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18 July 2017
World Bank Simplifies Process for Access Decisions
By Toby McIntosh The World Bank Board has altered its procedures for handling requests for certain, typically older, Executive Board documents, possibly hastening their disclosure, or nondisclosure. The decision, made late last year, subtly alters the handling of requests for documents that are “eligible” for disclosure, meaning that there is no exemption that would bar […]
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5 April 2017
World Bank Denies Access to Document on Access Policy
By Toby McIntosh Requests for documents about the World Bank’s Board of Directors take many months to process and are often unsuccessful, even for very old documents, according to a FreedomInfo.org examination of Bank records. The delays appeared to have prompted a proposal for “streamlining” the handling of such requests, but the fate of that […]
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15 December 2016
World Bank Assesses Access As Part of Open Data Studies
By Toby McIntosh The World Bank evaluates national access to information (ATI) regimes as one of many factors to indicate whether governments are prepared for an open data initiative, according to a Freedominfo.org review. The scoring system for ATI is generous, but some of the assessments are quite critical. ATI is just one of many […]
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23 November 2016
World Bank May Speed Access to Board Documents
The World Bank is working to amend its access to information policy to “streamline” responses to requests for Board documents, but is keeping its proposed changes secret. Under the current system, in which the Board itself must act on requests for Board documents, requesters, including FreedomInfo.org, have experienced substantial delays. The time required for Board […]
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10 October 2016
World Bank Official Agrees to Meet With ATI Community
By Toby McIntosh A top World Bank official promised Oct. 7 to meet with representatives of the access to information community early in 2017 to discuss World Bank activities in the ATI area. The Bank remains committed to ATI, with regional and national Bank offices now taking the lead, said Debbie Wetzel, Senior Director of […]
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5 October 2016
Kim Dodges Question About World Bank ATI Capacity
By Toby McIntosh World Bank President Jim Yong Kim Oct. 5 dodged a question about why the Bank decimated its staff capacity to work on access to information issues. The president sidestepped the inquiry at a public meeting with civil society organization by saying the Bank never had “an access to information unit” and so […]
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5 October 2016
World Bank Board to Decide On Releasing 1971 Document
The World Bank Board may soon decide whether to release the full transcript of a 1971 meeting. Five pages on an unknown topic were blacked out from the 18-page, 45-year-old document requested by FreedomInfo.org. The transcript is of the 1971 meeting of the Bank Executive Directors. There were about agenda items, including one about an […]
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12 September 2016
World Bank Invites Comment About Governance Report
The World Bank has requested public comment — by Sept. 16 — on a new version of a controversial report about the role of power imbalances in development policy. The “Green Cover” version of the 2017 World Development Report (WDR), posted Sept. 9 on the Bank website, addresses the general topic of governance. It “seeks […]
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19 August 2016
World Bank to Consult on Report About Governance
The World Bank in early September will seek public comment on a major report about the role of power imbalances in development policy. The initial draft of the report, known as the “yellow cover” version, made its way outside the Bank informally in June as it was being reviewed internally. (See previous FreedomInfo.org report.) The […]
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12 August 2016
World Bank VP Blasts Draft Governance Strategy Report
The World Bank vice president who oversees strategy on governance issues has criticized a draft report recommending that the Bank focus more on unequal national political power as a key inhibitor of development. Jan Walliser expressed “strong reservations” about the report in a four-page memo obtained by FreedomInfo.org. He asks that “the conceptual framework” of the […]
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1 August 2016
Draft World Bank Report Stresses Governance Role
By Toby McIntosh A draft World Bank report stresses that more attention be paid to national political dynamics and power sources when designing development programs. “Policies can be blocked, captured, or rendered ineffective because their design did not account for asymmetries in bargaining power,” the report emphasizes, calling for more intensified and sophisticated evaluation. The 415-page report, […]
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28 July 2016
NGOs Critically Examining Bank Governance Strategy
By Toby McIntosh The World Bank’s emerging thinking on governance issues is receiving somewhat critical early reviews from non-governmental organization leaders. Clues about Bank’s potential directions in this area are coming from selectively circulated drafts of the Bank’s World Development Report 2017 (due out later this year). The report’s theme is “rethinking the role of […]
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7 July 2016
World Bank Reducing Support for GPSA Fund
By Toby McIntosh The World Bank is halving its contribution to the Global Partnership for Social Accountability (GPSA), a multi-donor fund that supports transparency and accountability initiatives, according to new budget figures. The Bank’s cutback has particular significance because a top Bank official recently cited the Bank’s support for the GPSA as evidence of the […]
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29 June 2016
NGOs Seek More Information About World Bank ATI Plans
The World Bank needs to provide more concrete answers about its stated commitment to access to information, according to the leader of an ad hoc coalition of 130 nongovernmental organizations. The Bank has eliminated the three staff positions of persons who worked on global freedom of information issues, sparking a letter of concern from the […]
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20 June 2016
World Bank Official Says Bank Committed to ATI Work
The World Bank “remains fully committed to the implementation of access to information in client countries, notwithstanding internal organizational changes that you refer to,” a top Bank official said June 18. The commitment came in a reply to a June 6 letter from more than 130 nongovernmental organizations that expressed concern that the Bank has […]
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6 June 2016
NGOs Protest Cutbacks in World Bank FOI Effort
Some 130 organizations have written to World Bank President Jim Yong Kim to express concern that the Bank “has significantly downgraded its capacity to pursue a global right to information agenda at a time when the World Bank’s role in this area is needed more than ever before.” The letter initiated by the Africa Freedom […]
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26 May 2016
World Bank Cuts FOI Staff; Trio of Veterans Leaving
By Toby McIntosh The World Bank has decimated its capacity to pursue a global freedom of information agenda. Three veteran staffers who encouraged the creation and implementation of national FOI laws are leaving the Bank following a reorganization. Departing are Marcos Mendiburu, Luis Esquivel and Victoria Louise Lemieux, essentially the entire staff working on FOI […]
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19 May 2016
World Bank Records Diminishing Requests
The number of requests filed through the World Bank’s Policy on Access to Information declined from 700 in 2010 to 474 in 2015, “due to the Bank’s proactive and systematic efforts to disclose information online,” according to the Bank’s fifth Access to Information Annual Report and a blog post about it by Hannah George. More than […]
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12 May 2016
Canadian Court Upholds World Bank Immunity
The Canadian Supreme Court has found that the World Bank’s immunity shield protects it from having to produce certain files from its bribery probe in Bangladesh that led to Canadian criminal charges against three former employees of SNC-Lavalin Group Inc., the country’s largest engineering firm. The April 29 decision is described in Lawyers Weekly, CTV News […]
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5 May 2016
World Bank Partially Denies Request for Nigerian Info
The World Bank has partially denied an appeal by a Nigerian group for information about allegedly embezzled funds. The World Bank said the Socio-Economic Rights and Accountability Project (SERAP) was 15 days too late to appeal and thus declined to examine SERAP’s contention that the Bank had failed to provide all of the requested information. However, […]
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10 February 2016
Nigerian Group Appeals Denial by World Bank
A Nigerian non-governmental organization has asked the World Bank to reconsider its denial of information about corruption by a former general and de facto Nigerian president. The Socio-Economic Rights and Accountability Project (SERAP) has sent an appeal to Access to Information (AI) Appeals Board challenging the World Bank’s Nov. 25, 2015, decision “to provide patently […]
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16 December 2015
World Bank Appeals Panel Backs Bank Secrecy Decision
By Toby McIntosh The three-member outside review panel has upheld the World Bank’s refusal to disclose documents about a controversial procurement in Serbia. (See decision.) Gordana Andric of The Balkan Investigative Reporting Network requested documents about a review that Bank conducted into Serbia’s procurement process of a controversial Bank-funded project to pump water out of […]
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21 July 2015
Transparency of aid agencies: Are those high grades deserved?
