Inter-American Development Bank

Table of Contents

• Overview
• Thematic Focus
• Strategy
• Achievements

Overview

Created in 1959, the Inter-American Development Bank (IDB) is the main source of multilateral funding for economic, social and institutional development in Latin America and the Caribbean. It works with partners to reduce poverty and inequality and to achieve sustainable economic growth.

Canada has been a member of the IDB since 1972 and it holds a seat on the 14-member Board of Executive Directors. The IDB has 48 country members (26 borrowing; 22 non-borrowing).

CIDA leads Canada's day-to-day relations with the IDB in close consultation with Finance Canada and the Department of Foreign Affairs and International Trade.

The IDB is a key partner for Canada in pursuing joint solutions to challenges in the Americas, particularly in rebuilding Haiti.

Canada hosted the 2011 IDB Annual Meeting of the Board of Governors in Calgary, Alberta. Canada continues to support the IDB's efforts to promote sustainable economic growth, private sector development, and enhanced trade regulations.

Thematic Focus

The IDB's objectives align closely with two of CIDA's priority themes: stimulating sustainable economic growth and securing the future of children and youth.

Several of the IDB's objectives also align with the Government of Canada's Americas Strategy, which has specific initiatives to promote greater economic prosperity, security, and democratic governance in the region and reinforces Canada's leadership in rebuilding Haiti.

Economic growth

The IDB's focus on stimulating sustainable economic growth (PDF, 775 KB, 36 pages) makes it one of the key partners for CIDA in the Americas, particularly in Haiti. The IDB provides more financing to Latin America and the Caribbean than any other regional financial institution.

Children and youth

The IDB's Education Initiative focuses on:

• Improving early childhood development, so that all children enter first grade ready to learn
• Facilitating school-to-work transition, in order to reduce unemployment and underemployment
• Improving teacher quality in order to increase student performance

The IDB plays an important role in Haiti and other CIDA countries of focus such as Bolivia, Colombia, Honduras and Peru, as well as the Caribbean region.

CIDA's Strategy for Working with IDB

CIDA's work with the IDB focuses on four strategic objectives:

1. Working with other IDB donors to implement the IDB's new strategy as outlined in the Report on the Ninth General Increase in the Resources of the Inter-American Development Bank (PDF, 775 KB, 36 pages). This includes:
   • Ensuring that the IDB responds to the needs of the poorest people and helps reduce inequality in the region, particularly in the poor countries hit hardest by the 2008 financial crisis
   • Supporting the newly-created IDB Haiti Response Group
   • Monitoring the implementation of the agenda for a better Bank as outlined in the Report on the Ninth General Increase in the Resources of the Inter-American Development Bank (PDF, 775 KB, 36 pages)
2. Supporting the IDB's efforts to strengthen institutions and public sector capacity, encourage private sector development, enhance trade regulations and frameworks, and support regional integration
3. Helping the IDB enhance its performance in terms of operations, development results, and focus on aid effectiveness
4. Working more intensively with IDB management to improve institutional effectiveness, including the development and use of an institution-wide, measurable results-based framework

Achievements

In 2010, with the support of CIDA and other donors, the IDB helped:

• Increase access to water and sanitation services in 146 cities and 2,600 rural communities
• Support 31 priority micro-watersheds and 92 water and sanitation operators
• Improve housing for more than 25,000 families in more than 100 of Bolivia's poorest neighbourhoods
• Increase school enrolment rates and reduce childhood malnutrition in Colombia, improving the quality of life for children in more than 800,000 families in 640 municipalities

In response to the 2010 earthquake in Haiti, with the support of CIDA and other donors, the IDB helped:

• Build and equip 826 temporary classrooms in 57 sites, allowing 70,000 children to return to school
• Purchase 100,000 school kits and provide financial support to 1,188 non-public schools
• Connect 12,470 households to safe drinking water, benefitting 500,000 people
• Deliver water purification tablets, soap and chlorine to cover 100 percent of family needs in the camps of the metropolitan area
• Vaccinate 500,000 new small-scale farmers against swine fever, anthrax, and Newcastle disease
• Provide 800,000 Haitian farmers with access to better agricultural services and rural infrastructure

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