This post is also available in: Arabic
Yemeni civil society repeatedly asked for a translation of a 2007 World Bank document entitled “Institutional Policy Reform Development grant” and was refused
Location: Yemen
Total Cost: US$51 million
Funding: World Bank
Status: On-going
On January 16, 2008, a group of civil society organizations submitted a formal request for the project document for the Institutional Policy Reform Development grant to be translated into Arabic. The manager of the Yemeni World Bank office replied on January 20th thanking these organizations for their interest and “high level of awareness” of the development process in their country and summarily stated that “like all other project documents – it is available only in English, since this is the official language to be used in all the transactions and contracts between the Government of the Republic of Yemen and the World Bank.” He apologized for not being able to translate the document due to other commitments, though he hoped that the civil society groups could translate it themselves.
On January 31 of 2008, civil society leaders again submitted a request to the Yemen country manager to revisit his translation policy, with 25 local organizations signing on in support. The civil society groups specifically stated that:
“Civil society organizations understand quite well the importance and the volume of the role the World Bank is playing in the economic reform and integrated and sustainable development processes, including the projects posted on its website in the field of education, port cities, irrigation, energy, public works, and localities. However, we stress that posting those projects only in English limit excessively our ability to participate effectively and actively.
While civil society organizations understand what you mentioned in your previous letter regarding the difficulties you face in translating projects and documents into Arabic, we still hope that you would kindly apply the measures that ensure the transparency and accessibility to those program documents, especially by providing us with the Institutional Reform Program in Arabic…This will definitely reinforce the partnership between us in sharing the responsibility and performing our expected role towards the present causes and future challenges facing our country.”
As of April 9, 2009, the civil society organizations have yet to receive a reply.
Translation Issues
The lack of access to pertinent project documentation prior to its approval is a major obstacle to civil society participation. Unfortunately, this is the rule rather than the exception as the Bank does not release early project concept notes. Project information that is released before approval is often not kept up to date. Environmental and social assessments are disclosed before approval, but the Bank withholds complete descriptions of projects and programs (the Program Document/Project Appraisal Document, PAD) until after approval. The lack of information prior to project approval is a consistent concern of development and transparency activists.
Although English is the official language of the Bank, it routinely translates general information and its flagship publications into Arabic, Mandarin, French, Portuguese, Russian and Spanish. However, for projects, only borrower governments bear translation responsibilities, and these are quite limited (such as summaries of environmental assessments and plans related to resettlement or indigenous peoples). Additionally, project information that is translated is difficult to locate. Core Bank documents on projects, such as Project Appraisal Documents or Program Documents, such as development policy loans, are rarely translated.
Transparency Issues
On December 6, 2007, the World Bank’s Board of Directors approved the Institutional Policy Reform Development grant, though it wasn’t until December 11th that the 80-page Program Document [PD, a more detailed companion to the brief Program Information Document (PID)] was posted on their website. Though dated April 2007, the Bank posted a PID consisting of a mere 6-page summary of the project on December 12, 2007, after the posting of the PD and after the grant had been approved by the Bank’s Board of Directors! The chronology of these events was in clear violation of the Bank’s information disclosure policy, as it stipulates that a PID is to be released before project approval and a PD is released following the Board’s approval of a given project. Furthermore, the project was never listed on the proposed projects list prior to Board approval.
According to the World Bank translation framework, the translation of any program or project-related document is left up to the country manager’s discretion. The Bank’s disclosure policy also requires borrowing governments to translate certain project documents (for the use of parliamentarians, etc.); however, the Bank does not require the government to then submit these translated documents along with the English documents, which would then automatically be disclosed upon receipt by the Bank.
Taking it to the World Bank’s Inspection Panel
The Yemen Observatory for Human Rights sumitted a formal complaint to the World Bank’s Inspection Panel on April 13, 2009.
Read the Correspondence
Notice of Registration – Re: Request for Inspection – Yemen: Institutional Reform Development Policy Financing, Werner Kiene, World Bank’s Inspection Panel, April 20, 2009Increased Disclosure
As civil society, we ought to be pushing for a more substantive Information Disclosure Policy. See BIC’s World Bank Transparency Review Page for more information. (also available in Arabic). We should also be seeking broader translation of World Bank documents.
Increased Implementation
According to the World Bank, it is the responsibility of the borrower to translate key documents. If this is the case, we call on the Bank to ensure that this is in fact being done! It is likely that key documents are being translated anyway to be read by state officials, etc. In light of this, the borrower should HAVE to submit the translation to the World Bank, at which point the Bank should disclose that translation, making it publicly available to anyone who seeks to read it.
Inspection Panel Documentation
Notice of Registration – Re: Request for Inspection – Yemen: Institutional Reform Development Policy Financing, Werner Kiene, World Bank’s Inspection Panel, April 20, 2009World Bank Documents
World Bank Policy on Disclosure of Information, 2002 (World Bank website)The Bank’s current policy governing disclosure of information. Approved by the Bank’s Board of Directors on August 30, 2001. “Toward Greater Transparency: Rethinking the World Bank’s Disclosure Policy.” 2009 (World Bank’s Approach Paper for the review of the Information Disclosure Policy) Translation Framework for the World Bank: Progress in Implementation, December 8, 2006 (World Bank website)