The World Bank’s senior leadership is undergoing a major reshuffle as calls for the institution to reform grow louder.
If development finance institutions were students in a class on transparency, let’s just say a lot of them would be held back a few grades. And the World Health Organization kicks off a key meeting next week to figure out how to be ready for future health crises — and how to get member states to cough up the money to help it prepare.
Reform follows function
The World Bank has come under tremendous pressure to rethink its mandate and lend a more generous hand to countries in this time of unprecedented need. And the anti-poverty lender seems to be listening — or caving, depending on your perspective.
My colleague Adva Saldinger reports that there have been major shake-ups at the top echelons of the bank, with Anna Bjerde, who has led the bank’s work in Europe and Central Asia, soon to become the new managing director of operations, replacing Axel van Trotsenburg, who has been promoted to senior managing director.
Bjerde’s remit will be to implement any changes from the bank’s landmark “evolution road map,” which aims to reform the risk-averse institution by getting shareholders to pitch in more capital so the bank can increase its assistance to low- and middle-income countries confronting a barrage of economic shocks. Under the road map, the bank would also incorporate climate change into its portfolio.
Bjerde seems well-positioned to help the bank loosen up the financial reins having spearheaded its rapid delivery of $16.4 billion to Ukraine after Russia’s invasion.
Meanwhile, van Trotsenburg will continue to co-lead the bank’s reform agenda, as well as its work to expand engagement on so-called global public goods, climate change, and debt sustainability.
By the numbers
The World Bank Group is already one of the leading funders for low- and middle-income countries, dispersing $67 billion in fiscal year 2022.
And the ones who got the top contracts are an interesting lot, our data cruncher Miguel Antonio Tamonan discovered. The list includes some lucrative pharmaceutical companies, although their inclusion makes some sense given the pandemic.
Meanwhile, one tech company was awarded a handsome $695 million as part of a flood risk management project in Buenos Aires. To find out who the lucky recipient was, read Miguel’s full report.
Transparent failures
In addition to the World Bank, development finance institutions are key players in today’s era of compounding crises. DFIs such as the International Finance Corporation and bilateral banks from countries such as Germany and the Netherlands funnel massive amounts of much-needed investments around the world.
Too bad we can’t always see what those investments are or whether they’re actually doing anything.
That’s the eyebrow-raising conclusion of the first DFI Transparency Index, which ranked 30 DFIs — with combined assets of $2 trillion — and found that even those with exemplary reputations for being upfront barely mustered a passing grade.
Many of these banking behemoths failed on multiple fronts. Among other things, they provided scant evidence of what impact their investments are having and didn’t disclose how much private money they’re mobilizing.
The opacity is all the more troubling in light of the push to reform development banks (see above).
Granted, there were some decent performers on the index — the Asian Development Bank among them. But even the U.S. International Development Finance Corporation only scored a sad 38.2 out of 100 among bilateral institutions.
Who was the worst offender? Check out Adva’s report to find out.
WHO’s ready?
As much as we’d like it to be, this pandemic isn’t over (I myself just took a COVID-19 test — fortunately it’s simply a case of the sniffles and hypochondria). And as much as we’d like to not think about it, we already need to start preparing for the next one given how woefully unprepared we were for this one.
So the World Health Organization executive board meeting that kicks off in Geneva Monday will be closely watched to gauge how the global body plans to respond to future health emergencies, my colleague Jenny Lei Ravelo reports.
The agenda will include WHO Director-General Tedros Adhanom Ghebreyesus’ 10-point “safer world” proposal, some of which is controversial, along with issues such as diagnostic capacity in low- to middle-income countries and gender equity on the executive board.
But the main issue people are sure to be watching is — what else? — money.
In May 2022, the World Health Assembly agreed to — as an “aspiration” — provide WHO with more flexible funding, including through an increase in annual fees. But it remains to be seen if that money materializes.
Kate Dodson, vice president for global health at the United Nations Foundation, hopes it does. “Member states need to step up and show they’re walking the talk on fixing WHO’s broken financing, and set a solid foundation to advance on those commitments made last year,” she tells Jenny.
Period piece
In much of the Western world, periods are, well, a pain for women. But in many countries, menstruation can be life-altering, and not in a good way. Nearly 200 million girls and women in low- and middle-income countries suffer from a lack of adequate menstrual products and places to change, leading to leaks and stains that result in girls skipping up to 20% of their school year.
Although they’re not new, do-it-yourself reusable menstrual pads are increasingly popular among development donors. But as Amy Fallon writes for Devex, DIY pads are not a one-size-fits-all solution.
For one thing, making a pad is work — and women aren’t getting paid for it.
“Schools are not asking boys to make their own pencil cases or to learn how to make footballs — so why are we asking girls to take time out from learning in school to make their own pads,” asks Sarah Sullivan of the Uganda-based social business AFRIpads.
So AFRIpads, now the leading social enterprise manufacturing reusable pads, is paying women for their labor.
“Not only are we providing a really high durable product to our benefit, but we’re also providing women in a factory with meaningful employment, health insurance, and a sustainable way of living and making money,” Sullivan says. “It’s a good all-round 360 circle.”
Anna Gawel is the Managing Editor of Devex. She previously worked as the managing editor of The Washington Diplomat, the flagship publication of D.C.’s diplomatic community. She was also a broadcast producer and digital editor at WTOP News and host of the Global 360 podcast. She holds a journalism degree from the University of Maryland in College Park.
