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 relevant reports from our members and the Congressional Research Service, publications from the IFIs, and other useful resources.

This report is an update to our April consultation paper “Crowding in: An advanced approach for measuring and disclosing private capital mobilisation”. Consultation on the ‘Crowding In’ report is now closed and the methodological annex in this report supersedes the prior version. This report was written by Paul James and the executive summary was written by Sally Paxton

What-Works.pdf

What works: How to measure and disclose private capital mobilisation to increase private investment and close the SDG financing gap

BWC-FSPT-24-FGL_D.pdf

NEW PUBLICATION: Fragile Global Liquidity: Sources and Policy Implications

IDA_Case_Studies_2024.pdf

STORIES OF IMPACT: IDA, THE WORLD BANK’S LOW INCOME FUND IN AFRICA

In this educational podcast from the BWC, Nancy Jacklin, longtime BWC member and former US Executive Director of the IMF, sits down with experts for the benefit of non-experts interested in the Bretton Woods Institutions and other IFIs because of their educational pursuits, employment, or just their curiosity.  In this way we hope to increase knowledge of, and support for the institutions - which is at the heart of our own mission. 

The series explains the origins of the various institutions created to coordinate international monetary and economic affairs,  why they are needed, how they have evolved, and how they get things done. This explanation will have three distinct parts: the international monetary system, global development, and trade.

Despite positioning itself as the ‘climate bank of Asia and the Pacific’, it is difficult to ascertain the Asian Development Bank’s claims of climate adaptation finance.

Oxfam analysed the bank’s 2019–2023 climate finance portfolio and conducted a detailed assessment of 15 climate adaptation projects, comprising 43% of reported adaptation finance for FY 2021 and 2022. Oxfam found that the Asian Development Bank (ADB) hugely overstates the reported amounts with potential over-reporting of 44% in average for the assessed projects.

This briefing paper calls for a transformative shift in the ADB’s adaptation finance strategies. The ADB must improve the accuracy and transparency of climate finance reporting and realign financial flows with the needs of the region's most vulnerable communities.

bp-unaccountable-adaptation-020524-en.pdf

Unaccountable Adaptation: The Asian Development Bank’s overstated claims on climate adaptation finance

A Publication from the Bretton Woods Committee’s Multilateral Reform Working Group

BWC_MRWG2024_final.pdf

Strengthening the Bretton Woods Institutions to Meet 21st-Century Global Challenges

Catalyzing_South_American_Infrastructure.pdf

The Role of Development Banks in Catalyzing the Infrastructure of South America in the 21st Century

The International Monetary Fund’s 2022 Strategy to Mainstream Gender calls for an intentional and systematic approach to integrating gender into macroeconomic policies to foster strong, sustainable, and inclusive growth. This Note argues that the IMF is filling a critical gap in its mandate by mainstreaming gender into its work. It makes the case that (i) closing gender gaps is macrocritical because they go hand-in-hand with higher economic growth, greater financial stability, and lower income inequality. Not doing so would lead to underdevelopment, underutilization, and misallocation of productive human resources; and (ii) applying a gender lens to macroeconomic, financial, and structural policy design can help to narrow gender gaps and result in improved economic outcomes. This paper provides an overview of gender gaps in opportunities, outcomes, and representation; takes stock of how these gaps impact macroeconomic and financial outcomes; and identifies polices to narrow these gaps. It explains how narrowing gender gaps can benefit societies and outlines steps countries can take to unleash the economic gains from gender equality

integrating-gender-macroeconomic-policies-imf.pdf

Integrating Gender into Macroeconomic Policies at the IMF

The central tenet of the Bretton Woods Committee is that multilateral cooperation and coordination lead to better outcomes than noncooperation and competition. That principle applies not only to the global financial architecture—which includes the activities of the International Monetary Fund (IMF) and the World Bank—but also to newer realms: the emerging digital finance ecosystem and finance for climate action and the energy transition. For this reason, the Committee has established the Future of Finance Working Group and its two project teams—the Digital Finance Project Team and the Climate and Energy Transition Finance (CETF) Project Team—to tackle each of these issues. The CETF Project Team covers a broad scope of climate finance issues, ranging from the specific role of the multilateral development banks (MDBs) to the challenge of reforming and coordinating the wider international financial system to debt distress in low- and middle-income (LMI) countries. We are examining these questions in the context of the cumulative climate, health, energy, and inflation crises. Those crises have put enormous pressure on advanced and developing economies alike over the past three years and have led to growing calls for a fundamental rethinking of how the system for multilateral development finance works. The CETF team’s mission is to tackle the urgent question of how to close the current vast gap in financing climate action and the energy transition, encouraging mitigation, and boosting adaptation, particularly in LMI countries. It plans to publish briefs designed to explain the key issues, assess possible routes of action, and recommend practical solutions.It plans to publish briefs designed to explain the key issues, assess possible routes of action, and recommend practical solutions.

