{"id":87284,"date":"2026-02-11T16:17:40","date_gmt":"2026-02-11T10:47:40","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/vajiramandravi.com\/current-affairs\/?p=87284"},"modified":"2026-02-11T16:17:40","modified_gmt":"2026-02-11T10:47:40","slug":"international-development-association","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/vajiramandravi.com\/current-affairs\/international-development-association\/","title":{"rendered":"International Development Association, headquarters, History, Functions"},"content":{"rendered":"<p><span style=\"font-weight: 400;\">The <\/span><b>International Development Association (IDA) is a part of the World Bank Group<\/b><span style=\"font-weight: 400;\">. It was established in <\/span><b>1960<\/b><span style=\"font-weight: 400;\"> to provide financial help to the <\/span><b>world\u2019s poorest countries<\/b><span style=\"font-weight: 400;\">. IDA gives <\/span><b>low-interest loans and grants<\/b><span style=\"font-weight: 400;\"> to support development projects in areas like education, health, agriculture, infrastructure, and poverty reduction.<\/span><\/p>\n<h2><b>International Development Association History<\/b><\/h2>\n<ul>\n<li style=\"font-weight: 400;\" aria-level=\"1\"><span style=\"font-weight: 400;\">The International Development Association (IDA) was established on <\/span><b>24 September 1960 <\/b><span style=\"font-weight: 400;\">as part of the <a href=\"https:\/\/vajiramandravi.com\/current-affairs\/world-bank\/\" target=\"_blank\"><strong>World Bank<\/strong><\/a> Group to provide <\/span><b>concessional loans and grants to the poorest countries.<\/b><\/li>\n<li style=\"font-weight: 400;\" aria-level=\"1\"><span style=\"font-weight: 400;\">Its headquarters is in <\/span><b>Washington D.C.<\/b><\/li>\n<li style=\"font-weight: 400;\" aria-level=\"1\"><span style=\"font-weight: 400;\">It initially focused on infrastructure but later expanded to agriculture (including support to the <a href=\"https:\/\/vajiramandravi.com\/current-affairs\/green-revolution-in-india\/\" target=\"_blank\"><strong>Green Revolution<\/strong><\/a>), health, education, governance and poverty reduction.<\/span><\/li>\n<li style=\"font-weight: 400;\" aria-level=\"1\"><span style=\"font-weight: 400;\">Over six decades, <\/span><b>IDA has supported thousands of projects<\/b><span style=\"font-weight: 400;\"> in more than 100 countries, helping them tackle economic crises, natural disasters, conflict and pandemics like <a href=\"https:\/\/vajiramandravi.com\/upsc-exam\/covid-19\/\" target=\"_blank\"><strong>COVID-19<\/strong><\/a>.<\/span><\/li>\n<li style=\"font-weight: 400;\" aria-level=\"1\"><span style=\"font-weight: 400;\">It also addresses global challenges such as climate change, gender inequality and job creation.<\/span><\/li>\n<li style=\"font-weight: 400;\" aria-level=\"1\"><span style=\"font-weight: 400;\">In recent years, IDA strengthened its financial capacity by receiving a <\/span><b>AAA credit rating<\/b><span style=\"font-weight: 400;\"> and entering global capital markets to raise more resources.<\/span><\/li>\n<\/ul>\n<h2><b>International Development Association (IDA) Key Functions<\/b><\/h2>\n<ul>\n<li style=\"font-weight: 400;\" aria-level=\"1\"><span style=\"font-weight: 400;\">IDA supports poor countries in education, health, water, agriculture, infrastructure, governance and job creation <\/span><b>to reduce poverty and improve living standards<\/b><span style=\"font-weight: 400;\">. It provides stable financial assistance and acts as an important channel for global development aid.<\/span><\/li>\n<li style=\"font-weight: 400;\" aria-level=\"1\"><span style=\"font-weight: 400;\">It helps countries during crises through the <\/span><b>Crisis Response Window (CRW)<\/b><span style=\"font-weight: 400;\">, supporting situations like famine, earthquakes and disease outbreaks.<\/span><\/li>\n<li style=\"font-weight: 400;\" aria-level=\"1\"><span style=\"font-weight: 400;\">IDA also advises on poverty reduction and debt management through policies like the <\/span><b>Sustainable Development Finance Policy.<\/b><\/li>\n<li style=\"font-weight: 400;\" aria-level=\"1\"><span style=\"font-weight: 400;\">Under its latest funding cycle, IDA20 (2022\u20132025), <\/span><b>a record $93 billion was mobilized,<\/b><span style=\"font-weight: 400;\"> focusing on <a href=\"https:\/\/vajiramandravi.com\/current-affairs\/climate-change\/\" target=\"_blank\"><strong>climate change<\/strong><\/a>, conflict, gender equality, jobs, human capital, debt transparency, governance, technology and crisis preparedness.<\/span><\/li>\n<\/ul>\n<h2><b>International Development Association (IDA) Governance and Working<\/b><\/h2>\n<ul>\n<li style=\"font-weight: 400;\" aria-level=\"1\"><span style=\"font-weight: 400;\">IDA is <\/span><b>owned and supervised by 175 member countries<\/b><span style=\"font-weight: 400;\">. It is funded mainly by contributions from <\/span><b>donor governments<\/b><span style=\"font-weight: 400;\">, which meet <\/span><b>every three years<\/b><span style=\"font-weight: 400;\"> to provide fresh funds.