By Jeffrey Gutman The author is a Senior Fellow in the Global Economy and Development. He is the former vice president of Operations Policy and Country Services at the World Bank and has held various other operational positions during his 30-plus-year career at the Bank. His research focuses on issues of infrastructure, urban development and […]
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15 July 2015
Report Sees Disclosure Gap on Aid Implementation
A major weakness of transparency policies at the World Bank and other aid agencies is the lack of information about the implementation of projects, according to a Brookings Institute report. “What is evident is that there remains a critical gap, especially when it comes to the timely and accessible disclosure of information during project Implementation,” […]
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2 July 2015
World Bank Notes Fifth Anniversary of Access Policy
The World Bank’s access to information policy (AI) has turned five years old, an anniversary recognized by the Bank with a blog posting, a press release and a short quiz. The blog post cites two examples on how Bank information is used and requests other examples. The posting also includes an infographic. The posting says: The policy […]
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9 April 2015
Oxfam Report Faults World Bank Transparency
The new report by the British-based group Oxfam and others has identified transparency gaps in the operations of the World Bank’s private sector lending arm. In particular the report examines lending done through “financial intermediaries” and reports that disclosure has been lacking. The report concluded: Another worrying discovery is that of the 49 investments the IFC made […]
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26 February 2015
World Bank Rejects Request for Serbian Project Report
The World Bank Feb. 18 officially rejected a request by a Serbian journalist for reports on the procurement process concerning a concerning the procurement process for a controversial Bank-funded project in Serbia to pump water out of the flooded coal mine. (See previous FreedomInfo.org report.) “While there is no single World Bank report on the […]
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12 February 2015
World Bank Denies Access to Procurement Review Reports
By Toby McIntosh The World Bank, despite being a major supporter of “open contracting,” restricts access to its own reports on “post-procurement reviews.” Most recently, the Bank refused to disclose a report concerning the procurement process for a controversial project in Serbia. Investigative journalists in Serbia have raised questions about the qualifications of the contractor […]
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20 November 2014
Secrecy Option Proposed for Bank Forest Carbon Fund
The World Bank’s Forest Carbon Partnership Fund is aiming to allow confidential treatment for the terms under which countries would receive payments for conserving forests. The policy is still under development, but three nongovernmental organizations recently objected to giving countries the option of secrecy in the still developing system in which the Fund will pay […]
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8 August 2014
World Bank Publishes Information on Contracts
By Toby McIntosh For the first time, the World Bank has published information on large contracts it makes for goods and services, mainly consulting services. The datasets put on the Bank’s website Aug. 8 arrived 10 months later than planned and temporarily contain less data than promised. The disclosures reveal Bank contracts valued at over […]
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31 July 2014
World Bank Ready to Disclose Its Contracts; 10 Months Late
Ten months behind schedule, the World Bank is about to begin the promised disclosure of information about its own contracts, Freedominfo.org has learned from a Bank official. The information – contractor name, a brief description of services and the contract amount — was to be published on the World Bank Group’s Open Finances website beginning […]
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26 June 2014
Appeals Body Says World Bank Violated Access Policy
By Toby McIntosh The World Bank violated its access to information policy in several ways when it denied a request for information from FreedomInfo.org, according to a decision by the three outside experts who decide appeals. The Access to Information Appeals Board said the Bank must disclose the requested documents – the information requests sent […]
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2 June 2014
World Bank Posts First Group of Access Request Digests
The World Bank has posted for the first time short summaries of some of the information requests it has received. The 32 listed requests were received in April and were recently put on the Bank’s website. Under the Bank’s new policy a summary of a request is only disclosed if the requester agrees. No names are provided […]
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24 April 2014
World Bank to Summarize Request Letters; Permit Veto
The World Bank in May will begin publishing summaries of requests made in April under its access to information policy, unless a requester objects, according to Bank officials. Requesters in April saw a new message: To further transparency, the World Bank (“Bank”) intends to disclose information regarding access to information requests submitted to the Bank as […]
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4 April 2014
FreedomInfo.org Appeals World Bank Denial
FreedomInfo.org has appealed a World Bank decision not to release a month’s worth of the requests under the Access to Information policy, stressing that redaction could solve the Bank’s concern over disclosing personal information. The Bank declined to redact information that might be covered by exemptions to the AI policy, saying redaction is not mandatory under […]
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21 March 2014
World Bank Declines to Use Redaction Procedures
By Toby McIntosh The World Bank’s vaunted “presumption of disclosure” comes with a caveat – all or nothing. Unlike most national and international right to information regimes, the Bank appears unwilling to redact (black out) portions of a document and release the rest. The Bank’s restrictive redaction practice – seemingly at odds with its stated […]
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17 January 2014
IFC Violated Disclosure Policy, Watchdog Says
The World Bank’s private sector lending arm, the International Finance Corporation (IFC), violated IFC disclosure policies in connection with a controversial loan in Honduras, according to the IFC’s investigative branch. The report by the Compliance Adviser/Ombudsman (CAO) concerned the IFC’s investment in Corporación Dinant in Honduras, a palm oil and food company “which has been […]
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25 July 2013
World Bank to Disclose More on Its Contracts
The World Bank will soon begin disclosing more about contracts valued at more than $250,000. The information – contractor name, a brief description of services and the contract amount — will be published on the World Bank Group’s Open Finances website. The new disclosures, to be done quarterly, will begin Oct. 1, covering the period […]
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21 June 2013
World Bank Issues More on Trust Funds; Still Limited
By Toby McIntosh The World Bank is disclosing increasingly more information about the hundreds of “trust funds” that account for about 10 percent of Bank operations, but there’s still no easy way to get a complete picture of individual trust fund operations. A number of pro-transparency steps have been taken, and more moves are being planned. […]
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19 April 2013
World Bank Officials Praise Impact of Access Reforms
The World Bank has decided to bring more openness to its own procurements, an official said April 18. The Bank will soon make available information about Bank contracts, notwithstanding an exemption it gave itself in the 2010 access policy, according to Paul Bermingham, who chairs the Access to Information Committee. He also is director, Operational […]
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11 March 2013
World Bank Audit Questions Transparency of IFC Lending
By Toby McIntosh The World Bank “knows very little” about the environmental and social effects of lending done through “financial intermediaries,” according to an extensive critique by an internal watchdog. The report also raises questions about restrictions in the World Bank’s disclosure policy concerning such lending, in which intermediaries such as private banks receive Bank […]
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4 March 2013
World Bank Appeals Board Issues First Decisions
The World Bank’s external appeals board has issued its first two decisions, both confirming denial decisions made by the internal Access to Information Committee (AIC). In one decision, the Appeals Board agreed that reports on the implementation of a controversial transportation project in India should not be disclosed. The decision draws attention to a change in the Bank’s […]
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4 January 2013
World Bank Planning More Transparency for Trust Funds
The World Bank is planning to allow more access to information about the operations of trust funds it administers, according to a new report evaluating the first 18 months of its revised Access to Information Policy. The Dec. 19 report, placed on the Bank website without an announcement, reviews the Bank’s performance, providing many statistics. […]
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4 January 2013
