16 June 2009
The meeting took place during the Inspection Panel's trip to Sana'a to determine the eligibility of a complaint about Yemeni civil society's inability to access a translation of a key Bank document.
Last Friday, a meeting held between civil society organizations (CSOs) and the World Bank’s Inspection Panel, discussed issues related to transparency in World Bank projects in Yemen. The joint projects between the Yemeni government and the World Bank, concerning structural adjustment, lack transparency and relevant information cannot be accessed by civil society members, as the executive director of The Yemen Observatory for Human rights (YOHR) stated. He said that it is this lack of transparency which leads to poor results in joint World Bank and Yemeni government projects. He added that the government of Yemen has not taken any initiative in reforming the judiciary legislature. He also asserted that transparency includes freedom of the press and civil society, and that this does not happen in reality.
The meeting included discussions about the black-out policies and the lack of information associated with the “Institutional Reform Program in Yemen”. During this meeting with the Inspection Panel, CSOs asserted that they will continue to raise their concerns as long as their demands are not fulfilled by the World Bank. They seek their integration into World Bank projects in Yemen and to do this, they require access to all the relevant information.
All the CSOs who were present agreed that if there is a lack of transparency at the World Bank, this will only lead to more corruption and generate many problems. CSOs’ exclusion from negotiations and their inability to acquire information raised many questions regarding the World Bank’s staff and management’s intentions. CSOs were skeptical about this attitude and demanded a better disclosure policy from the World Bank.
This meeting was a result of the unceasing efforts by YOHR and other CSOs in Yemen. The whole story began in January 2008 when YOHR requested a translation of a recently board-approved Development Policy Grant document for an “Institutional Reform Program in Yemen”. However, this request was ignored by the World Bank. YOHR and other CSOs continued to demand the translation from the Bank and in April 2009, they submitted an official complaint to the World Bank’s Inspection Panel. As a next step after their trip to Yemen, the Inspection Panel will be submitting an Eligibility Report to the World Bank's Executive Board of Directors by June 18, 2009.
Click on the العربية tab in the top right corner of this page to read the complete article in Arabic that was originally posted on the Yemen News website.