The World Bank Group is taking steps to bolster its capacity to protect lesbian, gay, bisexual, transgender and intersex rights through its development work by hiring a sexual orientation and gender identity advisor and working with the United Nations Development Program and others to develop a new “strategic global research agenda” for LGBTI rights.
With just over two months until the Global LGBTI Human Rights Conference in Montevideo, Uruguay, LGBTI rights activists, donors and development professionals around the world are assembling new approaches, lessons and best practices linked with the protection of LGBTI rights. For the World Bank, the creation of an historic new post and an emerging research agenda are two of the latest developments in an ongoing global effort to advance LGBTI equality.
The bank’s new SOGI adviser will be tasked with advising bank management and staff on “strategy, policy and operational issues related to [LGBTI]-inclusive development.” He or she will work closely with a team of World Bank staff known as the SOGI Task Force — established to promote LGBTI rights across the bank. The new SOGI adviser will be part of a social development team that includes an adviser for indigenous peoples and an adviser for disability and development.
About the author
Jeff Tyson@jtyson21
Jeff is a former global development reporter for Devex. Based in Washington, D.C., he covers multilateral affairs, U.S. aid, and international development trends. He has worked with human rights organizations in both Senegal and the U.S., and prior to joining Devex worked as a production assistant at National Public Radio. He holds a master's degree in journalism from Columbia University and a bachelor’s degree in international relations and French from the University of Rochester.