Groups Urge World Bank to Expand Disclosure Policy
More than 180 international development groups recently sent the World Bank a letter about its broad review of “safeguard” policies, including some suggestions about transparency. The safeguard policies are intended to prevent harm to communities and their surrounding environment from Bank projects and programs. The bulk of the Dec. 20 joint statement is concerned with various […]
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26 October 2012
IFIs Rate Low on Access by Publish What Your Fund
International financial institutions fared poorly in the “freedom of information” category of the recently issued ratings by Publish What Your Fund. Although the development banks ranked high overall on the 43 factors used, their scores in the access to information category merited red dots. The red dots signified “poor legislation” in the category, just one […]
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1 October 2012
Publish What You Fund Reports Improved Picture
Publish What You Fund on Oct. 1 reported that “donor transparency is on the rise but continues to fall short of best practice.” In a report ranking 72 donor organizations on their levels of aid transparency, the organization said, “This is particularly disappointing at a time when transparency is critical to ensuring confidence in aid […]
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18 September 2012
World Bank to Publish AI Decisions Upon Issuance
The World Bank has decided to publish online all the decisions by the internal body that rules on access to information appeals, eliminating a delay caused by the current system. The decisions by the Access to Information Committee have been published in quarterly and annual reports, but now will be posted on the AI website […]
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3 August 2012
World Bank Conducting Survey on Access Policy
The World Bank Aug. 2 announced a survey “on the public’s experience with accessing information from the institution.” This will be the second such survey since the Bank implementing its Access to Information Policy in 2010. “We hope to receive your views so that we may use them to further improve our ability to serve […]
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20 July 2012
Access Sought to World Bank Reports on Bangladesh
Efforts are being made to obtain public access to two reports sent by the World Bank to the Bangladesh government about possible corruption surrounding a major bridge project. Release of the reports is at the discretion of the government, which so far as declined to disclose them. Another World Bank report on the same project, […]
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8 June 2012
World Bank Reverses Decision; Releases Draft Egyptian FOI Law
The World Bank’s Access to Information Committee has reversed an earlier decision and granted FreedomInfo.org access to draft freedom of information legislation for Egypt, prepared by a Bank consultant. The Bank had denied access to the document on March 20, asserting that it was covered by the “deliberative information” exception under the Bank’s Access to […]
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7 June 2012
World Bank Releases Sanctions Decisions
The World Bank has begun releasing the full decisions of its Sanction Board, which considers whether to bar companies from Bank-funded work. Late last year the Bank started posting summaries of the Board’s decisions, and it took the next step on May 30 when it announced the release of seven decisions in eight cases. […]
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26 April 2012
World Bank Approves Social Accountability Fund
The World Bank Board of Executive Directors April 19 “approved in principle” the creation of a $20 million effort “to scale up and support social accountability by beneficiary groups and civil society organizations in developing countries.” The Board in June will review operational details of the proposed Global Partnership for Social Accountability and the Bank […]
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12 April 2012
World Bank Provides Open Access to Research
The World Bank April 10 announced that it has consolidated more than 2,000 books, articles, reports and research papers in a search-engine friendly Open Knowledge Repository. The Bankwill allow the public “to distribute, reuse and build upon much of its work—including commercially.” The Bank said it is “the first major international organization to require open […]
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13 March 2012
World Bank Reports on Year One of Disclosure Policy
The World Bank has issued a statistics-filled report on the first year of what it now calls its “radical” disclosure policy, which went into effect in July 2010. The amount of information available increased, as did the numbers of requests, the Bank shows. Almost 90 percent (89.1) percent of 705 public access requests were fulfilled […]
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25 February 2012
Google, the World Bank, and Public-Private Data Partnerships
By Nathaniel Heller Heller is Managing Director of Global Integrity, a Washingon-based nongovernmental organization, and this was posted Feb. 24 on the Global Integrity blog. On Wednesday, several organizations, including Global Integrity, met with the open data team at the World Bank to discuss open data trends as well as concerns over the recently-announced partnership […]
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10 February 2012
World Bank Consulting on Accountability Concepts
The World Bank is a beginning stakeholder consultations on its Global Partnership for Social Accountability initiative “aimed at strengthening beneficiary feedback and participation by supporting civil society capacity to engage with governments to improve development effectiveness.” Having sought out initial reasons in 2012, the upcoming effort will seek comment on “key concepts” that have been […]
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3 February 2012
World Bank’s New Lending Tool Less Than Transparent
By Karen Orenstein Orenstein is International Policy Campaigner for Friends of the Earth U.S. This article first appeared Jan 31, 2012, on the FOE blog. The World Bank last week decided to take a significant step backwards on social and environmental protection and transparency. The Bank’s board voted to approve Program-for-Results, also known as PforR, […]
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27 January 2012
World Bank Evaluator to Release Research Data
The World Bank Independent Evaluation Group Jan. 27 announced that it has made available the data backing up its review of the Bank’s governance and anticorruption efforts (GAC). The, IEG has disclosed “its entire data set of results from its desk review of GAC elements in Bank projects and country programs.” The office further explained, “Disaggregated […]
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27 January 2012
World Bank Comments on Google Arrangement
By Nathaniel Heller Heller is Managing Director of Global Integrity, a Washingon-based nongovernmental organization, and this was posted Jan. 23 on the Global Integrity blog. A Jan. 20 Heller post describes his conversations with Bank officials on the topic. Last week we covered the unfolding debate over the World Bank’s decision to make Google Map […]
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20 January 2012
World Bank Document Raises Controversy in Philippines
The disclosure of a World Bank document indicating possible misuse of Bank funds in the Philippines has raised a controversy and raised questions about the handling of such Bank documents. The Bank’s aide memoire details “ineligible expenditures” to support a judicial reform project. New reports indicate that the Bank’s aide memoire was provided to Philippine […]
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20 January 2012
Worries about Google’s Deal with the World Bank
By Nathaniel Heller Heller is Managing Director of Global Integrity. His article appeared on a Global Integrity blog. Yesterday we tweeted that we were hearing concerns about the recently signed deal between Google and the World Bank that will allow the Bank to provide Google’s Map Maker platform to governments and multilaterals around the world. We’ve […]
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6 January 2012
IFIs Faulted for Exemptions in Disclosure Policies
International financial institutions (IFIs) have “overbroad regimes of exceptions” in their transparency policies, according to a report issued by the Centre for Law and Democracy. Particularly troublesome are the exceptions relating to internal deliberations and third-party commercial information, according to the CLD report, prepared as a member of the Global Transparency Initiative, an international coalition advocating […]
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12 December 2011
World Bank Posts Digest of Sanctions Board Decisions
The World Bank Dec. 9 announced the creation of a Sanctions Board Law Digest, “publicly detailing for the first time the rationale behind how the Bank Group holds entities accountable for fraud, corruption, and other wrongdoing.” The independent Sanctions Board makes final decisions in contested sanctions cases. The Sanctions Board also will start releasing its […]
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14 October 2011
World Bank Proposal Said to Undercut Access Policy
A World Bank proposal to revamp a substantial portion of its lending program would circumvent existing transparency requirements, among other things, according to critics. The disclosure implications of the so-called Program for Results (P4R) are negative, according to civil society group comment letters. The proposed policy “leaves the public uninformed about how funds are being […]
