The World Bank participated in events and showcased investments in water services at the World Water Forum held in France in March. However, critics from civil society accused the Bank's private sector arm, the International Finance Corporation, of working closely with major water-using corporations to advocate for an increased role of the private sector.
Social services
Social services
News
IMF in Europe: doomed to fail?
The IMF has scaled back its percentage stake in the Greek loan package but remains assertive in the eurozone, calling for more austerity raising questions over whether periphery nations will play along.
Environment
News
Nature on the market?
The Bank will showcase new initiatives on oceans and the valuation of ecosystem services at the United Nations Conference on Sustainable Development, or Rio+20, in Brazil in late June, but is attracting criticism from civil society groups for its approach to 'green growth'.
Infrastructure
News
World Bank backs dirty energy despite objections
Continued controversy over a coal power project in Kosovo, partly funded by the World Bank, and a catalogue of complaints over its projects highlight the impact of extractives and the lack of alternatives in the Banks energy lending portfolio.
Accountability
News
Harvesting controversy
While the Bank prepares to revise its agriculture strategy, its focus on market liberalisation is criticised, its own complaints bodies issue damning reports on agriculture projects in Peru and Papua New Guinea, and critics fault its gender focus.
Social services
Commentary
IMF from Argentina to Greece: similar but different
The economic crisis in Argentina in 2001 and Greece today share both similarities and differences, so we should be wary of stretching the comparison.
Social services
News
World Bank loans linked to child mortality
A June 2011 academic paper that analysed health outcomes in Sub-Saharan Africa found that "when a country is under a World Bank structural adjustment loan it tends to have higher levels of child mortality".
Social services
News
World Bank-funded "toxic dumping ground"
Ugandan newspaper New Vision called attention to the "horrific sanitation conditions" of a Bank-funded waterway in Uganda in November 2011
Social services
News
IMF's focus on austerity proved "wrong, wrong, wrong", say critics
While Christine Lagarde and staff at the Fund begin to acknowledge that too much austerity is risking jobs and growth and civil society groups call for an end to IFIs policy conditions, IMF programmes continue to promote fiscal retrenchment.
Social services
News
Despite evidence, World Bank still promoting water privatisation
Bank-funded private water projects across the world are facing serious problems due to financial, socio-political and operational concerns, but recent trends show that more such projects are coming up in the name of innovative approaches.
