6. Announcements and Resources
7. Work at BIC: Job openings at BIC!
Vacancy: World Bank Inspection Panel
4/3/2008 World Bank Inspection Panel
The World Bank’s Inspection Panel is recruiting qualified applicants to fill a vacancy in its three-member team. The closing date for applications is April 21, 2008.
Vacancy Announcement for Inspection Panel Member (World Bank Inspection Panel website)
Read More (World Bank Inspection Panel website)
World Bank again accused of tolerating corruption in Kenya
4/3/2008 World Bank
A Wall Street Journal editorial targets corruption in World Bank projects in Kenya, spurring renewed complaints about the Bank’s alleged contribution to a climate of loose ethics and corruption in the Kenyan government.
Kenya and the World Bank, Wall Street Journal, March 6, 2008 (Wall Street Journal website)
Read more (BIC website)
ADB blamed for rice crisis in Philippines
4/2/2008 Asian Development Bank
Advocates of food sovereignty have blamed the Asian Development Bank (ADB) for a looming rice shortage in the Philippines. The Asia Pacific Network on Food Sovereignty (APNFS) told the Philippine Daily Inquirer that the ADB's loan conditions have pressured the government to "deregulate and privatize" agriculture.
ADB loan conditions blamed for rice crisis by Jocelyn Uy, March 29, 2008 (Philippine Daily Inquirer website)
Read more (BIC website)
World Bank endorses $476 million loans for Azerbaijan
3/29/2008 World Bank
The World Bank Board of Directors has agreed to loan Azerbaijan $476 million to finance infrastructure development and comply with international accounting standards. With these projects, the World Bank has increased its portfolio on Azerbaijan from $1.072 billion up to $1.548 billion.
Read more (World Bank website)
As poverty increases in Palestine, World Bank continues to link aid to austerity measures
3/25/2008 World Bank
Donors, led by the World Bank, still insist on linking aid for the Palestinian Authority to the removal of subsidies from basic services, in spite of a recent Bank study that highlights increasing poverty and unemployment rates in the West Bank and Gaza. The suggested cuts in the wage bill in the security, health and education sectors could further hinder Palestine’s ability to achieve the Millennium Development Goals (MDGs).
Read more (BIC website)
Struggle over succession at the EBRD
3/24/2008 European Bank for Reconstruction and Development
A struggle over selecting the successor to the President of the European Bank for Reconstruction and Development (EBRD) has divided donor and recipient countries in a manner that is reminiscent of the recent debates over succession at the World Bank and the International Monetary Fund.
Read more (BIC website)
Jubilee Act passes U.S. House Financial Services Committee
4/3/2008 Jubilee USA Network
Jubilee USA Network, an alliance of more than 80 religious denominations, development agencies and human rights groups, heralded the passage by voice vote in the House Financial Services Committee of the Jubilee Act for Responsible Lending and Expanded Debt Cancellation (HR 2634). The legislation calls on the U.S. Treasury Department to negotiate at the International Monetary Fund (IMF) and World Bank for an agreement for debt cancellation for up to 24 additional poor countries that need cancellation to meet the Millennium Development Goals (MDGs) but do not currently qualify for the current IMF/World Bank debt relief Initiative.
It is anticipated that the legislation will be considered by the full House of Representatives the week of April 7.
Get more information and watch a webcast of the hearing (House Financial Services website)
Learn more about The Jubilee Act (Jubilee USA website)
Indigenous peoples neglected by realigned IDB
4/3/2008 Bank Information Center
In the recent realignment of the Inter-American Development Bank (IDB), what was known as the Indigenous Peoples and Community Development Unit was repackaged and folded into a new Gender and Diversity Unit (GDU). As a result indigenous issues are now demoted within a Bank that touts its credentials for social inclusion.
