IF-EYE Newsletter, Issue #7

28 July 2006

Updates on activity at the International Financial Institutions (IFIs) include: civil society highlights, World Bank anti-corruption framework update, ESSD dismantling and other related events.

IF-Eye
Issue 7: July 24, 2006
A publication of the Bank Information Center

Welcome to the July edition of the IF-Eye! In addition to providing updates on civil society and international financial institution activities, this issue provides some preliminary information on the upcoming IMF/World Bank Annual Meetings in Singapore (registration deadline August 4!). The issue also spotlights two critical conversations dominating the World Bank scene right now: the merger of the environment and infrastructure networks, and the development of the Bank’s anti-corruption framework. To offer feedback or unsubscribe please email .

1. IFI Updates
2. Civil Society Highlights
3. Spotlight: Mainstreaming or undermining sustainability? The merger of the World Bank's environment and infrastructure networks
4. Spotlight: World Bank governance and anti-corruption framework update
5. Annual Meetings update
6. Announcements and Resources
7. New at BIC: BIC seeking South Asia Program Regional Coordinator and South Asia Program Administrative/Finance Assistant
   

1. IFI Updates

World Bank: World Bank announces final agreement with Chad on oil revenue management. July 14, 2006. While the agreement has been heralded as a resolution to the protracted dispute between the two parties, some civil society observers remain skeptical that the government of Chad has any more will or capacity today to deliver on promises to use oil money for the poor than it did when the World Bank suspended lending to Chad in January of this year. The MOU, which will be in effect through 2007, leaves many questions unanswered and key details about oversight of spending and management of windfalls undefined. Read more: http://www.bicusa.org/bicusa/issues/africa/2892.php

European Bank for Reconstruction and Development: EBRD approves new Energy Policy. July 14, 2006. The new policy focuses on investment in energy efficiency, renewable energy projects, regulatory reform, and corporate responsibility. Read the policy on the EBRD website: http://www.ebrd.com/oppor/ngo/new/archive/prepene.htm. Some civil society groups that provided comments on the policy claim that the Bank did not adequately incorporate recommendations made during the review process. For more information contact: Klara Schirova () or Heike Mainhardt ().

World Bank: World Bank Senior Vice President for the Human Development Network Jean-Louis Sarbib retires. July 19, 2006. Sarbib will leave his position in mid-July. Current Director of Network Operations in the Human Development Network Nicholas Krafft will serve as Acting Vice President.

World Bank: The World Bank invites public comment on the development of its anti-corruption and governance framework outline. July 13, 2006. See issue spotlight below.

Asian Development Bank: ADB Names Eminent Persons Panel to Review Long-Term Direction. June 29, 2006. The panel will advise the institution on key trends and development challenges in the Asia/Pacific region, and is part of a mid-term review of the ADB's Long Term Strategic Framework (LTSF) for 2001-2015. Read more: http://www.adb.org/Media/Articles/2006/10145-ADB-long-term-strategy/default.asp

World Bank: World Bank environmental department absorbed into larger network. June 28, 2006. See issue spotlight below.

World Bank: World Bank cuts more funding to Cambodia. June 22, 2006. The World Bank suspended 13 contracts related to four Cambodian projects, bringing the total number of World Bank contracts suspended in the country to 43. The 43 contracts are associated with a total of seven projects, and are worth $11.9 million. Read more: http://www.bicusa.org/bicusa/issues/asia/2871.php

Asian Development Bank: ADB hosts Clean Energy Week. June 20-22, 2006. Read more on the ADB website: http://www.adb.org/Documents/Events/2006/Clean-Energy/default.asp. Read about Greenpeace protests of the event: http://www.greenpeace.org/seasia/en/press/releases/greenpeace-calls-for-energy-re

World Bank: Ana Palacio named Senior Vice President and World Bank Group General Counsel. June 19, 2006. Palacio will also serve as Secretary General of the International Centre for Settlement of Investment Disputes. Read more: http://www.bicusa.org/bicusa/issues/wolfowitz_watch/2849.php

Asian Development Bank: Draft Asian Development Bank Translation Framework available for public comment. Released on May 20, the framework outlines the ways in which the ADB will expand the extent of information made available in languages other than English. The ADB is seeking comments on this framework from external stakeholders until July 31, 2006. Send comments to the ADB at: disclosure@adb.org.
More information: http://www.adb.org/Documents/Guidelines/Translation-Framework/default.asp

External Review Committee on IMF-World Bank Collaboration invites public comment. The IMF and the World Bank have invited comments on proposed improvements to collaboration between the two institutions. Comments may be submitted to: erc@imf.org until September 15, 2006. Comments may also be submitted via electronic mailbox: http://www.worldbank.org/html/extdr/comments/bankfund/

