Multilateral aid is delivered though international institutions such as the various agencies in the United Nations, World Bank and Asian Development Bank.
A multilateral organisation is an international organisation whose membership is made up of member governments, who collectively govern the organisation and are its primary source of funds. The OECD estimates that in 2008 around 40% of ODA or nearly US$50 billion from DAC countries was channelled through multilateral institutions and funds.
There are a number of reasons why donor countries give aid through multilateral institutions:
- multilateral aid is generally seen as a less political form of aid than bilateral aid, encouraging international cooperation rather than strategic and commercial interests of respective donor countries;
- multilateral aid pools resources enabling the implementation of large-scale programs that are beyond the capacity of individual donor countries through bilateral aid;
- multilateral aid can help coordinate donors to address issues at regional and global levels and harmonise their efforts, thereby reducing donor burden in recipient countries. #
Below is a list of the worlds biggest and best known Multilateral Donors:
- African Development Bank (AfDB)
- Andean Development Corporation (CAF)
- Asian Development Bank (ADB)
- European Bank for Reconstruction and Development (EBRD)
- European Investment Bank
- Inter-American Development Bank (IADB)
- International Bank for Reconstruction and Development (IBRD; part of the World Bank Group)
- International Fund for Agricultural Development (IFAD)
- International Monetary Fund (IMF)
- International Organization for Migration (IOM)
- Multilateral Investment Guarantee Agency (MIGA, part of the World Bank Group)
- Organisation for Economic Co-operation and Development (OECD)
- United Nations (UN)
- United Nations Children’s Fund (UNICEF)
- United Nations Conference on Trade and Development (UNCTAD)
- United Nations Development Programme (UNDP)
- United Nations Environment Programme (UNEP)
- United Nations High Commissioner for Refugees (UNHCR)
- United Nations Industrial Development Organization (UNIDO)
- World Bank Group
- World Food Programme (WFP)
- World Health Organization (WHO)
- World Trade Organization (WTO)
Did we miss any? Let us know in the comments and we will add them to the list.
