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This event took place on April 23, 2022

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00:00 [Upbeat Music]
00:02 [Spring Meetings 2022]
00:05 [Learning]
00:07 [COVID-19]
00:10 [Healthcare]
00:13 [Social Protection]
00:15 [Equal Opportunities]
00:18 [HUMAN CAPITAL AT THE CROSSROADS]
00:27 [Rachelle Akuffo] Good morning, good afternoon and good evening
00:30 to our viewers from around the world.
00:32 Thank you for joining us for this event, Human Capital at the Crossroads.
00:36 I'm Rachelle Akuffo, your host for today's event.
00:39 [Rachelle Akuffo, Yahoo Finance Anchor & Moderator]
00:40 How investments in education, health,
00:42 social protection, jobs, and gender equality
00:45 that build human capital
00:47 are intrinsically important for individual well-being,
00:50 creating more equitable societies, sustaining economic growth,
00:54 and preventing millions of people from falling into poverty.
00:58 Now, more than at any other time in living memory,
01:01 human capital is being dealt devastating blows
01:04 by conflicts, climate change, and the COVID-19 pandemic.
01:08 The losses to learning, health outcomes,
01:10 livelihoods and gender equality have immediate and long-term impacts
01:15 on people's well-being
01:16 and can undermine economic recovery and prosperity for years to come.
01:21 Today we'll hear from leaders, innovators and changemakers
01:25 who are taking action to put people at the heart of recovery.
01:28 We will hear firsthand how such investments
01:31 can not only change lives for individuals,
01:33 but also create more inclusive and equitable societies.
01:37 Now, you'll be inspired by how so many are coming together to rebuild and reclaim
01:42 the future for today's generation and those to come.
01:45 A reminder that you can watch this event live
01:48 in English, Spanish, French, or Arabic at live.worldbank.org.
01:53 Here's a quick look at what's coming up over the next 90 minutes.
01:58 [COMING UP]
02:04 [TANZANIA: HUMAN CAPITAL CHALLENGES & PRIORITIES]
02:07 [H.E. Samia Suluhu Hassan, President of Tanzania]
02:09 [David Malpass, President, World Bank Group]
02:16 [LEARNING POVERTY AND THE EARLY YEARS]
02:17 [Amina Mohammed, UN Deputy Secretary-General]
02:19 [Malala Yousafzai, Co-Founder, Malala Fund]
02:20 [Mari Pangestu, Managing Director of Development Policy & Partnerships, World Bank]
02:25 [STRENGTHENING HEALTH & SOCIAL PROTECTION SYSTEMS]
02:27 [Dr. Sania Nishtar, Senator, Pakistan]
02:29 [Gustavo Béliz, Secretary of Strategic Affairs, Argentina]
02:30 [Dr. Morena Makhoana, CEO, Biovac]
02:35 [DEVELOPING SKILLS & CREATING OPPORTUNITIES]
02:37 [Zeena Majali, Co-Founder, Crystel]
02:38 [Beatrice Mahuru, Founder & CEO, GLaD and B&WE]
02:44 [Rachelle Akuffo] Such an impressive and diverse range of voices.
02:47 We're in for some very interesting discussions
02:50 as we explore how protecting and investing in people is central
02:54 to sustainable, resilient and inclusive development.
02:58 To kick us off, I'm delighted to introduce
03:00 the President of the United Republic of Tanzania,
03:02 Her Excellency Samia Suluhu Hassan.
03:05 Now, President Samia is the first female president of her country
03:09 and is a powerful agent and voice for change.
03:12 She's a champion for gender equality and economic empowerment for women and girls.
03:17 In addition, she has reset Tanzania's response
03:20 to combat the COVID-19 pandemic,
03:23 including access to effective COVID-19 vaccines.
03:26 We're delighted to have this opportunity today
03:29 to hear from President Samia on her country's progress and approach.
03:32 She is joining David Malpass,
03:34 President of the World Bank Group,
03:36 for a conversation on the importance
03:38 of protecting and investing in human capital.
03:42 Over to you, President Malpass.
03:44 [David Malpass] Thank you very much, Rachelle.
03:46 And thank you, Madam President, for joining us today.
03:50 We've had meetings all week.
03:52 The theme of the meetings is both the challenges facing countries,
03:56 that's COVID, that's inflation,
03:58 that's the insecurity and the war in Ukraine,
04:02 all facing leaders around the world.
