Posts Tagged ‘international development’

  • 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. […]

  • 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 […]

  • 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 […]

  • 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 […]

  • 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 […]

  • 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 […]

  • 1 July 2002

    UNDP Report: “Serious Gaps in Transparency Remain”

    The need for greater transparency by governments and multilateral institutions is a thread running through a report on democracy internationally prepared by the United Nations Development Programme. The report takes a comprehensive look at the progress toward democracy, and backsliding. It looks at connections between development and democracy, providing exhaustive documentation and broad recommendations. The […]

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
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