• News
    • Latest news
    • News search
    • Health
    • Finance
    • Food
    • Career news
    • Content series
    • Try Devex Pro
  • Jobs
    • Job search
    • Post a job
    • Employer search
    • CV Writing
    • Upcoming career events
    • Try Career Account
  • Funding
    • Funding search
    • Funding news
  • Talent
    • Candidate search
    • Devex Talent Solutions
  • Events
    • Upcoming and past events
    • Partner on an event
  • Post a job
  • About
      • About us
      • Membership
      • Newsletters
      • Advertising partnerships
      • Devex Talent Solutions
      • Contact us
Join DevexSign in
Join DevexSign in

News

  • Latest news
  • News search
  • Health
  • Finance
  • Food
  • Career news
  • Content series
  • Try Devex Pro

Jobs

  • Job search
  • Post a job
  • Employer search
  • CV Writing
  • Upcoming career events
  • Try Career Account

Funding

  • Funding search
  • Funding news

Talent

  • Candidate search
  • Devex Talent Solutions

Events

  • Upcoming and past events
  • Partner on an event
Post a job

About

  • About us
  • Membership
  • Newsletters
  • Advertising partnerships
  • Devex Talent Solutions
  • Contact us
  • My Devex
  • Update my profile % complete
  • Account & privacy settings
  • My saved jobs
  • Manage newsletters
  • Support
  • Sign out
Latest newsNews searchHealthFinanceFoodCareer newsContent seriesTry Devex Pro
    • News
    • World Bank Spring Meetings

    World Bank President Kim wants to change how all DFIs work

    Ahead of the World Bank Spring Meetings this week, President Jim Kim promised to pursue a new way of working for all major development finance institutions by placing a fresh emphasis on helping the poor.

    By Catherine Cheney // 18 April 2017
    World Bank President Jim Kim. Photo by: Clarissa Villondo / World Bank / CC BY-NC-ND

    World Bank President Jim Kim said he wants to go beyond changing the way his own giant multilateral works and influence how other major development finance institutions operate when it comes to helping the world’s poorest people.

    Kim drew a thundering round of applause at a recent screening in San Francisco of Bending the Arc, a documentary film on the story of Partners in Health, when he said he had never stopped being an activist, and explained how he plans to bring that activism to the upcoming Spring Meetings for the World Bank, where he will outline changes to the way the multilateral operates.

    In uncertain times, a clearer World Bank strategy emerges

    The World Bank is undergoing a transformation from traditional project lender to modern financial catalyzer, working to incentivize private investors to pitch in the trillions of dollars needed for global development. While questions still remain, the shift in thinking and operation could position the institution for a new era of relevance.

    He also talked about the impact he hopes to have on all of the development finance sector, by referencing the preferential option for the poor, a principle of Catholic social justice teaching that is core to the mission of Partners in Health, a global health organization he co-founded. Kim wants to see the World Bank, along with other major development institutions, shift toward asking what is best for the poor, rather than carrying out policies more designed to benefit their own institutions or other groups.

    “We're having this discussion about how to change development finance,” he said after a question from Devex on plans for the meetings this week. “Development finance is really a bunch of institutions making preferential options for their own institutions. A bunch of people making preferential options for their own getting a loan out the door, as opposed to really what's best for the poor.”

    Kim said that his stance has made him unpopular at times within the World Bank itself, as well as the broader development community.

    "If you Google me, you'll see that lots of people at the World Bank have been angry at me for a long time,” Kim said. “People in the development world are angry at me too because I'm continuing to push."

    Kim said that major DFIs needed to enlist the private sector to take on more projects that were suitable to them. If there's an airport that can be done on commercial terms, meaning the private sector can finance the project and pay the government, then it is best for the private sector to fund that airport, he said. Meanwhile the World Bank — and other DFIs — should direct dollars toward areas that are much harder to pay for, such as health or education or social protection, he added.

    Kim described a recent meeting he had with Chancellor Angela Merkel in Germany, host of the upcoming G20 summit in July. He explained that she asked him, "What are you talking about? Isn't that what you're doing already?”

    What Kim said he explained to Merkel was that development agencies too often compete for the low hanging fruit projects because they are easier.

