World Bank VP in Open Dialogue With Indigenous Peoples
May 26, 2011
World Bank Vice President for Sustainable Development Inger Andersen spent a day in dialogue with global indigenous leaders at the 10th Session of the United Nations Permanent Forum on Indigenous Issues taking place in New York.
Vice President Andersen hosted the second formal dialogue between the Bank and indigenous peoples with a group of self-selected representatives of the global indigenous peoples community. The first such dialogue was held last year in Washington, DC.
We want the conversation to focus around issues that are important to indigenous peoples and reflect their priorities, and to ensure the it leads to mutually agreed outcomes.| Inger Andersen, Vice President, Sustainable Development, The World Bank
In opening remarks, Andersen expressed the World Bank’s commitment to continue with the formal dialogue. “We want this conversation to focus around issues that are important to indigenous peoples and reflect your priorities, and to ensure that it leads to mutually agreed outcomes,” she said.
Participants agreed to establish a formal platform for regular dialogue between the World Bank and Indigenous Peoples. There will be two formal meetings each year for each group to update the other on issues of interest and to discuss concerns.
Mirna Cunningham Kain, Chairperson of the 10th Session of the Permanent Forum on Indigenous Issues, pointed out that in the seven years since the adoption of the UN Declaration on the Rights of the Indigenous Peoples there have been a lot of improvements in their situation around the world. She welcomed the establishment of the formal dialogue platform between the World Bank and indigenous peoples, calling on the Bank to continue to engage with the global indigenous peoples community, governments and other UN agencies to promote the implementation of the Declaration’s principles. She urged the Bank to identify ways to bring these principles to life through its projects and programs around the world.
Indigenous Peoples – Still Among the Poorest and Most Marginalized “Protecting and promoting the rights of indigenous peoples benefits us all,” said the UN Secretary-General at the opening of the 10th Session of the Permanent Forum. This message resonates well with the Bank’s latest Global Monitoring Report which argues in one of its chapters, that reaching the MDGs requires addressing the situation of the world’s socially excluded groups, including indigenous peoples.
New research by the World Bank shows that not only are indigenous peoples poorer than the rest of the society in developing countries, their level of poverty has barely decreased over the last decade and gaps between them and the rest of the population are growing in some countries. Findings from a series of country briefs describing the situation of the indigenous peoples in eight countries around the globe (Vietnam, Lao PDR, China, India, Gabon, Congo, Mexico, and the Central African Republic) were presented and discussed with the indigenous peoples at the UN Permanent Forum by the World Bank.
During the day, Vice President Andersen spoke about the recently updated World Bank Social Development Strategy. One of its elements, she noted, is the creation of a certification program for staff on World Bank safeguard policies, including the one relating to indigenous peoples. The certification program aims to ensure that Bank staff who work in operations and with the client are fully equipped with the knowledge, tools, and expertise to support safeguards implementation leading to sustainable outcomes. The emphasis is on implementation of safeguards and effective community engagement including with indigenous populations. Another element of the Bank’s strategy will be to work with external stakeholders - e.g. governments and the private sector – to increase their capacity to address social issues linked to investment lending operations, and to engage constructively with indigenous peoples.
Among other issues that the indigenous leaders brought up in discussions was the need for the engagement with the World Bank to also take place at the regional and country levels where the Bank finances its projects and engages in dialogue with governments. Indigenous leaders want to be informed of changes to World Bank’s policies and have an opportunity to contribute their views and perceptions to the decision making process when it comes to big World Bank projects and programs that will affect them.
Vice President Andersen also held meetings with delegations representing indigenous peoples from Africa, the Russian Federation, and the Pacific nations. Issues discussed in these conversations ranged from the opportunities for the Bank to assist pastoral communities throughout Africa to adapt to climate change, ways in which the Bank aims to support civil society in their engagement with the indigenous peoples in Russia, to how the Bank can help small island states of the Pacific in their struggle with climate change.
We want the conversation to focus around issues that are important to indigenous peoples and reflect their priorities, and to ensure the it leads to mutually agreed outcomes. | Inger Andersen, Vice President, Sustainable Development, The World Bank 
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