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In light of “multiple failures” by the World Bank in monitoring and supervising the Uganda Transport Sector Development Project, the World Bank Group announced today that they will create a “Global Gender-Based Violence Task Force to advise the institution on best practices for reducing risks to community safety in connection with our development projects.” This was done in response to last week’s delivery of the Inspection Panel report on the Uganda Transport Sector Development Project, which was cancelled last December due to allegations of sexual violence and abuse by contractors.
The Bank issued the following statement from President Jim Yong Kim regarding the Inspection Panel report and the goals of the new Task Force:
The Inspection Panel has delivered to the World Bank Board its investigation report on the Uganda Transport Sector Development Project. The failures in this project have prompted us to assess all similar projects to ensure that we are upholding the principle of doing no harm.…As an immediate step, we are in the process of creating a Global Gender-Based Violence Task Force to advise the institution on best practices for reducing risks to community safety in connection with our development projects.
The new Task Force, which will include outside experts on gender-based violence and World Bank staff, will build on existing World Bank work to tackle violence against women and girls, specifically focusing on: strengthened approaches to identifying threats and applying lessons in World Bank projects; more robust gender assessments; and improved approaches to both raising awareness and taking action to prevent gender-based violence.
We have zero tolerance for gender-based violence and the kinds of abuses that occurred in this project. Just last week, the World Bank Board passed a new Environmental and Social Framework to protect people and our environment. The timing of the conclusion of this Inspection Panel investigation, coming so close to the passage of our new safeguards, could not be more poignant for me. Our safeguards are critical and indispensable to ensure that our system works to protect the poor and the vulnerable. That is precisely why I have announced that we will significantly increase resources devoted to implementing the new framework, and why I am putting in place this new Global Gender-Based Violence Task Force.
- World Bank Group President Jim Yong Kim
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This article by Julia Radomski originally appeared on bicusa.org on August 11, 2016 at 09:19PM
