CARIB-CAP: INTER-AMERICAN DEVELOPMENT BANK

The Inter-American Development Bank (preferred abbreviation IDB, although sometimes found as IADB), is an international organization established and headquartered in Washington, D.C., United States, in 1959 to support Latin American and Caribbean economic and social development and regional integration by lending mainly to governments and government agencies, including State corporations. The current president of the Bank is Luis Alberto Moreno, a Colombian diplomat who was elected to succeed Enrique V. Iglesias on July 27, 2005.

MULTILATERAL INVESTMENT FUND

Since its inception in 1993, the Multilateral Investment Fund's (MIF) guiding principle has been clear: to promote broad-based economic growth through private sector development, particularly microenterprises and small businesses. With its resource replenishment taking effect in March 2007, MIF II is moving forward with a renewed focus on poverty reduction.

Using both grants and investments, MIF actively seeks partners to help test, and then demonstrate, the effectiveness of innovative ideas. MIF’s projects are intended to become self-sustaining and potentially to reach a scale capable of changing the lives of millions of people throughout Latin America and the Caribbean.

MIF is the leading source of technical assistance grants for micro and small business development in Latin America and the Caribbean. MIF has approved more than 1000 projects, primarily grants, with over 800 civil society, private sector, and government partners, creating a community of change agents to both stimulate private sector innovation and share lessons learned. Together, these efforts are putting US$2.2 billion to work in all twenty-six developing countries of the IDB.