International Financial Institutions Board
International financial institutions (IFIs) are institutions that provide financial support (via grants and loans) for economic and social development activities in developing countries. International financial institutions include public banks such as the World Bank, International Monetary Fund, and regional Development Banks. They provide loans, grants, and technical assistance to governments as well as loans to private businesses investing in developing countries. They also play a significant role in the privatization and regulation of public utilities and natural resources.
These multilaterals share a mission of combating poverty, but their approach to economic growth has historically produced enormous debt among developing countries, unfairly favored wealthy and politically powerful elites, and offered few safeguards to protect the environmental, social, and human rights of citizens in the face of large-scale development. Furthermore, within a volatile global economy, they are renewing their interest in hydrocarbon production, mining, biofuels, and large-scale infrastructure.
Our IFI Board supports grassroots groups tackling problems associated with the environmental impacts of projects, policies and programs that receive financing and other support from International Financial Institutions (IFIs). The board is imagining and building alternatives to these policies at the macro and micro levels.
IFI Board Strategies:
- Support work on issues associated with the environmental impacts of development and trade projects, policies, and programs that receive financing and other support from International Financial Institutions.
- Support work of those who are less powerful in setting development and trade agendas
- Strengthen institutions for citizen engagement
- Facilitate research, networking, and information sharing
- Encourage and support research, technical review, and citizen monitoring of specific development projects
Board Priorities
Extractive industries
Energy
Natural resources and agriculture
Human rights violations
Infrastructure development
Institutional safeguards and transparency
Initiative for Right View
Grant #: 53-786
Amount: $5,000
Country: Bangladesh
Focus: WaterInitiative for Right View (IRV) is a research and campaign organization dedicated to advocating for environmental, social, and economic justice and equitable access to natural resources. This organization will raise awareness of water privatization in Bangladesh by convening a meeting on ADB financed water projects in the southwest coastal region and conducting a workshop to build awareness and collaboration among communities to address the problems.
Oil Workers Rights Protection Organization Public Union
Grant #: 53-569
Amount: $5,000
Country: Azerbaijan
Focus: Indigenous PeoplesThe Oil Workers Rights Protection Organization Public Union works to protect the socio-economic rights of employees working in the oil industry and to create independent trade unions that can strengthen workers' voices. This grant will help the union take on an EBRD-financed iodine production project in the Nefchala region of Azerbaijan, which will produce radioactive waste and endanger the health of workers and local citizens as well as the nearby marine environment of the Caspian Sea. OWRPOPU will conduct an independent ecological assessment as part of a campaign to inform local authorities, NGOs, and the general public about the impacts of the project.
View more International Financial Institutions Board grants »
Amy Ekdawi
Bank Information Center
Amy is the Manager of the Bank Information Center's Middle East & North Africa Program (MENA). She was a founder and board member of United States-Egypt Friendship Society and the Alliance of Egyptian Americans. Amy also represents the Coptic Orthodox Church in the Social Justice and Advocacy Commission of the National Council of Churches of Christ in the US. She is a member of the advisory committee for the Arabic version of Women's e-News. Amy has two Master degrees: one in International Policy and Practice from George Washington University, Washington D.C.; and another in French-Arabic Simultaneous Interpretation from Ain Shams University, Cairo. She also has an advanced Diploma in Social Development from St. Francis Xavier University, NS, Canada.
Mary Ann Manahan
Focus on the Global South – Philippines Program
Mary Ann is a Research Associate at Focus on the Global South, Philippines Program, where she works on such issues as land, agrarian reform, and water issues as well as the role of international financial institutions in the privatization and regulation of public utilities and natural resources. She is a member of the Grantmaking Committee of the Other Worlds Are Possible, the Giving Circle Initiative of Grantmakers without Borders, Other Worlds, and the Clarence Foundation. She has published numerous articles, chapters and reports on agrarian reform in the Philippines, water privatization, and gender and development, among other topics. Mary Ann has a Bachelor’s Degree in Sociology and is finishing her Master's Degree in Women and Development Studies at the University of the Philippines.
Charles Mutasa
Christian Aid
Charles Mutasa is a policy director for Christian Aid, and has extensive IFI experience in many African countries. Charles holds both a Bachelor Honors degree and Masters degree from the University of Zimbabwe, Harare. He formerly was acting Executive Director at African Forum on Debt and Development in Zimbabwe, and a Researcher/Programme Officer at the UNDP Poverty Reduction Forum Project with the Institute of Development Studies. Charles is also a Vice-President of the African Union's Economic, Social and Cultural Council (ECOSOCC), for the region of Southern Africa.
Samuel Nnah Ndobe
Center for the Development of the Environment (CED)
Samuel Nnah Ndobe received his university training in Agricultural Engineering, with a specialization in Economics and Rural Sociology. Samuel’s work with the Center for Environment and Development in Cameroon focuses on forestry, livelihoods, indigenous peoples (primarily Pygmies) and non-timber forestry products. His work is often in response to intense multi-national logging efforts in Central Africa and the World Bank policies that promote this form of rapid deforestation without consideration of local ecological, social and economic needs. Samuel has contributed to a number of reports and documentaries on logging, wildlife poaching, and livelihoods.
Olexi Pasyuk
CEE Bankwatch
Olexi Pasyuk is the Central Asia Coordinator for CEE Bankwatch based in the Ukraine. He coordinates advocacy related to IFI financing in the region of the Former Soviet Union, particularly in Caucasus and Central Asia, assisting local organisations in their work with decision makers, international NGOs and the media.
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Jan, 2012: Our activist-advisor was in Durban for last year's climate talks to raise the concerns of indigenous communities in the Congo Basin. -
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