8.3B - IGOs and Development
The dominant IGOs (World Bank, IMF, WTO) have traditionally promoted neo-liberal views of development based on the adoption of free trade, privatisation and deregulation of financial markets but also, recent programmes have been aimed at improving environmental quality, health, education and human rights.
Neo-liberal views are those in favour of:
The belief is that this will aid development as the private wealth will trickle down, and that the poorest will eventually benefit from the strengthened economy.
Many countries are run to these neo-liberal principles, and IGOs have traditionally promoted it.
Intergovernmental Organisations are regional or global organisations of which countries are members; they manage aspects of the economy, global development and specific issues such as health or environmental issues.
These are more recently focusing on programmes to improve environmental quality, health, education and human rights.
- Reduced state intervention,
- Free-market capitalism
- Freedom for private businesses to trade and earn profits.
- Promoting free trade between countries
- with no or very few barriers (e.g. import/export taxes or quotas on the volume of exports)
- Deregularising the free market
- meaning money can flow easily and quickly between banks, businesses and countries.
- Privatising state assets (e.g. water provision, transport).
- This means they can be run to maximise profit
The belief is that this will aid development as the private wealth will trickle down, and that the poorest will eventually benefit from the strengthened economy.
Many countries are run to these neo-liberal principles, and IGOs have traditionally promoted it.
Intergovernmental Organisations are regional or global organisations of which countries are members; they manage aspects of the economy, global development and specific issues such as health or environmental issues.
These are more recently focusing on programmes to improve environmental quality, health, education and human rights.
Drackbacks to the main IGOs and Neo-liberalism
IGOs promote programmes such as structural adjustment, intervening in the policies of individual governments. This cuts health and education programmes, in the belief that this will improve the chances of economic growth.
There are concerns that neo-liberalism:
There are concerns that neo-liberalism:
- benefits businesses and TNCs far more than ordinary people, and so creates inequality, i.e. a growing gap between rich and poor
- focuses on industrialisation, trade and jobs that tend to concentrate in cities, so rural areas miss out on economic growth and development
- focuses on profit and economic growth at the expense of the environment
The World Bank
- Part of the United Nations.
- Lends money to emerging and developing countries to promote development
- It funds projects such as roads, hydro-electric power, telecoms and water supply schemes
How it is helping education
- A founding member of the Global Partnership for Education (GPE), established in 2002
- This was created to have achieve the second and third MDGs (Achieve universal primary education and promote gender equality and empower women)
- The GPE invests in early childhood education for all children, and aims to develop a sound educational system for children through developing early reading and numeracy skills
- It helps countries set up early reading assessment systems
- Focus on the poorest and most disadvantaged children, (girls, ethnic minorities, those with disabilities or in conflict zones)
- More recent work has focused on secondary and higher education.
- Invested over $35 million in educational programmes between 2002 and 2015
How it is helping the environment
- Launches the Climate Change Action Plan in 2016
- Aims to help developing countries, like India, to add 30 gigawatts of renewable energy (enough to power 150 million homes) to the world's energy capacity
- Aims to provide flooding early warning systems for 100 million people, and develop investment in agriculture for 40 countries (all by 2020)
- Part of a strategy to end poverty
The International Monetary Fund (IMF)
- Promotes global economic stability, by intervening in countries that experience economic difficulties (usually focusses on heavily indebted countries)
- In return for re-arranging loans at adjusted rates of interest, and at more affordable repayments, it has imposed Structural Adjustment Programmes on the indebted countries. These SAPs consist of conditions forcing the state to reduce its role in the economy (e.g. by privatising energy or water companies) and in social welfare (spending on health and education)
- This resulted in health and education provision being reduced, with TNCs benefitting
- Its aim is to reduce the risk of market crashes and recessions
- Role of strengthening weakening currencies, and foster stronger economic development policies
Reducing Poverty
- 'Poverty reduction programme'
- Countries are now required to develop their own medium-term development plans to receive aid, loans and debt relief. (instead of having to do SAPs)
- It is currently working with the Haitian government to make the economy more resilient, especially after Hurricane Matthew in 2016. It aims to make Haiti an emerging economy by 2030.
The World Trade Organisation (WTO)
- Promotes free trade through negotiations between countries,
- in order to promote economic development and reduce debts
- however, these have frequently resulted in environmental degradation (rainforest clearance, threats to biodiversity)
- e.g. Indonesia, where rainforest has been cleared for palm oil production
- in order to promote economic development and reduce debts
- Since the 1950s a series of negotiating rounds have removed barriers to trade, although further progress has been limited since the 1990s
Helping the environment
Most WTO trade policies now try to:
- Restrict the international movement of products or species that are potentially harmful or endangered
- Challenge trade agreements where there may be implications for climate change
However, there is a conflict of interest, since the most powerful countries in the WTO may be disadvantaged by limiting trade.
BINGOs (In revision guide, but not spec)
Because of concerns about neo-liberalism, BINGOs have also put in place programmes that have greater social and environmental focus. These are Big, International, Non-Governmental Organisations and raise funds worldwide and assist people in many countries at the same time.
Environmental Quality
Environmental Quality
- Global Environmental Facility (GEF) is a funding mechanism for environmental projects
- Since 1992 has raised $17 billion and attracted over $80 billion more from private individuals and businesses
- The Global Fund to Fight AIDS, Tuberculosis and Malaria was set up in Geneva in 2002
- by 2016 it had raised and spend $30 million fighting diseases in developing countries
- In 2016, UNICEF's education programme reached 15.7 million children in over 330,000 classrooms, provided training in 39,000 schools and supported 11.7 million children in crisis situations, such as refugees
- The Global Fund for Human Rights is an NGO focused on human rights since 2003, and has provided $85 million in grants to over 600 human rights groups worldwide.
