The World Bank is an international financial institution that provides loans and grants to the governments of low- and middle-income countries for the purposes of economic development . The World Bank is the collective name for the International Bank for Reconstruction and Development (IBRD) and International Development Association (IDA), two of five international organizations owned by the World Bank Group . It was established along with the International Monetary Fund at the 1944 Bretton Woods Conference . After a slow start, its first loan was to France in 1947. In its early years, it primarily focused on rebuilding Europe. Over time, it focused on providing loans to developing world countries. In the 1970s, the World Bank re-conceptualized its mission of facilitating development as being oriented around poverty reduction . For the last 30 years, it has included NGOs and environmental groups in its loan portfolio. Its loan strategy is influenced by environmental and social safeguards.
89-462: The Four Modernizations ( simplified Chinese : 四个现代化; traditional Chinese : 四個現代化) were goals formally announced by China's first Premier Zhou Enlai to strengthen the fields of agriculture , industry , defense , science , and technology in China. The Four Modernizations were adopted as a means of rejuvenating China's economy in 1977, following the death of Mao Zedong , and later were among
178-527: A radical —usually involves either a reduction in its total number of strokes , or an apparent streamlining of which strokes are chosen in what places—for example, the ⼓ ' WRAP ' radical used in the traditional character 沒 is simplified to ⼏ ' TABLE ' to form the simplified character 没 . By systematically simplifying radicals, large swaths of the character set are altered. Some simplifications were based on popular cursive forms that embody graphic or phonetic simplifications of
267-646: A Chinese Four Modernizations. Our conceptualization of the Four Modernizations is not like your conception of modernization, but it is a xiaokang family." Recognizing the need for technical assistance to spur this most important modernization, the Chinese Government elicited the support of the United Nations Development Programme (UNDP) in the fall of 1978 to scope out and provide financial resources for
356-545: A Country Assistance Strategy is produced in cooperation with the local government and any interested stakeholders and may rely on analytical work performed by the bank or other parties. The World Bank's negative pledge clause prohibits its debtor countries from using public assets to repay other creditors before they repay the World Bank. The World Bank Group (WBG) is a family of five international organizations that make leveraged loans to developing countries . It
445-404: A World Bank loan was France in 1947. The bank's president at the time, John McCloy , chose France over two other applicants, Poland and Chile. The loan was for US$ 250 million, half the amount requested, and came with strict conditions. France had to agree to produce a balanced budget and give priority of debt repayment to the World Bank over other governments. World Bank staff closely monitored
534-562: A borrower country to repay the loan. In 1960, the International Development Association was formed (as opposed to a UN fund named SUNFED), providing soft loans to developing countries . Before 1974, the reconstruction and development loans the World Bank made were relatively small. Its staff was aware of the need to instill confidence in the bank. Fiscal conservatism ruled, and loan applications had to meet strict criteria. The first country to receive
623-434: A conversion table. While exercising such derivation, the following rules should be observed: Sample Derivations : The Series One List of Variant Characters reduces the number of total standard characters. First, amongst each set of variant characters sharing identical pronunciation and meaning, one character (usually the simplest in form) is elevated to the standard character set, and the rest are made obsolete. Then amongst
712-600: A new president was appointed: Ajay Banga . His term began on 2 June 2023. He was supported by the American president Joe Biden partly because he supports climate action . He is also expected to help low-income countries deal with debts. He is the first Indian American to lead the bank. The vice presidents of the bank are its principal managers, in charge of regions, sectors, networks and functions. There are two executive vice presidents, three senior vice presidents, and 24 vice presidents. The boards of directors consist of
801-610: A newly coined phono-semantic compound : Removing radicals Only retaining single radicals Replacing with ancient forms or variants : Adopting ancient vulgar variants : Readopting abandoned phonetic-loan characters : Copying and modifying another traditional character : Based on 132 characters and 14 components listed in Chart 2 of the Complete List , the 1,753 derived characters found in Chart 3 can be created by systematically simplifying components using Chart 2 as
