About Us

The Resettlement Thematic Group provides assistance to task teams and consultants in identifying, planning, implementing, and monitoring involuntary resettlement to minimize displacement and restore incomes.

What We Do

World Bank projects seek to avoid involuntary resettlement, but there are times when this is unavoidable. If a Bank activity will entail involuntary resettlement of people, the project must follow the Bank's resettlement policy requirements described in OP/BP 4.12, in its processing. This is necessary to achieve the objective of the Bank's resettlement policy -- chiefly to assist the affected people in improving their living standards, capacity for income generation, and production levels, or at least to restore them to their former levels. Attention must be paid to this issue at all stages of the project, from project identification through implementation and monitoring.

The Resettlement Thematic Group can provide guidelines that will help Bank staff to follow the required resettlement procedures (both substantive and administrative) at all stages of the project cycle. The actions to be taken to process the resettlement component of projects fall into the following broad categories:

I. Preparing the resettlement Component

• surveys of the project area to obtain census and socioeconomic data
  
  
• finalizing resettlement entitlements
  
  
• identifying resettlement sites and programs to restore incomes
  
  
• developing organizations with the capacity to deliver resettlement assistance, and
  
  
• devising budgets and plans for implementing and monitoring the resettlement activity.
  

II. Preparing the resettlement planning documents

• Identify organizations that can formulate the resettlement plan and coordinate with all agencies involved to develop the required planning documents
  
  
• Determine the type of resettlement planning documents required
  
  
• Work with the borrower and consultants to draft planning documents
  

III. Review and clearance of planning documents

• Have resettlement plans reviewed and approved by relevant Bank staff
  

IV. Developing systems for monitoring and supervising implementation

• Take steps to ensure that implementation arrangements are adequate
  
  
• Arrange for internal and external resettlement monitoring during implementation