04:05 Also what some of the solutions are.
04:08 One of the key areas for progress
04:12 is human capital itself.
04:14 Unfortunately, through the COVID crisis,
04:18 there was a loss of education, a loss of progress on health, on nutrition.
04:23 That's our topic for today.
04:27 Our audience is very interested in your approach
04:31 and you're thinking about how to resume progress on human capital.
04:35 What are the key steps?
04:38 [Samia Suluhu Hassan] Human capital is imparted
04:42 in our five-year development plan,
04:45 the third development plan.
04:48 But also in the vision, the 20-year vision which started in 2020 to 2025.
04:55 So for us, human capital involves
05:02 actions with social service to the people.
05:06 And by social service we start with health.
05:10 Somebody has to be healthy to be able to live in peace and to live happily.
05:17 But then they have to get education,
05:20 then they have to get clean and safe water, and that's part of health.
05:26 Then they have to be happy living with others.
05:30 They have to have something to do to earn their own bread.
05:35 So talking of education, we have made a stride.
05:39 First of all,
05:40 we're offering free education for all,
05:44 at least from pre-primary to primary-secondary education.
05:49 Free education for all.
05:50 We have made a stride.
05:53 In 2015, our enrollment was about 58.8%
06:01 and now we are almost...
06:03 no, we were at 80% and we are almost at 95.5%.
06:10 So, we are going to 100% enrollment, and it's free for all boys and girls.
06:16 Then, talking of secondary schools,
06:20 we are continuing with a free education
06:22 and most of our kids go to secondary school.
06:26 But then we have created a fund
06:29 whereby, when they go to university, they have to borrow money from that fund,
06:36 go for the education,
06:37 and then they are paying back when they get employed,
06:41 whether self-employment or they get employed somewhere,
06:45 that's when they are paying back.
06:47 And we have done so knowing that
06:50 if we leave, or we left, the burden of
06:54 educating those kids in universities,
06:59 their parents couldn't do that.
07:01 So we have created a fund.
07:03 But then in the same way in education,
07:08 you remember we had a ban on adolescent mothers going back to school,
07:14 and now we have lifted that ban.
07:18 Now the adolescent mothers, the dropouts, whether boys or girls,
07:23 adolescent mothers or not, they are free to go back to school,
07:28 to complete their education, at least at the primary level.
07:32 But some of them, they are doing good.
07:34 We have a very good example in Zanzibar,
07:37 where this ban was lifted long ago and most of the adolescent mothers
07:42 went back to school and now they are completing
07:45 their university education.
07:46 We thought we should give that privilege
07:50 to the adolescent mothers and the dropouts.
07:53 On health, we have done well.
07:58 We're still having challenges,
08:01 but our policy is health for all and we have tried hard.
08:08 We have different segments of health service.
08:11 We have the village level,
08:13 then ward level, district level, regional level, then national referral level.
08:21 We have done well from the district, regional and referral,
08:27 we have tried.
08:29 But then we are now concentrating on the village level,
08:33 because we learned it from COVID.
08:36 We need to have the first aid, first treatment down to the village.
08:41 Now we are concentrating on the village level,
08:44 of where, as I'm talking, we have done about...
08:50 Tanzania has about 12,300 villages
08:54 and before my time
08:57 we have built around 5 to 6 thousand health centers at the village level.
09:04 And we are continuing.
09:05 As we are talking, I'm having a project of about 333 dispensaries
09:12 built at the village, just to add on to what we have done.
09:16 In health sector, we have tried that much, but we still do have challenge.
09:23 The challenge is, we have done very well on infrastructure,
09:27 but now to improve the quality of the services
09:32 which are given to the people.
09:33 [David Malpass] Who provides the healthcare at that village level?
09:36 The government, of course.
09:40 [David Malpass] Nurse... do doctors travel through?
09:43 How does it break down?
09:44 [Samia Suluhu Hassan] They call them the assistant medical officers.
09:48 They are doing the services down to the village.
09:51 Of course, every dispenser is having two nurses,
09:56 plus a medical doctor, an assistant medical doctor.
09:58 [David Malpass] Do they look at nutrition?
10:01 Will they identify children that are
10:04 either under nourished or have the incorrect vitamins and so on?
