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Contents 1 What Is the IDB? 2 What Does the IDB Do? 3 How Does the IDB Operate 4 How Is the IDB Structured? 5 IDB Members and Partners

A long-standing initiative of the Latin American countries, the Inter-American Development Bank was established in 1959 as a development institution with novel mandates and tools. Its lending and technical cooperation programs for economic and social development projects went far beyond the mere financing of economic projects that was customary at the time.

The IDB’s programs and tools became the model on which other regional and subregional multilateral development banks were created. The IDB is the main source of multilateral financing for economic, social and institutional development projects and trade and regional integration programs in Latin America and the Caribbean. It is the oldest and largest regional development bank.

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The Inter-American Development Bank helps foster sustainable economic and social development in Latin America and the Caribbean through its lending operations, leadership in regional initiatives, research and knowledge dissemination activities, institutes and programs.

The Bank assists its Latin American and Caribbean borrowing member countries in formulating development policies and provides financing and technical assistance to achieve environmentally sustainable economic growth and increase competitiveness, enhance social equity and fight poverty, modernize the state, and foster free trade and regional integration.

By the end of 2006, the Bank had approved over $145 billion in loans and guarantees to finance projects with investments totaling $336 billion, as well as $2.2 billion in grants and contingent-recovery technical cooperation financing.

Public entities eligible to borrow from the Bank include national, provincial, state and municipal governments, and autonomous public institutions. Civil society organizations and private companies are also eligible.

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Operations of the IDB are guided by general operational policies, common to financing activities in all fields, and sector policies, which provide guidance in specific fields of activity. The Bank also has a procurement policy and an information disclosure policy.

The IDB's lending program is guided by strategies. It has an institutional strategy as well as sector strategies.

The Bank obtains its financial resources from its members, borrowings on the financial markets, funds it administers and loan repayments. It uses those resources to finance loans, grants, guarantees and investments for development projects in Latin America and the Caribbean.

Profit is not the IDB's main goal, but it does operate under financial principles similar to those of private banks. Its administration and asset management activities include receiving interest income from its loans and using cash management strategies to invest funds not immediately needed for disbursements.

The IDB accepts comments and opinions from the public on drafts of selected strategies and policies via periodic public consultation and participation exercises. The Bank also promotes the use of participation programs to encourage project beneficiaries to become involved in project preparation and implementation activities. It has an information disclosure policy that governs access to information on its operational activities.

The IDB has numerous committees and mechanisms in place to ensure sufficient audit and oversight for its projects and administration. The Bank also evaluates its activities to systematically assess the results of the activities it finances and related processes. Finally, it has initiatives, systems and organizational mechanisms in place to measure development effectiveness in its projects and its own operations and practices.

The IDB is headed by the Board of Governors, who delegate oversight of Bank operations to the Board of Executive Directors. Day-to-day operations are headed by a management team.

Governance of the IDB is vested in the Board of Governors, which tops the organizational structure of the Bank. Each member country appoints a governor, whose voting power is proportional to the Bank’s capital subscribed by his or her country.

The Board of Governors delegates many of its responsibilities to the Board of Executive Directors, which is responsible for the day-to-day oversight of the Bank’s operations. 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, conducts the day-to-day business of the institution.

The Executive Vice President (EVP), who is elected by the Board of Executive Directors, oversees departments involved in operations. The Vice President for Finance and Administration (VPO), who serves under the EVP, oversees departments that provide planning and support services.

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Founded in 1959, the IDB was originally a partnership between 19 Latin American countries and the United States.

Over the next several decades, the Bank expanded its membership. From the Americas, several English-speaking Caribbean countries, as well as Suriname and Canada, joined the IDB between the late 1960s and 1980. The nonregional, or non-Western Hemisphere member countries, consisting of 16 European states, plus Israel, Japan and the Republic of Korea, joined between 1976 and 2005.

Today, the IDB is owned by 47 member states, of which 26 are borrowing members in Latin America and the Caribbean. Partnerships

The IDB works with partner organizations in a number of ways—to prepare, cofinance and implement loans and technical cooperation programs, to provide technical assistance, to carry out studies and to disseminate knowledge. Key partner organizations include government agencies, international organizations, civil society, the private sector and academic institutions. The Bank promotes and participates in multilateral and bilateral co-financing arrangements for its public and private sector projects. It also organizes and participates in technical and financial support groups to help countries or groups of countries affected by natural disasters or other extraordinary circumstances.

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IDB partners eligible for financing from the Bank include national, provincial, state and municipal governments, autonomous public institutions, and some private sector institutions and civil society organizations. Departments in the Bank are headed by a manager, a deputy manager and several division chiefs. The principal officers and supervisory personnel include several other heads of offices and section chiefs.