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9 September 2011
Public Interest Appeals to World Bank Unsuccessful
Appeals to the World Bank to release information “in the public interest” that otherwise is deemed confidential under Bank policies have been unsuccessful so far, according to Bank reports. However, in a recent appeal case, the Bank’s Access to Information Committee decided to use its own prerogative to release otherwise exempt materials. The decision came […]
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2 August 2011
IFC Issues New Policies, Including on Disclosure
The World Bank’s private sector lending arm, the International Finance Corporation, has issued a new disclosure policy. The policy, approved May 12 and effective Jan. 1, 2012, is part of a larger package known as the “Sustainability Framework.” The Sustainability Framework revises IFC policies on many topics – including environmental and social polices – and […]
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29 July 2011
Groups Urge World Bank to Reinvigorate B-SPAN
Several organizations have written to World Bank President Robert Zoellick urging him to expand funding for B-SPAN, the Bank’s internet-based webcasting system. The issue was highlighted in an article by David Wheeler of the Center for Global Development, a Washington think-tank on development issues, and mentioned in a July 2 New York Times article. Begun […]
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22 July 2011
World Bank Posts Data on Finances, Urges Exploration
The World Bank has posted data online on its own finances. “The goal of this website is to make data related to the Bank’s financials available to everybody in a social, interactive, visually compelling, and machine readable format,” according to the website. The data covers “portions of the Bank’s investments, assets it manages on behalf […]
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22 April 2011
World Bank Issues Annexes to Access Handbook
The World Bank has released “attachments” to the staff handbook on how to follow the new access to information policy, after having resisted their release for months on the grounds that they concerned “Corporate Administrative Matters.” The Bank voluntarily released the attachments “A” and “C” after having persuaded the internal Access to Information Committee to […]
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15 April 2011
World Bank Names Winners of Apps Contest
The World Bank April 14 named the winners of a contest to develop digital apps using the Bank’s data. The three winning apps “all feature unique approaches to pressing development challenges,” according to the Bank release which listed the winners: First Prize Winner – StatPlanet World Bank (Australia): With this powerful app, you can visualize […]
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7 April 2011
Zoellick Says Work Bank Promoting Transparency
World Bank President Robert B. Zoellick April 6 lauded the Bank’s work on making itself more transparent and helping national governments become more transparent, and noted the revival of interest in freedom of information in Egypt and Tunisia. His comments came in a speech to the Peterson Institute for International Economics about the Middle East and […]
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21 January 2011
World Bank Sets Rules on Public Interest Review
The World Bank Access to Information Committee has determined that the World Bank staffers, not the committee, will make the calls on requests for documents under five years old when the requester argues that disclosure is in the public interest notwithstanding valid justifications for nondisclosure. For documents over five years old, however, the committee will […]
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24 December 2010
IFC Issues Redrafted Disclosure Policy Proposal
The World Bank’s private sector lending arm, the International Finance Corporation, has issued a new proposal on access to information that continues to be more restrictive than the World Bank’s own new policy. During “Phase III” of its consultations, the IFC is organizing general and thematic consultations in different parts of the world. Phase III […]
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22 December 2010
World Bank Issues Report on First Months of New Policy
The World Bank’s first report on its new Access to Information policy recounts a major internal education effort, reviews the levels of requests, and reveals some of the first interpretations of the policy since it went into effect July 1. The early interpretations indicate a willingness to consider redacting material so as to protect certain […]
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5 November 2010
WB Pledged to Disclose Extinct Meeting Summaries
By Toby McIntosh In the spring of 2009, in the midst of consultations about a new disclosure policy for the World Bank, pro-transparency advocates urged the Bank to disclose the “Summaries of Discussion” prepared for many years about the meetings of the Bank’s Executive Board. The summaries, for internal use only, described what was said […]
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22 October 2010
Academics Top Requesters Under New Bank Policy
The World Bank received 160 information requests in the first three months of its new Access to Information policy, according to a recent presentation by a Bank official. Between July 1 (the effective date of the policy) and Sept.30th, the World Bank had received 160 information requests; 100 of which were granted, 10 were denied […]
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15 October 2010
World Bank Releases Few Summaries of Meetings
By Toby McIntosh The “summaries” of World Bank Executive Board meetings now being disclosed under the Bank’s new Access to Information policy are substantially shorter and less comprehensive than the summaries prepared before the Bank agreed to release them, according to a Freedominfo.org review. In addition, the Bank has not disclosed summaries for all the Board meetings […]
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9 October 2010
World Bank Offers Prizes for Apps Using Bank Data
The World Bank has offered prizes for the developers of software applications using World Bank data. The software applications must raise awareness of one or more of the Millennium Development Goals (MDGs) or contribute toward meeting them. Submissions may be any kind of software application, be it for the web, a personal computer, a mobile […]
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29 September 2010
BIC Leader Suggests More Uniform IFI Disclosure Policies
International financial institutions should align their disclosure policies, according to the director of a leading advocacy group favoring more liberal IFI disclosure policies. Chad Dobson, the executive director of the Bank Information Center in Washington, made his suggestion Sept. 28 at a forum sponsored by the Collaboration on Government Secrecy, affiliated with the American University […]
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28 September 2010
BIC Issues Guide to World Bank Information
The Bank Information Center, a Washington-based nongovernmental organization, has issued a “toolkit” to finding information at the World Bank. The document, “Unlocking the World Bank’s Access to Information Policy,” was written by former Bank information expert Veronique Danforth, and has a secondary headline, “Your Key to the Vault.” The guide not only describes the Bank’s […]
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3 September 2010
Lebanese CSOs React to Disclosure of Strategy
It’s still early days for the World Bank’s new policy of disclosing certain documents in advance of Executive Board meetings, so lessons about it are just trickling in. The policy gives interested parties a last chance to comment on upcoming decisions, but the window of opportunity is small, as some Lebanese civil society organizations learned […]
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5 August 2010
World Bank Releases Lebanon Strategy Document, A First
By Toby McIntosh The World Bank Aug. 4 issued the first documents under its new “simultaneous disclosure” policy, including a proposed Country Partnership Strategy for Lebanon. Under the new disclosure policy, the public gets a look at certain key proposals at the same time they are sent to the Exective Board. However, it took a […]
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16 July 2010
IFC Rewrite of Disclosure Policy Criticized
The International Finance Corporation’s proposed changes to its disclosure policy are inadequate, according to environmental and development policy groups. Their critiques were voiced recently during a consultation meeting with staff members at the IFC, the World Bank’s private sector lending branch, and are being repeated during other IFC-sponsored consultations now underway. The IFC is simultaneously […]
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2 July 2010
World Bank Inaugurates New Disclosure Policy
By Toby McIntosh The World Bank July 1 began applying its new disclosure policy, with enhanced web pages and the announcement of the three members on its appeals body. One of the major reforms in the new policy is the “simultaneous disclosure” to the public of staff recommendations on projects and policies as they are […]
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28 May 2010
IFC Draft Disclosure Policy: Minuses and Pluses
The World Bank’s private sector lending arm has proposed a new disclosure policy that offers a few advances, but generally falls short of the standard set late last year by its parent organization. Among other things, the International Finance Corporation has not followed suit on the disclosure of staff recommendations in advance of board meetings.
