WORLD BANK GROUP

Maninder S. Gill
Director
Social, Urban, Rural & Resilience Global Practice

December 16, 2015

Action Plan Inadequate Response to Resettlement Portfolio Review

Mr. David Pred and CSOs Colleagues,
Thank you very much for your letter of April 14, 2015, regarding the Resettlement Action Plan,
and our sincere apologies for the delayed response. The letter never made it to our
correspondence unit, and, after hearing your questions regarding a response, we tracked it down
and put it into the system.
We greatly appreciate and value the feedback provided in your letter, and take your comments
very seriously. I met with many of you at the Annual Meetings of the World Bank and the IMF
in Lima where we discussed and agreed on the importance of establishing a joint working group
that draws on the experience of civil society organizations, particularly those who have
experience in working with communities affected by resettlement. We look forward to getting
the group started, as we believe that Civil Society involvement is critical to the success of
resettlement programs.
As most of you know, implementation of the Action Plan is underway and we are regularly taking
stock of the progress made. The Action Plan proposed actions in the following eight areas:
stronger risk assessment; improved monitoring of mitigation measures, better checks and
balances and improved accountability, enhanced planning, management and supervision;
boosting technical expertise in projects; skills development; increased funding for environment
and social risk management; and stronger institutional leadership.
Please allow me to address the points raised in your letter:
•

We note your point that the Action Plan is not commensurate with the need for
compliance. We are happy to discuss if there is a need to expand the action plan and, if
so, how that is best accomplished. The question is one that fits well into the context of
the working group mentioned above.

•

You mention that the Action Plan relies too heavily on the proposed Environmental and
Social Framework (ESF) to solve structural flaws, however, only one of the eight action
areas of the Plan focuses on the proposed ESF. Efforts are underway in seven areas,
including improved tracking and monitoring, establishing better oversight and
accountability, and increasing our technical expertise, all under the current system of
environmental and social safeguard policies.

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•

Regarding accountability, a new website tracks progress on implementing the plan, and
we are going to report on it on a quarterly basis. And, of course, I and my colleagues are
available to answer your questions on progress at any time.

And finally, we agree that the Action Plan does not articulate how we provide redress to the
individuals and communities that have been displaced by World Bank projects. We are in the
process of reviewing this and will share the results in the context of our working group
discussions.
We look forward to engaging with you and to getting the working group up and running - please
do send us the names of CSO representatives for the working group. We very much appreciate
your help and support in strengthening the Action Plan and in improving resettlement outcomes.
Sincerely,

L·
Maninder S. Gill
Director
Social, Urban, Rural, and Resilience
Global Practice

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