890-469: A practice which has always been present as a part of the Chinese writing system. The official name tends to refer to the specific, systematic set published by the Chinese government, which includes not only simplifications of individual characters, but also a substantial reduction in the total number of characters through the merger of formerly distinct forms. According to Chinese palaeographer Qiu Xigui ,
979-621: A result, reducing inequality, in this definition, had become an integral part of the World Bank’s objectives and effectively “broadened its mandate”. The World Bank has been criticized for not embracing the reduction of inequality (be it economic inequality within a country, or international inequality between countries) as a goal. Instead, the bank has taken an instrumental approach to the issue, in which inequality policies were seen as useful as long as they contributed to reducing (extreme) poverty or promoting average economic growth. As part of
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#17327656418581068-483: A tacit understanding between the United States and Europe, the president of the World Bank has been selected from candidates nominated by the United States, the largest shareholder in the bank. This is significant because the World Bank tends to lend more readily to countries that are friendly with the United States, not because of direct U.S. influence but because of the employees of the World Bank. In 2012, for
1157-440: Is actually more complex than eliminated ones. An example is the character 搾 which is eliminated in favor of the variant form 榨 . The 扌 'HAND' with three strokes on the left of the eliminated 搾 is now seen as more complex, appearing as the ⽊ 'TREE' radical 木 , with four strokes, in the chosen variant 榨 . Not all characters standardised in the simplified set consist of fewer strokes. For instance,
1246-651: Is based on economic size in addition to the International Development Association contributions. The following table shows the subscriptions of the top 20 member countries of the World Bank by voting power in the following World Bank institutions as of December 2014 or March 2015: the International Bank for Reconstruction and Development (IBRD), the International Finance Corporation (IFC),
1335-454: Is derived. Merging homophonous characters: Adapting cursive shapes ( 草書楷化 ): Replacing a component with a simple arbitrary symbol (such as 又 and 乂 ): Omitting entire components : Omitting components, then applying further alterations : Structural changes that preserve the basic shape Replacing the phonetic component of phono-semantic compounds : Replacing an uncommon phonetic component : Replacing entirely with
1424-531: Is engaged in several global partnerships and initiatives, and takes a role in working toward addressing climate change . The World Bank hosts an Open Knowledge Repository for its publications. In 2020, the World Bank’s total commitments amounted to USD 77.1 billion, it had 12,300 full-time staff, and it operated in 145 countries. World Bank projects cover a range of areas from building schools to fighting disease, providing water and electricity, and environmental protection , and as such, they are linked to most of
1513-769: Is listed in the Registry of Research Data Repositories re3data.org. The World Bank also endorses the Principles for Digital Development . Together with the World Health Organization , the World Bank administers the International Health Partnership (IHP+). IHP+ is a group of partners committed to improving the health of citizens in developing countries. Partners work together to put international principles for aid effectiveness and development cooperation into practice in
1602-813: Is now discouraged. A State Language Commission official cited "oversimplification" as the reason for restoring some characters. The language authority declared an open comment period until 31 August 2009, for feedback from the public. In 2013, the List of Commonly Used Standard Chinese Characters was published as a revision of the 1988 lists; it included a total of 8105 characters. It included 45 newly recognized standard characters that were previously considered variant forms, as well as official approval of 226 characters that had been simplified by analogy and had seen wide use but were not explicitly given in previous lists or documents. Singapore underwent three successive rounds of character simplification , eventually arriving at
1691-466: Is primarily voluntary. Based on an agreement between the United Nations and the World Bank in 1981, Development Business became the official source for World Bank Procurement Notices, Contract Awards, and Project Approvals. In 1998, the agreement was renegotiated, and included in this agreement was a joint venture to create an online version of the publication. Today, Development Business
1780-669: Is the largest and best-known development bank in the world and an observer at the United Nations Development Group . The bank is headquartered in Washington, D.C. , in the United States . It provided around $ 98.83 billion in loans and assistance to "developing" and transition countries in the 2021 fiscal year. The bank's stated mission is to achieve the twin goals of ending extreme poverty and building shared prosperity. Total lending as of 2015 for
