The World Bank and International Monetary Fund annual meetings officially kick off Friday in Lima, Peru. This is the first time in nearly 50 years the meetings have been held in Latin America, and they represent the latest installment in a 2015 global development calendar that has spanned continents and reshaped the global conversation about poverty.
Global development organizations have their marching orders: 17 new Sustainable Development Goals that span everything from ending extreme poverty to protecting the world’s oceans. At the same time the World Bank is undergoing its most significant reform in decades and has adopted its own new mission statement under President Jim Yong Kim’s controversial leadership.
So what sets these annual meetings apart from the rest? Devex compiled a list of five things to watch for this weekend and beyond:
About the authors
Jeff Tyson@jtyson21
Jeff is a former global development reporter for Devex. Based in Washington, D.C., he covers multilateral affairs, U.S. aid, and international development trends. He has worked with human rights organizations in both Senegal and the U.S., and prior to joining Devex worked as a production assistant at National Public Radio. He holds a master's degree in journalism from Columbia University and a bachelor’s degree in international relations and French from the University of Rochester.
Michael Igoe@AlterIgoe
Michael Igoe is a Senior Reporter with Devex, based in Washington, D.C. He covers U.S. foreign aid, global health, climate change, and development finance. Prior to joining Devex, Michael researched water management and climate change adaptation in post-Soviet Central Asia, where he also wrote for EurasiaNet. Michael earned his bachelor's degree from Bowdoin College, where he majored in Russian, and his master’s degree from the University of Montana, where he studied international conservation and development.
