)
Panelists: Alex Doukas (Research Analyst, Sustainable Finance Program, World Resources Institute), Vrinda Manglik (Associate Campaign Representative, International Clean Energy Access, Sierra Club), Dan Schnitzer (Founder and Executive Director, EarthSpark International), Russell Sturm (Head, Climate Change Advisory, International Finance Corporation), Richenda van Leeuwen (Executive Director, Energy and Climate, Energy Access Initiative, UN Foundation)

For more information about the panel, contact: Vrinda Manglik, vrinda.manglik@sierraclub.org

When: Thursday, April 10, 2:15pm – 3:45pm
Where: I 2-220
Sponsors: Bank Information Center/ WBG Gender Team
Coordinator: Martha Coe

Panelists: Jeni Klugman (Director of Gender Unit, WBG), Nehad Aboul Komsan (Chairperson, Egyptian Center for Women’s Rights), Andrea Quesada (Senior Project Coordinator, Woman’s Environment and Development Organization / WEDO)

Gender has been identified, again, as a special theme in IDA 17. The panel provided an update on recent trends in gender development internationally, and discussed several exciting initiatives and research being carried out on the topic worldwide.

When: Friday, April 11, 12:30pm – 2:00pm
Where: I 2-250
Sponsors: GLOBE, Council for Global Equality, Bank Information Center
Coordinator: Martha Coe

Panelists: Jonas Bagas (Executive Director of the TLF Sexuality, Health and Rights Educators Collective, Philippines), Ying Xin (Executive Director of the Beijing LGBT Center, China), Xiaogang Wei (Beijing Gender Health Education Institute) Simran Shaikh (New Delhi Program Officer for HIV/AIDS Alliance, India), Kelly Verdade (Executive Coordinator for ELAS, Brazil) CHAIR: Mirosława Makuchowska (Vice President of Campaign Against Homophobia, Poland)

Uganda, Nigeria, and Russia are just some of the most prominent examples for discrimination and human rights abuses of sexual and gender minorities around the world, but they are not the only places where developments on these fronts occur. This panel hosted activists from Brazil, Philippines, China, and India who talked about the current situations in their home countries and their work on the ground to make positive change for LGBTI communities.

When: Friday, April 11, 2:15pm – 3:45pm
Where: I 2-250
Sponsor: Bank Information Center
Coordinator: Katelyn Gallagher
Panelists:
Charles Di Leva, Chief Counsel, World Bank
Peter Bakvis, International Trade Union Confederation
Suzan Nada, Egyptian Center for Economic and Social Rights, Egypt
Nadejda Atayeva, Association for Human Rights in Central Asia, lessons from Uzbekistan

Moderator: Elana Berger, Bank Information Center

Ensuring strong labor standards across the World Bank’s portfolio is essential to the Bank’s ability to achieve its dual goals of poverty reduction and shared prosperity. Along with implementing a strong new Safeguard policy on labor, the Bank should have the tools to understand challenges and barriers to labor rights in the countries where it operates, and ensure that jobs created through Bank-funded projects and programs are sustainable and high-quality. Panelists brought examples from policy-level experiences and from the field in Egypt and Uzbekistan.

We are facing existential threats from global climate change. The World Bank is in a unique position to help the world mitigate and adapt to these treats, but has struggled to truly reflect this urgency in its past investments. This panel looked at how the World Bank has dealt with climate risks in the past and how they may improve their practices in the future.

WHEN: Friday, April 11, 2014, 2:15pm-3:45pm
WHERE: World Bank I Building, 1850 I Street NW, Room 2-220, Washington DC.
WHO: Chair – Sarah Aviel (United States Alternate Executive Director, WBG); Habiba Gitay (Senior Environmental Specialist in the WBG Climate Group); Milap Patel (Research Analyst, World Resources Institute); Nezir Sinani (Climate Change Consultant, Bank Information Center); Nicole Ghio (International Representative, Sierra Club)

Goals for this panel include:
a) discussing the extent to which the Bank has considered climate change in its (non-climate finance) projects
b) reviewing changes at the Bank intended to better integrate climate change concerns into projects
c) understanding how the Bank can work in partnership with both donor and client countries to advance its agenda of climate-compatible development

When: Friday, April 11, 4:00pm – 5:30pm
Where: I 2-250
Sponsors: RightsAction, Bank Information Center, Oxfam
Coordinators: Jelson Garcia, Annie Bird, Kate Geary

Panelists: Dr. Bharat Patel (Secretary General, Machimar Adhikar Sangharsh Sangathan / MASS), Dr. Juan Almenadares (Director, Friends of the Earth Honduras), Kate Geary (Policy Adviser for Private Sector Investments, Oxfam International), Jelson Garcia (Manager of the Asia Program, Bank Information Center).

The IFC response to two recent CAO audit reports displayed the level of preparedness of management to own up to its serious oversight responsibilities and demonstrate accountability to the adversely impacted communities. This session discussed the troubling human rights, social, and environmental conditions on the ground months after the release of the CAO reports and considered how to bring about institutional improvements as the World Bank deals with the costs of complex and high-risk investments like those in Corporacion Dinant (Honduras) and Tata Ultra Mega (India).