10:08 [Samia Suluhu Hassan] Yes.
10:09 [IN CONVERSATION: PRESIDENT OF TANZANIA]
10:10 because we are starting giving service to the mothers
10:15 when they are pregnant,
10:17 making sure they all have folic acids, avoid pneumonia, anemia,
10:23 and so that they can give birth to healthy babies.
10:27 When the babies are born, we take all the necessary measures,
10:32 vaccination, checking whether they're disabled or not,
10:37 then the early health services,
10:41 we are trying to give them all.
10:43 [David Malpass] That used to be a big problem in Tanzania,
10:46 the childbirth complications.
10:51 Can that improve the situation rapidly?
10:55 Because we're talking about a nine month period
10:59 or a one year period before birth.
11:02 How's that going?
11:04 [Samia Suluhu Hassan] We have improved.
11:05 We have improved because...
11:13 five years back we were talking of,
11:17 let's say 120 deaths per 100 thousand
11:23 for babies, zero to one year of age.
11:27 Now, we are talking about 27.
11:31 Only 27.
11:32 [David Malpass] You're at 80% improvement, which is huge.
11:36 [Samia Suluhu Hassan] This is because we are taking care of the pregnant mother
11:40 and then we are giving necessary services
11:44 when the child is being born.
11:48 Our health centers down to the villages,
11:51 they provide theaters for the pregnant mothers,
11:55 the complicated ones,
11:56 to be operated and save their lives, for both babies and mothers.
12:00 [David Malpass] I see.
12:01 [Samia Suluhu Hassan] Then, we are still struggling with maternal mortality.
12:08 We have reduced it a great deal, but the numbers are still not acceptable.
12:13 [David Malpass] What do you find are the challenges,
12:15 both in education and in health,
12:17 is it fiscal, is it the amount of money or is it to train the personnel?
12:23 Or is it imports that are...
12:25 What are the biggest challenges?
12:27 [Samia Suluhu Hassan] I think it's a mixture because, in education,
12:32 the challenge was the acceptance of parents to send their kids to school.
12:42 [David Malpass] Especially girls?
12:43 [Samia Suluhu Hassan] Yes, especially girls.
12:45 In some societies, the housekeepers, they love storekeepers.
12:50 They prefer their kids to go for herding rather than going to school.
12:55 So we had to educate the parents to accept sending their kids to school.
13:00 My number two challenge was infrastructure,
13:03 the lack of classrooms.
13:07 But now we are done with that.
13:10 We are still having shortages, but not as much as it was before.
13:14 The third challenge is the number of teachers,
13:18 be able to employ teachers
13:21 which would be enough for every school in the whole country. be able to employ teachers
13:21 which would be enough for every school in the whole country.
13:26 That was our challenge.
13:28 [David Malpass] Is there a qualification standard?
13:32 Is that important, the quality of the teacher?
13:35 How do you think about that?
13:36 [Samia Suluhu Hassan] The quality of the teachers?
13:38 Yes.
13:40 But we are taking on the quality of the teachers in science subjects.
13:44 That's where we are struggling.
13:46 The art subjects, we are having enough.
13:48 The challenge with the arts subject IS
13:50 [LIVE: PRESIDENT OF TANZANIA ON INVESTING IN PEOPLE]
13:52 the capacity of the government to employ more teachers.
13:55 But for the science subjects, yes, we are still struggling.
13:58 Training more science subject teachers.
14:02 We are working on that.
14:04 [David Malpass] Is there a difference between women teachers and men teachers
14:07 as far as effectiveness?
14:08 [Samia Suluhu Hassan] Yeah [David Malpass] Which way?
14:10 Fortunately, the health and education sector
14:14 employs more women than men.
14:17 We are having more female teachers than male, in numbers.
14:23 Also in health sector, we are having more female nurses than men.
14:29 But when you go up to the doctors,
14:32 we're having more male doctors than female doctors.
14:35 [UP NEXT: HOW TO JOIN THE CONVERSATION]
14:37 [David Malpass] Someday maybe those can balance.
14:39 [Samia Suluhu Hassan] This is because, when we were moving to our...
14:45 former stream of education, girls kept on dropping out,
14:53 and there were not much on science subjects than men.
14:59 But nowadays that gap has been reduced.
