World Bank Group

The World Bank Group is now the largest public "development" institution in the world. Its policies, projects and influence have a direct impact on the lives of millions of people in developing countries across the world. Bank policies and projects have been directly linked to poverty, environmental degradation and the growing gap between the rich and the poor.

The World Bank was originally created in 1944 as the International Bank for Reconstruction and Development (IBRD), in order to help the reconstruction effort in Europe after World War II. As the Bank's focus shifted to developing countries, more agencies were created, namely the International Development Association (IDA), the International Finance Corporation (IFC) and the Multilateral Investment Guarantee Agency (MIGA).

Our campaign to fundamentally transform the World Bank Group has focused on:

• cancelling the debt owed to the World Bank by the poorest countries;
• halting Bank support for structural adjustment policies (SAPs) as currently constituted;
• stopping World Bank financing of environmentally and socially destructive projects through the IFC and MIGA, particularly in the extractive industries sector;
• monitoring Bank lending in the area of the environment;
• making the links between the World Bank agenda, the World Trade Organization and trade agreements;
• changing policies and governance of the Bank to increase democratic space, transparency, community involvement, full and open public participation and public accountability;
• provide support to groups in Canada undertaking World Bank Boycott campaigns.
• IDA and IBRD.