A tool to strengthen civil society organizations’ capacity to advocate for child rights in the context of World Bank operations
The World Bank Group (WBG) is one of the most influential development finance institutions in the world. It is made up of five branches which collectively share the mission of ending extreme poverty and promoting shared prosperity in a sustainable way. As such, its worldwide operations can have an enormous impact on child rights, both positive and negative.
While the Bank highlights its positive contributions through education, health and social protection projects and small grants, the reality is that the majority of the dollars lent are for infrastructure and other projects with potentially negative impacts on children. The Bank is willing to consider children in discussions around education projects but generally ignores the impact of large resettlement efforts on children or the ways that decisions about transport systems may negatively impact their lives, etc. Advocacy with the Bank can increase the likelihood that these projects will consider children and protect their rights (see section 1.d).