The international financial institutions (IFIs) suffer from a "democratic deficit," both in terms of their own internal governance as well as their role in limiting the policy options of member states. This deficit is in part derived from the secrecy surrounding many of their operations.
Many key documents are kept confidential or are released only after commitments have been made, rather than while agreements are still being negotiated. Governing bodies, such as the World Bank's Board of Directors, operate in almost total secrecy.
The result of this secrecy is that IFIs deny communities their right to timely information and, by doing so, prevent meaningful participation in the design and implementation of projects and policies. The inclusion of interested parties and affected communities in the development process is crucial to casting light on potential environmental and social damage of bank operations. Therefore, barriers to democratic processes through denial of relevant information stand to impair the development effectiveness of these institutions.
BIC closely monitors the development and implementation of disclosure policies at the IFIs. In addition, BIC is a Steering Committee member organization of the Global Transparency Initiative (GTI). The GTI brings together two communities of civil society organizations: experts and activists monitoring transparency at the international financial institutions and those promoting openness at national levels through Freedom to Information law.
In February 2005 BIC launched the
IFI Transparency Resource – an online database comparing disclosure standards at 10 IFIs across over 200 indicators. The Resource has been used to develop a number of reports and analyses of transparency at specific institutions.