Report
More than half of the world's extremely poor already live in fragile and conflict-affected contexts, a figure projected to rise to nearly 60% by 2030 — the World Bank's refreshed strategy for operating in such environments has never mattered more. This IRC brief, timed to the 2026 World Bank and IMF Spring Meetings, makes the case for how the Bank can operationalize that strategy by treating CSO partnerships not as an exception but as a core delivery mechanism, embedding civil society expertise in risk assessment and project design from the outset, and advancing financing pathways that allow resources to flow directly to organizations already operating where needs are greatest. The brief offers concrete recommendations for how the Bank can reach communities that governments alone cannot.
