2026 FCV Strategy Comment
Sound Strategy, Broken Platform · An Assessment of the WBG FCV Strategy 2026–2030 · MDB Reform Platform The…

The Bretton Woods institutions and the regional development banks were created to address the post-war reconstruction challenge and the development financing gap of the mid-twentieth century. They have since grown into a complex ecosystem deploying hundreds of billions of dollars a year across health, education, infrastructure, governance, and climate — a mandate far broader than their founders envisaged, and one that has evolved largely through institutional momentum rather than deliberate redesign.
IEG’s own longitudinal data — tracking project outcome ratings since the 1960s — shows that the share of World Bank projects achieving satisfactory development outcomes has not improved over six decades. In several regions and sectors it has declined. The overlap between Bank and Fund mandates has widened. The feedback loops that should drive learning and correction remain weak. And the people who bear the cost of underperformance are, without exception, those the institutions exist to serve: the poorest and most vulnerable populations on the planet. This platform argues that these institutions can do better — and documents specifically what better would require.
Sound Strategy, Broken Platform · An Assessment of the WBG FCV Strategy 2026–2030 · MDB Reform Platform The…
The Zero Club · Cross-Sector Synthesis · MDB Reform Platform 43 Zero Club Countries in Sub-Saharan Africa: 14…
The Zero Club (Part 11) · Transport in Africa · MDB Reform Platform Transport in Africa: 7 Countries, 19 Projects, $1.65 Billion…
The Zero Club (Part 12) · Education in Africa · MDB Reform Platform Education in Africa: 10 Countries, 33 Projects, $2.5 Billion…
The Zero Club (Part 10) · Health in Africa · MDB Reform Platform Health in Africa: 14 Countries, 55 Projects, $3.0 Billion…
The Zero Club (Part 9) · MTI in Africa · MDB Reform Platform MTI in Africa: 14 Countries, 99 Projects, $10.4 Billion…
Case Study #8 · Scaled Success · MDB Reform Platform The Rwanda Model — When Disciplined Delivery Survives Scaling Parminder Brar | …
Somalia · Fragile State · All Sectors · MDB Reform Platform The Somalia Exception — Constrained Delivery, Disciplined Design, and What Happens…
MDB Reform is written by Parminder Brar, a former World Bank Lead Financial Management Specialist and Lead Governance Specialist with field postings in Liberia (2003–2008), Ethiopia (2011–2015), Nigeria (2019–2022), and Tanzania. He was a member of the original PEFA indicator design team. The platform draws on primary sources and two decades of direct field experience to make the case that the institutions we have are capable of doing substantially better — and that the people who depend on them most deserve nothing less.
About the author →