Founded in 1944, The World Bank is an international organisation affiliated with the United Nations, designed to finance projects that enhance the economic development of its 189 membered countries. The World Bank is not a bank in common sense but is in fact made up of two development institutions owned by the membered countries; that being the International Bank for Reconstruction and Development (IBRD) and the International Development Association (IDA). Each Institution plays its respective role in advancing the organisations vision of inclusive and sustainable globalisation. The IBRD aims to reduce poverty in middle-income and creditworthy poorer countries, while IDA focuses on the world’s poorest countries.

Over the last 70 years, as the worlds largest development institution, The World Bank has worked to help over 100 developing countries and countries in transition adjust to changes in the world economy by offering loans and tailored knowledge and advice. The Bank Group works with country governments, the private sector, civil society organizations, regional development banks, think tanks, and other international  institutions on issues ranging from climate change, conflict, and food security to education, agriculture, finance, and trade.

Today the Bank Group’s work touches nearly every sector that is important to fighting poverty, supporting economic growth, and ensuring sustainable gains in the quality of people’s lives in developing countries. An example of this can be seen in the World Banks Climate Change Action Plan which was put in place to ramp up financial and technical support to developing countries to step up climate action. The plan saw the bank committed to increasing climate finance from 20% of lending in 2016 to 28% in 2020. This target was exceeded each year for the last three years. In total, over the duration of the action plan, the bank has delivered over $83 Billion in climate finance.

The banks work is also complemented by that of the International Finance Corporation (IFC), Multilateral Investment Guarantee Agency (MIGA) and the International Centre for the Settlement of Investment Disputes (ICSID).

To end extreme poverty:

• By reducing the share of the global population that lives in extreme poverty to 3 percent by 2030.

To promote shared prosperity:

• By increasing the incomes of the poorest 40 percent of people in every country.

The Bank’s financial reserves come from several sources – from funds raised in the financial markets, from earnings on its investments, from fees paid in by member countries, from contributions made by members (particularly the wealthier ones) and from borrowing countries themselves when they pay back their loans.