2 September 2010
In an effort to influence the outcome of an August 31st World Bank Board of Executive Directors' meeting where the Board planned to discuss Lebanon's new Country Partnership Strategy (CPS), a group of Lebanese CSOs submitted a letter to the Board expressing their concerns with the the CPS and the process through which it was prepared.
In early August 2010, the World Bank made public Lebanon's new Country Partnership Strategy (CPS) approximately three weeks prior to the Board meeting wherein the Board would be approving this CPS for FY11-FY14.
In an effort to influence the outcome of that meeting, a group of Lebanese CSOs, namely the Lebanese Physical Handicapped Union (LPHU) and the Arab NGO Network for Development, and with the support of Christian Aid UK's Lebanon office, analyzed the CPS and produced a letter to send to the Bank's Board of Directors, addressing it primarily to Mr. Merza Hasan, the Executive Director who represents Lebanon on the Board.
The letter addressed several issues including the lack of transparency and inclusiveness of the consultation and drafting process of the CPS; the absence of disability and inclusion criteria in the strategy; and concerns with the CPS' emphasis on the financial and tourism sectors at the expense of productive sectors such as agriculture and industry.
The CSOs will be submitting a more detailed position paper at the end of September 2010 but meanwhile, they ask that the Board take their concerns into account when voting on the CPS and that the Board/management outlines a clear process through which CSOs can be engaged throughout the implementation of the CPS.
For now, we will wait to hear how the Board meeting on August 31st went through reading the Board meeting's Summary of Discussion, which according to the new disclosure policy, should have been released after the Board's discussion. We are still waiting. Alternatively Mr. Merza Hasan might send a letter to the concerned CSOs letting them know how the meeting went. Ideally, both sources will come through.
Read letter to the World Bank
Lebanese CSOs' letter to the World Bank Board of Directors regarding the Country Partnership Strategy FY11-FY14, August 2010 8/30/2010 (PDF, 371KB)
Further resources
Lebanon Country Partnership Strategy FY11-FY14, World Bank, July 28, 2010 (PDF, 956KB)
World Bank releases first set of simultaneously disclosed documents, Bank Information Center, August 4, 2010 (BIC website)
World Bank releases Lebanon strategy document - a first, by Toby McIntosh, freedominfo.org, August 5, 2010 (freedominfo.org)
The World Bank Group's strategies in MENA countries, Bank Information Center, March 16, 2010 (BIC website)
World Bank's Access to Information webpage (World Bank website)
BIC's World Bank transparency campaign webpage (BIC website)