On April 12, Lars Thunell, head of IFC, sat down with representatives from civil society organizations for an informal townhall to discuss issues of common concern. The Bank Information Center cosponsored the event with IFC.
Representatives from a wide array of civil society groups were present at the meeting, including Bank Information Center, Campaign to Reform the World Bank, Corporate Accountability International, Church Development Service Germany, DATA, Oxfam America, Transparency International, and the World Wildlife Fund, among others.
IFC was especially pleased to welcome to the meeting several representatives from African civil society who had been sponsored by the World Bank and the IMF to attend the institutions’ spring meetings. Attendants included NGOs from Ghana, Kenya, Mali, Nigeria, Rwanda, Senegal, Uganda, and Zimbabwe.
During the event, Thunell responded to questions about the challenge of corruption in the private sector, the composition of IFC’s portfolio, the carbon impact of IFC’s commitments for fossil fuel projects, and project-level reporting on development impact. "IFC is a social enterprise. Our mission is to create opportunities for people to escape poverty and improve their lives. Being profitable allows us to do further good. For instance, each year we earmark a part of our retained earnings to fund our advisory services, which help small enterprises around the world," Thunell stated.
IFC places a high value on its ongoing dialogue with civil society and recognizes the important role the sector plays in the development process. IFC looks forward to continuing this dialogue. The townhall hosted by Thunell was part of the Civil Society Policy Forum that is organized each year during the World Bank/IMF spring meetings. Over 300 CSOs attended this year’s forum. Other IFC staff also hosted or participated in CSO sessions during the forum.
For more information, please visit the World Bank's civil society Web site. . .
