International Financial Institutions

International financial institutions (IFIs) such as the World Bank and the regional development banks (including the African Development Bank, the Asian Development Bank, the Caribbean Development Bank, and the Inter-American Development Bank) provide financial services and focus on country-specific development solutions. The International Fund for Agricultural Development (IFAD) is both an international financial institution and a United Nations agency. It provides financial assistance to rural people living in poverty.

Canada's commitment

Canada plays an active role as a member of the boards of governors of the international financial institutions. Through its executive directors, it joins with other member countries to provide policy guidance and approve programs, policies, and projects.

Through CIDA, Canada works closely with the international financial institutions to help developing countries achieve the Millennium Development Goals and combat poverty through promoting sustainable and equitable development.

Overall, international financial institutions provide about $40 billion a year in loans at near-market terms for middle- and upper-income countries and about $15 billion annually, either as grants or as loans on easier terms, to low-income countries.

Typically, Canada contributes 3 to 5 percent of the total operating funds to each of these international financial institutions. CIDA contributes to and also handles the day-to-day relations for Canada with the regional development banks and IFAD, in consultation with Foreign Affairs and International Trade Canada and Finance Canada. Finance Canada is the lead on Canada's relationship with the World Bank, although CIDA contributes to a number of funds and major projects.

With partners that share the same interests, CIDA has been generating a more comprehensive approach to development by the international financial institutions. These institutions are now focusing more on:

• Results-based management and harmonization with other donors
• Alignment with country strategies
• Regional integration of trade and economic growth

Canada is also paying specific attention to CIDA's role in post-conflict countries, disaster response, and emerging infectious diseases.

Key Results

Through its contributions to international financial institutions, Canada and other donors have helped:

• Enrol more than 15 million children in school, in Africa
• Provide antimalarial treatment for 31.5 million children under the age of five in Africa
• Train more than one million teachers in Latin America and the Caribbean through the Inter-American Development Bank
• Provide skills training programs to more than 16,000 individuals in the Caribbean through the Caribbean Development Bank
• Improve agricultural practices and incomes of more than 350 million small-scale farmers, many of whom are women, through IFAD-funded projects