Former VP: 'Culture of arrogance' is a problem at the World Bank

Reforms at the World Bank — particularly over the past year — have moved ever so steadily through a whirlwind of controversy. The institution’s President Jim Yong Kim remains adamant about the need for change. “We needed to reorganize to make sure that the vast amounts of knowledge in our ranks can be spread and be used in any country that asks for our help in finding a solution to a development problem,” Kim said in an email to staff earlier this week in which he set the end of the fiscal year as the end date for reforms. But have changes at the World Bank gone too far? Have Kim’s 14 Global Practices — knowledge-based departments centered around sectors such as health, education, and agricultural — taken too much budget control and decision-making power away from country programs? Former World Bank Vice President Ian Goldin warns that might be the case. “You cannot parachute knowledge into a country if it’s not demand-led,” Goldin told Devex. Goldin, who is now professor of globalization and development and director of the Oxford Martin School at the University of Oxford, said the World Bank is a matrix of sector expertise and country depth, and that both sector and country knowledge are required for the institution to achieve success. “Both are required to make the music to get that orchestra to play in harmony,” Goldin said, adding that budget control and decision-making power at the World Bank often shifts back and forth between country and sector-level expertise. “The pendulum might have swung too far in this respect,” he said. Watch the clip above to hear what Goldin thinks about World Bank reforms, culture and leadership appointment process. Do you agree? Let us know by leaving a comment below.