World Bank

The World Bank provides financial and technical assistance to developing countries


The World Bank is an important source of financial and technical support to developing countries around the world. They are not a bank in the ordinary sense but a novel partnership to reduce poverty and support development. The World Bank Group comprises five institutions managed by their member countries.

Established in 1944, the World Bank Group is headquartered in Washington, D.C. They have more than 10,000 employees in more than 120 offices worldwide.


As their website claims, it was founded in 1944, as the International Bank for Reconstruction and Development— then soon called the World Bank—has expanded to a closely associated group of five development institutions.  Originally, its loans helped rebuild countries devastated by World War II.


“As demand for its services has increased over time, the Bank Group has risen to meet them. For perspective, the World Bank made four loans totalling $497 million in 1947, as compared to 302 commitments totalling $60 billion in 2015.”


What do they provide? Low-interest loans, zero to low-interest credits, and grants to developing countries. These promote a broad array of investments in areas such as:


They also work together with governments, other multilateral institutions, commercial banks, export credit agencies, and private sector investors.






4. Reduce Child Mortality

5. Improve Maternal Health: Almost all of the half-million women who die during pregnancy or childbirth every year live in Sub-Saharan Africa and Asia.



8. Develop a Global Partnership for Development


The President of the Bank is the president of the entire World Bank Group. The president must chair meetings of the Boards of Directors and for the overall management of the Bank. Usually, the President of the Bank has always been a US citizen chosen by the United States, the largest shareholder in the bank.




Major criticism of the World Bank is its role in causing high debt among developing countries. Although the World Bank’s investments are meant to help countries, they also cause those countries to take on debt that they must pay interest on and remain under the conditions of the institution and then these countries can go into perpetual debt.

Another long-standing critique of the Bank: the policy conditions they promote – often attached or ‘recommended’ as part of loans, projects, technical assistance, or financial surveillance – undermine the sovereignty of borrower nations, limiting their capacity to make policy decisions and disintegrating their ownership of national development strategies.

An example of results

A five-day workshop on an island in the Maldives used soccer training, along with classes and discussions, to empower 21 young girls to challenge gender stereotypes and rethink their perceptions of their future. Led by trainers from the Maldivian women’s national soccer team, along with community facilitators, the workshop was a successful pilot program for what is envisioned as a long-term approach to changing the trajectory of women’s lives.

Girls who attended the workshop became less tolerant than before toward gender stereotypes. Their opinions changed about the suitability of girls undertaking jobs traditionally held by men. And they argued that women should work even if their husbands already earned enough to support them, and if they have children.