1869-489: Is the primary publication for all major multilateral development banks, U.N. agencies, and several national governments, many of which have made the publication of their tenders and contracts in Development Business a mandatory requirement. The World Bank collects and processes large amounts of data and generates them on the basis of economic models. These data and models have gradually been made available to
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#17327656418581958-547: Is used instead of 叠 in regions using traditional characters. The Chinese government stated that it wished to keep Chinese orthography stable. The Chart of Generally Utilized Characters of Modern Chinese was published in 1988 and included 7000 simplified and unsimplified characters. Of these, half were also included in the revised List of Commonly Used Characters in Modern Chinese , which specified 2500 common characters and 1000 less common characters. In 2009,
2047-426: The 2030 Agenda , Sustainable Development Goal 10 aims at reducing inequalities within countries and among countries. World Bank officials participated in the negotiations for SDG 10 in the years prior to 2015. They advocated for the adoption of the bank's own preferred benchmarks. This ensured that other organizations would evaluate their success based on the bank’s own definition of inequality. Some have argued that
2136-560: The 4th National People's Congress . After Zhou's death and Mao's soon thereafter, Hua Guofeng assumed control of the party in 1976. Hua had the leadership of the Cultural Revolution arrested. Known as the Gang of Four , their arrest marked the end of the Cultural Revolution. This event enabled the enactment of the Four Modernizations. By 1977 all entities in every sector and at every level of society were focused on implementing
2225-665: The Fifth Modernization on the Democracy Wall in Beijing. He was arrested a few months later and jailed for 15 years until 1993. Simplified Chinese characters Simplified Chinese characters are one of two standardized character sets widely used to write the Chinese language , with the other being traditional characters . Their mass standardization during the 20th century was part of an initiative by
2314-636: The International Development Association (IDA), and the Multilateral Investment Guarantee Agency (MIGA). Member countries are allocated votes at the time of membership and subsequently for additional subscriptions to capital (one vote for each share of capital stock held by the member). The World Bank plays a significant role in global economic governance due to its broad mandate, its vast resource base, its frequent and regular interactions with governments as clients, and its myriad publications and databases. In 2020,
2403-522: The People's Republic of China (PRC) to promote literacy, and their use in ordinary circumstances on the mainland has been encouraged by the Chinese government since the 1950s. They are the official forms used in mainland China and Singapore , while traditional characters are officially used in Hong Kong , Macau , and Taiwan . Simplification of a component—either a character or a sub-component called
2492-554: The Qin dynasty (221–206 BC) the character meaning 'bright' was written as either 明 or 朙 —with either 日 'Sun' or 囧 'window' on the left, with the 月 'Moon' component on the right. Li Si ( d. 208 BC ), the Chancellor of Qin, attempted to universalize the Qin small seal script across China following the wars that had politically unified the country for
2581-540: The Sustainable Development Goals . The World Bank has been criticized as promoting inflation and harming economic development . There has also been criticism of the bank's governance and response to the COVID-19 pandemic . The current president (starting in 2023) is Ajay Banga who is known to support climate action , unlike his predecessor David Malpass . The World Bank was created at
2670-467: The health sector . IHP+ mobilizes national governments, development agencies, civil society, and others to support a single, country-led national health strategy in a well-coordinated way. In September 2020, during the COVID-19 pandemic , the World Bank announced a $ 12 billion plan to supply "low and middle income countries" with a vaccine once it was approved. In June 2022, the bank reported that $ 10.1 billion had been allocated to supply 78 countries with
2759-531: The states of ancient China , with his chief chronicler having "[written] fifteen chapters describing" what is referred to as the " big seal script ". The traditional narrative, as also attested in the Shuowen Jiezi dictionary ( c. 100 AD ), is that the Qin small seal script that would later be imposed across China was originally derived from the Zhou big seal script with few modifications. However,
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2848-478: The "Dot" stroke : The traditional components ⺥ and 爫 become ⺈ : The traditional component 奐 becomes 奂 : World Bank As of 2022 , the World Bank is run by a president and 25 executive directors, as well as 29 various vice presidents. IBRD and IDA have 189 and 174 member countries, respectively. The U.S., Japan, China, Germany and the U.K. have the most voting power. The bank aims loans at developing countries to help reduce poverty. The bank
