The World Bank and Its Poverty Eradication Strategies

Abstract

Since the 1970s, the World Bank has had a new goal: poverty eradication.
This essay evaluates the Bank according to this objective. Persisting poverty
judges the organisation's work negatively. The Bank's many policies were
often even contradictory over time, bringing strong criticisms, which its
current policies reflect. These are the lessons of former failures in the Banks
poverty reductions policies: The Bank's strategies now concentrate on both
the market and the state to promote "development". The causes of
underdelopment lie not only in bad governance, but also in states'
unfavourable economic positions. It is important to cooperate with the poor
while trying to reduce poverty. "Development" is not only an issue of
domestic economic reforms: political and social reforms are also important.
The World Bank's newest Poverty Reduction Strategy Papers (PRSPs) reflect
these changes. They should achieve the ambitious Millennium goals, but
time will be their judge.