International Finance Corporation updating environmental, health, and safety (EHS) guidelines as part of the new IFC Policy and Performance Standards on Social and Environmental Sustainability. The IFC will begin posting guidelines for 60 days of public comment on August 1. Submit comments at: www.ifc.org/ehsguidelinesupdate

Asian Development Bank taking comments on draft Translation Framework. Read the draft on the ADB's website: http://www.adb.org/Documents/Policies/translation-framework/default.asp. Email comments to disclosure@adb.org by July 31, 2006

Jubilee USA Network: New report: "The Unfinished Agenda on International Debt". July 12, 2006. The report analyzes the G8's unfinished debt agenda one year after the debt deal in Gleneagles. July 12, 2006. Read the report: www.jubileeusa.org/take_action/unfinished_agenda.pdf

Christian Aid: UK must pull the plug on World Bank to help the poor. July 5, 2006. Christian Aid has called on the UK government to withdraw its money from the World Bank and IMF, citing new evidence that the institutions' policies hurt the poor. Read the report: http://www.christianaid.org.uk/news/media/pressrel/060705p2.htm

International Rivers Network (IRN), Global Village Cameroon (GVC) and BIC: New report: In Whose Interest? The Lom Pangar Dam and Energy Sector Development in Cameroon. The report outlines concerns about the anticipated project impacts on the environment and local communities, and questions the dam as the best way to resolve the country's energy crisis. Read the report: http://www.bicusa.org/bicusa/issues/Lom_Pangar_Report_IRN_GCV_BIC_June06.pdf

Greenpeace: Greenpeace calls for energy revolution at the Asian Development Bank.
June 21, 2006. Greenpeace called on the Asian Development Bank (ADB) to advocate for stronger renewable energy policies and targets in its developing member nations. The group also urged the ADB to stop bankrolling dirty energy projects which exacerbate the dangerous impacts of climate change. Read more: http://www.greenpeace.org/seasia/en/press/releases/greenpeace-calls-for-energy-re

New Rules for Global Finance Coalition: New High-Level Panel formed to evaluate the Executive Board of the International Monetary Fund. June 19, 2006. Read more: http://www.new-rules.org/

Banktrack: Private financial sector watchdog comments on new version of the Equator Principles. July 7, 2006. Banktrack argues that while some improvements have been made, the Equator Principles fail to live up to their potential. Specific concerns include fundamental governance and accountability problems, as well as the need for more robust implementation systems. Read the statement on the Banktrack website: http://www.banktrack.org/?show=news&id=83

The Global Transparency Initiative: The GTI is drafting a Charter of Transparency Principles which establishes the standards and norms that should govern IFI disclosure policy and guide its practice. The Charter is the key discussion document for widening and extending the global IFI transparency and accountability debate. The Charter is available in English, French, Spanish, and Russian. To download the Charter, visit: www.ifitransparency.org

3. Spotlight: Mainstreaming or undermining sustainability? The merger of the World Bank's environment and infrastructure networks

Sustainable development is an elastic concept, accommodating divergent approaches to poverty alleviation, environmental protection, and social justice. But World Bank President Paul Wolfowitz may have just stretched it to the snapping point.

In BIC’s newest policy brief Mainstreaming or undermining sustainability? The merger of the World Bank's environment and infrastucture networks, Bruce Jenkins questions whether the merger will lead to greater environmental and social sustainability of Bank operations. A summary of the brief is provided below. Read the complete text on the BIC website: http://www.bicusa.org/bicusa/issues/Mainstreaming_or_undermining_sustainability.pdf

On June 27, World Bank President Paul Wolfowitz announced that he is merging the Bank’s central environment and social development departments into its infrastructure and energy units and that the new conglomeration will be called the “Sustainable Development Network” – to be led by the former Infrastructure Vice President. For the first time, large-scale infrastructure projects such as oil pipelines, mining operations, and transportation hubs will don the sustainable development label.

Will the merger lead to greater environmental and social sustainability of Bank operations? Or does it amount to a hostile takeover in which environmental and social development staff are reduced to an infrastructure service center?

Mainstreaming environmental and social sustainability into Bank operations has been a longstanding goal of internal Bank reformers and external critics over the past twenty years. Merging the Environmentally and Socially Sustainable Development (ESSD) and Infrastructure Networks could lead to improved, more sustainable development outcomes, provided that senior managers steer Bank operations in that direction. However, before everyone breaks out the champagne, several cautionary flags should be raised:

Some concerns

• An entrenched infrastructure agenda: Given the Bank’s push to aggressively expand infrastructure lending, environmental and social development staff may simply be grafted onto an entrenched agenda without being able to change its content or character.
• More mainstreaming? The reorganization does not affect the core drivers of the Bank’s policy agenda such as the Poverty Reduction and Economic Management (PREM) and Human Development Networks or the Development Economics Vice-Presidency. Absent Bank-wide commitments, sustainable development approaches will not be integrated “upstream” in sector and country strategies. The main problem is less a question of bureaucratic organization than one of political will.
• Loss of a semi-independent voice: The central environment unit, represented by its own Vice President, could serve as a counterweight to the “build it now, fix it later” factions. Merging ESSD and Infrastructure muddles this function.
• What about the safeguards? It is unclear how the merger will affect accountabilities for the safeguard policies. The merger will also increase external stakeholder skepticism regarding future safeguard revisions.
• More bureaucracy: The merger of the Infrastructure and ESSD units will create a “super vice presidency” at the Bank. The new network will now have lead responsibility for nearly 60% of the Bank’s portfolio. To oversee this sprawling “bank inside the Bank,” the new SDVP will most likely need further senior managers. The added bureaucratic layers may move former ESSD staff further away from senior decision makers.
• A “world-class environmental expert”? President Wolfowitz voiced his intent to create a new position for a "world class environmental expert". Dumping the position of a dedicated VP for sustainability and replacing it with a yet-to-be defined “world class environmentalist” (whom in all likelihood will be appointed by and report to the former Infrastructure VP) is an odd way of showing the Bank’s strengthened environmental commitment.
• And what happens in the regions? What effect will this merger have in the ever-powerful regional departments – where the Bank’s actual lending operations are housed?

President Wolfowitz, SDVP Sierra, and Bank managers need to demonstrate that the merger is not simply a maneuver to facilitate infrastructure expansion. Will it be business as usual or will the Bank place sustainability and the delivery of benefits to – and participation of – its poorest stakeholders at the core of decision-making?

Civil society has monitored the World Bank’s development of its anti-corruption and governance framework since the Development Committee asked World Bank President Paul Wolfowitz to clarify his anti-corruption plan during the World Bank/IMF Spring Meetings last April. Although there is support for the Bank's intention to weed out corruption in development lending, many groups have questioned the objectives and priorities of Bank interventions in this sensitive arena. The emphasis on top-down rather than bottom-up strategies, the extent to which the Bank plans to practice what it preaches and incorporate broader anti-corruption measures into its own practices, and the potential that the Bank will infringe upon national sovereignty have been cited as concerns.

Although the Bank released an early version of the framework outline in June, it has not publicly released the newest draft, dated July 20. Read the newest draft on the BIC website:

• Strengthening Bank Group Work in Governance and Anticorruption, Revised Draft, July 20, 2006: http://www.bicusa.org/bicusa/Strengthening%20Bank%20Group%20Work%20in%20Governance%20and%20Anticorruption%20Revised%20Draft.pdf

It is not clear whether the paper presented in Singapore will be a final document or still subject to change in the months following. Word is that the Development Committee expects a final version. If this is the case, the post-Singapore consultation meetings will likely focus on how to operationalize the strategy, rather than re-open debates about the approach.

Timeline

• Mid-July: Strategy outline disclosed on World Bank website
• July 20: Revised draft circulated to Board of Directors
• July 31-August 4: Regional consultation meetings (see below)
• August 3: Board of Directors discuss the revised draft
• August 4: Public comment period closes
• August 30: Board of Directors discusses and approves final paper
• Annual Meetings (September 19-20): Management presents strategy to the Development Committee

Consultation Process
The Bank has proposed an abbreviated comment period (from mid-July to August 4) prior to the presentation of the framework to the Board on August 30.

• July 31st, 10-12 noon (DC time) N. American and European NGO discussion at World Bank headquarters in Washington, DC
• August 1st, 9-11 a.m. (DC time). Middle East/Africa regional multi-stakeholder conference call or videoconference with Cameroon, Kenya, Nigeria, Uganda, and Yemen (Ethiopia or South Africa not confirmed). Led by Dani Kaufmann. Potential participants should contact their World Bank country director’s office directly. Participants will most likely dial in from the country director’s office.
• August 2nd, 9:30-11:30 a.m. (DC time). LAC regional private sector/civil society videoconference with Nicaragua, Honduras, Mexico, Guatemala and Bolivia, (Argentina, Paraguay and Brazil not confirmed). Led by Dani Kaufmann. Potential participants should contact their World Bank country director’s office directly. Participants will most likely dial in from the country director’s office.
• Aug. 4th, 10:30p.m.-12:30 a.m. (DC time). Asia regional multi-stakeholder conference call or videoconference with Bangladesh, Indonesia, Pakistan, Philippines, Vietnam, and Cambodia. Joel Hellman, the Indonesia Governance Advisor, will lead. Potential participants should contact their World Bank country director’s office directly. Participants will most likely dial in from the country director’s office.