15:02 [David Malpass] We find if girls are given the chance,
15:05 they do very well in maths and science.
15:07 [Samia Suluhu Hassan] Yes, sure.
15:08 [David Malpass] I know you've been a big promoter of girls' education
15:12 and also countering gender-based violence.
15:17 How is that going and what are the obstacles to that?
15:22 Is it educating the society not to allow it, or...
15:27 What's most effective?
15:29 [Samia Suluhu Hassan] Before the gender-based education, we had both.
15:34 We had the legal frameworks and then we had education.
15:38 But then with the legal frameworks,
15:43 most of those who are victims of gender-based violence
15:49 wouldn't like to go for legal frameworks,
15:52 they would like to fix things at home.
15:57 So we go for education.
15:59 And education...
16:02 I think we started wrongly by educating women only.
16:06 But now we have realized that both have to be educated,
16:10 men and women,
16:12 that gender-based violence is neither good for men nor for women.
16:17 We are conducting the NGOs,
16:20 the civil society organizations are conducting training for all of them.
16:26 [David Malpass] That's an important insight.
16:29 It's obvious when you say it that men are part of the problem
16:33 and have to be educated and brought forward along.
16:38 Okay, very good.
16:42 Any advice?
16:44 We have couple more minutes.
16:46 Do you have advice for other leaders?
16:48 You've been a strong leader, a new leader.
16:52 Is it important to move fast?
16:53 What do you take away from your experience?
16:56 [Samia Suluhu Hassan] From my experience,
16:59 I think everybody needs to be a good leader to his or her country.
17:03 But then we are having challenges.
17:06 With these challenges might be supported...
17:10 or the government be supported by different multilateral institutions,
17:17 bilateral means to eradicate those challenges.
17:21 We do have challenges,
17:25 maybe to improve the qualities of health and education,
17:29 challenges of provision of safe and clean water to our people.
17:33 Challenges of provision of green energy to our people.
17:39 And now we are talking of green energy.
17:42 The international organizations come up with new terminologies every now and then.
17:47 "Green energy", "leave this", "don't use that".
17:50 But they have to look at the situations we are in,
17:56 because, as we are talking now, we are told to go for green energy.
18:01 For us, in Africa, for example,
18:05 we can go for hydro-power,
18:08 we can go for solar, we can go for gas.
18:11 This is being put in question mark.
18:15 But we have a lot of gas.
18:16 We can go for gas.
18:18 We can go for thermal and wind.
18:21 Those are the green sources of energy.
18:24 But we need support to generate energy from those sources.
18:29 [David Malpass] You're doing a remarkable job, and we're looking
18:31 for ways to expand our program.
18:33 I'm particularly happy to hear about
18:35 the progress in education, in health,
18:38 and gender-based violence.
18:40 These are all key to the future of Tanzania.
18:43 Thank you very much, Madam President.
18:47 I'll go back to Rachelle.
18:49 [Samia Suluhu Hassan] Thank you very much.
18:51 [David Malpass] Thank you.
18:53 [Rachelle Akuffo] A very big thank you to you as well,
18:54 President Samia, for sharing your insights.
18:57 Please do share your thoughts on that discussion and those to come.
19:00 [#INVESTINPEOPLE]
19:01 You can post your comments using #InvestInPeople
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19:09 You can also post comments and questions at live.worldbank.org.
19:13 We have experts standing by to answer your questions
19:16 in English, Spanish, French and Arabic.
19:19 You can see some of them in action right here.
19:22 We'll be putting some of the most popular questions
19:25 to two Bank's experts at the end of today's event.
19:30 [AMMAN, JORDAN]
19:31 [Nabil] I'm Nabil in Amman,
19:33 and you're watching the World Bank Group-IMF Spring Meetings.
19:39 [Rachelle Akuffo] The world has been facing
19:40 a global learning crisis for some time.
19:43 Countries are faced with issues of inadequate resources
19:47 and many children lack access to quality education.
19:50 Then, of course, comes the COVID-19 pandemic.
19:54 To really understand how COVID has escalated
19:57 the learning crisis, let's look at the latest data.
20:00 Now, remember, we define learning poverty
20:03 as being unable to read and understand
20:05 a simple text by age ten.
20:08 So, how did the pandemic affect students around the world?
20:11 At its peak, 1.6 billion children were impacted
20:16 by COVID-19 related school closures.
