To promote accountability and safeguard human rights, we co-organised a panel during the World Bank's Civil Society Policy Forum (CSPF) Spring Meetings on April 19, 2024. 

The panel aimed to scrutinise the recent Compliance Investigation Report issued by the Compliance Advisor Ombudsman (CAO). This report shed light on the World Bank's International Finance Corporation (IFC) investment in Bridge International Academies (BIA), uncovering alarming allegations of child sexual abuse within the company's for-profit schools in Kenya. 

Under the moderation of Angella Nabwowe from the Initiative for Social and Economic Rights (ISER) in Uganda, the panelists, included Janine Ferretti, CAO's Director General, Margaux Day, Executive Director of Accountability Counsel, and Juana Barragán, our Programme Officer on the Right to Education. 

The discourse ranged from drawing critical insights from the CAO report on IFC investments and its serious failures in due diligence and supervision, which resulted in irrevocable harm to Bridge students, to analysing the role of Development Finance Institutions (DFIs) in supporting commercial providers. 

The panel addressed the imperative need for robust safeguards to prevent human rights violations in the context of private investment in social services. Our Programme Officer on the Right to Education, Juana Barragán,  took the discussion further by urging the IFC and other DFIs to draw from the lessons learned regarding investments in for-profit schools. She also highlighted the emerging global consensus that public development assistance should not support the expansion of for-profit or commercial schools. She endorsed this consensus to be expanded into all public services. 

The event resonated with a resounding call to action, urging DFIs to anchor their investment strategies in a solid human rights commitment and establish transparent and effective accountability mechanisms.