March 29, 2013, ASTANA - A stakeholder consultations meeting with representatives of the Kazakh government was held in Astana to discuss the World Bank Safeguards environmental and social policies. A day earlier, similar event with participation of civil society organizations of Kazakhstan took place in Almaty. The consultations will help the Bank outline the next generation of policies to enhance the development impact of the Bank-supported projects and programs.
The World Bank environmental and social safeguard policies reflect core values of the institution and are the cornerstone of the Bank's efforts to protect people and the environment for ensuring sustainable development outcomes.
The two-year review process aims at strengthening the effectiveness of the Bank’s safeguard guidelines, address environmental and social risks of the next decade as well as help the institution renew its partnership with borrowers based on a common vision and tailored capacity building.
The review process will be conducted in three main phases and each will include a consultation period to stimulate input and feedback from a broad range of stakeholders in a participatory and transparent manner.
The documents under review concern the eight different environmental and social safeguard policies, as well as the Policy on Piloting the Use of Borrower Systems for Environmental and Social Safeguards (“Use of Country Systems”) - OP 4.00.
Kazakhstan was selected as one of the countries for the first phase of the consultations given its leading role in Central Asia and as a country with diverse World Bank’s lending portfolio.
During the events, the participants shared their experiences and provided recommendations on advancing the Bank’s safeguard policies as well as capacity building in local systems and institutions.
All the accumulated comments and recommendations will be used for drafting of an integrated framework, which will be further discussed by the Committee on Development Effectiveness of the World Bank’s Board of Executive Directors in mid-2013.
The World Bank appreciates the willingness of its partners in countries for their valuable support in this imperative process of advancing safeguards policies. The Bank is looking forward to active engagement and advice of various stakeholders throughout the process. Comments could be submitted through the website www.worldbank.org/safeguardsconsultations or sent by email at safeguardconsult@worldbank.org.
