Actors and interactions

States & governments, IGOs and international financial institutions (World Bank, IMF, WTO), NGOs and civil society, and multinational companies (MNCs/TNCs).

Bodies like the World Bank and IMF that lend money to and advise countries — powerful, but their loans often come with conditions.

A multinational (transnational) company that operates across many countries — a big actor in development through investment.

By bringing investment, jobs, technology, infrastructure and tax revenue, and connecting countries to global markets.

By paying low wages, avoiding taxes, damaging the environment, taking profit out of the country, and dominating weak states.

Power — above all whether the host state is strong and well-governed enough to negotiate fair terms and enforce standards.

They set policy, tax and spend, build infrastructure and regulate other actors — the main driver inside a country.

They deliver aid, run grassroots projects and hold governments to account — trusted but small, with limited effect on national policy.

They lend the money poorer states need, but often attach conditions (cut spending, open markets) that critics say can harm the poor.

No single one — the state holds the real power, but development needs a capable state that can harness IFIs, NGOs and MNCs on fair terms.

States can be weak or corrupt, IFIs attach conditions, NGOs are small, and MNCs chase profit — so development usually needs them working together.

An intergovernmental organisation — a body set up by states to work together, such as the UN or WTO.

An international financial institution — a global body that lends money and shapes economic policy, such as the IMF or World Bank.

Lends and grants money for development projects such as roads, schools, energy and clean water.

Lends to countries in financial crisis, usually attaching conditions (reforms) to the loan.

Writes and enforces the rules of global trade between its member countries.

Runs development programmes and publishes the Human Development Index (HDI).

Attaching policy conditions to loans — such as cutting spending, privatising or opening markets — that a country must accept to get the money.

They fund projects poor countries cannot afford, stabilise economies in crisis, set trade rules and provide expertise and coordination.

Their conditions (austerity, privatisation) can harm the poor, rich countries dominate the voting, and one-size-fits-all policies ignore local realities.

Voting power is weighted by economic size, so rich countries hold most of the votes and shape the rules.

They do vital work but have a mixed record, so most conclude they should be reformed — fairer voting, gentler conditions — rather than abolished.

A non-governmental organisation — a non-profit group working for a cause, such as delivering aid or campaigning for rights.

The web of citizens' groups, charities and movements outside government and business that act on shared concerns.

Deliver aid and services, run development projects, advocate for fairer policies, and hold power to account — often reaching where states fail.

They are close to the ground, flexible and mission-driven, so they can reach the poorest and most remote where states cannot or will not.

They are unelected and accountable to donors rather than to the people they serve.

Unlike governments, they are unelected and answer to donors and boards, so communities cannot vote them out even when priorities follow donor wishes.

By providing services the government should provide, they can let weak governments off the hook rather than building state capacity.

They rely on funding from donors, which can pull their priorities toward donor fashions rather than local needs.

Lasting development needs a state that can tax, plan, provide at scale and be held accountable by its people — which NGOs cannot do.

Partnership with the state — filling gaps, innovating, advocating and building state capacity rather than substituting for it.

Campaigning to change policies — for debt relief, fair trade, human rights or better services — and giving voice to the marginalised.

A multinational company — a firm that operates in many countries, such as Apple or Shell — often very powerful and profit-driven.

When a company builds or buys operations in another country, bringing in money and creating jobs.

Through investment, jobs, technology, skills, infrastructure, exports and — if they pay tax — revenue for public services.

By paying low wages in poor conditions, demanding tax breaks and dodging taxes, polluting, and sending most profits abroad.

Their revenues can be larger than many countries' whole economies, so they can bargain hard with governments.

The terms of investment and whether the host government is strong enough to regulate and tax the company effectively.

No state can create enough jobs and wealth alone; a dynamic private sector is the main engine of growth in most development successes.

A weak state may be unable to make a powerful company pay fair wages and taxes or protect the environment, so the company can behave badly.

Because a strong-regulation country can force fair wages, taxes and environmental standards, while a weak one cannot.

When a company sends most of the profits it makes in a host country back to its home country, so little stays to fund local development.

The private sector is essential, but MNCs help or harm depending on the terms and regulation, so the goal is fair terms and strong state capacity to tax and regulate.

Through participation, local knowledge, self-help groups, microfinance and community-led projects — driving development from the bottom up.

Development driven by local communities themselves rather than planned from above; it fits real needs and builds ownership so projects last.

Development planned and delivered from above by governments, IGOs or big NGOs; it can bring scale but may ignore local needs.

When local people help decide and run the development that affects them, so projects fit real needs and are owned locally.

Giving people the power, skills and confidence to shape their own lives and development — a goal and a driver of development.

Educated, empowered women have healthier, better-educated children, earn income they reinvest in their families, and lift whole communities.

Because local people design, own and maintain them, so they fit real needs and are kept going, unlike top-down projects no one wanted.

It can be slow, small-scale, hard to spread nationwide, captured by local elites, and unable to build big infrastructure.

Small loans and savings services that let poor people build their own livelihoods and small businesses.

Only a capable state can build national grids, health systems and economies and guarantee rights at scale, which community action cannot.

They are complementary: lasting development combines top-down resources and scale with bottom-up ownership and the empowerment of ordinary people.