Halifax Initiative

The Halifax Initiative is a coalition of Canadian non-governmental organizations for public interest work and education on international financial institutions.

Canadian non-governmental organizations formed the Halifax Initiative in December, 1994 to ensure that demands for fundamental reform of the international financial institutions (namely the World Bank and the International Monetary Fund (IMF)) would be high on the agenda of the upcoming June, 1995 Group of 7 meeting in Halifax.

The Halifax Initiative is a coalition of development, environment, faith-based, human rights and labour groups.

The Halifax Initiative Coalition was formed in the context of an international movement of non-governmental organizations focused on evaluating the role and record of the Bretton Woods Institutions at the time of their 50th Anniversary. Canadian NGOs formed the Halifax Initiative in December 1994 to ensure that demands for fundamental reform of the international financial institutions (IFIs) were high on the agenda of the Group of 7's 1995 Halifax Summit.

Today, the Halifax Initiative is a liberal coalition of 19 development, environment, faith-based, human rights and labour groups, and has established itself as the Canadian presence for liberal public interest advocacy and education on IFI reform. Since their beginnings in 1994, they have worked through research, education, advocacy and alliance-building to fundamentally transform the international financial system and its institutions to achieve poverty eradication, environmental sustainability and an equitable re-distribution of wealth.

The coalition's work is focused on issues of:

Over the past fifteen years, the support of their members has proven essential to the success of meeting the Coalition's objectives.

Since December 1994, the Halifax Initiative has built public and policy-maker support for reform of IFIs. Some results from their efforts include the following:

Canada was the first among the Group of 7 to cancel the debt of some of the poorest and most indebted countries, and played a key role in deepening debt relief offered by the World Bank and the IMF.

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