The Multilateral Organisations Performance Assessment Network has published its 2005 survey of the perceptions of multilateral organisations at the country level, covering the World Bank, the UN Population Fund and UNAIDS.
Capacity building
Accountability
News
Aid for trade: “distraction” from a bad deal
The consensus among civil society observers was that the agreement struck at the December Hong Kong WTOtrade ministerial was a bad deal for developing countries, with IFI-backed 'aid for trade' used as a "major distraction".
Accountability
News
IFI ‘aid for trade’ carrot ahead of Hong Kong trade summit
Details of the BWIs aid for trade package were unveiled at the annual meetings, as officials turned up the pressure to reach a deal at the upcoming trade summit in Hong Kong.
Rights
News
The G8, the World Bank and the IMF: Debt, aid and trade implications
At their 6 - 8 July summit in Gleneagles Scotland, G8 leaders tasked the World Bank and the IMF with much of the follow-up on their commitments on debt reduction, increased aid and fairer trade.
Conditionality
News
IMF, Bank reviews of financial sector reform
A flurry of reviews of the BWIs work in financial sector reform kicked off in March with the Fund's board review of the joint Bank-Fund financial sector assessment programme.
IFI governance
News
Evaluation of Bank global programmes: “poorly-defined” and excluding the poor
The World Bank’s evaluation department has released a scathing report on the Bank’s approach to global programmes, finding the approach “poorly defined” and the voices of developing countries “inadequately represented”.
Accountability
Background
Draft Notes of WB-CSO dialogue on urban water and sanitation services, 18-19 Nov 2004
DRAFT action points and notes identified by participants to the WB-CSO dialogue held at WaterAid in London on 18-19 November.
Accountability
News
In through the back door: capacity building or concession taking?
Some of the recommendations made in the diagnostic studies of the Integrated Framework touch upon sensitive areas in development policy such as privatisation, trade liberalisation and investment and competition policy.
Trade
News
High-level conference on "trade, growth and poverty"
Organised by the UK Department for International Development, the World Bank, IMF and UNDP, a two-day conference held in London 8-9 December gathered officials, agency representatives and academics to discuss the links between trade, growth and poverty. The objective of the conference was to provide direction on how to integrate trade into national development strategies.
Accountability
News
World Bank trade capacity building: “doing it for them”
A leaked copy of the evaluation of the Integrated Framework for trade-related capacity building for Least Developed Countries should lead observers to question the World Bank's chief role in the initiative.
Featured briefings
1 October 2024
Year one of World Bank Paris Agreement alignment in the energy sector: ‘green conditionality’ dwarfs green investments
New BWP research finds the Word Bank's approach to Paris alignment is being used to a significant extent to impose ‘green conditionalities' on borrowing countries, especially in the Global South.
3 July 2024
The Bretton Woods Observer: Summer 2024
3 July 2024
Is the World Bank rolling back commitments to citizen engagement, again?
Understanding the Bank’s chequered history with public, community and civil society participation is key for understanding what is at stake and what to do next.