CFPT_Template_Final_Digital_1.pdf

The Role of Multilateral Development Banks in Closing the Climate and Energy Transition Finance Gap

gpgs-and-where-fund-them-startling-implications-financing-global-public-good-provision.pdf

GPGs and Where to Fund Them: The Startling Implications of Financing Global Public Good Provision for the Multilateral Development Banks

funding-options-cash-strapped-prgt.pdf

Whither or Wither the PRGT? Funding Options for a Cash-Strapped PRGT

Taking-stock-of-the-2X-Challenge-The-transparency-of-gende.pdf

Taking stock of the 2X Challenge: The Transparency of Gender Lens Investments

Contains updates from BWC over the last year of work. Includes the sections: letters from leadership, outlook for the rest of 2023 and 2024, events, working groups, blogs, financials, and engagement by the numbers.

BWC_AR_2022_Web.pdf

Jubilee USA Network is an alliance of more than 75 US organizations and 750 faith communities working with 50 Jubilee global partners. Jubilee USA builds an economy that serves, protects and promotes the participation of the most vulnerable. 

We appreciate the opportunity to submit these comments on the World Bank Group’s Evolution Process and its Roadmap (“Evolution Process” or “the Roadmap”). 

The Evolution Roadmap comes at a moment of growing understanding about the need to make better use of multilateral development banks for financing development and the response to global challenges. 

The pandemic shock reversed poverty reduction and human development progress globally. The Russia Ukraine war, climate change and hunger are among the crises that the world faces and that hit developing countries worst, due to pre-existing vulnerabilities. Developing countries suffer these shocks amidst reduced fiscal space. The slowest 5-year growth in decades, high debts and rising interest rates combine to limit their capacity to respond and, especially, protect their most vulnerable. 

Multilateral development banks (MDBs) like the World Bank have extraordinary potential to use turn capital contributions from shareholders into development finance interventions several-fold their volume. They have an unparalleled capacity to offer low-cost, long-term funds and play a particularly important role in times of crises, when they provide countercyclical and emergency funding.

 In the Roadmap World Bank shareholders endorsed, they signaled their intention to evolve the institution across three dimensions: mission and vision, operations, and financing. 

Jubilee's comments on the Evolution Roadmap

Jubilee_USA_WB_Evolution_FINAL.pdf

Jubilee USA Comments on the World Bank Group's Evolution Process and Roadmap

As global crises mount—from the social and economic fallout of COVID-19 to the deepening climate crisis, to food insecurity compounded by the Russian invasion of Ukraine—development finance institutions (DFIs) are increasingly being called upon to address these issues. Although more resources are being funnelled through DFIs, it is a challenge to know what investments are being made and the impact these are having. This report presents the findings of Publish What You Fund’s first DFI Transparency Index. The DFI Transparency Index is a comparative measure of the transparency of thirty leading DFI portfolios. It assesses multilateral and bilateral institutions, and sovereign (public sector) and non-sovereign (private sector) operations. The DFI Transparency Index measures the transparency of DFIs across 47 indicators in five categories of information: • Core Information • Impact Management • ESG and Accountability to Communities • Financial Information • Financial Intermediary Sub-investments (non-sovereign only) Full lists and definitions of the indicators included in the index can be found in the methodology paper.

First ranking of the world’s leading development finance institutions

What needs to happen for the IFC to prioritize the Performance Standards.pdf

DFI Transparency Index Report - January 2023

BRAC joined with partner groups to write this letter to the World Bank, calling for the Evolution Roadmap to explicitly endorse evidence-based interventions for eradicating extreme poverty to accelerate adoption of proven approaches like Graduation/economic inclusion.

WB-Evolution-Roadmap-Letter-Leadership-Collaborative-4-1.pdf

World Bank Evolution Roadmap Letter - Leadership Collective

The multilateral development bank (MDB) model is a powerful multiplier of shareholder capital in support of development. But much more is expected of MDBs in the 21st century given the magnitude and urgency of development and climate challenges confronting the globe. This paper assesses the performance of the model against borrowing and non-borrowing shareholder priorities and expectations, and asks: what would an ideal development and climate bank look like? The analysis assesses MDB performance across four dimensions to define how the current model should evolve: the financial model, finance instruments for governments, finance instruments for the private sector, and impact measurement and reporting

what-would-ideal-development-and-climate-mdb-look.pdf

What Would the Ideal Development and Climate MDB Look Like?

