What you need to know about the World Bank's Inspection Panel

The World Bank is no stranger to questions about its human rights record. The development finance institution lends money for projects in some of the riskiest parts of the world, where weak institutions and political conflicts can give rise to harmful situations for vulnerable individuals and communities. How does the bank deal with those instances of alleged abuse? Media coverage of the World Bank’s human rights record has raised questions about the institution’s ability to protect people in the communities where it works, but few of those reports have delved into the specific operational policies and processes that lead to these outcomes. The World Bank’s Inspection Panel is the body responsible for fielding complaints and turning them into recommendations to the board of directors. In a recent report, Devex looked into the trade-offs underlying some of the panel’s recent decisions and asked: Is the Inspection Panel working the way it should? For readers who don’t know all the ins and outs of how the World Bank’s Inspection Panel functions, here’s a quick overview: What is the Inspection Panel, what does it do, and where did it come from? The World Bank’s Inspection Panel is an independent accountability mechanism designed to receive complaints from people who believe they’ve been harmed by a World Bank financed project and to investigate those complaints. It was established in 1993 on the heels of the United Nations Conference on Environment and Development in Rio de Janeiro, Brazil — a time when development practitioners and social activists were calling for more attention to be paid to social and environmental issues surrounding the financing of development projects. The panel was the world’s first accountability mechanism established to hold an international financial institution accountable to its own operational policies and procedures. How does the Inspection Panel fit into the overall structure of the World Bank? As an independent accountability mechanism, the Inspection Panel is designed to provide an avenue for community members and organizations to submit complaints when they feel the bank is causing harm through the projects it is actively financing. The panel’s independence from World Bank management allows it to objectively review complaints and investigate cases through interactions with all stakeholders. “Our credibility with the board, World Bank management and the requesters is based on our ability to provide clear facts,” Inspection Panel Chairman Gonzalo Castro de la Mata told Devex. “So we have to be as objective as possible and let the facts speak for themselves.” The panel must, however, get the approval of the board before it begins a formal investigation of a case. The panel will submit a recommendation to the board whether to investigate and the board will either approve or deny the recommendation. When carrying out an investigation, the panel will not show bank management, nor requesters any draft of the report before it is submitted to the board. Who serves on the Inspection Panel? The Inspection Panel consists of three panel members and an executive secretary. The chairman of the Inspection Panel is considered a panel member and works full time, while the two other panel members work on a part-time basis. All three panel members must be of different nationalities, and following the end of their five-year terms, they cannot work for the World Bank in any capacity. What does it take for the Inspection Panel to get involved in a World Bank project? The panel can take complaints from any two or more individuals, a representative such as a civil society organization or an executive director at the World Bank. Complaints must come in writing and need to demonstrate proof that the complaint has been brought to the attention of bank staff. Complaints can be in any language and they don’t have to be legalistic according to Dilek Barlas, executive secretary of the Inspection Panel, who told Devex that several very important investigations began as a very simple one page document in a local language. How long does it take the Inspection Panel to deliver its recommendations to the World Bank board? The road to an investigation can be lengthy. After a complaint is registered, bank management has 21 days to respond and if needed, members of the panel will travel to the project site to investigate the case and talk with stakeholders. Then the panel determines whether there is a link between the harm caused and a failure of the bank to comply with its policies and procedures. Within 21 days of the World Bank’s response, the panel submits a report to the board and recommends whether to pursue an investigation and in some cases will recommend deferring its decision to allow for time to explore a possible resolution. If the Board approves an investigation, the panel begins a process of approximately six months (sometimes longer) in which it hires technical experts and panel members travel to the site of the project to be investigated. They talk with complainants, bank staff, government officials and other necessary stakeholders and submit an extensive report to the board. Then, within six months, bank management is required to submit an action plan and the board can ask the panel to follow-up with bank management to ensure the plan is implemented. How many complaints does the Inspection Panel receive, and how many of those lead to investigations? In fiscal year 2015, the Inspection Panel received nine new complaints, compared with just four in 1995. But while the panel is receiving a growing number of cases, relatively few of them turn into investigations. In fact, of the 104 total complaints the panel has received, just 34 to date have been investigated. One reason that the Inspection Panel may decide not to pursue a formal investigation of a case is if the panel considers World Bank management’s response to a complaint and management’s proposed plan of action to be adequate — as demonstrated in a recent case involving forced labor in Uzbekistan. Another reason is if the panel delays registration of a complaint and implements its new “pilot approach to support early solutions” — a controversial new tool created to provide an opportunity for both requesters and World Bank management to address the concerns highlighted in a complaint and come to an agreed upon solution before triggering a formal investigation. The pilot was first implemented in a case involving forced evictions in Lagos, Nigeria. Our mission is to do more good for more people. If you think the right information can make a difference, we invite you to join us by making a small investment in Professional Membership.