About this project
International Financial Institutions (IFIs) have
designated billions of dollars to respond to the COVID-19
pandemic and associated social and economic crises.
Yet, there is a concerning lack of transparency on how
these funds were spent and what impacts the pandemic
response has had.
This report attempts to piece together the “missing
receipts” from the IFI-supported COVID-19 response
and identifies concrete recommendations for existing
interventions as well as critical questions for the ongoing
pandemic response, the recovery and any future global
crisis financing. It draws on findings of several reports
and case studies, which examine the role of IFIs during
the pandemic, the conditions under which IFI-funded
projects were designed and implemented, and the local and
national impact of their coronavirus response projects.
There are substantial gaps in tracking and disclosure of
COVID-19-related financing and many IFIs do not clearly
identify which loans and interventions are pandemicrelated. To fill these gaps, the case studies and this report
went beyond information available on IFIs’ websites.
Researchers examined IFI projects which included
COVID-19 in their title, and projects which pertain to
pandemic response or utilize the pandemic as a rationale.
Several case studies drew on media reports as well as
interviews or surveys of IFIs, governments, national
and local institutions, medical personnel, individuals
impacted by the pandemic and intended beneficiaries
of government response programs. Please refer to each
case study or analysis for a description of the specific
methodology utilized therein.
The case studies are compiled and hosted on an interactive
web portal.1 Most of the reports were developed by
members and partners of the Coalition for Human Rights in
Development, including a series of country-level analyses
that were supported by the Response and Vision Fund of
the FORGE group of funders and by groups working with
the Early Warning System. We invite social movements,
researchers and civil society groups to submit additional
reports to the web portal, and to use the collection to
identify additional trends and potential partners.
1
See: https://rightsindevelopment.uwazi.io/en/