By Lesley Wroughton
ABIDJAN, Ivory Coast, Sept 12 (Reuters) – Whether treating
patients with drug-resistant diseases in the slums of Haiti or
trying to reverse the hopelessness of the world’s poor, optimism
is essential, insists World Bank President Jim Yong Kim.
“For me optimism is a moral choice,” Kim told Reuters on his
first trip to Africa, two months into the job as president of
the global development lender.
“If you are a person who is privileged, has resources, and
you go into a situation where you are working with people who
are very poor, if you are cynical and pessimistic and negative,
that is absolutely deadly for poor people,” said the
Harvard-trained physician and anthropologist.
It is too early to tell whether a different style will help
Kim strengthen the World Bank’s effectiveness at a time the rise
of emerging powers is forcing it to rethink its role, but it
marks a big change.
The hands-on doctor’s touch, development experience and
social advocacy seem to have helped Kim build relationships on
his trip to Ivory Coast and South Africa.
Kim’s predecessor Robert Zoellick was a respected voice in
international finance and diplomacy who loved history and
scrupulously avoided ceremonial dinners when traveling abroad.
Paul Wolfowitz, a neo-conservative who helped push the United
States into war in Iraq, was saddled from the beginning by his
past.
Like them, Kim intends to focus on organizational reforms
and new ideas to improve an institution often derided for bloat
and promoting the interests of the developed world.
But with years of work in the trenches, fighting
tuberculosis in the prisons of Siberia and the slums of Haiti
and Peru, as well as developing HIV programs in Lesotho and
Rwanda, the 52-year-old brings a new perspective.
Continued…