<\/span><\/li>\n<li style=\"font-weight: 400;\" aria-level=\"1\"><span style=\"font-weight: 400;\">It works along with the<\/span><b> International Bank for Reconstruction and Development (IBRD)<\/b><span style=\"font-weight: 400;\">.<\/span><\/li>\n<li style=\"font-weight: 400;\" aria-level=\"1\"><span style=\"font-weight: 400;\">Since 1960, IDA has provided $600 billion to 116 countries.<\/span><\/li>\n<li style=\"font-weight: 400;\" aria-level=\"1\"><span style=\"font-weight: 400;\">IDA gives funds to the <\/span><b>poorest countries based on their low income level (GNI per capita below $1,335 in FY2025)<\/b><span style=\"font-weight: 400;\"> and their inability to borrow from international markets. It also considers how well countries manage their economy and development programs.<\/span><\/li>\n<li style=\"font-weight: 400;\" aria-level=\"1\"><span style=\"font-weight: 400;\">Projects are carried out by the borrowing country with <\/span><b>support from the World Bank.\u00a0<\/b><\/li>\n<li style=\"font-weight: 400;\" aria-level=\"1\"><span style=\"font-weight: 400;\">Their progress and results are regularly monitored and independent evaluations are conducted to check effectiveness and long-term impact.<\/span><\/li>\n<li style=\"font-weight: 400;\" aria-level=\"1\"><span style=\"font-weight: 400;\">IDA gives financial help to 78 low-income countries through grants and very low-interest loans. It is one of the largest sources of development assistance for these countries, especially for basic services like education and health.<\/span><\/li>\n<li style=\"font-weight: 400;\" aria-level=\"1\"><span style=\"font-weight: 400;\">IDA loans <\/span><b>have very low or zero interest and long repayment periods of 30-40 years<\/b><span style=\"font-weight: 400;\">. Many poor countries receive grants, especially those facing heavy debt problems.<\/span><\/li>\n<li style=\"font-weight: 400;\" aria-level=\"1\"><b>Thirty-five countries have graduated from IDA assistance<\/b><span style=\"font-weight: 400;\"> and some, including <\/span><b>India, later became donor countries.<\/b><\/li>\n<\/ul>\n<p><span style=\"font-weight: 400;\">IDA also supports debt relief through the <\/span><b>Heavily Indebted Poor Countries (HIPC) and <\/b><b>Multilateral Debt Relief Initiative (<\/b><b>MDRI).<\/b><\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"<p>Read about the Bretton Woods Conference 1944, its objectives, IMF and World Bank formation, fixed exchange system, outcomes, and why the Bretton Woods system failed.<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":11,"featured_media":87307,"comment_status":"closed","ping_status":"closed","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"_acf_changed":false,"footnotes":""},"categories":[786],"tags":[5322,5323],"class_list":{"0":"post-87284","1":"post","2":"type-post","3":"status-publish","4":"format-standard","5":"has-post-thumbnail","7":"category-general-studies","8":"tag-international-development-association","9":"tag-international-relations","10":"no-featured-image-padding"},"acf":[],"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/vajiramandravi.com\/current-affairs\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/87284","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/vajiramandravi.com\/current-affairs\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/vajiramandravi.com\/current-affairs\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/vajiramandravi.com\/current-affairs\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/11"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/vajiramandravi.com\/current-affairs\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=87284"}],"version-history":[{"count":2,"href":"https:\/\/vajiramandravi.com\/current-affairs\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/87284\/revisions"}],"predecessor-version":[{"id":87290,"href":"https:\/\/vajiramandravi.com\/current-affairs\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/87284\/revisions\/87290"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/vajiramandravi.com\/current-affairs\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media\/87307"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/vajiramandravi.com\/current-affairs\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=87284"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/vajiramandravi.com\/current-affairs\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=87284"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/vajiramandravi.com\/current-affairs\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=87284"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}