A Review of the World Bank

According to an internal review which was obtained by Reuters, the World Bank has systemic defects in its procedures to ensure that people and the environment are not harmed in development projects. .
The global development lender is undergoing the first major update to its social and environmental protections in decades, which are likely to influence other international institutions. Non-profit groups fear the bank may weaken its protections to speed up lending approval and better compete with development rivals, although it has said it aims to keep the safeguards as strong as ever in its efforts to combat poverty worldwide.
According to the review conducted by the bank’s internal audit department, even the current management of safeguard risks has problems, according to the review, World Bank spokesman Frederick Jones said the bank’s management requested its internal auditor to review current practices as part of the update to its policies. “We are assessing our staff skills, accreditation, and management of staff working on environment and social safeguards,” he said. “We are also improving our data collection and better calibrating our support to different levels of risk.”

Denisha Sahadevan