UN and the World Bank

(WB)
By: Rishab Mokkapati

United Nations

History
The United Nations was formed on June 26, 1945, just after the
League of Nations failed to keep peace. The term United Nations
was coined by Franklin D. Roosevelt. The term described Allied
countries (in WWII). The UN official was made on 24 th October, 1945.
The first General Assembly and Security Council took place in
Westminster Central Hall in London In January 1946.
There have been some conflicts and misjudgment about the UN. In
the US, John Birch Society started a Get US out of UN campaign.
The group charged the UN of making a One World Government.
After the second world war, the French Committee of National
Liberation was late to be recognized by the US as the French
government. Because of this, Charles de Gaulle criticized the UN,
and often called it le machin("the thingie"). He was not convinced
that the UN could bring world peace.

Nations participating in the United

Nations one year after it was started

Nations participating in the United

Nations in modern times

No.

Acronyms

FAO

IAEA

ICAO

IFAD

ILO

IMO

IMF

ITU

UNESCO

10

UNIDO

11

UPU

12

WB

13

WFP

14

WHO

15

WIPO

16

WMO

17

UNWTO

Agency

Headquarters

Food and Agricultur Rome, Italy

e Organization
International Atom Vienna, Austria
ic Energy Agency
International Civil Montreal, Canada
Aviation Organizatio
n
International Fund Rome, Italy

Head

Established in

Jacques Diouf

1945

Yukiya Amano

1957

1947
Raymond Benjamin

Kanayo F. Nwanze
for Agricultural De
Geneva,
velopment
International Labou
Juan Somava
Switzerland
r Organization
London, United
Efthimios
International Marit
Kingdom
E. Mitropoulos
ime Organization
Washington, D.C.,
International Mone
USA
Dominique Strauss
tary Fund
-Kahn
Geneva,
International Tele
Hamadoun Tour
Switzerland
communication Unio
n
United Nations EducParis, France
Irina Bokova
ational, Scientific
and Cultural Organ
ization
United Nations Ind Vienna, Austria
Kandeh Yumkella
ustrial Developmen
Universal
Postal Un Berne, Switzerland Edouard Dayan
t Organization
ion
Washington, D.C,
World Bank
Robert B. Zoellick
USA
World Food Progr
Rome, Italy
Josette Sheeran
amme
Geneva,
World Health Organ
Margaret Chan
Switzerland
ization
Geneva,
World Intellectual
Francis Gurry
Switzerland
Property Organizati
Geneva,

on
World
Meteorologic
Switzerland
Alexander Bedritsk
al Organization
y
World Tourism Orga Madrid, Spain
Taleb Rifai

1977
1946
1948
1945
1947

1946

1967
1947
1945
1963
1948
1974
1950
1974

UN Multimedia

World Bank
(WB)
Working for a world free of
poverty

History
From the time the World Bank was created till 1967, the bank had a low level of
lending. It was common to analyze and screen carefully the loan applications.
The bank had chosen France to be the first recipient of the World Bank aid, after
turning applications from Chile and Poland. The loan was for $987 million which
was just half of what France asked for. The bank made sure that France would
have higher importance of debt repayment to the World Bank than any other
recipient.
The Marshall Plan of 1947changed the lending of the bank. The European
countries received aid that competed with the World Bank. That was when the
bank started to focus more on the non-European countries.
The World Bank concentrated more on the developing countries and to meet the
basic needs of those people. This started between 1968 to 1980.
In 1980A.W. Clausenreplaced McNamara after being nominated by US President
Jimmy Carter. Clausen replaced many banking staff and also changed the
ideology of the bank. The bank started to focus on streamlinig the economics of
developing nations. Because of this the World Bank was responsible for the
reduced health, nutritional and educational levels for tens of millions of children
in Asia, Latin America, and Africa as the UNICEF reported.

Criticisms and Protests

Masters of Illusion: The World Bank and the
Poverty of Nations(1996) The author Catherine
Caufield criticized the banks formulaic recipes of
development. Caufield argued that the structure of the
World Bank harmed southern nations.
World Bank Oslo 2002 Protests: the protest consisted
of 10,000 people and was held during the World Banks
conference in Oslo, Norway. The only concern about the
protests was violence and riots, but it was mostly
peaceful except for a few minor incidents.(picture in
background)
There were also other protests like the October
Rebellion,and theBattle of Seattle

Key Factors of Economic

Growth
1. Build capacity: Strengthening governments and educating
government officials.
2. Infrastructure creation: implementation of legal and judicial
systems for the encouragement of business, the protection of
individual and property rights and the honoring of contracts.
3. Development of Financial Systems: the establishment of strong
systems capable of supporting endeavors from micro credit to the
financing of larger corporate ventures.
4. Combating corruption: Support for countries' efforts at eradicating
corruption.
5. Research, Consultancy and Training: the World Bank provides
platform for research on development issues, consultancy and
conduct training programs (web based, on line, tele-/video
conferencing and class room based) open for those who are
interested from academia, students, government and nongovernmental organization (NGO) officers etc.

Strategies
Poverty reduction strategies -The World Bank makes a unique
strategy for the country in need according to its financial and
economic situation. Then the World Bank identifies priorities and
targets to reduce poverty in that country. The money that is used
to help get developing countries out of poverty, is supplied by
forty-five countries who pledge USD 25.1 million to help stop
poverty.
Clean Technology Fund management The World Bank is
responsible for making the cost of renewable energy cheaper
than the amount of coal-fire power so many would go for
renewable energy. This not continue because of the UN's
Copenhagen climate change conference in December, 2009
because of the banks investment in coal-fired power plants.
Country assistance strategies The World Bank assists a
country with the help of the local government.

On Going Events
Conferences
World Bank-International Monetary Fund Spring Meetings, Civil Society
Policy Forum,
Washington, DC, April 22-25
World Bank-International Monetary Fund Spring Meetings,
Washington, D.C., April 24-25
ABCDE 2010: Development Challenges in a Post-Crisis World, Stockholm,
Sweden, May 31- June 2
Competitions
Visual Arts in Latin America/Caribbean: About Change
Deadline for submissions:April 30, 2010

Recently Approved Projects

Eskom Investment Support Project-08-APR2010
SN - Economic Governance Project-08-APR2010
Additional Financing - Energy Development
and Access Expansion Project-06-APR-2010
Central North Region Health Support
Project-06-APR-2010
Ho Chi Minh City Environmental Sanitation
Project, Additional Financing-06-APR-2010

Sources

Wikipedia
Google
Google images
UN.org: United Nations official
website
WorldBank.org: World Banks official
website

The End