Our Vision
The Bank Information Center envisions a world in which people and the planet are at the center of development.
Our Mission
The Bank Information Center advocates for social, ecological and economic justice by amplifying local voices and democratizing development finance.
The Opportunity
Every year, multilateral development banks (MDBs) deliver roughly $100 billion in investments that should help countries better serve their people. Although on paper these banks value social and environmental sustainability, experience has shown that their investments often fail to serve the poor or the planet. Instead, these public institutions often serve an elite few or prop up corrupt governments. MDB investments can also harm communities and the environment, or lead to further marginalization of women and minorities. For development to be truly sustainable, people and the planet must be placed at its center. MDBs play an important role in ensuring the informed and active participation of local communities. The size of the banks’ investments and the global leadership that they offer have the power to improve the living conditions of millions of people and protect the environment.
The Bank Information Center exists to put people in charge of the development process and bank investments, and ensure they receive redress when investments produce harm.
Our Core Values
BIC’s work is guided by our belief in:
– Human Rights: We uphold the principles of human rights standards that shape our mission, and we make sure the ways in which we work and the kind of work we do are consistent with those principles.
– Independence: While we always seek to build bridges, our engagement never comes at the expense of our independence. This independence is reflected in our relationship with officials in financial institutions, governments, our CSO partners, and our donors.
– Transparency, Engagement, and Accountability: As we work to achieve change in the international development finance agenda, we recognize the importance of ensuring this process is transparent, participatory, and accountable to those affected by international development finance.
What we do:
BIC seeks to serve communities affected by development finance and those who should benefit from investments. Toward this end, BIC develops partnerships with local, regional, and international civil society organizations who also seek justice from development finance institutions.
We leverage our unique ability to:
– Understand the “plumbing” of development finance institutions, including otherwise opaque aspects of development bank policies, functions, and processes;
– Cultivate and leverage trusted relationships within these development finance institutions;
– Use our knowledge of the development finance institutions and relationships within these institutions to serve as a strategic interlocutor and translator between these institutions and a diverse range of civil society groups;
– “Connect the dots,” and facilitate coordinated CSO advocacy efforts from the grassroots to the global level.
These services contribute to:
– Development policies that better serve people and planet;
– Accountability at banks in the execution of these policies;
– Greater, more effective engagement between local CSOs, communities, and development banks, so that they can ensure investments serve their needs.