World Bank chief Ajay Banga apologized earlier this month for the organization’s handling of widespread child sexual abuse at a chain of for-profit Kenyan schools that it funded through the International Finance Corporation (IFC), the bank’s investment arm.

The IFC invested $13.5 million in Bridge International Academies starting in 2013 to help it scale up private schools in Kenya. Multiple complaints of sexual abuse emerged in 2020 following an investigation by the IFC’s internal watchdog, the Compliance Advisor Ombudsman. The watchdog’s final damning 58-page report, submitted last October and published March 14, found that the bank had failed to address and mitigate the abuse perpetrated by staff at Bridge. 

In an email to the staff of the World Bank sent March 13, Banga, whose tenure began after the period of reported abuse, acknowledged that mistakes were made.

“I am sorry for the trauma these children experienced, committed to supporting the survivors and determined to ensure we do better going forward,” Banga wrote.

The watchdog report detailed sexual abuse experienced by at least 23 children at schools operated by Bridge in Kenya and suggested that the IFC turned a blind eye when complaints became known. It said the institution had failed to regularly “monitor or substantively address” sexual abuse despite being informed multiple times between 2013 and 2017 of incidents at Bridge schools. The IFC also failed to address evidence that Bridge relied on unregistered teachers, the report said.

In March 2022, the IFC quietly pulled direct funding to Bridge, though it retains an investment in one funder that supports the company.

As late as last month, Banga appeared to dismiss suggestions that the IFC took steps to cover up the abuse. “I just disagree that there was a legal effort to cover it up,” Banga said at an event sponsored by the Center for Global Development. “If it is proven to be so, I will take all the action that’s necessary.”

Banga has now proposed the appointment of an independent investigator to ensure that the previous investigation was free of interference. “This is a difficult moment for our institution, but it must be a moment of introspection,” he added.

But critics say this does not go far enough. “If there are no staff consequences for misconduct as egregious as this at the bank, you can be sure that it will happen again,” said David Pred, the executive director and co-founder of Inclusive Development International, a human rights group.

In recent weeks, a dispute has broken out among the nations that make up the board of the IFC about how the bank addresses wrongdoings at companies such as Bridge. The watchdog recommended that victims of abuse receive financial compensation. Yet, the “action plan” approved by the board of the IFC proposed payment for counselling and sexual health services. 

“The official management action plan does not actually provide any remedy to the Bridge survivors specifically. IFC instead plans to offer funding to child abuse service providers throughout Kenya,” Pred told Foreign Policy.

U.S. lawmakers have urged the bank to adequately compensate victims, but the United Kingdom and France are reportedly against monetary compensation, as it would be expensive and set a precedent.

“I’m concerned that failing to provide direct and meaningful compensation will not only harm the survivors and their families, but it will also harm the reputation of the IFC, which has a critical mission around the world, and that of the United States as its largest shareholder,” U.S. Rep. Maxine Waters, the top Democrat on the House Financial Services Committee, wrote in a letter to Treasury Secretary Janet Yellen.

A statement by the U.S. Treasury published a day after the action plan was signed says that department officials “believe IFC should keep all remedy options on the table while the consultations proceed.”

Bridge, founded by two Americans, operates a chain of low-fee private schools in Kenya, Uganda, Liberia, India, and Nigeria, supported by high profile financiers that include the European Investment Bank and foundations set up by Bill Gates and Mark Zuckerberg. Civil society groups have criticized other high-profile investors for remaining silent on the scandal. As Banga pointed out, “two of the world’s leading foundations are much larger investors” than the IFC.

Bridge had been under scrutiny for years by IFC investor nations. The chairman of the U.K. Parliament’s international development committee wrote in a letter in 2017 stating that after visits to Bridge schools in Nigeria, Uganda, and Kenya, the evidence of the company’s impact on poverty is likely too weak to justify continued investment. The letter added that its inquiry “raises serious questions about Bridge’s relationships with governments, transparency and sustainability.”

There are many successful private international schools across Africa in what is becoming a lucrative market, but Bridge’s low-cost business model increased the likelihood of harm, development experts told Foreign Policy. Bridge is also facing controversy in Liberia over allegations of sexual abuse in a government education program, which it denies.

The IFC’s board now has six months to agree on a final remedy program in relation to Kenya. U.S. lawmakers have called the Bridge case a “litmus test” for how the institution handles harm caused by its projects—one that will have broader implications on funding the World Bank. By Nosmot Gbadamosi, Foreign Policy