A process for future consultation post-Annual Meetings will be announced after the Development Committee meeting in September 2006.

How to comment
Send comments to: until close of business on Friday, August 4, 2006. Or submit comments using the online form: http://www.worldbank.org/html/extdr/comments/governancefeedback/. Contact your world Bank country director to participate in conferences.

Read more on the BIC website: http://www.bicusa.org/bicusa/issues/misc_resources/2911.php

The World Bank/IMF Annual Meetings and related events will be held in Singapore between September 14 and 20, 2006. A group of civil society organizations is planning a simultaneous alternate forum in Batam, Indonesia (about 30 minutes from Singapore). Following is preliminary information on registration, travel and meetings for both events.

The BIC website provides timely information on both events, and is updated regularly: http://www.bicusa.org/bicusa/issues/misc_resources/2890.php

World Bank

• Calendar: The Annual Meetings and related events will be held in Singapore between September 14 and 20, 2006. A calendar of events will be posted on the World Bank website in early August: http://www.imf.org/external/am/2006/schedule.htm.
  
  -The Development Committee will meet on September 18, and the IMFC will meet on September 17. The actual Annual Meeting Plenary Sessions will take place on September 19-20.
  
  -Civil Society Dialogues are scheduled for September 14-20. Please send suggestions for Civil Society Dialogues to the World Bank External Relations Office as soon as possible: .
  
  -The Program of Seminars are scheduled for September 16-18.
  
• Accreditation for World Bank events: Civil society representatives must be accredited to participate in World Bank events. The accreditation system closes on August 4. Visit the World Bank website to begin the process: http://www-reg.wbimf-ams.org/external/public_Portal/cso_registration_instructions.esp?_sc=MEETING062&_pt=public
  
• Visas: Some visitors will need visas to enter Singapore. Find out more on the World Bank website: http://www.singapore2006.org/sections/travellers/visa.html

International People's Forum on the World Bank/IMF

With Asian movements taking the lead, an international group of networks, movements, campaigns and NGOs are convening an International Peoples Forum on the World Bank/IMF on September 15 to 17 on the Indonesian island of Batam (approximately 30 minutes from Singapore).

• Calendar:
  - September 15: Indonesia Open Forum
  - September 16-17: International Open Forum
  Plenary sessions, workshops and cultural events are planned for each day. Contact Lidy Nacpil (lidyjs@jubileesouth.org) if you would like to propose a session.
• Visas: Some visitors will need visas to enter Batam, Indonesia. Find out more: http:www.indonesianembassy.org.uk/consular_visa_type_arrival.htm

For more information on International People's Forum events please contact Chris Wangkay/INFID:

The UK Department for International Development (DFID) released new White Paper on the UK Government development agenda for the next 5 years. July 13, 2006. The paper proposes to establish a £100 million Governance and Transparency Fund to support civil society and the media's efforts to empower citizens to hold their governments accountable. Read the paper: http://www.dfid.gov.uk/wp2006/default.asp

Equator Principles Financial Institutions revise environmental and social standards. The standards are based on the International Finance Corporation's controversial new safeguard policies. Private financial sector watchdog Banktrack argues that while some improvements have been made, the Equator Principles fail to live up to their potential. Read the Equator Principles: http://www.equator-principles.com/. Read Banktrack's analysis: http://www.banktrack.org/?show=news&id=83

The Asian Development Bank and the ADB Institute released two e-learning toolkits to improve transparency and accountability in the delivery of public services in Asia. July 13, 2006. Read more on the ADB website: http://www.adb.org/Media/Articles/2006/10225-regional-e-learning-toolkits/default.asp

12th International Anti-Corruption Conference "Towards a Fairer World: Why is corruption still blocking the way?" November 15-18, 2006. Organizers: IACC Council, Transparency International, The Government of the Republic of Guatemala, Acción Ciudadana, TI National Chapter in formation. Contact: Roberto Pérez-Rocha at rprocha@transparency.org
or ärbel Carl at bcarl@transparency.org. Further information: http://www.12iacc.org

Kazakhstan joins BTC Pipeline. June 16, 2006. Kazakhstan has officially joined the Baku-Tbilisi-Ceyhan oil pipeline after the Kazakh and Azeri Presidents Nursultan Nazarbayev and Ilham Aliyev signed an agreement in Almaty on June 16, 2006. Until recently, Kazakhstan has been exporting oil west via numerous pipelines through Russia, including the Caspian Pipeline Consortium's pipeline to the Black Sea port of Novorossiisk, and a pipeline eastward to China.

Both positions will be based in BIC's New Delhi office, and will contribute to BIC's mission to amplify voices of local communities affected by World Bank and Asian Development Bank projects. Read more on the BIC website: http://www.bicusa.org/bicusa/issues/misc_resources/628.php

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