This report on Indigenous Peoples (IP) is the second in the series of papers to be published by the World’s Bank Inspection Panel drawing on the main emerging lessons from its caseload over 22 years. The Panel hopes the study will prove beneficial by highlighting areas where continued improvements can enhance the Bank’s and its member countries’ approach to ensuring that Indigenous Peoples fully benefit from Bank projects. The Inspection Panel was created in 1993 by the World Bank’s Board of Executive Directors to receive and investigate complaints submitted by peo ple suffering harm allegedly caused by Bank projects. Since then, the Panel has received 111 requests for inspection. Of those, 85 have been registered and 34 investigated. Nineteen Panel cases have involved Indigenous Peoples’ issues. These 18 investigations and one relevant pilot case covered 15 countries in four regions. Consultations and broad community support, social assessments, and cus tomary rights were the issues most represented in these investigations. While all relevant Panel cases were studied as part of this report, a special emphasis was put on drawing lessons from cases within the past decade. On August 4, 2016, the Board of Executive Directors approved the 2016 Environmental and Social Framework (ESF), which includes Environmental and Social Standard 7 on “Indigenous Peoples/Sub-Saharan African Historically Underserved Traditional Local Communities.” The 2016 ESF not being applicable yet, the Panel’s emerging lessons presented in this publica tion were drawn from projects where the Operational Directive (OD 4.20) and Operational Policy/Bank Procedures on Indigenous Peoples (OP/BP 4.10) were applied. The report’s main conclusions from the cases investigated are as follows: • The Indigenous Peoples Policy is among the more complex of the Bank’s safeguards due to the rigorous criteria, sensitivities attached, and the req uisite specialized expertise necessary for its full implementation. The fact that a significant percentage of the world’s poor are indigenous points to the necessity of giving this policy the importance and significance it deserves. • Most of the lessons presented in this report relate to the project prepara tion stage of the project cycle, clearly pointing to the importance of this stage in projects involving Indigenous Peoples. “Getting it right” from the very start is imperative. Improved screening to capture Indigenous Peoples’ presence in the project area and the impacts of the project on their interests is needed from the outset, and should include a thorough understanding of their land- and resource-based cultures and livelihoods. • Greater expertise needs to be deployed to capture the specificities of Indigenous Peoples, their livelihoods, and cultural attachment to lands IP lessons text 9-16-16.indd 4 9/16/16 12:49 PM Emerging Lessons Series: Indigenous Peoples v and resources. This points to the need for strengthened technical capacity and continued capacity development for relevant Bank staff. • The World Bank has responded positively to many of the Panel investiga tions by adjusting its practices and increasing attention to indigenous issues on the part of borrowers. For example, in the Democratic Republic of Congo (DRC), the Panel case led to the recognition of Pygmies as Indigenous Peoples by both the government of the DRC and the World Bank, resulting in new commitments to mainstreaming Indigenous Peoples as a crosscutting theme across activities in the country, as well as community-managed forest concessions granted to IPs. In the Kenya Natural Resource Management Project (NRMP) and as a result of the Panel’s investigation, the Bank hosted a dialogue with the government and affected IPs on customary land and resource rights with the aim of addressing legacy issues related to land rights and ownership. While Panel cases tend to highlight challenging projects where things went wrong, and therefore are not necessarily reflective of the Bank’s entire portfo lio, the lessons nonetheless are important. This exercise is intended to help build the institutional knowledge base, enhance accountability, foster better results in project outcomes, and ultimately, contribute to more effective devel opment with shared prosperity for all