20:19 This really was a global crisis,
20:22 188 countries were impacted.
20:25 How has the unprecedented hit on schooling
20:28 affected learning poverty?
20:30 Well, back in 2015,
20:32 the rate of learning poverty
20:34 in low and middle-income countries was 53%.
20:38 Just to give you a sense of the global disparity,
20:41 in high-income countries, that figure was just 9%.
20:46 So, it may be some time before we have the final data
20:49 on the impact of the pandemic,
20:50 but the projections are startling.
20:53 Recent simulations suggest that learning poverty
20:56 could have increased to 70%,
20:59 a rise of 17 percentage points.
21:02 To understand the extent to which this pandemic has derailed progress,
21:06 take a look at this blue line,
21:08 which shows the international target for learning poverty,
21:12 which was to halve the rate by 2030.
21:15 That ambitious target now appears unattainable.
21:21 Clearly, we must get learning back on track and accelerate progress.
21:25 Tackling learning poverty is a crucial component
21:28 to building a country's human capital.
21:30 We must also ensure we are giving children
21:33 the best possible start in life.
21:35 How we best go about this is something
21:37 upon which our first panel of guests all have interesting perspectives.
21:44 I'm joined now by three global leaders
21:46 who understand that investing in the early years
21:48 helps to break the cycle of poverty,
21:50 address inequality and boost productivity.
21:54 I'm joined here by Mari Pangestu,
21:56 World Bank Managing Director
21:57 of Development Policy & Partnerships,
22:00 Malala Yousafzai, co-founder of the Malala Fund,
22:03 the youngest ever Nobel laureate
22:05 and a tireless advocate for girls' rights to education.
22:08 And Amina Mohammed, Deputy Secretary-General
22:11 of the United Nations.
22:13 A very warm welcome to all of you.
22:15 Thank you for joining us on this important day.
22:17 A lot of important conversations to be had.
22:19 Mari, I want to first start with you.
22:21 The devastating impact of school closures on learning outcomes,
22:25 with a spiraling learning poverty
22:27 threatens to derail an entire generation.
22:30 What are the extents of the challenges
22:31 and what should be done?
22:33 [Mari Pangestu] Thanks, Rochelle.
22:35 It's a great pleasure to be on this panel
22:37 with Amina Mohammed, my old friend and of course,
22:40 Malala as a role model for the right for girls to have education.
22:45 I think just to put the context of the challenges,
22:48 we've never had such a situation in the world
22:51 where you had long global lockdown of schools.
22:55 The average is 286 days that schools were closed down.
22:59 In some regions, like South Asia, it's very high.
23:02 It's like 480 days.
23:04 That's a year to almost two years of kids not being in school.
23:09 The learning losses are something
23:12 that will be the big challenge.
23:14 The impact of not going to school
23:17 and loss of learning is also unequal in its impact,
23:22 affecting young children the most,
23:24 as well as those in poorer households
23:27 and those who are not connected.
23:29 To the extent that remote learning is available,
23:31 but if you don't have connectivity,
23:33 you will not be able to reach any type of remote learning.
23:37 UNICEF estimates that 31% of school children
23:40 could not access any kind of remote learning.
23:44 These are the challenges,
23:46 and it translates into a lost decade of development.
23:49 You can actually put a number to it,
23:51 which is 17 trillion dollars worth of loss earnings
23:55 because of the reduced learning.
23:58 That's 14% of the world GDP.
24:01 What needs to be done?
24:02 I think this is really what we are all working
24:06 with our partners and with countries.
24:09 How can we address this?
24:11 We need swift and urgent action.
24:13 First of all, get kids back to school
24:16 because we also know there has also been a high dropout rate,
24:19 kids not coming back to school,
24:21 even as schools opening up, especially girls.
24:24 This happened with the Ebola crisis
24:26 where less girls came back to school.
24:29 We've got to create the incentives
24:31 for kids to come back to school
24:33 and stay in school, especially girls.
24:36 Incentives combined with school meals,
24:39 making sure like, in Brazil,
24:41 we're working with the Brazilian government
24:43 to sort of have a check system,
24:45 a survey system to understand
24:48 when kids are not coming back to school
24:51 and finding how to get them back to school.
24:53 Creating safe schools for girls is very important.
24:57 Second, how do you regain the learning losses?
