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What we do
An International Consultation:
During this consultation process, a variety of stakeholder groups ranging from representatives of government, the private sector and civil society to World Bank staff and academia are invited to express their views and concerns about the World Bank Group role in the extractive industries and what it should do in the future to best serve the objectives of poverty reduction and sustainable development.
Seven workshops are taking place between October 2001 and November 2003, as well as project and community visits, a research program, a number of informal meetings, direct consultations with stakeholders, and web-based participation.
At the core of the consultation process are five Regional Consultation Workshops. Four workshops have taken place in Latin America and the Caribbean, Eastern Europe and Central Asia, Africa, Asia-Pacific in the last 12 months. The last regional workshop is scheduled for Middle East and North Africa in June-July 2003. Report from each workshop is available on this site. Two project visits were conducted alongside the regional consultation meetings.
These regional consultations were preceded by a Planning Workshop, which took place on October 29th and 30th 2001 in Brussels. The purpose of the Planning Workshop was to establish a basic understanding of the starting points for discussion of the different stakeholder groups, and to discuss the design of the regional meetings. Participants from governments, civil society, the private sector, academia and the World Bank Group came from different regions of the world.
Every possible attempt to reach out to as many stakeholders as possible will be made throughout this international consultation process. This includes providing regular updates about the ongoing process on this website, such as summary reports of the regional workshops, as well as the opportunity to send in comments by email.
A draft consultation report will be made available ahead of time to be discussed with stakeholders in a Final Workshop to be held in November 2003. The Extractive Industries Review has a budget of approximately US $3.9 million. Click here for a breakdown of the budget.
Internal Evaluation
The World Bank Group's independent evaluation units (Operation Evaluation Department – IBRD/IDA (OED)/Operation Evaluation Group – IFC (OEG) are reviewing the performance of past and present projects in Oil, Gas, and Mining in parallel with the international consultation. The Evaluation's results are expected to inform the Extractive Industries Review.
The office of the Compliance Advisor/Ombudsman (CAO) of IFC/MIGA is managing a review of the impact and implementation of the environment and social safeguard policies. In addition, the CAO will complete a compliance review of recent extractive industries projects in IFC/MIGA portfolios as a contribution to the Extractive Industries Review. See EI Internal Evaluation Website for more information.
Final Report Preparation
An external Advisory Group consisting of representatives from relevant stakeholders will be invited to provide continuous feedback and be the sounding board in the report development phase. The group will meet three times between June and September 2003 prior to the final consultation workshop in November 2003. Stakeholders can follow the progress on our website, where we welcome all comments and suggestions. A draft report will be disseminated to all interested parties in October and finalize in December 2003 for submission to the WBG.
A Recommendation Paper
Within three months of receiving the consultation report, the management of the Mining Department, and the Oil, Gas and Chemicals Department of the World Bank Group will make recommendations regarding the future of the World Bank Group's involvement in these sectors, and internal processes. These recommendations will be prepared by World Bank Group staff, drawing on the Consultation Report as well as on results of the Independent Evaluation. The Eminent Person will be consulted during the preparation of the Manangement Recommendations, and will be able to express his views on the final document in a report to the President of the World Bank Group, which will be made public.
What we are NOT trying to achieve
The Extractive Industries Review is not intended to be a standard setting exercise for the extractive industries generally. Its focus is on the role of the World Bank. Furthermore, we recognize the diverse activities of other stakeholders in the sector, which we do not intend to duplicate or displace, including work done by some NGOs and by the private sector, such as the Mining, Minerals and Sustainable Development Project (MMSD). Rather we hope that this work will contribute to the discussion and will enrich it. |