We are a diverse group of non-profit organizations with varying missions that collectively believe in the value of the international financial institutions (IFIs).

Find upcoming and past events sponsored by the IFI Working Group and our members. 

The World Bank Group (WBG) plays a key role in the global effort to end extreme poverty and boost shared prosperity. One of the ways the organization works towards achieving these goals is by calling on citizens from around the globe to collaborate on a range of issues related to poverty reduction, international economic development and finance, building human capital, and strengthening resilience. The primary opportunity to bolster awareness and participation on these topics and advance the agenda on key issues is through the Spring and Annual Meetings. The meetings also aim to open up the meetings to the public through live-streamed events and online conversations on World Bank Live, Twitter and other platforms.

Each year the Boards of Governors of the Inter-American Development Bank (IDB) and the Inter-American Investment Corporation (IDB Invest) hold their Annual Meetings in one of the Bank's member countries. This official gathering is a forum for discussion among the institution's Governors, most of whom are ministers of finance, presidents of central banks, or other high-level authorities of the member countries. Representatives of multilateral financial institutions, development agencies and private banks also attend.

The fourth session of the IFAD13 replenishment will be co-hosted by France and Angola. Here, Member States will agree on the final IFAD13 replenishment report and announce pledges to IFAD13.

The session will also feature thematic discussions on the need to finance food system transformation, guest speakers, IFAD Goodwill Ambassadors and a closing ceremony with Heads of State and other high-level representatives.

Fourth Session of the IFAD13 Consultation

IDA donor and borrower representatives will meet in Zanzibar, Tanzania, between December 6 and 8, 2023, to review the progress to date on IDA20's policy and financial commitments and to evaluate IDA’s response to overlapping crises. The participants will discuss themes and issues that would need to be addressed during the IDA21 negotiations to create a world free of poverty on a livable planet.

Tune in to watch the livestream to hear World Bank President Ajay Banga speak from Zanzibar Wednesday, December 6, 2023; 8:30-9:00 AM East Africa Time Zone

IDA20 Mid-Term Review - Building Back Better from the Crisis Toward a Green, Resilient and Inclusive Future

COP 28 refers to the United Nations Climate Change Conference taking place in Dubai, United Arab Emirates, from 30 November until 12 December 2023. 

UN Climate Change conferences (or COPs) take place every year, and are the world’s only multilateral decision-making forum on climate change with almost complete membership of every country in the world.  


To put it simply, the COP is where the world comes together to agree on ways to address the climate crisis, such as limiting global temperature rise to 1.5 degrees Celsius, helping vulnerable communities adapt to the effects of climate change, and achieving net-zero emissions by 2050.

United Nations Climate Change Conference (COP 28)

Join us for this year's 9th Annual Birdsall House Conference on Gender Equality, where we will shine a spotlight on the theme, "Women on the Rise: Breaking Barriers in International Financial Institutions." This conference promises to be a thought-provoking exploration of the challenges women face, the opportunities their representation has created for different policies and impacts, and their strategic insights for how to increase women’s leadership within international financial institutions (IFIs). 

The event will start with a presentation of new findings on women’s representation in the IFI workforce, and leadership roles in particular, using a unique dataset of staffing over the last two decades from seven major IFIs. The event features two substantive panels that will ignite a dialogue across different IFIs on  how to shift the landscape of women’s representation. The first panel, “The View from the Top: We Shattered the Glass Ceiling, What’s Next?” showcases women who have shattered the glass ceiling and the reflections and strategies they have that can pave the way  for others through mentorship and institutional reform. The second panel, “Climbing the Ladder: Progress and Hurdles for Mid-Career Women in IFIs,” brings together mid-career women to explore the impact of intersectionality on representation, and discuss what has supported their progress as well as the persistent pinch points that continue to challenge women's ascent to positions of leadership.

After these engaging panel discussions, we invite you to stay for a networking lunch where you can connect with panelists and fellow attendees. This conference represents a pivotal opportunity to advance the dialogue surrounding women's advancement and leadership within the world of IFIs at a moment when these institutions are critical in supporting countries facing numerous intersecting crises and setbacks to hard fought gender equality gains.

