Policy Sessions at 2015 Annual Meetings
The Inspection Panel hosted two policy dialogue sessions during the2015 Annual Meetingsheld in Lima on October 6 – 12 around the issues of accountability and community redress. The first event was a session within the Annual Meetings Program of Seminar titled “ENSURING INCLUSIVE DEVELOPMENT: Good Practices in Promoting Accountability in Latin America”. This session brought together high level representatives from the Inspection Panel, World Bank, and Peruvian civil society to discuss successful efforts at promoting accountability and compliance in Latin America, as well as regional trends going forward. The session was chaired by Alex Foley who is the Executive Director for Chile and Chair of Committee on Development Effectiveness of the Board of Executive Directors. He began the session by highlighting the crucial role accountability plays in promoting development effectiveness for the World Bank-financed projects. The Chairperson of the Inspection Panel, Gonzalo Castro de la Mata, spoke first by explaining the role and work of the Inspection Panel and sharing several examples and lessons learned from his experience in Latin America.(See presentation).
Beatriz Boza, Executive Director of a leading Peruvian CSO,Ciudadanos ao Dia, noted that there is not a tradition of accountability in Peru and for this reason it is necessary to create strong incentives which encourage good governance. World Bank Vice President for Operational Policy and Country Programs (OPCS), Hartwig Shafer, spoke next about the Bank’s efforts to improve accountability in Bank-financed projects by explaining the role and work of the recently launched Grievance Redress Service (GRS). There were number of questions raised by the audience related to how the Bank addresses perceived corruption in Peru, whether the Bank’s safeguard policies will affect the Panel’s compliance role, and the role of transparency in promoting accountability. See alink to the video online.
The second event was a policy session held at theCivil Society Policy Forumon October 7. The session titled “SEEKING REDRESS AT THE COMMUNITY LEVEL IN LATIN AMERICA: Lessons from Case Studies” included representatives from the Inspection Panel, World Bank, and civil society to discuss the opportunities and challenges of promoting community redress in Latin America. Case studies from several Latin American countries involving indigenous peoples and rural communities were presented, and lessons learned discussed. The session was chaired by Cesar Gamboa, Executive Secretary of Derecho, Ambiente y Recursos Naturales (DAR) in Peru. Gonzalo Castro de la Mata spoke first and provided several Inspection Panel examples where community redress worked well due to participatory methodologies(See presentation). Secundino Vera, President of the Asociación de Comunidades Indígenas de San Pedro (ACISPE) spoke next and shared his organization’s experience in dealing with the Inspection Panel during a recent case in Paraguay.
Gonzalo Roza, Policy Director of theFundación para el Desarrollo de Políticas Sustentables (FUNDEPS), spoke about challenges community groups often face in trying to complain to the Inspection Panel due to being unaware of its existence, language barriers, or not understanding its operational procedures. Finally, Maninder Gill, Director for Social Development at the World Bank spoke about the Bank’s citizen’s engagement framework and other efforts to improve community redress in Bank-financed projects. Questions from the audience included what steps the Panel is taking to reach out more actively to civil society and whether the Bank has analyzed the effectiveness of community redress mechanisms in Bank-financed projects.