The selection of David Malpass as the new president of the World Bank is a missed opportunity to put an end to the gentlemen's agreement and strengthen the legitimacy of the World Bank. 

This toolkit aims to support civil society in their advocacy towards the World Bank Group (WBG).

Updated October 2023

More than 600 Civil Society Organizations from all over the world have been working together for the last months via the Civil 20 (C20) to engage with the G20 on the most critical challenges facing today’s world.

The International Monetary Fund (IMF) is a key part of the international financial architecture and wields huge influence over the domestic economic policies of impoverished countries

Last October, more than 150 organisations signed a PPP Global Campaign Manifesto, expressing our alarm at the increasing use of PPPs to deliver infrastructure projects and public services around the world, and in particular the World Bank’s role in promoting these contracts. Our combined evidence shows that the experience of PPPs has been negative, and few PPPs have delivered results in the public interest. Our concerns are echoed by many more organisations and individuals across the world, who are alarmed by the risk that this represents for developing countries.

Recent criticism of Chile’s ranking in the Doing Business Report (DBR) has once again put the report in the spotlight, with renewed calls for scrapping the highly controversial annual World Bank publication.

The 2017 spring meetings of the IMF and World Bank, which also included the second edition of the Global Infrastructure Forum, took place against the uncertainty generated by geopolitical changes such as the election of President Trump in the US and the formalisation of the UK’s exit from the European Union.

To date, there are no international institutions that are in a position to resolve debt crises in a fair, orderly and sustainable manner.

Loans from the International Monetary Fund (IMF) largely come with policy change conditions attached – conditions that the IMF has played a significant role in developing. This analysis confirms the findings of other research, which shows that the IMF uses its significant influence to promote controversial austerity and liberalisation measures, with potentially severe impacts on the poorest people around the globe.

A joint report by Eurodad and ActionAid