9th Annual Birdsall House Conference on Gender Equality

We are excited to announce that the Congressional IFI Education Caucus launch event will be held on Monday, October 23rd, from 5:00-7:00 PM ET in the House Appropriations Committee Room, 2359 Rayburn House Office Building. The event will kick off with remarks from the Caucus Co-Chairs, Reps. John Rutherford and Brittany Pettersen, followed by a reception. 

This will be a great opportunity to network with Members of Congress and congressional staff and catch up with IFI WG members and other organizations working on the IFIs. 

Reception for the launch of the IFI Education Caucus

The 2023 Annual Meetings of the World Bank Group and the International Monetary Fund (IMF) will take place in person from Monday, October 9, through Sunday, October 15 in Marrakech, Morocco. The theme for the Annual Meetings will be “Global Action, Global Impact”.

Keystones of the Annual Meetings are the Plenary session, the Development Committee and the International Monetary and Financial Committee meetings. Other featured events include regional briefings, press conferences, and fora focused on international development, the global economy, and financial markets. 

Ahead of the many international events that will mark the end of 2023 and the years to follow, the Summit for New Global Financing Pact will establish the principles for future reforms and pave the way towards a more balanced financial partnership between the North and South. It will set the stage for new agreements to relieve debt distress. It will also enable more countries to access the financing they need to invest in sustainable development, to better protect nature and cut emissions, as well as help protect populations from climate change wherever most needed.

To rebuild credibility in the international system, we need a new pact that offers a level playing field, shares the burden of climate change, and builds prosperity and security for every country. The New Global Financing Pact will help define the principles and steps needed to reform the financial system and to combat the high levels of debt that tie governments’ hands when it comes to implement ambitious climate action to reduce the climate, economic and technological gaps that threaten to divide up our world.

Alongside the World Bank-International Monetary Fund Spring Meetings, the Center for Global Development and the Bill & Melinda Gates Foundation invite you to a high-level, virtual event: Ensuring an Inclusive COVID-19 Recovery through Investments in Cash, Care, and Data.

A growing evidence base reflects the COVID-19 pandemic has had an outsized negative impact on women and girls in low- and middle-income countries, exacerbating pre-existing economic and social gender gaps. An inclusive recovery from the COVID-19 pandemic will require grounding policies and investments in the reality that COVID-19 has been a gendered crisis. To ensure an inclusive recovery, CGD’s COVID-19 Gender and Development Initiative has proposed investments in three priority areas: cash, care, and data. At last year’s Generation Equality Forum, the Bill & Melinda Gates Foundation announced a historic $650 million commitment to promote women’s economic empowerment, framed around these core priorities.

At this event, Nigerian Minister of Finance Zainab Ahmed, Co-Chair of the Bill & Melinda Gates Foundation Melinda French Gates, and other high-level panelists will discuss pathways to a gender-equal COVID-19 recovery, approaches that donor institutions and governments are taking to achieve their goals, and remaining challenges.

Ensuring an Inclusive COVID-19 Recovery through Investments in Cash, Care, and Data

Last week, the Biden Administration released a budget that included $11 billion in climate finance for developing countries, a fourfold increase compared to Obama-era climate finance levels. Close on the heels of the Administration’s FY23 budget request, the UN Intergovernmental Panel on Climate Change released a new report chronicling the insufficiency of current climate pledges, and once-again calling attention to the dire consequences of the current emissions trajectory. In particular, the report noted the significant risks posed to low-income countries by rising sea levels and more violent storms and the need to assist vulnerable countries in adapting to climate change.   

To discuss the Administration’s efforts to reduce global carbon emissions and elaborate on U.S. policies to expand access to finance for sustainable development, CGD is pleased to welcome Secretary John Kerry, U.S. Special Presidential Envoy for Climate for a fireside chat. The virtual event will feature a one-on-one discussion between Secretary Kerry and CGD Board Member and PBS NewsHour anchor Judy Woodruff, followed by audience Q&A.

