The World Bank has initiated a two-year review process (2012-2014) to overhaul its environmental and social safeguard policies. These policies symbolize core values of the institution and are the cornerstone of the Bank's efforts to protect people and their environment and to ensure sustainable development outcomes.
What are Safeguards?
"The World Bank's environmental and social safeguard policies are a cornerstone of its support to sustainable poverty reduction. The objective of these policies is to prevent and mitigate undue harm to people and their environment in the development process. These policies provide guidelines for bank and borrower staffs in the identification, preparation, and implementation of programs and projects."
These safeguards help to raise different voices from the community in the Institution's decision making process, to prevent the occurrence of any harm in the developmental process and to seek justice when harm does occur.
The Safeguards review
The World Bank was the first international organization to adopt safeguard policies, and since then it has been the most influential model, now being adopted by many other developmental banks and governments throughout the world.
Currently, these policies do not address the issue of disability rights. People with disabilities, often from the poorest parts of the world are left out of the design and implementation of many World Bank projects. Thus, it is important for them to get involved in the Safeguard review process and ensure that all Bank funded projects are inclusive in design, implementation and ensure a strong clear policy language on disability.
This review gives an opportunity to change the existing structure of these safeguards and include disability!
The review of these safeguards, in consultation with multiple stake holders and governments will have a much deeper global impact in the process of development. A range of CSOs and stakeholders from various countries participated in the review process, bringing in their own issues and priorities to the forefront.
Many of DPI's members have actively participated in these in-country consultations. Please click on the following links to read their feedback:
- Feedback on the World Bank multi stake holder meeting in Ottawa, Canada (37 KB)
- Feedback on the World Bank multi stake holder meeting in Tokyo, Japan (34 KB)
- Feedback on the World Bank multi stake holder meeting in Lima, Peru
- Feedback on the World Bank multi stake holder meeting in Johannesburg, South Africa (39 KB)
- Feedback on the World Bank multi stake holder meeting in Brussells, Belgium (35 KB)
- Feedback on the World Bank multi stake holder meeting in Beunos Aires, Argentina (33 KB)
- Feedback on the World Bank multi stake holder meeting in Beijing, China (3.68 MB)
- Feedback on the World Bank multi stake holder meeting in Almaty, Kazakhstan (37 KB)
- Feedback on the World Bank multi stake holder meeting in New Delhi, India
- Feedback on the World Bank multi stake holder meeting in Bhubaneswar, India
- Feedback on the World Bank multi stake holder meeting in Guatemala City, Guatemala
Please click on the following documents to know more about the process:
- World Bank's Safeguards Approach Paper (422 KB)
- Disability Consultation Background note developed by BIC (54 KB)
- Talking Points on Disability for World Bank Safeguard Consultations developed by BIC (171 KB)
Full report submitted by the RDO-Asia Pacific on the focus group meeting ( KB)
To know more about the safeguard process, please write to us at secretariat.dpi(at)gmail[dot]com
