The United Nations, World Bank Group, and International Monetary Fund are by no means the only multi-government organizations that are involved in poverty alleviation. While they are by far the largest, other smaller organizations that concentrate on specific regions also lend a hand in fighting poverty.

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Three of the most well-known of these regional organizations are the Asian Development Bank, the African Development Bank, and the Inter-American Development Bank. While their names suggest a direct relationship to the World Bank and the United Nations (of which the World Bank is affiliated with), these three organizations are independent of these institutions. This allows the banks to focus their development efforts solely on their own region – by having membership that primarily consists of countries within the target region, the banks can lend money to countries that might be overlooked by more international organizations such as the World Bank. In the World Bank, most of the organization is owned by developed nations such as the U.S. With the regional banks, the ownership stays in the region, and allows the region to exert greater control.

• Asian Development Bank: The ADB is primarily owned by the governments of countries in Asia, though approximately 35% is owned by non-regional members. However, it concentrates overwhelmingly on loaning money to developing Asian countries.



• African Development Bank: The African Development Bank, which concentrates on loaning to countries in the African region, especially sub-Saharan Africa, consists of all 53 countries in Africa, along with 24 non-regional members. It was founded in 1964.



• Inter-American Development Bank: The Inter-American Development Bank was founded in 1959, and concentrates is loaning and development efforts on the Latin American and Caribbean areas.

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Some governments create special agencies to handle their Official Development Aid. The most famous of these agencies is USAID, which is responsible for overseeing the United States’ billions of dollars of development aid to other countries. USAID works around the world in around 100 developing nations, and partners with 3,500+ companies and 300+ volunteer organizations to conduct its work of economic development, humanitarian assistance, and advocacy of democracy.

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About ADB. 2006.

ADB: Members. 2006.

The African Development Bank (ADB). 2006.

The Inter-American Development Bank . 2006.

USAID PRIMER: WHAT WE DO AND HOW WE DO IT (PDF). 2006.

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