In the run up to the Spring Meetings of the World Bank’s Board of Governors, Secretary Kerry will address the bank’s role as a partner in climate finance, including how the institution can best mobilize developing country investments in climate change mitigation and adaptation.

If you have questions for our panelists, please submit them to events@cgdev.org tweet @CGDev #CGDTalks, or submit your comments via YouTube.

Financing Green Development: A Fireside Chat on US Climate Finance with Secretary John Kerry

Featuring Ghana Minister for Finance and Economic Planning Ken Ofori-Atta, African Development Bank Vice President for Agriculture, Human and Social Development Beth Dunford, Bill & Melinda Gates Foundation President for Global Policy & Advocacy Gargee Ghosh, World Bank Senior Vice President and Chief Economist Carmen Reinhart, and United Nations Under-Secretary-General and Executive Secretary of the Economic Commission for Africa Vera Songwe

Russia's Invasion of Ukraine: Buffering Developing Countries from the Broader Economic Shocks

Leveraging new research, on-the-ground testimony, and diverse expertise, this panel will critically explore if the IMF’s new Gender Strategy can challenge the IMF’s traditional macroeconomic paradigm of debt and austerity to instead promote policies that support a gender-just recovery to build an economy that works for women and all genders.

Moderator: Emma Burgisser, Economic Justice Lead, Christian Aid

Panelist 1: Bhumika Muchhala, Senior Advisor on Global Economic Governance, Third World Network

Panelist 2: Mariama Williams, Director, Institute of Law and Economics, Jamaica

Panelist 3: Ratna Sahay, Senior Gender Advisor, IMF

Panelist 4: Jessica Mandanda, Young Urban Activist, Malawi

The IMF Gender Strategy: Making the Economy Work for Women?

Last year, the World Bank announced the discontinuation of the Doing Business Report, which encapsulated its vision of private sector development. This session will examine the harmful legacy of the DBR, including the inconsistency with the WB’s mandate, and how these risks being replicated in the Business Enabling Environment project. It will also discuss an alternative vision of private sector development that supports poverty reduction and economic diversification, and properly values people and the planet. It will identify the steps that states can take to build an ‘enabling business environment’ consistent with such a vision and the implications for the WB’s work.

Moderator: Luiz Vieira, Chair, Bretton Woods Project

Panelist 1: Amanda Janoo, Economics and Policy Lead, Wellbeing Economy Alliance

Panelist 3: Chris Roberts, Canadian Labor Congress

Panelist 4: Norman Loayza, Director of the Global Indicators Group, World Bank

Towards a World Bank Private Sector Development Strategy that Puts People and Planet before Profit

While an important part of the WBG strategy to respond to Covid-19 consists in mobilizing private investment, private healthcare services pose challenges for equitable access. The session will present case studies showing how private sector engagement in healthcare might have negative impacts on the enjoyment of the right to health.

Moderator: James Cole, Senior Advocacy Advisor, STOPAIDS

Panelist 1: Marco Angelo, Global Health Advocate, Wemos

Panelist 2: Rossella De Falco, Programme Officer on the Right to Health, GI-ESCR

Panelist 3: Allana Kembabazi, Program Manager, Global Health Program, ISER

The WBG's Investments in Private Healthcare Provision: What Implications for the Right to Health?

Oxfam’s Susana Ruiz Rodriguez was invited to interview those who contributed to this year’s Fiscal Monitor report and will be asking pointed questions regarding global tax coordination, the OECD/G20 tax deal, progressive taxation advised on programs (beyond policy level), and addressing tax competition in personal and wealth taxation. Join the session to watch the recorded interview. Interview will be posted on the IMF Fiscal Monitor website.

The World Bank Group has long focused on safeguards to avoid harm from development projects, but now there is more attention to the need for mechanisms to ensure remediation when harms do occur. This session will discuss what an effective remedy framework would look like, informed by the experiences of affected communities.