The World Bank today faces parallel challenges to its operations and governance. The institution has since its founding provided financing on favourable terms to developing country governments to support national development efforts. Alongside these country demands, there are now calls for a new set of mandates and activities associated with global public goods. Advocates would have the Bank allocate large sums toward climate mitigation, pandemic response and preparedness, and other activities that may or may not align with national priorities in developing countries. The ability of the World Bank to strike an appropriate balance between country demands and global goods depends on the institution’s shareholders. Yet, the deterioration in the bilateral relationship between the United States and China now threatens to undermine effective governance at the institution. This paper considers the challenge of competing demands on World Bank resources and the degree to which a resolution could depend on an agreement between the United States and China, one that sets the strategic direction of the institution and addresses the growing impasse on the question of China’s shareholding in the Bank.

development-finance-cooperation-amidst-great-power-competition-what-role-world-bank.pdf

Development Finance Cooperation Amidst Great Power Competition: What Role for the World Bank?

The Disclosure Example Book is intended to be a resource for those interested in improving the transparency of development finance institutions (DFIs). By providing examples of disclosure of a broad range of data, it demonstrates how disclosure can be improved at all DFIs. We hope that this book will be a resource to both DFIs and to other stakeholders with an interest in improving DFI transparency. 

Disclosure-Example-Book.pdf

International financial institutions (IFIs) or multilateral development banks (MDBs), so-called because they are funded by multiple countries and partners, provide financial assistance to developing countries to promote economic and social development. Congressional support is critical to U.S. financing for the MDBs: under U.S. law, Congress must enact legislation that allocates funding before the U.S. government is able to contribute. Congress also plays an oversight role in U.S. relationships with MDBs.

International Development Association
Part of the World Bank Group, the International Development Association (IDA) makes grants as well as loans on concessional terms (an interest rate of zero or a very low rate well below market rates) to the world’s 74 poorest countries. Overseen by 173 shareholder nations, IDA seeks to boost economic growth, reduce inequalities, and improve people’s living conditions. For shareholders that contribute financially, including the United States, IDA is an efficient channel for directing development assistance to the poorest countries. Because contributions to IDA are pooled with repayments from former and current IDA recipients, IDA is able to provide a substantial and stable source of funding that countries can rely on to help fund their development priorities.

U.S. pledge to IDA-20 (2022-2025): $3.5 billion

The African Development Fund (AfDF), part of the African Development Bank Group, supports its 38 regional member countries in their efforts to reduce poverty by spurring sustainable economic development and social progress. The AfDF provides grants as well as loans at highly concessional rates. AfDF-eligible countries include those that are on their way to becoming new emerging markets, as well as those that remain fragile and need special assistance to deliver basic services to their populations. 

U.S. pledge to AfDF-16 (2023-2025): $591 million

The Asian Development Fund (AsDF) provides grants to the Asian Development Bank’s 15 lower-income member countries to reduce poverty reduction and improve people’s quality of life. The grants support development projects and programs, including infrastructure, policy support and reform, production capacity, human development, environmentally sustainable investments, good governance, capacity building, and regional cooperation. Member countries of AsDF are eligible for grants if they have lower incomes, are considered to have a moderate or high risk of debt distress, and/or are small island economies. 

U.S. pledge to AsDF-13 (2021-2024): $174.4 million

International Fund for Agricultural Development	

In partnership with national governments, the International Fund for Agricultural Development (IFAD) provides more than $1 billion in loans and grants annually to support programs and projects in rural areas. These programs enable and equip people to grow more food, improve their nutrition, better manage their natural resources, learn new skills, start small businesses, build strong community-centered organizations, and gain a voice in decisions that affect their lives. All IFAD projects are country-led and country-owned. Projects are designed in consultation with smallholder farmers and other residents of rural areas with a strong focus on the inclusion of marginalized groups. 

U.S. pledge to IFAD-12 (2022-2024): $129 million

This fact sheet is provided by the International Financial Institutions Working Group, a coalition of organizations committed to promoting effective US leadership in multilateral development institutions.

IFI Working Group Info Brief: Key IFI Appropriations Accounts

Resources