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23 April 2010
World Bank Expands Access to Statistical Data
The World Bank April 20 announced increased access to its statistical databases and challenged the global community “to use the data to create new applications and solutions to help poor people in the developing world,” according to its press release. The Bank Group said it is providing “free, open, and easy access to its comprehensive […]
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1 April 2010
Groups Seek Transparency for Aid to Haiti
As a major conference on aid to Haiti began in New York March 31, a coalition of nongovernmental organizations made a series of pro-transparency recommendations. The recommendations “highlight the need to change the way donor states provide aid, by empowering the Haitian people; strengthening the Haitian government’s capacity to guarantee human rights; and making assistance […]
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12 March 2010
Civil Society Groups Seek More Disclosure by IFC
A consortium of civil society groups March 8 urged the IFC to be more responsive to environmental and social concerns, and also suggested a variety of disclosure policy reforms. These comments, signed by nearly 100 organizations from 38 countries, were submitted as the IFC conducts a review of the implementation and effectiveness of its Social and…
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14 January 2010
Inspection Panel Case Plants Seeds of Cultural Change at World Bank
A complaint brought by a Yemeni organization to the World Bank’s Inspection Panel has produced some positive and unexpected results: a much delayed translation of a key program document that had sparked the original complaint, and an ambitious action plan, drawn up by the Bank’s Middle East and North Africa (MENA) management, which aims to further […]
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24 December 2009
Simultaneous Disclosure Another Major Improvement
One of the topics that remained under discussion was a change perhaps equally important to the adoption of a presumption of disclosure. The Board, despite some dissension, took a major step toward letting the public know what more about staff recommendations and its own deliberations. In 2001, the Bank started posting advance agendas for its […]
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2 December 2009
World Bank Cautious on Media Development
The goal of strengthening the media as one way to fight corruption was adopted by the World Bank in 2006, but the promise has gone virtually unfulfilled, according to research by freedominfo.org.
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18 November 2009
World Bank Board Broadens Access in New Disclosure Policy
The World Bank’s executive directors November 17 approved a new policy on access to information that will mean significantly more transparency about Bank decision making and operations. The Bank’s press release said, “The new policy represents a fundamental shift in the Bank’s approach to disclosure of information—moving from an approach that spells out what documents it can […]
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4 November 2009
GTI Praises, Criticizes World Bank Disclosure Proposal
The World Bank’s proposed disclosure policy falls well short of its potential, but it still will bring greater transparency to the Bank, according to the Global Transparency Initiative, an international nongovernmental organization. The GTI November 3 sent the Bank extensive new comments, including many recommendations to improve the policy, which the Bank’s Executive Board is scheduled […]
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12 October 2009
World Bank Paradigm Shift for Disclosure Policy Subject to Variety of Limitations, Caveats, Exceptions
The World Bank staff October 2 proposed a new disclosure policy that would take some big steps, but also some sidesteps. The draft on which public comment has been invited probably will be discussed by the Executive Board November 17. It contains a wide range of improvements, including: a real likelihood that more documents would […]
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11 September 2009
IFC Announces Plans to Review Disclosure Policy
The World Banks private sector lending arm, the International Finance Corporation, announced a review of its disclosure policy on September 8, a 15-month process to be done in conjunction with a review of its environmental and social policies. The IFCs July 23, 2009, report analyzes its experience with the environmental, social, and disclosure policies adopted […]
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11 September 2009
Rep. Frank Urges World Bank to Make Transparency Reforms
US Congressman Barney Frank (D-Mass.) said September 10 that the World Bank should improve its disclosure policy and remove the anti-labor bias from its Doing Business report or else risk reduced US funding. Franks message was delivered at a hearing of the House Financial Services Committee at which academics and other witnesses advocated for greater […]
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9 September 2009
World Bank May Disclose Documents Going to the Board
The World Bank may be moving toward major breakthroughs in transparency for its Executive Board, according to informed sources. One change being contemplated would provide for the public release of key staff recommendations at the same time they are sent to the decision-making board. The demand for such simultaneous disclosure has been a longstanding one […]
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19 June 2009
World Bank Internal Evaluation Group Posts Disclosure Policy
On June 18, the World Bank’s Internal Evaluation Group (IEG) posted its 2004 disclosure policy on its home page for the first time. The absence of the policy came to light because of indications that IEG plans to rewrite its policy after the Bank completes a rewrite of its disclosure policy, an effort now under […]
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1 June 2009
No Consultation Planned for IEG Disclosure Policy Review
With the Bank as a whole reconsidering its disclosure policy, the IEG is planning an update of its own. The Bank has released an “Approach Paper” outlining its ideas for changes, but IEG plans has not issued a proposal and plans to wait until the Bank’s policy is approved before taking parallel action, an IEG […]
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28 May 2009
Bank Proposal Called Too Broad
The Bank has proposed to follow the principle that most documents should be disclosed, subject to stated exceptions, but the GTI called the suggested exemptions “overly-broad.” “Most of the exceptions proposed in Section C of the Approach Paper do not refer to specific interests that might be harmed. Instead, they describe either a category of […]
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26 May 2009
Secret Summaries of World Bank Meetings Illuminate Proceedings
The “minutes” of the World Bank’s executive board meetings, released publicly, are brief notations of the official action, usually one paragraph. They reveal almost nothing about what transpired during the closed deliberations. The “summaries,” by contrast, describe the key points of discussion. They condense, without names, the comments made by the executive directors. The […]
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30 April 2009
World Bank Disclosure Proposal Assessed at Consultation
The World Banks proposals to alter its disclosure policy were praised for moving in the right direction but criticized for not going far enough at a three-hour consultation held April 25 in Washington, DC. Peter Harrold, Director of Operations Services at the World Bank, indicated some areas of potential flexibility. He welcomed suggestions that the […]
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21 April 2009
Yemeni Group Says Lack of Translation Inhibited Transparency
On April 13, 2009, the Yemen Observatory for Human Rights, a civil society organization based in Sana’a, officially submitted their case regarding the World Bank’s translation framework to the World Bank Inspection Panel. The forthcoming case is the culmination of the Bank’s rejection of repeated requests by Yemeni civil society groups to translate a key […]
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21 April 2009
Disclosure Allegations about the West African Gas Pipeline Project
In 2006, a case was brought to the Inspections Panel over the controversial West African Gas Pipeline Project. The list of disclosure-related allegations was extensive. According to the complainants, although West African Gas Pipeline Company (WAPCo) periodically consulted landowners, other stakeholders were wrongly excluded and the overwhelming majority of our people were not consulted during […]
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8 April 2009
World Bank Consultation Plan Slow Developing
Weeks after announcing plans for consultations on a proposed new disclosure policy, the World Bank April 6 provided dates for the first nine of 30 planned world-wide consultations sessions, giving a week’s notice for the first one. The first meeting is planned for April 13 in Russia, followed by April 14 sessions in Indonesia and […]
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17 March 2009
International Donors Engage Vietnam on Press Freedom
