The World Bank is a banking organization closely associated with the United Nations. Its primary mission is to help finance important development projects in developing countries. Contrary to the International Monetary Fund (IMF), which helps regulate world banking, and with which it is frequently associated, the World Bank primarily distributes monies from the have nations to the have-not nations. A large part of its job is to assist developing countries with the job of planning, financing and implementing large-scale infrastructure projects. A dam, a school, a hospital, a highway, a power plant and the like, which are critical to the development of an area and its people, can become a World Bank project. Interest rates are kept very low and repayment is not always expected or required. The World Bank, like the IMF, is financed by the richest countries for the benefit of the less-developed nations.
The United Nations and its agencies work closely with the World Bank- which was conceived at the UN Bretton Woods Conference in 1944-to help identify and prioritize important new projects. As in all such affairs, there is a great deal of work to be done to determine the specific nature of the project, to plan for its development and to organize all of the many resources required to make it a success. In this endeavor, the UN, working in close cooperation with the World Bank, helps define and shape each project and nurses it through the many necessary stages of development. Often, government approval is required in the participating country. Land must be acquired. Delicate issues of environment must be studied and discussed. Social problems may also arise, and, of course, the matter of politics is always close at hand.
Nonetheless, the World Bank, working with the United Nations, has been responsible for the successful completion of numerous projects throughout the developing world. With the help of the UN, these bring hope and well-being to poor peoples in need of assistance. Whether it is a matter of food, medicine, industrial development, education or infrastructure-wherever important development projects are in the works in less-developed countries, the World Bank and the United Nations are there to try to provide a much needed helping hand.
