justNews: What's been the mission of the World Bank under your leadership?James D. Wolfensohn: Its fundamental mission is to alleviate poverty and to try to do that in a way that is humane and deals with people rather than economics. I think it's been more designed to put countries in the driver's seat, to let countries decide on what they want and to consult widely with civil society and the community rather than just the few people at the top.

justNews: You touched upon this in your speech, but what parts of the world do you think are in the greatest need of financial assistance right now?

JDW: Well, [it's] not just financial assistance, but generally helping; though certainly the 500 million in sub-Saharan Africa would be the most difficult area to bring about.

justNews: Is that tied to the AIDS pandemic?

JDW: It's partly tied to that. But even without the AIDS pandemic, it would still be very problematic.

justNews: You said that during your leadership of the World Bank, you've absolved the debt of many nations. What are the greatest benefits of fostering development?

JDW: The objective of the whole thing is to help people become self-sufficient and have their own hands in their future. So you try to relieve them of debt and you try to build their capacity so that people in poverty cannot be the object of charity but they can be part of the solution.

justNews: You said you were proud to be speaking at Brandeis. What makes you most proud to be speaking here?

JDW: Well, I think first of all, it's a prime university. But the core of what you do here...is to challenge society, but also to carry through with a sense of social justice and a sense of truth, and if that's what the University stands for and that's what it teaches, then I'm very proud to be here.

justNews: Beyond monetary terms, what can people, especially students, young people, people who just graduated today-how can they create development, provide aid to these poorer nations and make the world more safe and peaceful?

JDW: They can give time. They can go work in developing countries. They can try and assist people from developing countries to gain skills. And the most important thing is to reach out to what is five-sixths of the world and understand that perhaps the number one thing would be to learn about other cultures and be open to other cultures...you can continue to do [that] long after you leave Brandeis.

justNews: Do you think the world is on the right path right now?

JDW: I think it is not sufficiently dealing with the social issues and is spending too much money on military and terror. [That's] not to say that fighting terror is not important, but what we've got to do is to keep a balance between that and fulfilling human dreams.

justNews: And that development spreads and poorer nations are brought up, [terrorism] should subside?

JDW: Well, someone who has a roof over their head or has their kids at school and who have hope are much less likely to go out and shoot you than someone who doesn't have that.

justNews: At the end of your speech, [there were] a couple of [students] in the back of the graduating class held up posters in protest. What do you make of those people who stood up with those posters?

JDW: I didn't see them.

justNews: One said, "Wolfensohn does not speak for me." The other was a banner; the first two words were "Expand HIPC."

JDW: HIPC is the debt-relief program which I started which has already forgiven $51 billion. And I agree that it should be expanded, but it should be expanded by the shareholders of the bank. And I wouldn't expect that I would speak for everybody, so I'm glad there [was] somebody there for whom I don't speak.

justNews: What are some of the countries whose debt you've absolved?

JDW: Mainly African countries from Ghana to Mozambique to the Ivory Coast to Senegal to Congo; principally those countries, but also some countries in Central America.

justNews: Have there been real, positive concrete results?

JDW: Yes. It's freed up between one-and-a-half and two billion dollars a year to go into education, health and social programs, so it's been a pretty good program.

-Benjamin Freed