2937-469: The 1919 May Fourth Movement —many anti-imperialist intellectuals throughout China began to see the country's writing system as a serious impediment to its modernization. In 1916, a multi-part English-language article entitled "The Problem of the Chinese Language" co-authored by the Chinese linguist Yuen Ren Chao (1892–1982) and poet Hu Shih (1891–1962) has been identified as a turning point in
3026-683: The 1944 Bretton Woods Conference , along with the International Monetary Fund (IMF). The president of the World Bank is traditionally an American . The World Bank and the IMF are both based in Washington, D.C., and work closely with each other. Although many countries were represented at the Bretton Woods Conference, the United States and United Kingdom were the most powerful in attendance and dominated
3115-482: The 1986 General List of Simplified Chinese Characters , hereafter the General List . All characters simplified this way are enumerated in Chart 1 and Chart 2 in the 1986 Complete List . Characters in both charts are structurally simplified based on similar set of principles. They are separated into two charts to clearly mark those in Chart 2 as 'usable as simplified character components', based on which Chart 3
3204-520: The 1986 mainland China revisions. Unlike in mainland China, Singapore parents have the option of registering their children's names in traditional characters. Malaysia also promulgated a set of simplified characters in 1981, though completely identical to the mainland Chinese set. They are used in Chinese-language schools. All characters simplified this way are enumerated in Charts 1 and 2 of
3293-518: The Chinese Communist Party , Deng Xiaoping announced the official launch of the Four Modernizations, formally marking the beginning of the reform. The science and technology modernization, although understood by Chinese leaders as being key to the transformation of industry and the economy, proved to be more of a theoretical goal than an achievable objective. This was primarily due to decades-long isolation of Chinese scientists from
3382-470: The Chinese government published a major revision to the list which included a total of 8300 characters. No new simplifications were introduced. In addition, slight modifications to the orthography of 44 characters to fit traditional calligraphic rules were initially proposed, but were not implemented due to negative public response. Also, the practice of unrestricted simplification of rare and archaic characters by analogy using simplified radicals or components
3471-420: The Four Modernizations. One core tenet was the rejection of the previously long-held concept known as the " iron rice bowl ". The new idea was that all workers should not be paid the same, but rather, paid according to their productivity. The thinking was that in order to be a consumer society, China would need to be a producing society. In December 1978 at the 3rd plenary session of the 11th Central Committee of
3560-489: The National Conference on Agricultural Science and Technology Work, Nie Rongzhen specifically referred to the Four Modernizations as comprising agriculture, industry, national defense, and science and technology. The Cultural Revolution prevented and delayed implementation of the Four Modernizations for years. In 1975, in one of his last public acts, Zhou Enlai made another pitch for the Four Modernizations at
3649-546: The People's Republic, the idea of a mass simplification of character forms first gained traction in China during the early 20th century. In 1909, the educator and linguist Lufei Kui formally proposed the use of simplified characters in education for the first time. Over the following years—marked by the 1911 Xinhai Revolution that toppled the Qing dynasty , followed by growing social and political discontent that further erupted into
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3738-745: The UNDP was Jack Fensterstock of the United States. This first technical assistance effort (CPR/79-001) by the UNDP led to the entry of large-scale multilateral funding agencies including the World Bank and the Asian Development Bank . As part of the effort to pursue the Four Modernizations, the Chinese government revived plans for the Three Gorges Dam , emphasizing the need to develop hydroelectric power. On December 5, 1978, former Red Guard Wei Jingsheng posted "democracy" as
3827-525: The United States (15.85%), Japan (6.84%), China (4.42%), Germany (4.00%), the United Kingdom (3.75%), France (3.75%), India (2.91%), Russia (2.77%), Saudi Arabia (2.77%) and Italy (2.64%). Under the changes, known as 'Voice Reform – Phase 2', countries other than China that saw significant gains included South Korea , Turkey, Mexico , Singapore, Greece , Czech Republic , Hungary , Brazil, India , and Spain. Most developed countries' voting power
3916-501: The World Bank Group and its staff where allegation of non-observance of contracts of employment or terms of appointment had not been honored. McNamara was succeeded by U.S. President Jimmy Carter 's nominee, Alden W. Clausen , in 1980. Clausen replaced many members of McNamara's staff and crafted a different mission emphasis. His 1982 decision to replace the bank's Chief Economist, Hollis B. Chenery , with Anne Krueger
