In the fall of 2022, World Bank shareholders (member governments, including the United States) called for a suite of reforms aimed at better enabling the institution to respond to today’s global development challenges, such as pandemics, climate change, and natural disasters. The World Bank is one o...

The Pandemic Fund should strategically invest in pandemic preparedness, including for its first call for proposals for surveillance, laboratories, and human resources. This strategic approach should consider both ex ante and ex post considerations of investments for pandemic preparedness.

To meet many of today’s most pressing challenges, we need to find new solutions. But the fastest, cheapest, and most effective way to encourage high-impact innovation isn’t always obvious. Governments, philanthropists, and the private sector typically invest in research and development (R&D) by bett...

We are living in a time when many countries face heightened debt vulnerabilities. There is no international bankruptcy mechanism for countries that default on their external obligations. The objective of the international financial architecture—historically overseen by the IMF and its shareholders— ...

Last July, CGD hosted a meeting with other think tanks to exchange perspectives on the multilateral development bank (MDB) system. Participants at our meeting agreed to set out a shared “call to action” where we lay out ideas to evolve the World Bank.

Many African countries, particularly those in sub-Saharan Africa, continue to grapple with the consequences of the COVID-19 pandemic while simultaneously confronting the challenges posed by slowing global growth, private capital outflows, debt distress, and the impacts of climate change. An estimate...

This brief summarizes the final report of the working group. The report collates resources and insights on progress in implementing and using impact evaluations for decision making and proposes five ways to improve impact evaluation funding and practice, directed to the development community