Investing in private education for poverty alleviation: The case of the World Bank's International Finance Corporation

The International Finance Corporation (IFC), the private sector financing arm of the World Bank Group, is currently the largest multilateral investor in private education in developing countries. Drawing from staff interviews and programmatic data, this paper provides a brief overview of the IFC and its mandate; examines the stated purposes of the IFC's work in education; reviews the IFC's portfolio of investments in education; and looks at the linkages between the IFC and the World Bank's lending arms. The paper concludes by questioning the IFC's contribution to the World Bank Group's poverty alleviation mandate.

► We provide an overview of the International Finance Corporation's (IFC) mandate.
► We examine the IFC's educational portfolio.
► We explore the relationship between the IFC and the World Bank.
► The IFC invests in education in mainly middle and upper-middle income countries.
► It is questionable if IFC's educational investments contribute to poverty alleviation.