Weekly Action - 19 April 2024 - World Bank Spring Meetings
World Bank spring meetings
This week over 10,000 people from all over the world, from governments, private sector, civil society and the media, have been attending the World Bank and International Monetary Fund Spring Meetings in Washington DC. These major gatherings are held twice each year in the spring and autumn. They are an opportunity to discuss the latest issues and global trends affecting international development, such as the impacts of climate change, economic recovery, food insecurity, water, sanitation and hygiene, debt, education, fragility and inequality. They are also to scrutinise progress and the effectiveness of the World Bank’s work to lend billions of dollars every year to middle income and low income countries to help them develop their economies and lift their nations out of poverty. Where necessary they are a forum to work for reform and changes to the way the Wold Bank and IMF work, so they can be much more effective in their mission.
4 Shifts economics
Is there anything that we as Christians have to offer in to these conversations? A major piece of research from Arise, the 4 Shifts Report, looks at what lessons the Bible has to teach us about the most effective ways to lift communities permanently out of poverty. It also looks across decades of global trends on what has worked best to lift nations out of poverty in more recent history, and draws from the latest research and leading academic thinking. Drawing all these lessons together it finds that 4 essential shifts are needed. 1) Nations need to develop strong and fair national economies to create jobs and wealth. 2) They can then tax these to provide social spending and basic services like healthcare and education, to ensure all benefit, not just the richest in society. 3) Going forward these economies need to be powered by 100% clean renewable energy to avoid global climate change. 4) They also need to be circular economies that reuse precious natural resources rather than overconsume and dump them. 4 Shifts economics provides an essential framework that enables nations to create the jobs and wealth that lift people out of poverty, whilst also shifting the economies of both developed and developing nations to become environmentally sustainable. These 4 Shifts must be at the core of the agenda for future global gatherings like the World Bank spring meetings.
Will you take action as part of Arise’s 4 Shifts campaign this week, and tell governments that the answers they are searching for at the World Bank spring meetings can be found in approaches like 4 Shifts economics?
Take Action
Speak out in advocacy
Contact the UK’s overseas Development Minister Andrew Mitchell, who attended the World Bank meetings this week, via social media. Share the link to the 4 Shifts Report with him. Ask him to promote 4 Shifts economic policies in all his actions as UK Development Minister, and to urge other governments to do the same whenever he attends gatherings like the World Bank spring meetings. Contact him on Twitter at: @AndrewmitchMP, on Instagram at: andrewmitchellmp and on Facebook at: Andrew Mitchell MP, or search for him on your favourite social media platform.
Pray
Pray for the World Bank, IMF and the governments of the world as they leave the World Bank spring meetings. Pray that they will adopt approaches like 4 Shifts economics in all their efforts to support nations to lift themselves out of poverty and respond to global climate change.
Give
Give to Christian organisations like CAP or the Trussell Trust who are supporting those living in poverty in the UK, and to organisations like Christian Aid, Cafod, Tearfund or World Vision who are doing the same for the poorest communities in countries all around the world.
Practical Action
Spread the message further by getting in touch with us at info@ariseuk.org and requesting a speaker from Arise to come and give a talk in your church.
Ethical Consumption
Buy products and services from companies that are already modelling 4 Shifts principles of care for the environment, supporting the poorest and reducing inequality, like those with the Fairtrade or Living Wage marks.
Encourage us and others by letting us know what actions you have taken – message us at info@ariseuk.org, or via Twitter, Instagram or Facebook.
Find out more
It’s great to take this action as individual Christians, but even better to come together with others to pray, discuss, worship, learn, have fun and take action together. Contact Arise if you are interested in joining or starting a local Arise group in your church or area. If you are already in an Arise group, take this action to your wider church, and get them all to do it too.
Find out more about why the world needs 4 Shifts to transition to a green and fair global economy in Arise’s 4 Shifts Report, and how this forms part of God’s bigger vision for our world in the Arise Manifesto.
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