An analysis of the World Bank and its poverty reduction strategies

This study analyzes the World Bank's polices of poverty reduction and the approach of the organization in fighting poverty in an historical and comparative perspective. In the establishment phases, the World Bank was not an organization that was set up to fight poverty but in last decades it is frequently stated by high officers that the goal of poverty alleviation is foremost for the Bank. This study intends to understand and explain why it happened to be so and how the Bank fights against poverty now. To do that, first the historical developments of World Bank since 1940s are summarized. Then, after a summary of the literature on poverty, the Comprehensive Development Framework as well as the World Development Reports of last years are studied in order to understand the approach of the Bank in its poverty reduction policies. Lastly, poverty reduction approaches of the United Nations agencies and the World Bank are compared and how the rights-based approaches to development may contribute to Bank policies is discussed. As a result of these analyses, it is observed that the Bank follows the literature on poverty very closely and it is open to include new approaches and methods in its research studies, such as in the World Development Reports. About the trade-off of being inclusive or being consistent in its approach, the Bank seems closer to the inclusiveness. By studying rights-based approaches to development, I conclude that the rights-based approaches to development may contribute to policies of the Bank in terms of increasing legitimacy in the eyes of people, maintaining coherence, enhancing international civil society support and becoming more harmonious with the United Nations agencies, working for poverty reduction. In summary, this study appreciates the World Bank's effort in its research studies in terms of being so inclusive, updated and open to transformation. However, keeping the current world poverty situation and Bank's effort in avoiding rights-based approach in mind, it is stated that the Bank has its own biases and limits in its fight against poverty due to factors like the intensive impact of the United States foreign policy and internal resistance in macroeconomic market reforms.Keywords: Poverty, the World Bank, poverty reduction policies, Comprehensive Development Framework, rights-based approach to development, right to development, United Nations, United Nations Development Programme.