The impact of IMF policies on social protection: an independent evaluation
Published on Wed, 2016-02-24 13:43
Civil society organizations have an opportunity to feed into an official but independent evaluation of the IMF policies and their impact on social protection in the coming weeks. The Bretton Woods Project (a UK-based NGO acting as a watchdog of the IMF and World Bank) will host a consultation with the Independent Evaluation Office of the IMF on the key issues. "This is an invaluable opportunity to influence how the IMF's record over the last decade on social protection will be evaluated in a report to the IMF executive board that is independent" explains the BWP in its newsletter. In the draft issues paper the IEO quotes from ILO work, indicating an appetite to critically examine the IMF's record. An opportunity to feed into an evaluation of the IMF and social protection to be conducted by the Independent Evaluation Office of the IMF. This is an invaluable opportunity to influence how the IMF's record over the last decade on social protection issues will be evaluated in a report to the IMF executive board that is independent - it should be noted that in recent years the IEO has been willing to be critical in its assessments of the Fund where evidence permits. In the draft issues paper it quotes immediately from ILO work, indicating an appetite to critically examine the IMF's record. The Bretton Woods Project (a UK-based NGO acting as a watchdog of the IMF and World Bank) has agreed to host a consultation with the IEO evaluation team on their draft issues paper and the evaluation. This consultation exercise will allow input which can both influence the approach the IEO will adopt and provide evidence for the final evaluation. The Bretton Woods Project has agreed to host in order to ensure that perspectives from social protection experts, civil society and academia are incorporated into the evaluation. The evaluation will be held on April 6th, at ActionAid's London office: 33-39 Bowling Green Lane, London EC1R OBJ. Timing and agenda for the consultation meeting has not yet been finalised. Please email Sargon Nissan or Emma Burgisser to confirm your interest in participating. Written submissions provided by that date will also be accepted by the IEO team, if provided via BWP, to snissan@brettonwoodsproject.org or eburgisser@brettonwoodsproject.org. Comments can also be submitted directly to the IEO by March 21, 2016 to ieo@imf.org This evaluation will examine the IMF’s work on social protection in its mainlines of business—surveillance, lending, and capacity development. It will take stock of the main social protection issues the IMF has addressed in each line of business, and it will assess in greater depth areas in which the Fund has had substantial involvement, such as pension systems and food and energy subsidies. Over the past few years, the IMF has given greater attention to social protection issues. In 2009, it became a collaborating agency in the One UN Social Protection Floor Initiative and in 2010 it agreed to work with the ILO to help develop a minimum social protection floor for the most vulnerable in all countries. In its 2011 Review of Conditionality, the IMF recognized the need to consider macro-social issues more consistently in Fund-supported programs and in its engagement with members; the latest conditionality guidelines for Fund-supported programs for the first time explicitly state that: “Where feasible and appropriate, policy measures to mitigate adverse impacts on the most vulnerable should be included in program design”. The Fund is also expanding its analytical work on issues potentially related to social protection—including inequality , access to finance, and the economic impact of gender inequities—and a pilot program is underway to bring policy messages from this analytical work into Article IV consultations in a sample of countries." "This evaluation will center on three questions directly relevant to the operations of the Fund: “Has the IMF’s role in social protection been appropriate given its mandate in member countries? How well has the IMF addressed social protection issues in its work? And to what extent has its work on social protection been effective and perceived as such by member countries?” It will cover the last ten years, from 2006 to 2015, but may go back further for some questions and focus on the more recent past for others. The evaluation will cover both program work as well as regular surveillance and capacity development activities. " If you have any questions about the evaluation and in particular about the conduct of the consultation, please do not hesitate to contact Sargon Nissan on the details below. IMF Programme Manager Tags: |
