This article was first published by The Bretton Woods Committee on September 2, 2025.

Finding Effective Ways for the World Bank Group to Work with the Citizens it Serves

By

Vinay Bhargava

& Frank Vogl

World Bank President Ajay Banga is rightly proud that he is leading a major internal organizational effort to make the Bank more efficient. He wants to support the people and communities who, in his words, “We serve at the heart of our work.”

Recently, he noted: “We replaced a 153-item scorecard with 22 outcome-focused metrics—sharpening ambition around clear goals like connecting 1.5 billion people to healthcare, providing capital to 80 million women, and doubling agribusiness financing to build ecosystems of growth.”

To attain Banga’s goals, the Bank needs to find new paths to partnering with the citizens who need to benefit from its projects. The Bank’s citizen and civil society organization (CSO) engagement policies are the primary means for the Bank to listen to the world’s poor to determine the most effective local approaches to improving conditions—and then work with these citizens to ensure that project implementation is attaining its desired goals.

However, the Bank in recent years seems to be rolling back its commitment to citizen and CSO engagement.

The Bank’s leadership, as stated in the Board-approved Evolution agenda and the IDA 21 Replenishment, aims to “deepen partnerships with civil society,” and it committed in 2024 to taking several actions. Progress has stalled since then, and no decisions have been taken to implement these actions. The Bank seems to be dragging its feet. It is crucial that there should be no further delays in moving forward to implement the action-agenda—one that, as detailed below, has been agreed on.

Development Aid is Declining

Action is more urgent than ever. World-Bank-Group funds must be used more efficiently and effectively given the sharp reductions in bilateral development assistance. In late June, the OECD reported a projected “9 to 17% drop in official development assistance (ODA) in 2025. This comes on top of a 9% drop in 2024. The outlook beyond 2025 remains highly uncertain.”

A pragmatic agenda has emerged from extensive discussions between civil society organizations (CSOs) from around the world and the Bank’s leadership to expand civil society and citizen engagement in the development programs it finances, as well as in its partnership strategies for country engagement, corporate business policies, and business procedures.

As a result, the Bank and, significantly, Executive Directors of the International Development Association (the Bank’s-soft loan window) in their agreement in March on the 21st replenishment of IDA’s resources, committed to a deepening of partnership with civil society and made the following specific promises:

The ten-year-old Civic and Citizen Engagement (CCE) framework would be renewed.
A Civic and Citizen Engagement Indicator with disaggregated information would be published in the Corporate Scorecard.
A new CSO funding facility (CIVIC) would succeed the Global Partnership for Social Accountability and provide grants to CSOs to support civil society participation in development operations.
Stakeholder Engagement Plans (SEP)  for investment project financing would allow for roles and budgets for CSOs, and the Bank will pay greater attention to the effectiveness of implementation by the project implementing authorities.
Progress in CCE implementation would be reported at the IDA21 Mid-Term Review.
The new country engagement approach would support in-country multi-stakeholder platforms and action plans for CSO engagement in country partnership activities.

We are concerned at the lack of progress in recent months and believe that without empowerment at the level of the Executive Board and the President, as well as concrete timelines, budget allocations, and binding guidance for staff and clients, the agreements that are detailed above risk being just well-intentioned ideas.

Urgent Action is Needed

Accordingly, the Partnership for Transparency Fund, together with several other CSOs, is calling on the Bank’s leadership to urgently take the following four actions that explicitly relate to the implementation of World Bank Group financing and country and civil society engagement:

Ahead of the forthcoming World Bank Annual Meeting in mid-October, finalize and institutionalize, a Board-endorsed Civic and Citizen Engagement Framework and Scorecard Indicator. We understand that a draft of the renewed framework, applicable to the World Bank Group, including the indicator, has been pending management review for several months; it is time for Executive Board approval so that finally an operational directive can be issued, and guidance can be provided to staff and clients on citizen and CSO engagement policy as the primary means of putting people and communities at the heart of the Bank’s work. The Asian and Inter-American Development Banks have such policies in place, and the World Bank has fallen behind.
Systematically monitor and publish progress in implementing stakeholder engagement plans (SEPs) prepared by governments to listen and address people’s concerns and needs, per the World Bank’s requirements for its investment projects. Every Implementation and Results report by the Bank staff should record and rate progress in implementing SEPs. At the institutional level, a comprehensive review of the implementation of the Stakeholder Engagement and Information Disclosure policy and the SEPs must be done. There have been no comprehensive reviews since the policy was approved in 2018.
Integrate Civic and Citizen Engagement approaches into Country Partnership Frameworks (CPF). Strengthening systems for civic and citizen engagement must be treated as a core outcome in the Bank’s new country engagement model, not as an optional add-on. The CIVIC and Citizen Engagement Indicator should be part of each CPF score card.
Consult Civil Society on the IDA21 Mid-Term Review Report. We ask that civil society be consulted early, preferably before the end of 2025, on the  scope and methodology that is being planned. This way, there can be substantial input by civil society organizations representing the voices of citizens who are served by IDA’s projects.

The civil society engagement in the operations that the World Bank finances is at a critical juncture. The Bank has acknowledged the centrality of civil society to its vision of inclusive and effective development. And yet, the Bank has not found ways, for example, to directly fund organizations representing citizens or deploy a very small amount of IDA’s resources for this purpose.

President Banga has articulated bold plans to reduce poverty on a livable planet, sustainably secure economic development in its client countries, and put people and communities at the heart of the Bank’s work. Success, however, will depend on the Bank being able to serve citizens by implementing actions that foster deeper and more meaningful engagement with them and with civil society.

Featured Speakers:

Vinay Bhargava and Frank Vogl are both former World Bank senior officials and Advisors to the Partnership for Transparency Fund (PTF). Vinay Bhargava, PTF’s Chief Technical Officer, has taken the lead for PTF in working with the World Bank on citizen engagement. Frank Vogl is a former PTF Chairman.

All views expressed by members are their own and not reflective of the views of the Bretton Woods Committee.