Read more (BIC website)
ADB holds U.S. consultation on safeguards policy; NGOs do not attend
4/2/2008 Multiple organizations
As part of its North America leg of consultations, the Asian Development Bank (ADB) held a half day event in Washington, DC on April 1, 2008 to seek feedback on its draft Safeguard Policy Statement. Several NGOs declined attendance in support of the position taken by the NGO Forum on ADB which calls for a "halt" in consultations given the weakness of the consultation draft.
Read more (BIC website)
Advocacy letter on IMF consultations framework by global civil society
3/25/2008 Multiple organizations
A group of 17 civil society organizations representing 10 countries and several international groups have sent a letter to the International Monetary Fund (IMF) calling for a consultations framework to be put in place, premised on the timely disclosure of information. The letter highlights the unacceptably secretive manner in which the IMF has pursued the reform of its governance structure, as well as the lack of any substantive documentation on the Fund's internal restructuring processes.
Read the full text of the letter (MS Word Doc, 96 KB)
Read more (IFIwatchnet website)
World Bank’s climate funds may undermine UNFCCC talks
3/17/2008 Third World Network
Non-governmental organizations (NGOs) have expressed serious concerns over the World Bank’s proposed US$7-12 billion portfolio of climate investment funds, including criticism that the initiative led by a handful of G8 countries will undermine existing multilateral negotiations on climate change, under the United Nations Framework Convention on Climate Change (UNFCCC) and create conflicting parallel mechanisms for delivering climate-related financing.
World Bank’s climate funds may undermine UNFCCC talks by Celine Tan, March 17, 2008 (Third World Network website)
Food riots hit West and Central Africa
3/13/2008 West and Central Africa
Rising global food prices have led to outbreaks of civil unrest in West and Central Africa. While the International Monetary Fund (IMF) and the World Bank plan their responses to the growing crisis, Cameroon, site of worst strife, relaxes IMF policies on wages and prices.
Read more (BIC website)
4/4/2008 BanglaPraxis, Bank Information Center, International Accountability Project, Urgewald, World Development Movement
The Director of the Asian Development Bank’s (ADB) Private Sector Operations Department, Robert Bestani, notified the Bank’s Board of Directors that it will take the Phulbari Coal Project in Bangladesh out of the Bank’s funding pipeline. The ADB’s Board was slated to approve a US$100 million loan and US$200 million political risk guarantee for the project on June 3, 2008.
This comes as another major blow to UK based company GCM Resources Plc, (formerly known as Asia Energy), which aims to establish one of the world’s largest open pit coal mines near the town of Phulbari in northwestern Bangladesh. GCM/Asia Energy was forced to shut down its operations and flee the project area after a major protest of over 50,000 people in August 2006 resulted in three deaths and hundreds being injured as government-backed paramilitary forces fired upon the protesters.
National opposition to the project has been led by the National Committee to Protect Oil, Gas, Mineral Resources and Ports (NC). Although its General Secretary, Professor Anu Muhammad, has received death threats and its local leader, Mr. Nuruzuman, was publicly tortured by the military in February 2007, the NC and others have remained undaunted in their opposition to the Phulbari coal mine.
View the entire press release (BanglaPraxis website)
The 2008 Annual Meeting of the Inter-American Development Bank (IDB) will be held April 4-8 in Miami, Florida. Keep informed of the latest information on the IDB and civil society events organized around the upcoming meeting at BIC's 2008 IDB Annual Meeting page.
IFIwatchnet is running an exciting blog on events and breaking news on the IFIs, written by guest bloggers from civil society. Check it out, and share your own views on the IDB Annual Meeting!
The blog is certainly a great way to fuel and advance many of the conversations taking place in the meeting and promote civil society perspectives.
If you need a password to access the IFIwatchnet website please write to Inés Campanella at inescamp@item.org.uy or register here. Posting information in the site is very easy but please don't hesitate to contact Inés if you encounter any problem. Contribute your own thoughts! Please feel free to write either in English or Spanish.
Also be sure to check out the new IDB Watch daily - a publication by civil society groups working to reform the Inter-American Development Bank (Acrobat pdf 1658 KB).
