Appointment of the new World Bank Group President
The selection of the new World Bank president takes place amid a crisis of multilateralism reflected in the ascent of anti-establishment and nationalist parties and increased trade tensions. These arise from persistent challenges to the world economy ranging from the growing inequality crisis, the increasing importance of finance, financial markets, and financial institutions in the economy, a looming debt crisis and increased corporate capture that is resulting in the erosion of states’ sovereignty and their ability to meet their human rights obligations. These trends are exacerbated by the quickly evolving climate change crisis, which threatens the livelihoods of the poorest around the globe.
The World Bank requires a leader able and willing to critically assess the role the Bank can play in challenging the failed model that has led us here. The next president must ensure the institution leads by example and uses its privileged position to articulate the need for radical change. More than ever the World Bank requires a president who is qualified to lead what is still the world’s principal public development bank.
It is therefore imperative that the selection process results in the appointment of the best candidate, chosen from a wide-ranging pool of people with the background and experience required.
One thing is certain, at a time when the legitimacy of international institutions is increasingly under attack, reliance on the previous process, where the US and its European allies work behind closed doors to ensure the selection of a US World Bank president in exchange for the European leadership of the IMF will only further erode confidence in the multilateral system. It is of vital importance therefore that the next president has the support of the majority of low and middle-income countries, to which World Bank lending is restricted.
We are pleased that the Board has already affirmed its commitment to an “open, merit-based and transparent process”, and that it has outlined some broad job requirement criteria. The application of these principles in practice during the present selection process is made more relevant by the World Bank’s stated commitment to the Sustainable Development Goals, which call for “effective, accountable and transparent institutions” and “responsive, inclusive, participatory and representative decision-making at all levels.”
We think, however, that these must be significantly strengthened by including five main points:
- Candidates must have proven knowledge of – and experience working on – development issues and a commitment to the public interest. This includes a demonstrated understanding of, and experience in working to address, the challenges to transformational change faced by developing countries.
- Candidates must commit to ensuring that the World Bank engages, at all levels, with a wide variety of parties of divergent views – including critical academics, social movements and civil society organisations in World Bank programme countries – to consider approaches anchored in existing human rights law.
- Candidates must be committed to a multilateral system explicitly designed to support the poor and marginalised to avail themselves of their human rights. They must be able to articulate how they would address increasing inequality, corporate capture, erosion of policy space and related social polarisation and disenfranchisement.
- Candidates must be required to outline their strategies for ensuring the World Bank takes – as a matter of utmost urgency – immediate steps to align all aspects of its lending and activities with the Paris Climate Agreement and the Sustainable Development Goals.
- Finally, the selection process must also require candidates to detail how they would address the increasing exclusion of civil society from decision-making, violation of human rights, violence against environmental and human rights defenders and the ongoing erosion of social and environmental standards by states and institutions, which is exacerbated by competition for private sector finance.
The Board must ensure that the next World Bank president assumes leadership in ensuring the end of the current revolving door between World Bank staff and the private sector and related conflicts of interest.
Recognising that this process is already underway and that the US has officially announced its nominee, we strongly urge the Board to encourage and consider other nominees, particularly from the Global South.
In that regard we also reiterate the calls made by civil society organisations during the 2012 selection process and demand:
- A process that actively encourages applicants from the Global South and borrower countries in particular;
- A process that allows sufficient time for robust deliberations and includes an opportunity for an open discussion between nominees and members of civil society;
- Contrary to the requirement that candidates be nominated by executive directors, the process should be open to any applicant;
- A process that ensures the selection of the candidate who receives a double majority of votes, that is, the support from a majority of voting shares AND member states; and
- A transparent vote by member states (rather than constituencies), including a public declaration of member state preferences.
We note that the demands above reflect some of the calls made by the World Bank’s own Staff Association, which recorded its disapproval of Dr. Kim’s selection process and insisted in an open letter on January 10 that this time the Board implement “a truly open, merit-based, and transparent process—in line with calls from Governors and staff alike—with sufficient time to get the job done right.”