4005-414: The World Bank Group president and 25 executive directors. The president is the presiding officer, and ordinarily has no vote except to break a tie. The executive directors as individuals cannot exercise any power or commit or represent the bank unless the boards specifically authorized them to do so. With the term beginning 1 November 2010, the number of executive directors increased by one, to 25. In 2020,
4094-469: The World Bank had 12,300 full-time staff, and it operated in 145 countries. Some notable politicians who worked for the World Bank include: The International Bank for Reconstruction and Development (IBRD) has 189 member countries, while the International Development Association (IDA) has 174. Each member state of IBRD should also be a member of the International Monetary Fund (IMF) and only members of IBRD are allowed to join other institutions within
4183-457: The World Bank reduced the transformative potential of SDG 10 during the agenda-setting stage. The bank has stated its ambition to help catalyze the SDGs through “thought leadership, global convening, and country-level uptake”. In general, the World Bank strategically uses the power of the Sustainable Development Goals (SDGs) in its favor to reinforce its own policies or interests while minimizing
4272-703: The World Bank's 2012 annual meeting in Tokyo, a review of these safeguards was initiated, which was welcomed by several civil society organisations. As a result, the World Bank developed a new Environmental and Social Framework, which has been in implementation since 1 October 2018. The World Bank or the World Bank Group is also a sitting observer in the United Nations Sustainable Development Group . Beginning in 1989, in response to harsh criticism from many groups,
4361-404: The World Bank’s total commitments amounted to USD 77.1 billion and it operated in 145 countries. World Bank projects cover a range of areas from building schools to fighting disease, providing water and electricity, and environmental protection , and as such, they are linked to most of the Sustainable Development Goals . As a guideline to the World Bank's operations in any particular country,
4450-537: The bank (such as IDA). The five United Nations member states that are not members of the World Bank are Andorra, Cuba, Liechtenstein, Monaco, and North Korea. Kosovo is not a member of the UN, but is a member of the IMF and the World Bank Group, including the IBRD and IDA. In 2010, voting powers at the World Bank were revised to increase the voice of developing countries, notably China. The countries with most voting power are now
4539-578: The bank began including environmental groups and NGOs in its loans to mitigate the past effects of its development policies that had prompted the criticism. It also formed an implementing agency, in accordance with the Montreal Protocols, to stop ozone-depletion damage to the Earth's atmosphere by phasing out the use of 95% of ozone-depleting chemicals, with a target date of 2015. Since then, in accordance with its so-called "Six Strategic Themes",
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#17327656418584628-563: The bank has put various additional policies into effect to preserve the environment while promoting development. For example, in 1991, the bank announced that to protect against deforestation , especially in the Amazon , it would not finance any commercial logging or infrastructure projects that harm the environment. For the poorest developing countries in the world, the bank's assistance plans are based on poverty reduction strategies ; by combining an analysis of local groups with an analysis of
4717-444: The body of epigraphic evidence comparing the character forms used by scribes gives no indication of any real consolidation in character forms prior to the founding of the Qin. The Han dynasty (202 BC – 220 AD) that inherited the Qin administration coincided with the perfection of clerical script through the process of libian . Eastward spread of Western learning Though most closely associated with
4806-447: The broadest trend in the evolution of Chinese characters over their history has been simplification, both in graphical shape ( 字形 ; zìxíng ), the "external appearances of individual graphs", and in graphical form ( 字体 ; 字體 ; zìtǐ ), "overall changes in the distinguishing features of graphic[al] shape and calligraphic style, [...] in most cases refer[ring] to rather obvious and rather substantial changes". The initiatives following
4895-400: The chance of being itself reshaped or transformed by these goals. Scholars found that the World Bank used the growing momentum of the (SDGs) to further its strategic objectives without being influenced by the SDGs in turn. Also, the bank engaged with the SDGs selectively; efforts to integrate the goals into organizational practices remained limited; and their inclusion in country-level processes
