At the same time, nongovernmental organizations (NGOs) that have a permanent consulta- tive forum with the World Bank (WB), the WB-NGO Committee, identified social funds as the most significant Bank-supported portfolio of programs that effectively include civil society or- ganizations in their design, management, and implementation. In the spring of 1996, the com- mittee requested the Bank’s management to organize an international learning event on social funds. The separate initiatives on social funds of the EDI and of the WB-NGO Committee were thus combined successfully into one, with Bank management’s support, and EDI’s prepara- tions for the workshop integrated the WB-NGO Committee’s objectives
