When the Son of Man Comes, Will He Find Faith on Earth? (Lk 18, 8).

Abstract

January 1999, James D. Wolfensohn, head of the World Bank, made a proposal to the Board, Management and Staff of the W.B., for a comprehensive development framework. In September 2000, the proposal was carried on in the W.B.’s World Development Report. The move obviously stems from the recognition of the failure of the Structural Adjustment Program. For more than two decades indeed, the Bank had claimed that there was a necessary link between the implementation of the SAP and the reduction of poverty. But, as Wolfensohn’s proposal pointed out, despite the commitment of the institution to the ‘betterment of mankind and (the) improvement in the life of many in poverty… progress is slow’- if at all there is any. 2.8 billion people, almost half of the population of the World, live on less than $ 2 a day. Of these 2.8m billion, 1.2 billion live on less than $ 1 a day. The figure has increased compared to the 1,183 million of 1987. In poorer countries (most of them in Africa) as many as 50 percent of the children suffer from malnutrition.