Bank Is an Essential Organization

¶ … Bank is an essential organization that does a great deal of work in the international community. The World Bank has long assisted developing countries as it relates to economic and social development.

The purpose of this discussion is to examine the current activities of the World Bank.

Current Activities at the World Bank

The World Bank is involved in many activities throughout the world. One of the current activities of the World Bank is a strategy to Strengthen Health Systems in Poor Countries. The Healthy Development: The World Bank's Strategy for Health, Nutrition, and Population Results, is designed to renew the World Bank's contribution to "improving health outcomes at the global, regional, and national levels, including the 2015 Millennium Development Goals." The World Bank has undertaken this renewal in congruence with new multilateral organizations and foundations that are increasing their standing in the sphere of health financing. These organizations and foundations are inclusive of the Global Fund to Fight HIV / AIDS, Tuberculosis, and Malaria, and the Bill and Melinda Gates Foundation. This renewal also comes at a time when pandemics and regional outbreaks have continued to emerge, and others such as HIV / AIDS, malaria, and avian flu have persisted.

According to the official website of the World Bank,

The Bank consulted widely in preparing its new strategy with more than 400 local and global leaders from developing and middle-income countries, development donors, and civil society groups in nine partner countries, namely: Argentina, Algeria, Armenia, Tanzania, Mali, Djibouti, Mexico, India, and Indonesia. At the global level, it also conferred closely with the World Health Organization, the Global Fund, and other specialized health agencies with which it will coordinate and implement its new health systems approach ("World Bank Vows to...")."

One of the primary aims of the strategy is to encourage sexual and reproductive health. The World Bank aims to do this by evaluating multi-sectoral constraints associated with reducing fertility and determining impacts of population changes on health systems, supplying finances for sexual and reproductive health systems creating a desire for reproductive health information and systems and giving more attention to the economic and poverty aspects of high fertility within important documents that contribute to the formation of policy ("World Bank Vows to...").

In addition to the aforementioned healthcare initiative, the World Bank is also involved in activities related to assisting Uruguay in increasing its competitiveness. The World Bank has now approved $26 million toward the Promoting Innovation to Enhance Competitiveness Project ("Uruguay: World Bank Approves..."). The purpose of the project is to strengthen the relationship between research, innovation, and industry. The hope is that the strengthening of these relationships will lead to an increase in productivity and an improvement in the ability of the country to compete. The World Bank asserts that this project will also improve the quality of life for the people of Uruguay by producing skilled jobs ("Uruguay: World Bank Approves...").

The article reports that another purpose of the project is to support the government as it relates to strengthening the capacity of the country to produce, transfer, and adapt knowledge and new technology ("Uruguay: World Bank Approves..."). As it relates to this aim the project is designed to encourage the strengthening of the institutional framework for technology, science, and innovation. In addition the project is designed to support investments in education; technology transfer and innovation within the private sector; and research alliances and transportation/flexibility for researchers between educational institutions and the productive sector ("Uruguay: World Bank Approves...").

In addition to the aforementioned activities, there are many other activities that the World Bank is currently involved in that are aimed at improving living standards and reducing poverty. These activities are geared toward assisting the nations of the world as it relates to Agriculture, education, environment, and reducing poverty. For instance, in Albania the World Bank offers Micro-Credit to individuals in rural areas that have a desire to start a business ("Albania: Micro-credits..."). Micro-Credits are small loans that are given to villagers who are believed to be trustworthy ("Albania: Micro-credits..."). These loans are used to start businesses and once the business begins to profit, the villager pays the loan back.