The world urgently needs the World Bank to assume its global responsibility and lead by example. This means supporting a transformative global development agenda rooted in international human rights law that addresses growing inequality, climate change, and social justice challenges.
We look forward to discussing the proposal above in more depth and await an opportunity to do so as soon as possible.
Signatories
Civil Society Organisations
80:20 Educating and Acting for a Better World | Ireland |
ActionAid International | South Africa |
Africa Development Interchange Network (ADIN) | Cameroon |
African Women’s Economic Policy Network (AWEPON). | Uganda |
African Monitor | Uganda |
AFRODAD | Zimbabwe |
Alliance Sud, the Swiss Coalition of Development Organisations | Switzerland |
Arab NGO Network for Development (ANND) | Lebanon |
Arab Watch Coalition | Morocco |
Association for Promotion Sustainable Development | India |
Association pour l’Integration et le Developpement Durable au Burundi (AIDB) | Burundi |
Bank Information Center – BIC – Europe | Netherlands |
Bond | UK |
BothENDs | Netherlands |
BRAC | Bangladesh |
Bretton Woods Project | UK |
Buliisa Initiative for Rural Development Organisation (BIRUDO) | Uganda |
CAFSO-WRAG for Development | Nigeria |
CEKOR | Serbia |
Centre for Budget and Governance Accountability | India |
Centre for Human Rights and Climate Change Research | |
Centre for Human Rights and Development | Mongolia |
Centre national de coopération au développement, CNCD-11.11.11 | Belgium |
Centro Latino Americano de Ecología Social (CLAES) | Uruguay |
Centro de Derechos Económicos y Sociales (CDES) | Ecuador |
Cesta Friends of the Earth | El Salvador |
Christian Aid | UK |
CIDSE | Belgium |
Civil Society Coalition on Sustainable Development | Nigeria |
Coalition of Civil Society Organizations of Liberia (NACCSOL) | Liberia |
Congregation of Our Lady of Charity of the Good Shepherd | France |
Corporate Accountability | USA |
Crude Accountability | USA |
CUTS International | India |
Debt Free Greece | Greece |
Debt Justice Norway | Norway |
Derecho Ambiente y Recursos Naturales (DAR) | Peru |
Development Alternatives with Women for a New Era (DAWN) | Fiji |
Diakonia | Sweden |
EarthRights | USA |
Ecumenical Academy | Czech Republic |
Entwicklung braucht Entschuldung (Jubilee Germany) | Germany |
Eurodad | Belgium |
Federation of Environmental and Ecological Diversity for Agricultural Revampment and Human Rights (FEEDAR & HR) | Cameroon |
FENASSEP | Togo |
Financial Justice Ireland | Ireland |
Forest Peoples Programme | UK |
Friends of the Earth | USA |
Friends with Environment in Development (FED) | Uganda |
Fundación Mexicana para la Planeación Familiar | Mexico |
Gender Action | USA |
Gestos, Brazilian CS Working Group for the 2030 Agenda | Brazil |
Greenpeace International | International |
Initiative Citoyenne pour l’Environnement et le Développement Durable- ICED | Burundi |
Institute for Ecology and Action Anthropology – INFOE | Germany |
Institute for Economic Justice | South Africa |
Institute of Global Responsibility (IGO) | Poland |
Institute of the Blessed Virgin Mary | USA |
Jamaa Resource Initiatives | Kenya |
Jubilee Debt Campaign | UK |
KULU-Women and Development | Denmark |
Latindadd | Peru |
LDC Watch | India |
Lumiere Synergie pour le Developpement | Senegal |
Maria Ebun Foundation | Nigeria |
Medicus Mundi | Spain |
Missionary Oblates of Mary Immaculate | USA |
National Coalition of Civil Society Organizations of Liberia (NACCSOL) | Liberia |
National Society of Conservationists – Friends of the Earth | Hungary |
