Halifax Initiative

Halifax Initiative is a coalition of development, environment, labour, human rights and faith groups deeply concerned about the international financial system and its institutions. The Halifax Initiative 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 were high on the agenda of the G7's 1995 Halifax Summit. The Halifax Initiative has established itself as the Canadian presence for public interest advocacy and education on international financial institutional reform.

Since our beginnings in 1994, we 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. Our work has primarily focused on the World Bank, the IMF, debt and the Tobin Tax. In 1999, we started an NGO Working Group on the Export Development Canada, recognizing the critical role that export credit agencies in the international financial system.