4984-407: The chosen variants, those that appear in the "Complete List of Simplified Characters" are also simplified in character structure accordingly. Some examples follow: Sample reduction of equivalent variants : Ancient variants with simple structure are preferred : Simpler vulgar forms are also chosen : The chosen variant was already simplified in Chart 1 : In some instances, the chosen variant
5073-574: The country's financial and economic situation the World Bank develops a plan pertaining to the country in question. The government then identifies the country's priorities and targets for the reduction of poverty, and the World Bank instigates its aid efforts correspondingly. Forty-five countries pledged US$ 25.1 billion in "aid for the world's poorest countries", aid that goes to the World Bank International Development Association (IDA), which distributes
5162-656: The country. In 1935, the first official list of simplified forms was published, consisting of 324 characters collated by Peking University professor Qian Xuantong . However, fierce opposition within the KMT resulted in the list being rescinded in 1936. Work throughout the 1950s resulted in the 1956 promulgation of the Chinese Character Simplification Scheme , a draft of 515 simplified characters and 54 simplified components, whose simplifications would be present in most compound characters. Over
5251-575: The defining features of Deng Xiaoping 's tenure as the paramount leader of China. At the beginning of " Reform and Opening-up ", Deng further proposed the idea of " xiaokang " or " Moderately prosperous society " in 1979. They were introduced as early as January 1963 at the Conference on Scientific and Technological Work held in Shanghai , Zhou Enlai called for professionals in the sciences to realize "the Four Modernizations." In February 1963, at
5340-447: The economic problems in China during that time. Lu Xun , one of the most prominent Chinese authors of the 20th century, stated that "if Chinese characters are not destroyed, then China will die" ( 漢字不滅,中國必亡 ). During the 1930s and 1940s, discussions regarding simplification took place within the ruling Kuomintang (KMT) party. Many members of the Chinese intelligentsia maintained that simplification would increase literacy rates throughout
5429-405: The first time, two non-US citizens were nominated. The nominee is subject to confirmation by the board of executive directors to serve a five-year, renewable term. While most World Bank presidents have had banking experience, some have not. On 23 March 2012, U.S. president Barack Obama announced that the United States would nominate Jim Yong Kim as the next president of the bank. Jim Yong Kim
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#17327656418585518-512: The first time. Li prescribed the 朙 form of the word for 'bright', but some scribes ignored this and continued to write the character as 明 . However, the increased usage of 朙 was followed by proliferation of a third variant: 眀 , with 目 'eye' on the left—likely derived as a contraction of 朙 . Ultimately, 明 became the character's standard form. The Book of Han (111 AD) describes an earlier attempt made by King Xuan of Zhou ( d. 782 BC ) to unify character forms across
5607-475: The following decade, the Script Reform Committee deliberated on characters in the 1956 scheme, collecting public input regarding the recognizability of variants, and often approving forms in small batches. Parallel to simplification, there were also initiatives aimed at eliminating the use of characters entirely and replacing them with pinyin as an official Chinese alphabet, but this possibility
5696-430: The founding of the Qin dynasty (221–206 BC) to universalize the use of their small seal script across the recently conquered parts of the empire is generally seen as being the first real attempt at script reform in Chinese history. Before the 20th century, variation in character shape on the part of scribes, which would continue with the later invention of woodblock printing , was ubiquitous. For example, prior to
5785-556: The history of the Chinese script—as it was one of the first clear calls for China to move away from the use of characters entirely. Instead, Chao proposed that the language be written with an alphabet, which he saw as more logical and efficient. The alphabetization and simplification campaigns would exist alongside one another among the Republican intelligentsia for the next several decades. Recent commentators have echoed some contemporary claims that Chinese characters were blamed for
5874-420: The implementation of an initial complement of targeted projects. The initial projects from 1979 to 1984 included the establishment of overseas on-the-job training and academic programs, set-up of information processing centers at key government units, and the development of methods to make informed decisions within the Chinese context based on market principles. The key advisor to the Chinese government on behalf of
5963-541: The international community, outmoded and outdated universities, and an overall lack of access to advanced scientific equipment, information technology, and management know-how. Deng described a xiaokang society as a goal of the Four Modernizations . In a 1979 discussion with Japanese Prime Minister Masayoshi Ōhira , Deng used the concept to distinguish China's path of development from other approaches, stating, "The Four Modernizations we hope to realize are