    “We actually fight each other for low hanging fruit financing because it gets money out the door more quickly,” he said. “I'm telling you when I say these kinds of things which happen to be true, the other development institutions aren't very happy. Even our own bank, even our own people, are not very happy. So we're trying to have a completely different discussion where we all agree, anything that can be done by the private sector where they actually finance it themselves, we should let them do that.”

    “There are so many tricks rich people use to make themselves richer every single day. We have to use them for the poor.”

    — World Bank President Jim Kim

    Broadening the discussion from what DFIs should do differently to what others, including members of the audience, should do differently, he said: “If you're really going to make a preferential option for the poor, you've got to understand finance.”

    “There are so many tricks rich people use to make themselves richer every single day. We have to use them for the poor,” he said.

    While many of the points he made echoed recent remarks at the Skoll World Forum and the London School of Economics, Kim also had a direct message for the Silicon Valley audience.

    Just think about us as a partner in tackling some of the difficult problems you see in the world because we have connections in every country in the world and we also know how to use all these tricks of the finance world to stretch the dollars and really make them work,” he said.

    Explaining to the audience that the challenges we face today require us to act like activists, not “as dawdling bureaucrats,” he said changing all of development finance is not the kind of thing you take on if you want to “cruise in life.”

    “I don't know how it's going to go,” Kim said, closing his response to the question from Devex on the World Bank meetings. “It's a big idea. And it requires institutions like mine to change in a pretty fundamental way.”

    Devex reporters Michael Igoe and Sophie Edwards will be on the ground at the World Bank Spring meetings April 18-22. Stay tuned to Devex for coverage and follow @Sophie_Ed1984 and @AlterIgoe.

    Read more about the World Bank Spring Meetings:

    ▶ Kim calls for a 'different and difficult conversation about development finance'

    ▶ The World Bank's new CEO Kristalina Georgieva lays out her vision for an agile bank

    ▶ Pandemic response a cycle of 'panic and neglect,' says World Bank president

    • Banking & Finance
    • Funding
    • Project Management
    • Worldwide
    Printing articles to share with others is a breach of our terms and conditions and copyright policy. Please use the sharing options on the left side of the article. Devex Pro members may share up to 10 articles per month using the Pro share tool ( ).

    About the author

    • Catherine Cheney

      Catherine Cheneycatherinecheney

      Catherine Cheney is the Senior Editor for Special Coverage at Devex. She leads the editorial vision of Devex’s news events and editorial coverage of key moments on the global development calendar. Catherine joined Devex as a reporter, focusing on technology and innovation in making progress on the Sustainable Development Goals. Prior to joining Devex, Catherine earned her bachelor’s and master’s degrees from Yale University, and worked as a web producer for POLITICO, a reporter for World Politics Review, and special projects editor at NationSwell. She has reported domestically and internationally for outlets including The Atlantic and the Washington Post. Catherine also works for the Solutions Journalism Network, a non profit organization that supports journalists and news organizations to report on responses to problems.

    Search for articles

    Related Stories

    World Bank Spring MeetingsIs this the moment for nuclear energy at the World Bank?

    Is this the moment for nuclear energy at the World Bank?

    World Bank Spring MeetingsThe World Bank is focused on jobs. What does that mean?

    The World Bank is focused on jobs. What does that mean?

    World Bank Spring MeetingsSpecial edition: The World Bank Spring Meetings go quiet on climate

    Special edition: The World Bank Spring Meetings go quiet on climate

    Devex InvestedDevex Invested: What Trump wants from the World Bank

    Devex Invested: What Trump wants from the World Bank

    Most Read

    • 1
      The power of diagnostics to improve mental health
    • 2
      Lasting nutrition and food security needs new funding — and new systems
    • 3
      Opinion: Urgent action is needed to close the mobile gender gap
    • 4
      Supporting community-driven solutions to address breast cancer
    • 5
      The top local employers in Europe
    • News
    • Jobs
    • Funding
    • Talent
    • Events

    Devex is the media platform for the global development community.

    A social enterprise, we connect and inform over 1.3 million development, health, humanitarian, and sustainability professionals through news, business intelligence, and funding & career opportunities so you can do more good for more people. We invite you to join us.

    • About us
    • Membership
    • Newsletters
    • Advertising partnerships
    • Devex Talent Solutions
    • Post a job
    • Careers at Devex
    • Contact us
    © Copyright 2000 - 2025 Devex|User Agreement|Privacy Statement