International donors are encouraging the Vietnamese government to improve the environment for the media there after a widely condemned year of repression. Whether the unusual behind-the-scenes pressure makes a difference remains to be seen, but the coordinated action may be a precursor to further international pressure on this front, long considered highly sensitive. International donors […]
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17 March 2009
Hello, Hello: Calling the World Bank
Finding the World Bank’s front door in order to ask for nonpublic information isn’t easy. Here’s the right answer: pic@worldbank.org Value that answer; getting it took a while. Here’s my saga. Actually, I started in the right place and then got more and more confused. When I first wrote pic@worldbank.org I asked simply if they […]
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17 March 2009
World Bank Rejects Disclosure of Aide Memoires
The World Bank has rejected a request by a civil society group for a key document about a major water project in the Punjab province of Pakistan. The denial is not unexpected — it follows the letter of the Bank’s disclosure policy — but is very frustrating to Mushtaq Gaadi, who works with an […]
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16 March 2009
Reasons for Reform Cited
The World Bank March 13 announced plans to review its disclosure policy, unveiling an “Approach Paper” that moves in the direction of more transparency. Significantly, the Bank’s proposal includes a “paradigm shift,” meaning that the “presumption of disclosure” will be judged against a set of exemptions. This approach has long been advocated by […]
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27 January 2009
World Bank Expands Disclosures on Debarments
The World Bank has expanded its policy of disclosing the names of firms and individuals banned from doing business with the Bank. In a Jan. 11 announcement, the Bank said it will reveal the names of firms and individuals barred from providing goods and services directly to the institution. Under existing policy, the Bank discloses […]
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22 December 2008
World Bank, Others to Support CSOs with New Funds
A new “Global Partnership Facility” holds the promise of new resources for civil society groups working on governance and anticorruption issues, including freedom of information and media development. The $65 million four-year initiative being administered by the World Bank is designed to “strengthen governance programs and further the fight against corruption,” according to a Dec. […]
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22 December 2008
World Bank Emphasizes Demand Side in Cambodian Project
Shifting strategic emphasis, the World Bank is taking a new approach to its work with Cambodia, one that among other things will mean funneling money to civil society organizations in an effort to stimulate demand for better governance. The new direction is known as “demand for good governance” (DFGG) and contrasts fundamentally from the traditional […]
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1 December 2008
International Lenders Permit Georgia to Limit Release
of Information; Groups Protest Lack of Transparency Transparency was a casualty when international donors gathered recently to consider emergency aid to Georgia. Civil society groups requested disclosure of the primary document to be discussed at the multi-donor conference — the “Joint Needs Assessment.” On the day before the meeting, a summary was released by the […]
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24 September 2008
Bank Report Relates Media and Development
Broadcasting, Voice, and Accountability: A Public Interest Approach to Policy, Law, and Regulation, a World Bank project, is a multi-author, book-length treatment that examines the relationship of the media to governance and development. The report also explores “the enabling environment for the media,” with special emphasis on “promoting plural and independent broadcasting.” The book is […]
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16 May 2008
Canadian Government Reports on IFI Activity Get Good Grade
The Canadian government’s annual reporting on its activities at international financial institutions is getting better, according to the authors, and to a Canadian civil society group which recently gave the latest report its best grade ever. The Halifax Initiative said the report on 2007 activities merited a B+, up from last year’s rating of B-, […]
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30 January 2008
World Bank Details Disclosure Plan for Fraud, Corruption Reports
The World Bank in late January said it will disclose redacted reports on its fraud and corruption investigations, but not the resulting “action plans.” The Bank’s disclosure intentions came as part of its endorsement of the findings of an internal working group that reviewed a report by an outside group concerning the bank’s investigative operations. […]
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18 January 2008
Zoellick Orders Release of World Bank Report on Corruption in India Projects
World Bank President Robert Zoellick ordered the disclosure recently of a World Bank investigation showing “serious incidents” of fraud and corruption in five Bank projects in India. It was the first time the Bank had disclosed a “Detailed Implementation Review,” conducted by the Department of Institutional Integrity. His action was praiseed by Transparency International-USA. A […]
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12 December 2007
World Bank Grants Access to Database on Loan Conditionality
The World Bank has granted researchers access to an internal database used to track the conditions placed on Bank loans, an action that bodes well for similar transparency requests. The unusual grant of access helped the European Network on Debt and Development (EURODAD) to create a report somewhat critical of the Bank, as indicated in […]
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20 September 2007
Volcker Report Urges More Transparency at World Bank
The new “Volcker Report,” critiquing the World Bank’s internal investigations unit, makes several recommendations in favor of greater transparency. The report was commissioned to review the work of the Bank’s anti-corruption unit, the Department of Institutional Integrity (INT)-headed by Suzanne Rich Folsom, an appointee of former Bank President Paul Wolfowitz. The panel was chaired by […]
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28 August 2007
World Bank Issues Implementation Plan for Anticorruption Strategy
The World Bank has released its long-awaited “implementation plan” for its governance and anticorruption strategy, a document much shorter and less specific that the guiding Bank “strategy” set in March. There are some new revelations, however. The implementation plan issued Aug. 21 for the first time reveals a budget, $14.8 million for fiscal 2008. And […]
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12 April 2007
World Bank Hires Washington Law Firm to Probe Leaks
Almost 10 weeks after announcing plans to investigate leaks of internal documents to Fox News, the World Bank has hired a Washington, D.C., law firm to conduct the probe, according to an announcement made internally April 9. The firm of Williams & Connolly has been selected to examine not only the first leak, of board […]
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9 February 2007
Wolfowitz Launches Probe Into Leak of Board Meeting Minutes
World Bank President Paul Wolfowitz has launched an internal investigation into who provided Fox News with the “raw” minutes of a World Bank board meeting in January, a document that transparency advocates say should routinely be made public. The internal probe comes in the wake of an article critical of Wolfowitz and the bank, done […]
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13 November 2006
World Bank Anticorruption Strategy May Spark Changes in Disclosure Policy
Adoption of a new anticorruption strategy at the World Bank may lead to changes in the Bank’s disclosure policy. The broad suggestions of such changes must still be converted into specific proposals, however–a process that has only just begun. If fully implemented, the changes could bring about improved transparency on proposed Bank projects and their […]
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22 September 2006
World Bank Disclosure Policies Change Slowly
Notwithstanding periodic reviews and modest advances, the World Bank’s disclosure policies continue to shield many important documents from disclosure. Take, for example, the baby step forward in 2005 to release minutes of Board meetings. An advance, no doubt, but the minutes themselves are skeletal. The much more useful "summaries" of Board meetings, though carefully-worded to […]
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4 August 2006
World Bank Continues Work on Anticorruption Strategy
Liberally sprinkled with references to “transparency,” the latest internal World Bank draft anticorruption strategy appears to follow through on President Paul Wolfowitz’s pledge to increase investment in the areas of media and freedom of information. While lacking in operational details, the “revised draft” of July 20, 2006, obtained by freedominfo.org, calls for a new stress […]
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17 July 2006
UNDP Seminar Spotlights Complexity of Expanding Right to Know
