Thirty-three organisations from around the world have signed a statement arguing that the World Bank has not learnt crucial lessons from the Covid-19 pandemic and broader health financing evidence.
In May, the World Bank (WB), in collaboration with the World Health Organisation (WHO), published a White Paper outlining a proposal for the creation of a new Financial Intermediary Fund (FIF) for Pandemic Prevention, Preparedness and Response (PPR). The proposal was endorsed by the G20 and the G7 and the WB launched a consultation with civil society to gather feedback on the proposal.
WEMOS, Eurodad, in collaboration with many of our Coalition’s members and partners, prepared a statement that argues that the proposal suggests that some crucial lessons from the Covid-19 pandemic and from broader health financing evidence have not been learnt. The statement also makes a number of recommendations on governance, private sector involvement and finance that could improve the design of the FIF.
In particular, the statement highlights that it is important for any pandemic prevention, preparedness, and response fund to follow a human rights and community-led approach. This requires:
● meaningful leadership of social movements, indigenous peoples and rights holders in design, governance and implementation of the fund;
● commitment to operationalise human rights principles in the design, implementation and evaluation of the fund and supported projects and policies;
● commitments to advance the right to health in a manner that accounts for social determinants of health, and addresses the root causes of the worst impacts of pandemics.
The FIF’s dependence on multilateral development banks as intermediary entities and being hosted by the World Bank could create barriers for it to be democratic and accountable. In our collective report “Missing Receipts“, researchers have found issues with the World Bank and other development banks’ Covid-19 response over the last two years. These include gaps in transparency, accountability and participation; undressed cases of reprisals against frontline workers in the Covid-19 response; and corruption and corporate capture in development bank funded projects.
The statement has been endorsed by 33 civil society organisations from the global south and the global north.
Organisational endorsements
- ACCESS Coalition
- Accountability Counsel
- ACHEST (African Centre Global Health & Social Transformation)
- Arab Watch Coalition
- Bank Information Center (BIC)
- Both ENDS
- Bretton Woods Project
- Buliisa Initiative for Rural Development Organization
- Center for International Environmental Law (CIEL)
- Derecho Ambiente y Recursos Naturales DAR
- EKTA PARISHAD
- Global Policy Forum
- Good Health Community Programmes
- Green Development Advocates (GDA)
- Initiative for Health & Equity in Society
- International Association for Hospice and Palliative Care
- Jamaa Resource Initiatives
- Just Finance International
- Latindadd
- Little Step Sierra Leone
- Lumière Synergie pour le Développement
- Madhira Institute
- Medico International
- Medicus Mundi Spain (FAMME)
- NGO Forum on ADB
- Observatoire d’etudes et d’appui a la responsabilite sociale et environnementale (OEARSE )
- Oyu Tolgoi Watch
- Pakistan Fisherfolk Forum
- Pluralist Legal Clinic
- Policies for Equitable Access to Health – PEAH
- Rivers without Boundaries Coalition (Mongolia)
- Union des Amis Socio Culturels d’Action en Developpement (UNASCAD)
- Viva Salud
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