Introduction

The Inter-American Development Bank is the largest source of development financing for Latin America and the Caribbean. Established in 1959, the IDB supports Latin American and Caribbean economic development, social development and regional integration by lending to governments and government agencies, including State corporations. The IDB has four official languages: English, French, Portuguese, and Spanish. Its official names in the other three languages are as follows: French: Banque interamricaine de dveloppement Portuguese: Banco Interamericano de Desenvolvimento Spanish: Banco Interamericano de Desarrollo It is the leading source of development financing for Latin America and the Caribbean, with a strong commitment to achieve measurable results, increased integrity, transparency and accountability. It has an evolving reform agenda that seeks to increase development impact in the region. While it is a regular bank in many ways, it also unique in some key respects. Besides loans, it also provide grants, technical assistance and do research. Its shareholders are 48 member countries, including 26 Latin American and Caribbean borrowing members, who have a majority ownership of the IDB. Fund for Special Operations (FSO) provides concessional financing to most vulnerable member countries. The IDB Group is composed of the Inter-American Development Bank, the InterAmerican Investment Corporation (IIC) and the Multilateral Investment Fund (MIF). The IIC focuses on support for small and medium-sized businesses, while the MIF promotes private sector growth through grants and investments, with an emphasis on microenterprise. Given shareholder base and prudent management, it has a strong financial position. As a result, the IDB is able to borrow in international markets at competitive rates and transfer that benefit to its clients.

Priorities and areas of action

To help the region achieve greater economic and social progress, the IDB has the following main areas of action:

Reducing poverty and social inequalities Addressing the needs of small and vulnerable countries Fostering development through the private sector Addressing climate change, renewable energy and environmental sustainability Promoting regional cooperation and integration

History
At the First Pan-American Conference in 1890, the idea of a development institution for Latin America was first suggested during the earliest efforts to create an inter-American system. The IDB became a reality under an initiative proposed by President Juscelino Kubitshek of Brazil. The Bank was formally created on April 8, 1959, when the Organization of American States drafted the Articles of Agreement establishing the InterAmerican Development Bank.

Members
Borrowing: Argentina, The Bahamas, Barbados, Belize, Bolivia,Brazil,Chile, Colombia, CostaRica, Dominican Republic, Ecuador, El Salvador, Guatemala, Guyana, Haiti, Honduras, Jamaica, Mexico, Nicaragua, Panama, Paraguay, Peru, Suriname, Trinida, Tobago, Uruguay, Venezuela Non-borrowing: Austria, Belgium, Canada, China, Croatia, Denmark, Finland, France, Germany,Israel, Ita ly, Japan, The Netherlands, Norway, Portugal, Republic of Korea, Slovenia, Spain, Sweden,Switzerland, United Kingdom, United States.

Vision
The IDBs Education Division works in partnership with 26 borrowing countries in Latin America and the Caribbean to ensure that children and adolescents exercise their right to a quality education, achieve their potential, and reverse the cycle of poverty.

Mission
Given that education is a key to development and a prerequisite for a genuine equality of opportunity, and given its strategic importance to the region, the IDB has an Education Initiative that focuses its research and projects in three main areas: Early Childhood Development, School to Work Transition and Teacher Quality.

Governance
The IDB is headed by the Board of Governors, which delegates oversight of Bank operations to the Board of Executive Directors. Day-to-day operations are run by the management team. Each member country appoints a governor, whose voting power is proportional to the Banks capital subscribed to by the country. The 26 Latin American and Caribbean countries in the IDB hold 50.02 percent of the voting power. The single largest shareholder is the United States, with 30.01 percent. Members of the Board of Executive Directors serve three-year terms at IDB headquarters in Washington, D.C. The President of the IDB, who is elected by the Board of Governors for a five-year term, is the institutions chief executive officer and legal representative, responsible for the day-to-day business of the Bank. He is assisted by one Executive Vice President and four Vice Presidents.

Five things you need to know about the IDB

We provide more financing to Latin America and the Caribbean than any other government-owned regional financial institution. We are the biggest multilateral donor in Haiti. We have been pursuing an extensive reform agenda in recent years that has allowed us to connect with new clients, put more personnel in country offices, and make our projects more accountable and transparent. In June 2010, the Board of Governors agreed to increase the Banks capital by $70 billion, raising it to more than $170 billion. The capital increase, the largest in the IDBs history, will enable the Bank to lend as much as $12 billion per year, doubling the levels before the global financial crisis, and substantially increase lending to the private sector. Our Governors also agreed to provide an unprecedented relief package for Haiti, which includes the cancellation of the countrys outstanding debt and the provision of $2.2 billion in grants through 2020. The capital increase will allow the IDB to significantly increase lending for poverty alleviation as well as to small and vulnerable countries. Moreover, the Bank will be able to boost financing for regional and global integration and for projects that protect the environment and enable adaptation to climate change.

Criticism
There are claims that operations funded by the IDB may have adverse impacts on local environments and indigenous peoples. According to the Bank Information Center (BIC), "civil society groups have long been concerned about the negative impacts the IDB's operations have on the environment and on indigenous and traditional peoples, as well as on the prospects for genuine economic and democratic reform in the region." The BIC cites environmental and social damage funded by the IDB as adversely impacting local economies, contrary to IDB's stated goal of fostering social and economic prosperity