Joint Submission on the Proposed World Bank Group’s Country Partnership Framework (CPF) in Myanmar

By 39 Civil Society Organizations • September 12, 2014

We, the undersigned organizations in Myanmar and other countries, respectfully submit these comments to the World Bank Group to inform the development of the Country Partnership Framework for Myanmar. We belong to civil society organizations and ethnic community networks with a focus on human rights, environment, peace and mediation, and good governance with significant expertise and experience in Myanmar.

We offer these comments after a series of discussions among us and exchanges with the World Bank representatives.1 Our comments also take into account our observations on the performance of the World Bank Group in developing and implementing its two-year Interim Strategy Note (ISN). The Bank will recall that in September 2012, Myanmar organizations provided a joint submission that commented on the substantive issues with the proposed pillars in the ISN. Some of the concerns and recommendations there remain relevant to the Bank’s Myanmar CPF. In this submission, we provide recommendations pertaining to priority issues that should be addressed as the Bank deepens its country activities in the next five years.

I. Adopt a conflict-sensitive approach to development as a way to support nationwide efforts towards a comprehensive peace process

Despite progress on various fronts in the form of ceasefires with ethnic non-state armed groups, Myanmar remains in a state of active ethnic, political, and religious conflicts.2 Moreover, as the Rohingya persecution in Rakhine State and the recent mob violence in Mandalay clearly indicate, the potential for violence is not limited to areas of the periphery in which there are active ethnic insurgencies. World Bank investments could easily become focal points of public opposition and conflict if they aggravate the root causes of conflict – such as racial inequity, land and resource grab and forced displacement from traditional livelihood resources– and they will certainly be affected by conflict if they are carried out without sensitivity and awareness to conflict dynamics.

The World Bank in Myanmar has been the subject of public criticisms over its recent project loan approvals3 in part due to lack of systematic approach to analyzing the risks of conflict […]

Download the full document here.

Tags: Arakan/Rakhine, Burma Government, Civil Society Organizations, Conflict Area, Corruption, Dams, Development, Farmers, Human Rights, Investment, poverty, Rohingya, World Bank

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Joint Submission on the Proposed World Bank Group’s Country Partnership Framework (CPF) in Myanmar

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