The World Bank African Countries Need

The case for bigger and transformative ideas, faster project implementation, better policy research, more and better data collection

An important weakness of the field of international development is that often the ideas that animate policies and programs implemented in low-income countries originate from academic, political, and multilateral institutions in or dominated by high-income countries. As a result, the real concerns of low-income countries seldom get prioritized as a matter of course.

Taking the ideas and concerns of people in low-income countries seriously isn’t just good for political correctness. It matters for program success. Reasonable people would agree that it is a good idea to avoid comical mischaracterizations of the state of the world or policy proposals that invariably collapse on first contact with politics or other contextual realities.

With this in mind, it is important that current efforts to reimagine the World Bank Group’s mission incorporate the real needs of low-income countries. Doing so would maximize the impact of the World Bank’s talents towards ending global poverty. As I previou…