6052-730: The last 10 years through Development Policy Financing was approximately $ 117 billion. Its five organizations are: The first two are sometimes collectively referred to as the World Bank. To ensure that World Bank-financed operations do not compromise these goals but instead add to their realisation, the following environmental, social, and legal safeguards were defined: Environmental Assessment, Indigenous Peoples, Involuntary Resettlement, Physical Cultural Resources, Forests, Natural Habitats, Pest Management, Safety of Dams, Projects in Disputed Areas, Projects on International Waterways, and Performance Standards for Private Sector Activities. At
6141-731: The loans to eighty poorer countries. Wealthier nations sometimes fund their own aid projects, including those for diseases. Robert B. Zoellick, the former president of the World Bank, said when the loans were announced on 15 December 2007, that IDA money "is the core funding that the poorest developing countries rely on". World Bank organizes the Development Marketplace Awards , a grant program that surfaces and funds development projects with potential for development impact that are scalable and/or replicable. The grant beneficiaries are social enterprises with projects that aim to deliver social and public services to groups with
6230-466: The lowest incomes. In 2013 the bank adopted the concept of Shared Prosperity as one of the World Bank’s “Twin Goals” for that year, with the other one focusing on poverty reduction, aiming to reduce the share of people in extreme poverty to 3 percent of the global population by 2030. The bank defined Shared Prosperity as increasing the income of the bottom 40 percent of the population in each country. As
6319-451: The negotiations. The intention behind the founding of the World Bank was to provide temporary loans to low-income countries that could not obtain loans commercially. The bank may also make loans and demand policy reforms from recipients. In its early years, the bank made a slow start for two reasons: it was underfunded, and there were leadership struggles between the US executive director and
6408-441: The northern banks that had been the primary sources of funding. Rotberg used the global bond market to increase the capital available to the bank. One consequence of the period of poverty alleviation lending was the rapid rise of debt of developing countries . From 1976 to 1980, developing world debt rose at an average annual rate of 20%. The World Bank Administrative Tribunal was established in 1980, to decide on disputes between
6497-479: The president of the organization. When the Marshall Plan went into effect in 1947, many European countries began receiving aid from other sources. Faced with this competition, the World Bank shifted its focus to non-European allies. Until 1968, its loans were earmarked for the construction of infrastructure works, such as seaports, highway systems, and power plants, that would generate enough income to enable
6586-430: The public and quickly fell out of official use. It was ultimately formally rescinded in 1986. The second-round simplifications were unpopular in large part because most of the forms were completely new, in contrast to the familiar variants comprising the majority of the first round. With the rescission of the second round, work toward further character simplification largely came to an end. In 1986, authorities retracted
6675-545: The public in a way that encourages reuse, whereas the recent publications describing them are available as open access under a Creative Commons Attribution License , for which the bank received the SPARC Innovator 2012 award. The World Bank hosts the Open Knowledge Repository as an official open access repository for its research outputs and knowledge products. The World Bank's repository
6764-481: The same set of simplified characters as mainland China. The first round was promulgated by the Ministry of Education in 1969, consisting of 498 simplified characters derived from 502 traditional characters. A second round of 2287 simplified characters was promulgated in 1974. The second set contained 49 differences from the mainland China system; these were removed in the final round in 1976. In 1993, Singapore adopted
6853-467: The second round completely, though they had been largely fallen out of use within a year of their initial introduction. That year, the authorities also promulgated a final version of the General List of Simplified Chinese Characters . It was identical to the 1964 list save for 6 changes—including the restoration of 3 characters that had been simplified in the first round: 叠 , 覆 , 像 ; the form 疊
6942-479: The simplification process after the bulk of characters were introduced by the 1960s. In the wake of the Cultural Revolution , a second round of simplified characters was promulgated in 1977—largely composed of entirely new variants intended to artificially lower the stroke count, in contrast to the first round—but was massively unpopular and never saw consistent use. The second round of simplifications
