
The question of how multilateral development banks (MDBs) must transform themselves to address today’s most pressing global challenges will again be under the spotlight at next week’s World Bank/IMF Annual Meetings in Marrakech.
Business as usual will no longer do. In this episode we ask what the countries these banks were set up to serve think about how MDBs should adapt and evolve. After all, their demands and preferences should shape the lending volumes, strategies and operations of MDBs.
But the reality is we know little about these preferences, what client countries value about MDBs, and what they think the banks’ weaknesses are – potentially curbing their demand for assistance in the medium to long term.
This podcast was produced in collaboration with the Center for Global Development.

Speakers
- Sara Pantuliano (host), Chief Executive, ODI
- Masood Ahmed, President of the Center for Global Development
- Annalisa Prizzon, Principal Research Fellow, ODI
- Mavis Owusu-Gyamfi, Executive Vice President of the African Center for Economic Transformation
- Amadou Hott, Special Envoy for the Alliance for Green Infrastructure in Africa, AfDB and former Minister of Economy, Planning, and Cooperation of Senegal
- Iyabo Masha, Director and Head of Secretariat, G24
Related resources
- ODI at the Annual Meetings
- MDBs can drive transformative change – now the G20 must inject urgency and sustain its support
- Country perspectives on multilateral development banks: a survey analysis
- A fair share of climate finance? An appraisal of past performance, future pledges and prospective contributors
- MDB Reform Accelerator (Center for Global Development)
- Interactive African Transformation Index (African Center for Economic Transformation)
ODI at the Annual Meetings
A round-up of our events and latest resources on some of the big issues under discussion at this year's meetings in Marrakech.
