The World Bank Group
August 12, 2014
With over 5,000 employees in Washington, D.C. alone from over 140 different countries, The World Bank Group (WBG) is a “family” of 5 different international organizations that finance loans to countries for development projects all over the world. WBG is considered the most well-known multilateral development bank in the world and is an observer at the United Nations Development Group providing over $30 billion dollars in assistance. In FY 2014 alone, WBG funded $18 billion to projects “to elevate poverty” through a variety of different projects such as: health, infrastructure, water and sanitation, and education to just to name a few.
Located in Washington, D.C., Preventative Services Unit (PSU) of the Integrity Vice Presidency (INT) is where I am stationed this summer for my DPMI+ practicum. INT’s mandate is to assist in preventative efforts to protect WBG’s supported activities and funds; this includes creating policy frameworks to prevent and assist in the allegations of fraud, corruption, bribery, and collusion. Currently, my team is creating a survey for law enforcement and prevention services from different regions in different parts of the world examining correlations between prevention, health proliferations, and illicit flows of money. The survey will be administered at the conclusion of the summer in anticipation of the “International Corruption Hunters Alliance” conference to be held here at WBG in December 2014. The goal of the survey and break-out session to be sponsored by the PSU is to look at correlations between prevention and law enforcement agencies and compile success stories for publication; additionally, the PSU believes it is possible to identify key members who identify more as a practitioner of prevention and not of prosecution of fraud and corruption. The survey can locate these members and give PSU a better understanding of the current needs of the prevention community. The development of these possible relationships can expand the portfolio of the PSU and strengthen the case of preserving the PSU within the INT for another fiscal year.
This summer I am the only “junior professional intern” on our team but other departments are hosting a variety of JPI’s from all over though they are primarily L1’s and L2’s (law students) my background as a paralegal before attending MIIS and my studies specifically in Dr. Rhuesen’s financial crimes classes, MPA coursework in project management, and Dr. Dayton-Johnson’s development economics gave me the marketable CV PSU was looking for in a JPI for the summer. My days consist of various meetings discussing components of the survey we want to use, a new red-flag checklist to publish on the WBG site, and there is always interesting brown-bag lunch or workshop to attend on a variety of topics including new civil registration logistics in the MENA region, risk simulations for Investigators, solutions for the proliferation of pharmaceuticals in developing nations, and risk scoring exercises for Bank funded big data projects.
WBG is a beehive of activity, reporting strong fiscal operations for global development projects and increased financial capacity working towards the achievement of the Millennium Development Goals set by the United Nations. I feel incredibly lucky to be in the epicenter of it all. Many will say it and I am here to affirm it, MIIS prepares us to be the next generation of development practitioners who can be the solution. Every class I have taken in preparation for my time as a DPMI+ fellow have given me the cutting edge skills and toolset, organization’s like the WBG are looking for in 21st-century professionals.
You must be logged in to post a comment.