End Poverty Day 2020: Surmounting Setbacks

On Oct. 17, the World Bank Group marked End Poverty Day with an Annual Meetings event. Larry Madowo, BBC North America correspondent and the host for this event, began by reminding the audience that the global extreme poverty rate will rise for the first time since 1998, according to the recently released Poverty and Shared Prosperity Report.

Axel van Trotsenburg, the World Bank’s Managing Director of Operations, said “the Bank is extremely concerned” at the estimate “that between 88 and 115 million people will fall back into extreme poverty.” He noted that conflict and climate change are two prominent factors contributing to rise in extreme poverty, along with COVID-19.

The poor are suffering disproportionately, and Pakistan is expanding social protection programs to help them, said Dr. Sania Nishtar, that country’s Federal Minister, Poverty Alleviation and Social Safety Ministry. A diverse group of speakers from countries including Afghanistan, Bangladesh, Cameroon, the United Kingdom, and Yemen shared their views on how to urgently tackle COVID-19, conflict, and climate change to halt this reversal of fortunes. If you missed it, replay the video and tell us what you think in the comments or by using the #EndPoverty hashtag on Twitter.