Gaining Access to Information: The Case of Nepali Communities & The World Bank

In January 2019, after much effort by Nepali communities and civil society organizations, the World Bank released a report in Nepali about preventing and mitigating conflicts related to infrastructure siting in Nepal. This article provides an overview of a two year process over which Nepali communities affected by a World Bank-funded transmission line compelled the Bank to disclose the report, and make it available in the local language of Nepali. Development finance institutions like the World Bank often make strong public statements in favor of transparency and citizen engagement. However, in practice, they can tend to strategically withhold information or fail to ensure that information is available in the primary language of local communities who are directly affected by their projects. This needs to change.

Read the full article on Medium.