Development industry
• It refers to the development sector, which focuses on social and
economic improvement through international organizations and
NGOs that work on issues like poverty reduction, healthcare, and
education.
• Development as a global project
• The word development is used to describe the worldwide effort to
eradicate poverty and its associated ills.
• Since the end of World War II, a veritable development industry has arisen,
focused on improving life for billions of people around the world.
• Hundreds of thousands of people from all corners of the globe work in this
industry, and enormous sums of money have been expended.
• As humanity’s first global project, development is a test of our skill and
commitment, and carries vast consequences for people everywhere.
• Successful development requires people who plan and carry out
development to learn a great deal about cultural worlds other than
their own.
• Today, development is a multibillion-dollar industry comprising 4
main groups:
1. multilateral agencies,
2. bilateral agencies,
3. NGOs, and
4. private consulting firms.
1. Multilateral agencies
• They are government organizations composed of 2 or more nations.
They are composed of members from diverse nations.
• Some multilaterals – such as the UN - are global in scope and
membership. Some others, like the Organization of American States,
are regional or sub-regional.
• Today, the bulk of the world’s resources for development – money,
ideas, information, and people - flow through a small number of
multilaterals – in particular, the World Bank, the UN, and various
regional development banks.
• The UN
• The most imp. agency under the UN is the United Nations
Development Program (UNDP), founded in 1965.
• In each country, UNDP resident representatives coordinate technical
assistance, funding, and relief efforts.
• The World Bank and the IMF
• They are autonomous organizations.
• The WB is a development org. It has 189 member countries. (it is like a
cooperative). The World Bank, or World Bank Group, is comprised of 5 sub-
agencies.
1) International Bank for Reconstruction and Development (IBRD), 1944
2) International Development Association (IDA), 1960
3) International Finance Corporation (IFC), 1956
4) International Centre for Settlement of Investment Disputes (ICSID), 1965
5) Multilateral Investment Guarantee Agency (MIGA), 1988
• The first two, IBRD and IDA, constitute the largest single source of
official funding for development (e.g., loans to the poorest countries
on concessional terms).
• So, they are sometimes collectively referred to as the World Bank.
The World Bank also provides considerable technical assistance to
countries.
• As a result of its loans and technical assistance programs, the Bank
possesses vast quantities of data on the countries it serves, together
with a correspondingly high degree of influence on their development
policies and practices.
• The Bank has 20,758 staff as of 2025. The staff are located in over 130
locations worldwide (global presence), with the headquarters in
Washington, D.C..
• The UN subscribes to about one-quarter of the Bank’s total capital.
2. Bilateral agencies
• All major industrial nations have one or more bilateral agencies
involved in international development.
• Bilaterals represent the interests of one nation alone.
• So, the policies of a bilateral agency usually reflect the particular
political, social, or economic priorities of that country.
• USAID
• The US govt. has over 100 agencies and departments with an
international mandate, but its primary development agency is the
United States Agency for International Development (USAID) or
simply AID.
• AID’s budget consists of 3 parts: development assistance, economic
support fund (including “security assistance” for countries), and
PL480 (“Food for Peace”) program.
3. NGOs
• They are also important as a source of ideas, funds, and technical assistance in
development work. The largest and most influential nonprofits are Western-
based.
• List of some NGOs:
• World Vision, a faith-based NGO
• CARE (Cooperative for American Relief to Everywhere)
• Save the Children
• Oxfam International
• Catholic Relief Services (CRS)
• ActionAid
• Plan International
• NGOs often receive a substantial portion of their funding from the
larger multilateral and bilateral agencies. Some NGOs seek to remain
relatively independent of the larger agencies.
4. Private consulting firms
• They offer a variety of services: architecture, engineering, regional
and urban planning, education, health, agriculture, and so on.
• Some consulting firms have no other clients than the large
development agencies.
• Development contracting is a big business.