25:00 It's not just the one or one and a half years
25:03 of not going to school that's lost.
25:05 They've also forgotten what they learned
25:07 even when they were in school.
25:09 This accelerated learning recovery really needs a focus
25:14 in terms of the programs that we need to design,
25:16 the teachers that we need to train
25:18 to be able to have the tools and resources to address this.
25:22 Then third,
25:23 as we are addressing the learning recovery,
25:26 we should also be addressing what we need to change
25:30 for the more medium-term education issues, the core skills,
25:36 how do we get teachers to be trained?
25:39 We're also looking at what we call school beyond walls,
25:42 the important role of parents
25:44 and communities as well in the learning,
25:46 and the whole digital divide.
25:49 We need to address how to get the remote learning and
25:53 using digital and connectivity is very important.
25:55 I just want to share one...
25:58 We're working with a lot of countries on this.
26:00 One area that is important,
26:04 how do you develop tools and train teachers
26:07 to understand the differentiated learning needs of children?
26:12 In Gujarat, we actually have tools
26:15 to have teachers look at the learning needs of kids every week
26:20 and then adjust the learning materials
26:22 to be able to adjust for the different needs.
26:25 This is the kind of thing that needs to also happen
26:28 on the ground as we really address the urgent need
26:31 for recovering the losses.
26:33 The final thing I would say is funding, of course,
26:35 how can we really raise this awareness
26:38 for governments to allocate sufficient budget
26:41 for recovering these learning losses?
26:44 Otherwise, it's a lost generation and loss of future income.
26:48 Then also, how does the international community
26:51 comes around to really help
26:54 to accelerate this regaining of the learning losses?
26:58 [Rachelle Akuffo] As you mentioned,
26:58 this really is a holistic approach that needs to be taken.
27:01 A real wake up call, obviously,
27:03 with COVID building on what was already happening
27:05 in the education system.
27:07 Malala, I want to bring you in here
27:08 because in some regions and contexts,
27:11 very few students are able to read.
27:13 How do we address this
27:14 and what special considerations are needed
27:16 from a gender and fragility context?
27:20 [Malala Yousafzai] I think in this time,
27:22 education advocates need to take the issue
27:25 of the quality of education more seriously.
27:28 We know that when children enroll into schools,
27:30 there's also the issue of what they learn in their classrooms.
27:34 It's the access to education,
27:36 but also, the quality of education that are important.
27:40 We know that there is also the element of gender in it.
27:45 Girls do outperform boys in arts,
27:49 and they're also catching up on maths as well.
27:52 If we look at the averages,
27:54 averages only tell us half the story.
27:57 We need to dig deeper into this
28:00 and look at how girls from marginalized,
28:03 from low-income communities are more impacted,
28:05 they're less likely to excel in these academic subjects.
28:10 There's also the issue of the crisis.
28:15 When an external crisis hit an economy,
28:18 girls are usually the first ones to drop out,
28:20 and the last ones to return to their classrooms.
28:23 So, we need to look at the factor of gender,
28:26 the factor of their background as well,
28:29 to ensure that we are addressing
28:34 the issues that are there in the systems.
28:39 We also know that
28:42 we need policies that are more inclusive,
28:46 holistic, and also creative
28:49 when we are talking about the future of education.
28:52 This pandemic has taught us that
28:54 we need to consider education beyond just a classroom.
28:59 Think about how we can use digital platforms as tools for education.
29:06 I hope that this is a time when our leaders, when our policymakers
29:11 realize that this is an urgent issue.
29:14 This is a crisis that needs to be addressed sooner.
29:17 Every year, children are losing out on access to education.
29:21 Girls are left behind because of lack of access to schools.
29:25 The number is in millions.
29:27 We still live in a world where 127 million girls
29:30 do not have access to education.
29:33 We want this to change.
29:34 We want all children, in any part of the world,
29:36 to be able to go to school, to have dreams
29:39 and to make those dreams come true for themselves.
29:42 I hope that policymakers, experts, do more for this cause.
29:48 We know that they are making good verbal statements,
29:52 but now it's time that they take action as well.
29:54 They increase their finance.
29:56 They increase financing for education.
29:58 We know that financing for education has been stagnant.
30:04 There has been little increase.
30:06 And so we need that
30:09 but we also need an investment in the quality of education as well.
