Becoming a knowledge bank? The World Bank’s emerging approach to knowledge, partnership and development in the time of globalisation

The World Bank President, James Wolfensohn, has committed his organisation to becoming a knowledge bank in the most visible example of development cooperation agency concern with the effects of new knowledge debates on their existing ways of working. Given its size and influence, the Bank’s progress towards being a knowledge bank and the implications this has for partnership and development are of prime importance to understanding the current trends in development cooperation.

In the area of knowledge for development, the Bank is a clear leader in terms of both applied theory and practice. Moreover, the Comprehensive Development Framework has the potential to have the biggest impact on country ownership and agency coordination of any current activity of any agency.

However, this paper highlights a range of tensions in what the Bank says and does. Radically different visions of knowledge for development exist and there is a large gap between theory and practice, not least because of inadequate resources and limited cultural change within the organisation. Crucially, strategies for supporting Southern knowledge generation and use and for maximising the diversity of development knowledge are contradicted by practices in other parts of the Bank. Partnership too is a powerful theme of the Wolfensohn Presidency but its openness to diverse opinions about development priorities remains in question. Whilst some tensions are inevitable in such a large organisation, a number of those we highlight could have very significant impacts on the performance of the World Bank, of its Southern partners, and of development cooperation as a whole.

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