Janine Ferretti Appointed to World Bank Leadership Position
On October 27, 2020, Janine Ferretti, Professor of the Practice of Global Development Policy at the Frederick S. Pardee School of Global Studies at Boston University, was appointed the new Vice President for the Office of Compliance Advisor Ombudsman (CAO), the independent accountability mechanism for projects supported by the International Finance Corporation (IFC) and Multilateral Investment Guarantee Agency (MIGA) – the two World Bank Group organizations that focus on the private sector.
“Janine Ferretti has dedicated her entire career to sustainable development. Her deep understanding of environmental and social risks makes her an ideal appointment as our new CAO VP,” said David Malpass, World Bank Group President in a press release. “Janine knows that people in the countries we serve are our partners in development, and their meaningful participation in our work is vital to our credibility as a trusted steward of development resources, and to achieving good development outcomes.”
As the Vice President, Office of the Compliance Advisor Ombudsman (CAO), Ferretti’s immediate priorities will be to act as an independent Advisor to the President and to update the Board on matters of environmental and social impacts raised by communities to the CAO; to address complaints by people affected by IFC or MIGA supported projects in a manner that is fair, objective and constructive; and to co-lead the preparation of a new accountability policy including the transfer of CAO’s reporting and oversight to the Board.
“Although Janine Ferretti has been at the Pardee School for a fairly short time, she has already contributed significantly, especially in bringing a greater focus on issues of sustainable development in our curriculum,” said Adil Najam, Dean of the Pardee School. “We wish her well and know that she will skillfully manage the very important responsibilities she is assuming and, in doing so, will contiunue to work towards the Pardee School mission of advancing human progress.”
Ferretti’s appointment effective date is anticipated to be on or around January 1, 2021. The press release announcing Ferretti’s appointment can be read on the World Bank’s website.
Janine Ferretti‘s interests are those issues found in the interface of international development and environment with a particular focus on strategies for advancing solutions to key global and regional challenges. Prior to joining the Pardee School, she served as Chief of the Environmental and Social Safeguards Unit of the Inter-American Development Bank (IDB), a post she had since 2007, where she led a multidisciplinary team of environmental and social specialists in analyzing and supervising IDB operations to ensure their compliance with IDB environmental and social policies. Read more about her here.