Abstract:

This report on Indigenous Peoples (IP) draws on the main emerging lessons from its caseload over 22 years. The study highlights areas where continued improvements can enhance the World Bank’s and its member countries’ approach to ensuring that Indigenous Peoples fully benefit from Bank projects. Nineteen Panel cases have involved Indigenous Peoples’ issues. These 18 investigations and one relevant Pilot case covered 15 countries in four regions. Consultations and broad community support, social assessments, and customary rights were the issues most represented in these investigations. While all relevant Panel cases were studied as part of this report, a special emphasis was put on drawing lessons from cases within the past decade. Some of the report’s main conclusions from the cases investigated include the Indigenous Peoples policy is among the more complex of the Bank’s safeguards due to the rigorous criteria, sensitivities attached, and the requisite specialized expertise necessary for its full implementation. The fact that a significant percentage of the world’s poor are indigenous points to the necessity of giving this policy the importance and significance it deserves. Most of the lessons presented in this report relate to the project preparation stage of the project cycle, clearly pointing to the importance of this stage in projects involving Indigenous Peoples.