On Tuesday morning I started my work at the International Finance Corporation (IFC) which is the private sector arm of the World Bank Group. The IFC's mission is to promote sustainable private sector investment in developing countries, helping to reduce poverty and improve people's lives. The IFC programs and activities are guided by its 178 member countries, which are also IFC's shareholders and members of the World Bank. The IFC has over 2600 staff of whom 55% work in the Washington D.C. headquaters. The staff come from all across the world and some of the places I had never even heard of. The IFC building is located on Pennsylvania Avenue, a great location in D.C. and quite close to the WIP office. I met my supervisor on Tuesday morning. She was friendly and welcoming and went through the work I would be doing for the next 6 weeks and since then I have been pretty busy. The material can be quite specific and unlike anything I would have studied before so it is challenging and interesting. Some of the guys at the bank invited me to play soccer with them this evening and we had a really enjoyable game not far from the Lincoln memorial. So far it has been a busy and challenging, but exciting at the same time and I am really feel lucky and privileged to be working here. I am getting settled in at this stage and hopefully the next few weeks will provide an opportunity to learn as much as possible about the IFC and the World Bank.