Norwegian Churh Aid | Norway |
Oikos – Cooperação e Desenvolvimento | Portugal |
Oxfam International | International |
Public Services International (PSI) | France |
Religious of the Sacred Heart of Mary NGO | USA |
Radha Paudel Foundation | Nepal |
Rural Area Development Programme (RADP) | Nepal |
Sisters of Charity Federation | USA |
Society for International Development (SID) | Italy |
Stamp Out Poverty | UK |
Tax Justice Network | UK |
Tax Justice Network Africa (TJNA) | Kenya |
Tearfund and Tearfund Nigeria | UK/ Nigeria |
UndebtedWorld | Greece |
Urgewald | Germany |
Women Engage for a Common Future | Netherlands |
Wemos | Netherlands |
Zimbabwe United Nations Association | Zimbabwe |
Individuals
Andrea Lampis | University of São Paulo | Brazil |
Andrés Ernesto Ferrari Haines | Federal University of Rio Grande do Norte | Brazil |
Boris Vallaud | Member of the French Parliament | France |
Christine Pires Beaune | Member of the French Parliament | France |
Claudine Lepage | Senator | France |
Cristina Fróes de Borja Reis | Federal University of ABC | Brazil |
Daniela Gabor | University of West England, Bristol | UK |
Diane Elson | University of Essex | UK |
Eduardo Gudynas | Centro Latino Americano de Ecología Social (CLAES) | Uruguay |
Elen Riot | Université de Reims Champagne Ardenne | France |
Elena Valenciano | Member of the European parliament | Spain |
Elisa Van Waeyenberge | School of Oriental and African Studies | UK |
Enrique Guerrero Salom | Member of the European parliament | Spain |
Eugen Freund | Member of the European parliament | Austria |
Evelyn Regner | Member of the European parliament | Austria |
Freund Eugen | Member of the European parliament | Austria |
Georgi Pirinski | Member of the European parliament | Bulgaria |
Gilad Isaacs | Co-Director, Institute for Economic Justice | South Africa |
Gita Sen | Harvard University and Indian Institute of Management | India |
Helène Conway-Mouret | Vice-President of the French Senate | France |
Ilene Grabel | University of Denver | USA |
Isabelle Thys Saint Jean | President of “Sauvons la Recherche” | France |
Jean-Yves Leconte | Senator, France | France |
John Langmore | University of Melbourne | Australia |
John Weeks | Coordinator, Progressive Economy Forum and Professor Emeritus, School of Oriental and African Studies | UK |
Jorge Garcia-Arias | University of Leon | Spain |
Kavaljit Singh | Director of Public Interest Research Centre, New Delhi | India |
Killian Stokes | University College Dublin | Ireland |
Kunibert Raffer | Retired Economist – University of Vienne | Austria |
Markus Kaltenborn | Director of the Institute of Development Research and Development Policy (IEE) | Germany |
Martin Edwards | Seton Hall University | USA |
Melissa Siegel | Maastricht University | Netherlands |
Noemi Levy Orlik | National Autonomous University of Mexico | Mexico |
Oscar Ugarteche | National Autonomous University of Mexico | Mexico |
Patrick Bond | University of the Witwatersrand | South Africa |
Shepard Forman | Founder/Director Emeritus, Center on International Cooperation | USA |
Sir Richard Jolly | Institute of Development Studies, Sussex | UK |
Spyros Marchetos | Aristotle University of Thessaloniki | Greece |
Stephany Griffith Jones | Columbia University | USA |
Thomas Marois | School of Oriental and African Studies | UK |
Thomas Pogge | Yale University | USA |
Tom Kruse | USA | |
Vera Mshana | USA | |
Vincent Peillon | Member of the European Parliament | France |
Zita Gurmai | Member of Parliament | Hungary |
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