Review of IRM

17 March 2008

The current Independent Recourse Mechanism (IRM) was adopted by the Board on 29th April 2003 as part of the Bank’s Governance Policies (alongside the Environmental Policy and Public Information Policy) and commenced functioning on 1st July 2004.

About the IRM

The purpose of the IRM is to strengthen the Bank’s accountability and to increase the transparency of the Bank’s decisions in relation to its banking operations. The mechanism gives local groups, who may be directly and adversely affected by a Bank-financed project, a means of raising complaints or grievances with the Bank about the project. It provides two functions; a compliance review function which assesses whether or not the Bank has complied with its policies, specifically its Environmental Policy and the project specific provisions of the Public Information Policy, in relation to a specific project, and a problem-solving function which aims to restore dialogue between the parties with a view to resolving the issues underlying the complaint or grievance.

Reviewers

The Bank will review its IRM in 2008 with the assistance of external IRM Review Consultant, Natalie L. Bridgeman, and IRM Review External Advisor, Dr. Edith Brown Weiss.

Stakeholder consultation

A stakeholder consultation and disclosure plan  (0.1Mb) for the IRM Review process is now available.

The IRM Reviewers will also be conducting informational meetings regarding initial comments on the existing IRM and IRM Review process with external stakeholders, including NGOs, in conjunction with the Environmental Policy and Public Information Review Public Consultation workshops in Budapest, Hungary; Belgrade, Serbia; Tbilisi, Georgia and Bishkek, Kyrgyz Republic in March-April 2008.