Posts Tagged ‘international 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 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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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 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 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 […]