The World Bank has recently faced increasing pressure to adopt strong policies on human rights and climate change. NGOs have been joined by parliamentarians, nobel laureates for peace and a group of religious leaders in advocating for the Bank to adopt the recommendations of the Extractive Industries Review.
Strategy/roles
Knowledge
News
IMF and poverty: strange bed fellows
The IMF's capacity and legitimacy to address poverty have been debated by many analysts within…
Rights
News
WSF 2004: IMF, World Bank “out of South”
Over 100,000 participants were drawn to this year's World Social Forum (WSF) in Mumbai, 16 - 21 January. Held on an enormous industrial complex in the north of the city, the panels, workshops, and cultural displays were held in hangars previously used as stage sets and ad-hoc tents. Innumerable marches poured through the streets outside, powerfully illustrating the depth of grassroots organising in India.
Knowledge
Analysis
Leading a horse to water: Is there a role for the IMF in poverty reduction?
Many observers were sceptical when a few years ago the IMF embarked on a mission to respond to the "cries of the poor", in the words of its then head Michel Camdessus
Rights
News
Meeting: ‘milestone’ or ‘millstone’ for Bank/civil society relations?
Concerns have been raised about a new high-level initiative involving the World Bank and selected civil society groups.
Rights
News
Activist manifesto on global institutions
A new book challenges global institutions and anti-globalisation activists with proposals for stronger but radically…
Environment
News
World Bank announces renewed big infrastructure push
The World Bank President has pledged that the Bank will revive its support for megaprojects and a new report expresses serious concerns about the Bank's track record in this area.
Finance
News
Report condemns IMF ability to anticipate and prevent crises
A US Government Accounting Office (GAO) report finds serious shortcomings to recent IMF efforts to improve its capacity to predict and prevent financial crises, which is at the core of its mandate.
IFI governance
News
“US-driven” World Bank “forces its view on developing countries” - poll
A survey released by the World Bank in June gave the institution very low marks on poverty reduction and the environment and found that it is more “US-driven” than some years ago.
Environment
News
Activists oppose Bank ‘clean development’ credits for Brazilian forest plantation
One of the first pilot projects using the World Bank's climate change carbon trading programmes has come under fire from local groups for endorsing destructive tree plantations.