By Toby McIntosh Fostering the right to know in developing countries requires multi-faceted, flexible strategies, according to the minutes of a May 2006 seminar sponsored by the United Nations Development Program. The 31 seminar participants, with practical experience in many parts of the world, reviewed the impediments to improving government transparency and shared insights on […]
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13 April 2006
Wolfowitz Stresses Media and FOI as Anticorruption Tools
World Bank President Paul Wolfowitz on April 11 put “the media and freedom of information” at the heart of his anti-corruption agenda, raising intriguing, if yet unanswered, questions about the specifics of his plans. “I will be asking my staff in high-risk countries to develop a strategy to mobilize all World Bank instruments — loans, […]
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22 March 2006
Freedom of Information Laws Added to the Development Agenda
By Toby McIntosh Riding a wave of transparency, the idea of encouraging Freedom of Information (FOI) laws as part of the development agenda is gaining currency, but slowly. With research and case studies increasingly identifying transparency as a key tool in fighting corruption and facilitating development, more attention is being paid to the development of […]
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20 January 2006
New Steps Toward IFI Transparency: The Use of Domestic Remedies
Mexico established a landmark precedent for the application of national freedom of information laws to the activities of international institutions when its Information Commission on Nov. 16, 2005 ordered the disclosure of documents related to a $108 million World Bank loan to the state of Guanajuato, México. The decision by the Federal Institute for Access […]
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14 September 2005
Documents Spur Public Debate about World Bank Involvement in Awarding Contract for Delhi Water Deal
World Bank and Indian Anti-corruption Group Trade Charges about Bidding Process Documents released recently under Delhi’s freedom of information law raised a major public controversy over World Bank involvement in contract bidding and fueled a public debate over possible privatization of the Delhi water system. On July 28, Indian anti-corruption group Parivartan, citing internal documents […]
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9 August 2005
Pakistan Newspaper Reports on Nonpublic World Bank Document
A newspaper in Pakistan has written about a nonpublic World Bank report evaluating ten years of World Bank activities in Pakistan and shedding light on the process of preparing such major evaluations. The evaluation report is generally unfavorable to the World Bank, according to the Business Recorder, which wrote about the conclusions in a July […]
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18 March 2005
World Bank to Release Board Minutes, Make Other Modest Reforms
The World Bank Board of Executive Directors on March 8 approved the release of its minutes, but pulled back substantially from several other disclosure reforms that have been under discussion for months. By joining the Inter-American Development Bank in releasing board minutes, the World Bank may help foster a trend among international financial institutions. Whatever […]
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21 December 2004
IFC Provides freedominfo.org With Draft Confidentiality Agreement
The World Bank’s private lending arm, the International Finance Corporation, uses confidentiality agreements with its clients to protect business information from disclosure, but treats such information as confidential with or without such agreements, according to an IFC explanation provided to freedominfo.org. How the IFC should handle business information is one of several main issues being […]
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21 December 2004
IFC Reformulates Draft Disclosure Policy, Slightly The International Finance Corporation, having previously described its proposals for disclosure of information in a "concept paper" has now reformulated its thinking in a "working draft." The Nov. 24 draft issued by the World Bank’s private sector lending arm consists of three parts, each four pages long, and appears […]
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21 December 2004
World Bank Pulling Back on Transparency Pilot Project
The World Bank’s board of executive directors is resisting pro-transparency reforms recommended by Bank president James Wolfensohn, cutting back particularly on his proposals to experiment with the release of “draft” materials. It now appears that the board has decided against a proposal to let the public see a handful of key documents at the same […]
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30 September 2004
MIGA Intends to Review Disclosure Policies After IFC Finishes
The World Bank’s insurance branch, the Multilateral Investment Guarantee Agency, is planning to review its own disclosure policies, probably beginning early next year. MIGA’s process, expected to take a year or more, will commence once the International Finance Corporation, the Bank’s private sector lending arm, completes its ongoing disclosure policy review, according to Judith Pearce, […]
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30 September 2004
Parliamentarians Seek Larger Role in IFI Decision-Making
Parliamentarians around the world are intensifying their request to be "systematically involved in formulating and monitoring development policies related to IMF and World Bank operations within their own countries." Those are the key words from a petition being circulated by the Parliamentary Network on the World Bank (PNoWB) in conjunction with an international coalition of […]
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30 September 2004
Activists Criticize IFC Consultations; IFC Expands Consultations
The International Finance Corporation has increased the number of consultations it will hold on proposed disclosure and safeguard policy revisions after the outreach process came under criticism by activists as inadequate and rushed. The changes were announced just before the IFC held its first consultation, in Buenos Aires Sept. 27, where attendance was about half […]
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7 September 2004
IFC Issues Broad Guidelines for New Disclosure Policy
The International Finance Corporation, the World Bank’s private sector lending arm, has issued a "concept paper" on disclosure policy, outlining "principles," "objectives," and "frameworks," but providing few specifics and making few changes in current policies. For relevant documents click here. The generality is intentional, in part because the document is meant to provide the basis […]
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6 August 2004
IFC Discusses "Concept Paper" on Disclosure Policy
The International Finance Corporation, having announced plans to review its six-year-old disclosure policy, appears to be starting with a very general statement of concepts likely to disappoint transparency advocates. A draft of a July 13 “Concept Paper” provided to freedominfo.org “attempts to define the framework for a new approach to disclosure issues.” The document, recently […]
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6 August 2004
World Bank Backs More Transparency for Oil Revenues
While deciding to continue investing in oil, gas and mining ventures, against the advice of an internal report, the World Bank Board of Directors Aug. 3 said it would insist on greater transparency about the revenues from such projects (http://www.worldbank.org/ogmc/). The Bank "will begin requiring disclosure of revenue figures for new major extractive industries projects […]
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21 July 2004
Four MDB’s Fail to Protect Whistleblowers, Group Finds
The protection of whistleblowers at four major multilateral development banks is deficient, according to a report by The Government Accounting Project. Using a 24-point checklist, the Washington-based nongovernmental organization said none of the four institutions merited a passing grade. Out of a total of 100 possible points, the World Bank rated 60, the Asian Development […]
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28 May 2004
World Bank Board Poised for Breakthrough on Disclosing Draft Documents
The World Bank Executive Board is poised to consider three significant improvements in its disclosure policy, including the experimental release of certain key staff documents at the same time they are sent to the board. Such a “pilot project” would begin to address a long-standing set of demands from disclosure activists dating back to 1992. […]
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10 March 2004
World Bank Staff Backs More Disclosure by Extractive Industries
The World Bank Group should begin requiring that extractive industries receiving Bank loans disclose what payments they make to governments, according to an internal Bank document obtained by freedominfo.org. The revenue disclosures, however, should not begin for two years for existing loans, according to Bank staff recommendations, the "draft management response" to external and internal […]
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24 February 2004
Parliamentarians Flex Growing Organization, Make Request of Bank
