W. David Hopper joined the World Bank in 1978 as the Vice President, South Asia Regional Office. A Canadian citizen, he had previously been the president and CEO of the International Development Research Centre in Canada; his background was in agricultural development. In May 1987 he was appointed Senior Vice President for Policy Planning and Research, a position he held until November 1989. During his service with the Bank he chaired the Consultative Group on International Agricultural Research (CGIAR)and the Special Program for African Agricultural Research. Hopper was a member of the Personnel and Administration Committee (PAC) and the Senior Management Council (SMC). He retired in April 1990.
Published
The small correspondence series from 1986 includes files on many of the countries in the South Asia region. The files include correspondence with leaders in the countries and internal Bank memoranda on projects, planned or in operation. This is clearly a fragment of a larger chronological series that was maintained for Hopper by the office staff.
The bulk of the sub-fonds consists of the office correspondence file from Hopper's period as Senior Vice President for Policy Planning and Research; it is arranged chronologically. The series apparently was begun by L. Richard Meyers, who was Special Assistant to Hopper, as the early files are marked DM Chron. The topics in the records include poverty and family planning programs focusing on women, the Bank's new environmental initiative, appreciation and criticism of the Bank's environmental role, especially with regard to rain forests and indigenous peoples, agricultural development, including genetic research and application of developmental agriculture in Africa, and administrative details of the new Policy Planning and Research Department.
The series on the Senior Management Council and the series on the Personnel and Administration Committee both begin with a set of minutes, followed by agendas and reports and memos. The series on the SMC also includes a set of monthly financial reports. Records are missing for several months in both series. The topics in the records include personnel policies, the Disaster Recovery Plan, security, long-term facilities planning, and information resources management.
The file unit on the work of the Operations Managers Review Group contains six items on the selection of operations managers.
Records are arranged in four series and one file unit.
Series:
* Correspondence 1986
* Correspondence 1987-1989
* Records of the Senior Management Council
* Records of the Personnel and Administration Committee
File:
* Records of the Operations Managers Review Group
The records were transferred to the Archives in April 1990.
Accruals are not expected.
* See Records of the South Asia Regional Vice Presidency ([WB IBRD/IDA SAR](https://archivesholdings.worldbank.org/records-of-south-asia-regional-office)).
* See Records of the Consultative Group on International Agricultural Research ([WB IBRD/IDA CGIAR](https://archivesholdings.worldbank.org/records-of-consultative-group-on-international-agricultural-research-cgiar)).
* Also see Records of the Office of the Historian ([WB IBRD/IDA HIST](https://archivesholdings.worldbank.org/records-of-office-of-historian)), for notes of interview with W. David Hopper.
Records are subject to the World Bank Policy on Access to Information.
Records are subject to the Copyright Policy of the World Bank Group.
Physical file unit list for series Correspondence 1986 is available.