On February 22nd, a three-day consultation on the World Bank’s social and environmental safeguards policies began in Washington, DC. Safeguards policy consultations provide a space for civil society and government officials to discuss the proposed safeguards draft with World Bank representatives. The consultation in DC is one of over thirty such meetings taking place in …
BIC Forest Associate Rachel Baker co-wrote the following article with Beatriz Zavariz and Paulina Deschamps, originally posted on the Bretton Woods Project website. Beatriz Zavariz and Paulina Deschamps, Mexico, and Rachel Baker, Bank Information Center
New research from p4ges project and the UK ecosystem services for poverty alleviation programme: Livelihood projects designed to compensate for the local costs of conservation may not be reaching the right people A team of researchers from the University of Antananarivo in Madagascar and Bangor University in the UK have found that REDD+ social safeguards do not …
The World Bank Group is currently rolling out their new Country Engagement Approach, moving towards engagement based on rigorous analysis and the inclusion of citizens as active stakeholders. As input to this process, civil society groups who work to monitor and engage with the World Bank recently presented recommendations to the Bank as it refines …
On January 21 and 22, BIC hosted a child rights expert meeting to discuss how to operationalize the World Bank’s proposed new requirement to assess risks to children in its investment loans. The Bank’s latest draft of the updated safeguards, now known as the Environmental and Social Framework (ESF), was released in the summer of …
On December 28 2015, World Bank Group President Jim Yong Kim announced the cancellation of funding to the deeply troubled Uganda Transport Sector Development Project (TSDP), a project BIC’s child rights program has long been raising concerns about. The project cancellation was due to concerns over labor issues, social and environmental concerns, poor project performance, …
Access Bangladesh Foundation which advocates and promotes equality for disabled, underprivileged and extremely poor people in all spheres of life, through education, health care, appropriate training, employment, communication, and barrier free environment released a video on the World Bank funded Skills and Training Enhancement Project (STEP) in Bangladesh. The video, a summary of the in-depth …
Sixteen faith groups have sent a letter to World Bank President Jim Yong Kim, calling on the Bank to adopt a Zero Deforestation Policy: The Paris climate agreement is meant not only to begin a transformation of the world’s energy systems, but also to save the world’s forests. Dozens of countries put forests at the center …
During the 4th Annual UN Forum on Business and Human Rights in Geneva from November 16-19, 2015, BIC’s Maggie Federici participated in a panel entitled Development Finance Institutions: Human Rights Obligations and the Right to Remedy. Development finance institutions (DFIs) have a mandate to alleviate poverty and promote sustainable development. But, in many cases, projects funded by …