The chairman of an international group of parliamentarians has asked the World Bank to help assure a larger role for legislatures in setting the poverty-fighting strategies within their countries. The request marks one of the first times the parliamentarians have proposed a significant and specific policy change, according to persons familiar with the group’s history. […]
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10 February 2004
IFC Rejects Request to Translate Document into Hindi
The International Finance Corporation recently rejected a request by an Indian group to translate an environmental report about a hydropower project into the local language, Hindi. The rejection means “the documents are available to the whole world, but sorry, affected people cannot be given it in the language they understand,” reacted Humanshu Thakkar Jan. 6 […]
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10 February 2004
IFC Announces Disclosure Policy Review, Seeks Comments
The International Finance Corporation, the private sector lending wing of the World Bank, said in mid-January that it would accept comments on its current disclosure policy until March 12. The call for public comments in a period of less than two months appeared on the IFC web site, but was not announced by an IFC […]
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10 February 2004
World Bank Divided on Disclosure of Country Performance Ratings
The World Bank is considering making a small step toward disclosing more information about its “country performance ratings” for the 81 poorest borrowing countries, but a minority of executive directors appears to have successfully resisted full disclosure. Derived by the Bank staff from a multi-component scoring system, these ratings influence funding levels. They are discussed […]
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10 February 2004
World Bank Board to Meet in March on Disclosure Policy
The World Bank Executive Board will return to the topic of disclosure policy at a meeting in March 2004, to again address whether to disclose more draft documents and board minutes. The board last deferred action on these topics, asking for more Bank staff research. In the intervening six months, the research appears to have […]
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1 July 2003
World Bank Reviews Disclosure Policy, Postpones Action on U.S. Reform Ideas
The World Bank’s Executive Board has asked its staff to examine several transparency issues raised by the United States and other members, including the possibility of releasing draft documents prior to board discussions and disclosure of board minutes, according to informed sources. The ideas for expanded disclosure were raised when the Board on July 3 […]
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1 July 2003
World Bank Disclosure Report Makes Recommendations for Change
The World Bank has encountered some difficulties implementing its disclosure policy, according to a Bank progress report published June 6, but overall the experience has been "generally good." The report acknowledged some areas of weakness, particularly in disclosure policy awareness among Bank employees and in the Bank’s ability to monitor and evaluate its disclosure practices. […]
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1 May 2003
World Bank Report Urges Disclosure of Oil Revenues
Multinational corporations should be required to disclose more about payments they make to countries for extracting natural resources, according to a new World Bank report "Breaking the Conflict Trap," a report released May 14, concludes in part that "there is a strong link between dependence on natural resources and the risk of civil war and, […]
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11 April 2003
World Bank Plans to Expand Publicity About Competitive Bidding Opportunities
The World Bank is moving toward a new policy that will at least double the number of contract bidding opportunities publicized internationally, according to bank officials and business sector observers. The change will substantially increase the visibility of bank-financed contracts subject to international competitive bidding, with the aim of reducing costs. If all goes well […]
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31 January 2003
World Bank Denies Access to Documents on Laos Dam Project
The World Bank has rejected requests to disclose several key documents concerning the controversial $1.1 billion Nam Theun 2 hydropower project in Laos. The documents — the "power purchase agreement" and the "concession agreement" — must stay private, the Bank said, because they contain proprietary commercial information that the Bank said it promised not to […]
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1 January 2003
Release of Secret Loan Document in Uruguay Fuels Public Debate
The leak of a usually secret document describing the terms of a recent World Bank loan to Uruguay has stoked public anger at conditions attached to the loan, according to activists and journalists there. The release also showed how much crucial information was being withheld from the public. The document signed by Uruguay’s finance minister […]
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22 November 2002
Ugandan Judge Orders Release of Key Document on Bujagali Dam
Ugandan Judge Orders Release of Key Document on Bujagali Dam. Relying on the open government clause of the Ugandan constitution, a top Ugandan judge Nov. 12 ordered the release of a key document about a controversial dam project that the Ugandan government and the World Bank declined to disclose. More … Judge Rejects Government Claims. […]
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1 November 2002
Environmental Group Analysis PPA
The International Rivers Network (IRN) commissioned the Prayas Energy Group, a policy analysis organization based in Pune, India, to review the PPA. The analysis found that the capital cost of the project is "excessively high." It also contended that "a number of unusual requirements will be detrimental to Uganda." In particular, the study said the […]
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17 October 2002
Top World Bank Official Supports More Disclosure of Oil Revenue Payments
Top World Bank Official Supports More Disclosure of Oil Revenue Payments. Oil, gas and mineral companies should fully disclose their payments to governments of developing nations, the head of the World Bank’s private sector lending arm said recently, adding another voice to a steadily growing campaign for such disclosures. More … Woicke Statement Welcomed. International […]
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1 October 2002
Disclosure or Deception? Multilateral Development Banks and Access to Information
By Shalmali Guttal, Focus on the Global South, October 2002 Multilateral institutions such as the Asian Development Band (ADB) and the World Bank pride themselves on their information disclosure policies. Especially since the Asian economic crisis, they have held their policies up as evidence of their commitment to transparency, accountability and participation. Information disclosure policies […]
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1 September 2002
Analysis of Transparency Issues at the World Bank
Despite changes made in the World Bank’s disclosure policies, more transparency is still possible. Below is a summary of current transparency issues. To read more about the Bank’s changes made in August 2002, see the policy itself made in 2002. Or read the summary from the Bank Information Center. Areas where improvements could be made […]
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26 July 2002
Ugandan High Court to Consider Releasing Key Document on Dam Project
The Ugandan High Court will listen to arguments Aug. 22 to decide whether a contract document for the proposed Bujagali Dam should be released to the public. Neither the Ugandan government, nor the dam project’s sponsor, AES Nile Power, a subsidiary of AES Corp. of Arlington, Va., have previously refused to release the Power Purchase […]
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1 June 2002
NGO Reveals What Documents Governments Could Release
The Bank Information Center, a Washington-based NGO, is attempting to monitor compliance with the World Bank’s new disclosure policy. Under the new policy, individual governments now have more latitude to release documents. When such disclosure becomes an option, BIC spreads the news. It e-mails NGOs in a country if a document could be released at […]
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1 June 2002
Angola Oil Revenues: A Hidden Report
It doesn’t look as though the World Bank will be releasing a $2-million "diagnostic" study by the KPMG accounting firm about where Angolan oil revenues have gone. The Bank shouldered 30 percent of the cost of the report, but it says the study is an Angolan government document, which means that disclosure of the findings […]
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1 June 2002
World Bank Begins Pilot Programs on Disclosure
Some 20 countries are about to embark on pilot programs with the World Bank in which they will disclose and disseminate more information than they have in the past – that is, more than what Bank policy currently requires. The exact dimensions of this effort will become clearer once the Bank makes an official announcement […]
ABOUT IFTI WATCH
In this column, Washington, D.C.-based journalist Toby J. McIntosh reports on the latest developments in information disclosure in International Financial and Trade Institutions (IFTI).
Contact: freeinfo@gwu.edu or
1-(703) 276-7748