Notes from the Civil Society Policy Forum on 18 April 2024 titled "Is a feminist vision on public debt possible?"
International
IFI governance
Background
Agriculture, financialization, and gender: Exploring the World Bank’s response to interlinked phenomena
Notes from the Civil Society Policy Forum on 17 April 2024 titled "Agriculture, financialization, and gender: Exploring the World Bank’s response to interlinked phenomena"
IFI governance
Background
The future of Special Drawing Rights as a development finance tool: What's next?
Notes from the Civil Society Policy Forum session on 17 April 2024, titled "The Future of Special Drawing Rights as a Development Finance Tool: What's Next?"
IFI governance
Background
Examining the progress of the World Bank’s commitment to universal social protection
Notes from the Civil Society Policy Forum panel on 17 April titled, “Examining the Progress of the World Bank’s Commitment to Universal Social Protection.”
Private Sector
News
Webinar - Financialisation, human rights and the Bretton Woods Institutions: An introduction for civil society organisations
On 11 April 2024 the Bretton Woods Project hosted a webinar to present its new report Financialisation, human rights and the Bretton Woods Institutions: An introduction for civil society organisations, followed by a discussion with CSOs and academics
IFI governance
Analysis
Spring Meetings 2024 Preamble: Bretton Woods Institutions continue to sleepwalk through crises as 80th anniversary of Bretton Woods Conference approaches
At a time when transformative changes on governance and development financing are required, the World Bank and IMF have instead opted for a slimmed down Spring Meetings schedule.
IFI governance
Analysis
Undemocratic gentleman's agreement will further challenge next IMF managing director
EU countries’ backing of Kristalina Georgieva for a second term as IMF Managing Director will likely set in motion the next steps towards her reappointment, representing another lost opportunity to reform IMF governance.
Finance
Commentary
Better ways to reduce the pain of debt crises for developing countries?
Amid challenging global conditions, proposals to address liquidity issues must be urgently matched by a reformed, development-focused international financial architecture.
IFI governance
Analysis
IDA21: Moving beyond a focus on ‘historic’ replenishment
Calls for a ‘historic’ IDA21 replenishment risk diverting attention from the policy framework necessary for IDA to support countries to break their dependence on development finance and undertake the ecologically sustainable and just economic transformation long sought by their populations.
Environment
Background
The World Bank and climate finance: Success story or a new era of green ‘structural adjustment’?
This Inside the Institutions analyses the World Bank's climate finance, examining its impact on low- and middle-income countries' climate objectives.
Finance
News
Sri Lanka’s continued debt crisis highlights urgent need for wider reform
Sri Lanka’s inability to avoid its 17th IMF programme, and its catastrophic human rights consequences, adds to evidence of IMF and international system's failure to adequately respond to the worsening debt crisis and urgent need for debt cancellation and systemic reform.
Social services
Analysis
Beyond the World Bank: The fight for universal social protection in the Global South
The World Bank Group promotes a model of social protection via poverty-targeted programmes that are error-strewn and can cause social unease, and set back progress towards universal social protection.
Featured briefings
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.
3 June 2024
A way out for IMF reform
New paper analyses the IMF 16th Quota Review and identifies key governance reforms feasible in the current economic and geopolitical context.