INSPECTION PANEL
GRI F4

The Inspection Panel is a three-member body created in 1993 by the World Bank’s Board of Directors to serve as an independent mechanism to ensure accountability in Bank operations with respect to its policies and procedures. Two or more private citizens who believe that they or their interests have been or could be harmed by Bank-financed activities can present their concerns to the Inspection Panel through a Request for Inspection. The Panel is independent of management and reports directly to the Board of Executive Directors. Its mandate covers any project or program financed at least in part by IBRD or IDA and all Bank policies except for procurement (which comes under other World Bank regulations).

In fiscal 2006 the Panel received four new Requests for Inspection: one each from affected people in the Democratic Republic of Congo (DRC), Honduras, Romania, and Nigeria. The Panel recommended, and the Board approved, investigations for the Request from the DRC and Honduras. The requesters from Romania asked that the Panel defer a decision on whether to recommend an investigation because the problems giving rise to the Request were being addressed. The Panel reviewed the Request for Investigation by the requesters from Nigeria and concluded that the concerns expressed the were unrelated to the project funded by the Bank. Environmental staff specialists from the Bank’s Abuja office will follow up on the matter with the requesters to ensure that the concerns are appropriately referred to the Nigerian environmental authorities.

In fiscal 2006 the Panel was engaged in five investigations concurrently:

	Mumbai Urban Transport ( India)
	Cambodia Forest Concession Management and Control Pilot Project ( Cambodia)
	National Drainage Program Project (Sindh province, Pakistan)
	Forestry component in the Transitional Support for Economic Recovery Operation and the Emergency Economic and Social Reunification Support Project (DRC)
	Land Administration Project ( Honduras).

As a result of the Investigation Report on the Mumbai project, the Bank suspended disbursements on the road and resettlement components. Bank Management’s Response and Action Plan subsequently set forth the need for progress and completion of a suite of actions related to these components. The Board asked the Panel to review Management’s progress; the Panel returned to Mumbai to convey the results of its investigation and to discuss its findings and the Bank’s Action Plan with affected people. One of the Panel’s experts was invited to attend subsequent meetings in Mumbai with affected people as an observer.

In response to the Investigation Report on the Cambodia project, Bank Management explained to the Board how it planned “to use the lessons learned from the Panel Report and the project in its future work in forestry and natural resources management in Cambodia.” The Panel will return to Cambodia and convey the results of its Investigation Report to the Requesters.

The Requests for Inspection, Management Responses, and the Panel’s reports may be found on the Inspection Panel’s Web site,