The World Bank is an international financial institution that provides loans and grants to governments of low- and middle-income countries for the purpose of pursuing capital projects. The World Bank is the collective name for the International Bank for Reconstruction and Development (IBRD), the International Finance Corporation and the International Development Association (IDA), three of the five international organisations 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, the World Bank’s first loan was to France in 1947. In the 1970s, it focused on loans to developing countries, shifting away from that mission in the 1980s. For the last 30 years, it has included NGOs and environmental groups in its loan portfolio. Its loan strategy is influenced by the Millennium Development Goals as well as environmental and social safeguards.
The World Bank is run by a president, 25 executive directors and 29 vice presidents. The IBRD and IDA have 189 and 174 member countries, respectively, with most of the voting power lying with the United States, Japan, China, Germany and the United Kingdom. The bank aims loans at developing countries to help reduce poverty. It is engaged in several global partnerships and initiatives, and plays a role in climate change mitigation efforts. The World Bank operates a number of training wings and works with the Clean Air Initiative and the UN Development Business. It works within the Open Data Initiative and hosts an Open Knowledge Repository.
The bank has been criticised for promoting inflation and harming economic development. The way it is governed has also been criticised. These issues have led to major protests against the bank.
(Based on the Wikipedia entry on the World Bank.)