7031-535: The structural adjustment programs of the World Bank had been responsible for "reduced health, nutritional and educational levels for tens of millions of children in Asia , Latin America , and Africa ". The president of the bank is the president of the entire World Bank Group . The president is responsible for chairing meetings of the boards of directors and for overall management of the bank. Traditionally, based on
7120-833: The traditional character 強 , with 11 strokes is standardised as 强 , with 12 strokes, which is a variant character. Such characters do not constitute simplified characters. The new standardized character forms shown in the Characters for Publishing and revised through the Common Modern Characters list tend to adopt vulgar variant character forms. Since the new forms take vulgar variants, many characters now appear slightly simpler compared to old forms, and as such are often mistaken as structurally simplified characters. Some examples follow: The traditional component 釆 becomes 米 : The traditional component 囚 becomes 日 : The traditional "Break" stroke becomes
7209-415: The traditional forms. In addition, variant characters with identical pronunciation and meaning were reduced to a single standardized character, usually the simplest among all variants in form. Finally, many characters were left untouched by simplification and are thus identical between the traditional and simplified Chinese orthographies. The Chinese government has never officially announced the completion of
7298-665: The use of the funds to ensure that the French government met the conditions. In addition, before the loan was approved, the United States Department of State told the French government that its members associated with the Communist Party would first have to be removed. The French government complied and removed the Communist coalition government —the so-called tripartite . Within hours, the loan to France
7387-542: The vaccine The US Treasury has committed $ 667 million for the World Bank's global Pandemic Fund, a third of the $ 2 billion the fund hopes to raise. The Pandemic Fund, established in September 2022, is a collaborative initiative among countries, implementing partners, philanthropies, and civil society organizations. It aims to fund investments that address critical gaps in pandemic prevention, preparedness, and response capacities at national, regional, and global levels, with
7476-464: Was abandoned, confirmed by a speech given by Zhou Enlai in 1958. In 1965, the PRC published the List of Commonly Used Characters for Printing [ zh ] (hereafter Characters for Printing ), which included standard printed forms for 6196 characters, including all of the forms from the 1956 scheme. A second round of simplified characters was promulgated in 1977, but was poorly received by
7565-400: Was an example of this new focus. Krueger was known for her criticism of development funding and for describing developing countries' governments as " rent-seeking states". During the 1980s, the bank emphasized lending to service debt of developing countries, and structural adjustment policies designed to streamline the economies of developing nations. UNICEF reported in the late 1980s that
7654-491: Was approved. From 1974 to 1980, the bank concentrated on meeting the basic needs of people in the developing world . The size and number of loans to borrowers greatly increased, as loan targets expanded from infrastructure into social services and other sectors. These changes can be attributed to Robert McNamara , who was appointed to the presidency in 1968 by Lyndon B. Johnson . McNamara implored bank treasurer Eugene Rotberg to seek out new sources of capital outside of
7743-412: Was elected on 27 April 2012 and reelected to a second five-year term in 2017. He announced that he would resign effective 1 February 2019. He was replaced on an interim basis by now-former World Bank CEO Kristalina Georgieva , then by David Malpass on 9 April 2019. David Malpass faced criticism in 2023 as he had "sparked outcry by appearing to question the role of humans in climate change ". In 2023,
7832-454: Was reduced, along with a few developing countries such as Nigeria . The voting powers of the United States, Russia and Saudi Arabia were unchanged. The changes were brought about with the goal of making voting more universal in regards to standards, rule-based objective indicators, and transparency among other things. Now, developing countries have an increased voice in the "Pool Model", backed especially by Europe. Additionally, voting power
7921-716: Was ultimately retracted officially in 1986, well after they had largely ceased to be used due to their unpopularity and the confusion they caused. In August 2009, China began collecting public comments for a revised list of simplified characters; the resulting List of Commonly Used Standard Chinese Characters lists 8,105 characters, including a few revised forms, and was implemented for official use by China's State Council on 5 June 2013. In Chinese, simplified characters are referred to by their official name 简化字 ; jiǎnhuàzì , or colloquially as 简体字 ; jiǎntǐzì . The latter term refers broadly to all character variants featuring simplifications of character form or structure,
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