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A Comprehensive Study
The Project
The multilateral banks are powerful forces in the international
community, providing loans of more than $250 billion
to developing countries over the past half- century.
The best known, the World Bank, has been studied extensively,
but the regional development banks are little understood,
even within their own geographic areas, and have not
been subject to critical scrutiny.
In 1991, The North-South Institute (NSI) launched its
project on the Multilateral Development Banks (MDBs),
the first comprehensive study of the regional banks
ever undertaken. The principal focus of the project
was the group of regional development banks, the African,
Asian, and Inter-American Development Banks, plus the
subregional Caribbean Development Bank.
The project's main objectives were to assess the effectiveness
of the different banks by examining their impact on
growth, poverty, the environment, and social indicators
of development, and study the degree of coordination
and complementarity with the World Bank. It also sought
to contribute to the debate on the future of the multilateral
system of development financing.
With the release in 1997 of Titans
or Behemoths?, authored by NSI President Roy
Culpeper, the Institute's MDB project has formally
come to an end. Five volumes have been published with
Lynne Rienner Publishers, of Boulder, Colorado. They
are:
The Studies
The first four volumes, each divided into two parts,
follow a common structure. The first part is an historical
review of the evolution of the Banks, its institutional
framework, and the experience of particular borrowing
countries. In each region, three country studies were
commissioned, and their experiences are incorporated
in the regional volume. The second part deals with the
development agenda of the Banks, analyzing their loan
performance, their success in mobilizing resources,
their relationship with the World Bank and other multilateral
development banks, and the challenges that loom ahead.
The fifth volume goes far beyond being simply a summary
or synthesis of the preceding volumes, and includes
analysis of the roles of the World Bank and the European
Bank for Reconstruction and Development (EBRD), which
was only created in 1991, too late and young for a separate
study. A main reason for this broader scope was that,
in their outcomes, all four volumes dealt more with
fundamental development issues than with certain development
institutions. Any serious treatment of the development
effectiveness of the multilateral banks must embrace
the role and performance of easily the largest and most
influential of the group, the World Bank.
In addition, the Institute has published four reports
that focus on the involvement of Canada, Sweden, and
Jamaica in the multilateral banks:
The MDB project was generously supported through grants
from the Canadian International Development Agency,
the Ford Foundation, the Swedish Ministry for Foreign
Affairs, the Norwegian Ministry for Foreign Affairs,
the Netherlands Ministry for Development Cooperation,
the Inter-American Development Bank, the Caribbean Development
Bank, the African Development Bank, and the Asian Development
Bank. An advisory panel, chaired by Professor John Lewis
of Princeton University, helped the project by commenting
on its general direction and by reviewing drafts. Three
roundtables were also convened with representatives
of the MDBs to discuss work in progress and advise the
authors.
All books are available from: Renouf
Publishing Co.
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