Policies and Issues Overview page

5 December 2003

Web pages listed within this category reflect some broad issues of concern to civil society regarding Multilateral Development Bank (MDB) activities. BIC has partnered with NGOs around the world to engage in policy reform for some of these issues aimed at creating fundamental changes within the MDBs that empower citizens to influence decisions that affect them. These policy reform activities are reflected in these pages.

BIC’s approach to its work on these issues is driven by three key principles: promoting increased citizen participation in MDB activities, greater transparency, and strengthened accountability at these institutions. Learn more about these issues and related policies from the links below.

BIC’s “Civil Society Guide to IFI Policy Reviews” provides a comprehensive list of all current MDB policy reviews, including important dates during the review process, links to MDB documents and webpages related to the different policies, and critical civil society analyses of these different policies and review processes.

Policies and Issues

• Participation
• Transparency (information disclosure at the MDBs)
• Accountability (mechanisms for holding the MDBs accountable to their policies and to their stakeholders)
• Environmental and Social Policies (includes information about BIC’s work on MDB Safeguard Policies as well as other related topics)
• IFI Governance
• Indigenous Peoples (reflects the work of BIC’s Indigenous Peoples Program, including details of the World Bank Indigenous Peoples Policy revision and the creation of an IDB policy framework for indigenous peoples
• Poverty Reduction and Country Strategies (country-level strategies that guide Bank lending portfolios for each country)
• Structural Adjustment
• Sectoral Issues- sub-divided into:
  • Energy and Extractive Industries
  • Environment