Purpose:  Help member countries improve the degree of economic management in government by increasing the number of administrators skilled in dealing with problems of economic policy and with the planning and administration of development programs.

International Finance Corporation (IFC)
Established July 20, 1956

Purpose:  Promote sustainable private sector development primarily by:

Purpose:  Act as the World Bank’s concessional lending window. It provides long-term loans at zero interest to the poorest of the developing countries.

Purpose:  Assist Contracting States and their nationals in settling, by means of conciliation or arbitration, investment disputes between governments and foreign investors.

Purpose:  Established by the President, the Operations Evaluation Unit evaluates Bank Group operations.  It is placed in the Programming and Budgeting Department.

“I believe that this initiative will have two principal benefits.  It will contribute to the formulation of policy and procedures by enabling us to learn more from our past experience.  And it will give us a degree of conviction about the impact of what we are doing which we could obtain in no other way.”

--Robert S. McNamara

Consultative Group on International Agricultural Research (CGIAR)
Established May 19, 1971

Purpose:  An informal association of public and private donors supporting a network of international agricultural research centers.

World Bank Staff Association
Established February 28, 1972

Purpose:  Working Party of twelve established by the Provisional Delegate Assembly to investigate various aspects of establishing a staff association.  Its report recommended the formation of a staff association and outlined its functions, objectives and general structure.

Officers of the Provisional Delegate Assembly discussing the draft constitution adopted by the Assembly

• Constitution drafting committee of three established to draft a constitution and rules of procedure.
  
• Referendum held January-February 1972.  Out of 2,998 eligible voters, 2,528 cast ballots, of which 2,339 voted “yes” and 189 voted “no”.  Nine “yes” votes arrived too late to be counted.
  
• Provisional Delegate Assembly first met on April 26, 1971; two delegates from each department; assembly would decide whether or not there would be a staff association and, if so, which form it would take.

World Bank Administrative Tribunal
Established July 1979

The World Bank Administrative Tribunal, 1980

Purpose:  Ajudicate staff grievances.

• September 1978: Round Table Conference on Legal Rights composed of staff and management representatives.  Conference was to examine the terms and conditions of employment at the Bank to determine whether they should be enforceable through access to an Administrative Tribunal.
• An Appeals Committee had been established in 1976 to help to adjudicate staff grievances, but its recommendations are not binding on the Bank.
• National courts have been reluctant to adjudicate grievances of staff against the Bank.
• Staff Association played a significant role in the process of establishing the Administrative Tribunal.
• Members of the Administrative Tribunal are selected by the Executive Directors from a list drawn up by the President of the Bank after due consultation.
• First session began July 1, 1980 in London.

Multilateral Investment Guarantee Agency
Established April 12, 1988

“The purpose of the Agency is not solely to provide investment insurance.  Insurance is the main instrument of the Agency but will be used along with other instruments to create a better investment environment based on mutual confidence between investors and their host countries.”

-Ibrahim F. I. Shihata, Vice President and General Counsel

Inspection Panel
Established September 22, 1993

Purpose:  The Inspection Panel is three-member, non-judicial body created by the Board of Executive Directors of IBRD and IDA to provide an independent forum to private citizens who believe that their rights or interests have been or could be directly harmed by a project financed by the Bank.  Affected people may bring their concerns to the attention of the Panel by filing a Request for Inspection.