PHM-Exch> Is Reforming the World Bank Possible?]

[Claudio Schuftan]

From: bala at haiap.org bala at haiap.org


  In April 2009, the G-20 pumped funds into key international financial
institutions (IFI) such as the IMF and Bank to mitigate damaging effects of
the global economic downturn on the most vulnerable developing
countries.  Estimates
from international organizations, including the Bank, indicated the crisis
was returning tens of millions of people back into abject poverty.  The
G-20’s decision and the impact of the crisis have heightened pressure on the
Bank, both from a political and a humanitarian level to achieve results.  It
has also provided a new opportunity for critics of the Bank to call for
reforms.

For years, developing countries have wanted more say in Bank
decisions.  External
watchdog groups have urged the Bank to reform its internal governance and
information disclosure policies.  One outcome of the global economic crisis
has been to successfully pressure the Bank into implementing internal
reviews for both areas.  The results have been mixed.  In July 2010, the
Bank implemented a new “Access to Information” disclosure policy.  The new
policy has been praised by key external stakeholders as an important step
forward, but these same actors also suggest the journey to make the Bank
fully transparent is far from complete.  During the 2010 spring meetings,
the Bank officially gave more voice and vote power to developing countries
but the change was incremental and the 50-50 split sought by many
development think tanks and NGOs remains years away.  Other reform
initiatives have stagnated.

These developments suggest change can happen.  When it does it is usually
the result of large forces pressuring available fault lines.  However, when
change does occur, it tends to be incremental, moving with sudden lurches
and equally sudden periods of stillness.  My experiences in the Bank
suggested drivers of change were opaque.  From my vantage point as an
internal reformer, operating from within the organization offered
opportunities not available to outsiders.  On the other hand, it also
imposed limitations.  There were times when I came to believe true change
must come from external forces.  As it turns out, both suppositions may be
wrong.  Perhaps the will or efforts of internal or external reformers is not
enough.  Only some Teutonic shift of the world order can force the Bank or
any IFI to reform.  The lesson of the global financial crisis may be that it
may take an international crisis of some magnitude to shift the Bank’s
thinking about its internal governance and accountability mechanisms.

I expand more fully on these observations at The World Bank Unveiled blog
at:



*http://theworldbankunveiled.wordpress.com/*



This is the fifth of a series of blogs on the World Bank and transparency,
accountability and reform issues.*  I invite you to share your own opinions
*with a wide community of international development practitioners and
interested readers.



Sincerely,



David Shaman



*David Shaman worked at the World Bank for 12 years.  He was the architect
and manager of B-SPAN, the World Bank’s webcasting station for development.
He is the author of The World Bank Unveiled: Inside the Revolutionary
Struggle for Transparency*.  *For information about the book, please visit
www.worldbankunveiled.com.*
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