| The World Bank has set up several mechanisms to ensure compliance with its policies. In 1993 the World Bank established the Inspection Panel (IP), which is an independent body to which individuals and communities can turn if they believe that their rights or interests have been or could be directly harmed by a Bank-financed project. The Panel is comprised by senior compliance experts who report directly to the Board of Executive Directors. As of April 2003, a total of 27 requests for inspection have been received and 13 investigations have been carried out on the impacts of World Bank-funded projects.
The two sister agencies of the Bank, the International Finance Corporation (IFC) and Multilateral Investment and Guarantee Agency (MIGA) established the Compliance Advisor/Ombudsman Office (CAO) in 2000. In addition to auditing compliance with environmental and social safeguard policies, CAO also carries out an ombudsman role by attempting to mediate disputes between companies, governments, and civil society organizations.
The Bank has also established the Department of Institutional Integrity (INT) to investigate allegations of fraud and corruption in World Bank operations as well as allegations of staff misconduct. INT receives allegations from individuals outside and inside the Bank and conducts preliminary inquiries or full investigations as required and submits their findings to senior Bank management for further action.
In addition to these compliance mechanisms, the Bank also maintains an semi-independent evaluation department which reports the findings of its assessments directly to the Board of Directors. The Operations Evaluation Department (OED) carries evaluations of every of every completed Bank-funded project as well of many existing policies and programs in order to measure operational effectiveness and development impact.
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