Series - Subject files

Leakage from World Bank Project Budgets: Summary of RSI Staff views Indonesia - Natural Resources and Environmental Management - 1987-1993 Indigenous People - Concept Notes, Issue Papers and Cover Notes - Gloria Davis - Subject Files Participation - Evolution of participation in the Bank Participatory Development - Reflecting on the Experience gained at GTZ in Searching for Innovation Gloria Davis - Subject files - History - Background Materials 1970 Gloria Davis - Subject files - History - Background Materials - 1980 A History of Social Development Network in the World Bank, 1973-2002

Identity area

Reference code

WB IBRD/IDA DAVIS-15

Title

Subject files

Date(s)

  • 1993 - 2003 (predominant) (Creation)

Level of description

Series

Extent and medium

6.80 linear feet of textual records

Context area

Name of creator

Archival history

Immediate source of acquisition or transfer

Content and structure area

Scope and content

In 1993 Gloria Davis became the chief of the World Bank's Social Policy and Resettlement Division and in 1997 she became the director of the Department of Social Policy. In these positions she directed studies, authored papers, and participated in major Bank task forces and initiatives. This series of files is organized by subject, principally around major topics in social policy. Within each subject the files are chronological and often include background materials used for studies and drafts at various stages of the writing process.

These files are a rich resource for the study of the social policy debate within the Bank. Through the drafts and comments on them, the user can see the varied influences on the final version of a study and the role that Davis played in the outcome. Because many of the topics overlapped, a researcher interested in one topic might find very useful information in another subject file on a related topic.

Clusters of files are found around topics that were the focus of a working group or task force in which Davis participated; see, for example, the files on participation in development by local communities, on safeguards, and on the fiftieth anniversary of the World Bank. In early 1996 the Bank formed a Task Group on Social Development, which had ten satellite groups to work on specific areas. Davis was a member of the Task Group and deeply involved in the work of the satellite group on social capital. The main files are Task Group on Social Development, with additional files under Social capital - Correspondence. The files include printed email messages, drafts, and background information shared among the group members.

During 2001 and 2003, Davis was one of the representatives of the Bank on a collaborative effort by the African Development Bank, the Asian Development Bank, the European Investment Bank, the European Bank for Reconstruction and Development, the Inter-American Development Bank, and the International Finance Corporation and the World Bank to develop a common framework for environmental impact assessment. The group developed a report, A Common Framework: Converging Requirements of Multilateral Financial institutions. The series includes meeting agendas, draft papers, and comments by World Bank staff members on the harmonization effort.

Another set of files are those Davis assembled when writing her major study, History of the Social Development Network in the World Bank, 1973-2002. For this work she pulled together materials from the 1970s to the present,often in copies but sometimes in originals. The files on the history contain correspondence from readers of drafts or persons to whom she directed questions; in addition, many of the items listed in the annex to the History can be found scattered throughout this series.

In addition, Davis retained her lifelong interest in Indonesia, and a small amount of material on Indonesia is also found in the series, both as a separate subject and in areas such as Social capital. Local level institutions study, which looked intensively at institutions in Indonesia.

Any researcher interested in the development of the social policy in the Bank will find these records useful, particularly those on the Task Force and on the history Davis wrote of social development in the Bank.

Appraisal, destruction and scheduling

Accruals

System of arrangement

Records are arranged alphabetically by subject and thereunder in chronological order.

Conditions of access and use area

Conditions governing access

Records are subject to the World Bank Policy on Access to Information.

Conditions governing reproduction

Records are subject to the Copyright Policy of the World Bank Group.

Language of material

Script of material

Language and script notes

Physical characteristics and technical requirements

Finding aids

An inventory list is available here.

Allied materials area

Existence and location of originals

Existence and location of copies

Related units of description

Related descriptions

Notes area

Alternative identifier(s)

Access points

Subject access points

Place access points

Name access points

Genre access points

Description control area

Description identifier

Institution identifier

Rules and/or conventions used

Internal World Bank Group Archives rules based on ISAD(G).

Disclosure status

Level of detail

Dates of creation revision deletion

20 August 2009

Language(s)

Script(s)

Sources

Accession area