Imrana Jalal appointed as Chairperson of the World Bank Inspection Panel

Members of the World Bank Inspection Panel have unanimously elected Fiji citizen, Imrana Jalal as Panel chairperson, effective December 16th this year.

This new appointment makes Jalal a Vice‑President of the World Bank Group.

Jalal will succeed Gonzalo Castro de la Mata, who has been the chairman of the Panel since November 2014.

A gender specialist, lawyer and development practitioner, Imrana Jalal joined the Panel on January 1st this year, succeeding Zeinab Bashir Elbakri.

According to the World Bank, Jalal brings to the Inspection Panel more than 30 years of experience across diverse geopolitical and multicultural environments in the private and public sectors.

Immediately prior to becoming a Panel member, Jalal was a principal social development specialist for the Asian Development Bank, where she gained an intimate knowledge of multilateral development bank operations in various sectors.

Jalal was a commissioner from 1999‑2001 on the initial Fiji Human Rights Commission, the first of its kind in the Pacific Island countries.

She was elected a commissioner on the Geneva‑based International Commission of Jurists in 2006 and served on the Commission’s Executive Board from 2011 to 2017.

The Inspection Panel is the World Bank’s accountability mechanism. Its hears and investigates complaints against the  Bank’s projects and programs from around the globe, by people affected by its  projects, including in Serbia, Armenia, Pakistan, China and Kazakhstan. With this appointment Jalal will be based full‑time in Washington from October 2018.