Moderator: Jolie Schwarz, Senior Policy Advisor, Development Finance, Oxfam

Panelist 1: Mac Darrow, UN Representative, OHCHR

Panelist 2: David Pred, Executive Director, Inclusive Development International

Panelist 3: Stephanie Amoako, Senior Policy Associate, Accountability Counsel

Panelist 4: Piotr Mazurkiewicz, Lead FI Risk Officer, Environmental & Social Policy and Risk, International Finance Corporation

A New Era of Accountability in Development: Realizing the Right to Remedy for Affected People 

In the third year of the pandemic, we are seeing a sudden and worrying roll back of crucial fiscal support that earlier helped cushion the devastating impact of the crisis with countries now adopting austerity measures before the pandemic is even over. Through its advice and conditionality, new evidence reveals the IMF is encouraging many countries down this path which consistently undermines the lives, rights and wellbeing of those most vulnerable. From Tunisia to Argentina, from Zambia to Nigeria, this panel will explore how the trend of austerity is materializing across the world and present alternatives for a fair recovery with a focus on taxing wealth.

Moderator: Kate Donald, Director of Program, Center for Economic and Social Rights

Panelist 1: Paolo Mauro, Deputy Director, Fiscal Affairs Department, IMF

Panelist 2: Nadia Daar, Head of Washington DC Office, Oxfam International

Panelist 3: Lionel Stiglitz, Research Coordinator, Fundación SES

Panelist 4: Amine Bouzaiene, Fiscal Policy Lead, Bawsala

*Simultaneous interpretation in French, Arabic and Spanish available when joining via Webex

Are we Heading Towards an Austerity-based Recovery?

Special Drawing Rights (SDRs) have the potential to become a key mechanism for financing a just transition to climate-resilient economies and supporting the Covid-19 recovery. Following its historic allocation of $650 billion in SDRs, the IMF has proposed a Resilience and Sustainability Trust to facilitate the re-channeling of these resources to vulnerable countries. This panel will explore the Fund’s proposal, contrasting it with principles for fair SDR re-channeling set out in the CSO letter to the G20 in September 2021. The session will assess the value of SDRs, including through potential future allocations, in contributing to financing climate action and pandemic preparedness via meeting ambitious, nationally-determined goals.

Moderator: Chiara Mariotti, Senior policy and advocacy officer, Eurodad

Panelist 1: Sara Jane Ahmed, Finance advisor, Vulnerable 20 (V20), member of Taskforce on Climate, Development and the IMF

Panelist 2: Andres Arauz, Senior Research Associate, CEPR

Panelist 3: Fr. Charles Chilufya, Justice & Ecology Director, Jesuit Conference of Africa & Madagascar

Panelist 4: Arnaud Buissé, Executive Director, France, IMF

The IMF’s Resilience and Sustainability Trust: Can an IMF-managed SDRs Trust Deliver Inclusive & Sustainable Recoveries?

Development finance is critical to global development, including achieving the Sustainable Development Goals, low-income countries recovery from the pandemic, and the commitment of $100 billion per year for climate finance. But to know whether finance and development goals are being met, and to keep institutions on track, we need better information on financial flows and how they impact development. Despite the scale of financing by development finance institutions (DFIs), few share ​detailed information on their private sector portfolios. This makes it difficult to assess their development impact and to foster learning within this space. Greater transparency will lay the foundation for more informed decision making, more accountability, and better allocation of resources.

On November 3, the Center for Sustainable Development at Brookings will host a virtual event to create space for DFIs, civil society organizations, the private sector, and shareholders to engage with key issues on DFI transparency. As part of the event, Publish What You Fund will launch a research report “Advancing DFI Transparency – The rationale and roadmap for better impact, accountability, and markets.” The panel will discuss recommendations for greater global disclosure and how donors can better engage with national stakeholders and improve the publication of their development financing. The event will also introduce our new DFI Transparency Tool.

Greater transparency for development finance institutions

Events

2024 World Bank Spring Meetings

2024 IDB Annual Meetings