The 2008 Spring Meetings of the World Bank and the International Monetary Fund (IMF) will be held over the weekend of April 12-13 at the World Bank and IMF Headquarters in Washington, D.C.
The International Monetary and Financial Committee (IMFC) will be held on Saturday, April 12 and the Development Committee (DC) will be held on Sunday, April 13.
As in previous years, the Civil Society Policy Forum, a program of policy dialogues for Civil Society Organizations (CSOs) will be organized alongside the Spring Meetings. The Civil Society Policy Forum will be held from Thursday, April 10 through Sunday, April 13. Information about discussions being planned for the Forum is available here and will be updated frequently as we near the date of the Meetings.
Read the latest information on World Bank and civil society events organized around the upcoming World Bank/International Monetary Fund (IMF) Spring Meetings and how to get involved on BIC's website.
Be sure to post any events you are planning around the 2008 Spring Meetings on IFIWatchnet. Please let us know if you are planning to be in Washington, DC during the Annual Meetings by adding your name to the "Who's in Town" page on IFIWatchnet.
Special spring meetings edition of Bretton Woods Update
Co-produced with Afrodad, Bank Information Center, Choike, and Eurodad
In this issue:
- World Bank climate funds: "a huge leap backwards"
- IMF governance renovations: fresh paint while foundations rot by Peter Chowla, Bretton Woods Project
- COMMENT: Camisea and the World Bank: A lost opportunity to make things better by César Gamboa, Derecho, Ambiente y Recursos Naturales
- At issue: Facilitating whose power? World Bank and IMF policy influence in Nigeria's energy sector by Lucy Baker, Bretton Woods Project
- A taxing agenda for the IMF by Alex Wilks and Marta Ruiz, Eurodad
- World Bank and procurement: Development tool or TNC sop?
- Bank both player and referee in road to Accra by Lucy Hayes, Eurodad
- Europe questions IFIs on conditionality: whose outcome? by Nuria Molina, Eurodad
- IFIs foot dragging on key debt issues by Nancy Dubosse, Afrodad
- World Bank strategic review kicked into long grass
- Leaky logic: dams in three countries questioned by Soren Ambrose, Bank Information Center and Lucy Baker, Bretton Woods Project
- Forest carbon facility: "more harm than good"?
- The Bank, Brazil and biofuels by María José Romero, Choike
- IFC challenges highlighted in the Middle East: Doing Business indicators come under fire by Amy Ekdawi, Bank Information Center
- Calls for Bank to uphold human rights
- Rural electrification: "financial viability" over welfare
- Inside the institutions: The World Bank and health
- Training for nothing?: IFIs asked to surrender reins over capacity building
- The IMF in Argentina: the search for relevance by María José Romero, Choike
...and more.
View the complete special Spring Meetings edition of the Bretton Woods Project Update (Bretton Woods Project website)
Intern, BICECA project, Latin America program: BIC's Latin America Program seeks an Intern will work to provide support to our partners in Latin America and to strengthen our ability to work with and support civil society in the region. The Latin America Program Intern should possess excellent analytical, writing abilities as well as IT knowledge; preferably experience with database and websites. The intern should have demonstrated research skills and an interest in social justice issues. Excellent English and Spanish spoken and written language skills are essential.
Intern, Middle East and North Africa Program: BIC is looking for an intern (full or part-time) for its Middle East and North Africa Program. This a paid internship based in Washington DC. An internship at BIC is ideal for individuals seeking greater understanding of the international financial institutions (including the World Bank and IMF), multilateral institutions, development, human rights and the environment. BIC interns interact with environment and social justice activists throughout the world. Interns will also be encouraged to attend relevant events and meetings with other civil society organizations and at the World Bank. Our informal, dynamic structure enables interns to become immersed in BIC's day-to-day operations and gain extensive practical experience and knowledge of the IFIs.
Get full details of these positions on BIC's jobs and internships page (BIC website)
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