30:13 [Rachelle Akuffo] As you mentioned, in terms of COVID-19,
30:16 Amina, I want to bring you in here
30:18 because we know that COVID-19 has been the biggest setback
30:21 to human capital in living memory.
30:24 What are the unique impacts on young people,
30:26 and what are the key priorities to get back on track?
30:29 [Amina Mohammed] Thank you very much.
30:31 It's great to be with Malala and with Mary
30:33 on a subject that is so important
30:36 in us taking advantage of the recovery.
30:38 It is about the socioeconomic recovery from COVID,
30:43 and now we have another exacerbating crisis
30:45 with the war in Ukraine.
30:47 I think Mary has spoken to really
30:50 the facts and figures for the learning losses.
30:53 I think that
30:54 something we really need to think about is that they were there before COVID.
30:59 We were having children dropping out.
31:01 We were having many who couldn't read or write.
31:03 I mean, we have had this situation for decades.
31:06 What are we going to do differently?
31:08 I think that this is the question now
31:10 for us to rethink education.
31:12 To have a rebirth of the way the future,
31:14 the next generation are going to have education.
31:17 The learning losses showed us
31:19 that even if you had connectivity,
31:21 teachers were not prepared to teach
31:24 and learners were not prepared to learn.
31:26 Even though, we thought we had them connected.
31:28 I think that those lessons are important,
31:31 that we invest in the capacities
31:34 for knowledge and for learning to happen
31:37 and for the right skill sets for that individual to contribute
31:41 A) to themselves, but B) to the community
31:43 and the society at large.
31:45 Many of the learning losses were compounded by many issues,
31:50 not just not having access to education, but remember,
31:53 we did the school feeding around the world
31:55 to make sure that at least that one square meal happened
31:59 and we got better nutrition.
32:00 We lost that not just in the Global South but even in the Global North.
32:04 Here in New York,
32:05 we had 300 thousand meals that people had to come and collect
32:08 just because they fell out of school.
32:10 But we also, I think, learned very quickly
32:15 the importance of the curriculum itself.
32:21 I think that when we are thinking forward
32:24 and re birthing education,
32:25 we will need to give a lot more thought to
32:27 what is education for.
32:29 We cannot have this cookie cutter
32:31 where in every country we aspire to one norm,
32:34 which may not work for us.
32:35 We saw that in the learning losses
32:39 that happened as we went along.
32:42 My greatest concern for what has happened
32:44 during this time with young people
32:47 and I'm really listening to them,
32:48 when I visited Costa Rica, a girls' school there
32:50 and just listened to the young girls,
32:52 was in fact the mental health dimension to this.
32:55 The head is on the body,
32:57 and we often talk about the health of the body,
33:00 but we don't talk about the health of the head.
33:02 And we are one.
33:03 And as they came out of this, the anxiety that they had,
33:07 the depression that set in,
33:09 the lack of connect human interaction
33:13 that was missing from the new classroom,
33:16 and in fact, with the crises,
33:20 not being able to deal with what happens next,
33:25 what is my future about?
33:26 How am I going to connect with it?
33:28 Can I catch up? Will I be left behind?
33:31 I think that this, in crisis situations,
33:34 in normal situations,
33:36 are all going to come in the aftermath
33:38 of as we try to get back on track.
33:40 For us at the United Nations,
33:42 working with partners in the country-level,
33:44 the transforming education conversation
33:47 has to happen at the local level.
33:49 We should take this as an advantage
33:52 in trying to build back better.
33:54 When we speak to the investments that are needed
33:56 in trying to achieve the 2030 agenda and the SDGs,
33:59 we've got to do it differently, and perhaps
34:02 make good on all the promises that we've had
34:05 for young people, for communities, for countries,
34:09 that education truly is the foundation,
34:12 truly is the cornerstone.
34:13 I think we've got to get past that
34:15 and make use of this crisis.
34:17 There is a silver lining there,
34:18 but it's about being very clear on the steps
34:21 and acknowledging that it wasn't COVID just opened up
34:26 and made more urgent for us to get a response
34:31 and to get it with a sense of urgency.
34:34 Education can't wait. It really can't.
34:36 Girls are at the forefront of losing that.
34:40 That's half your population.
34:41 We cannot be without half our population.
34:44 This doesn't work.
34:46 Maybe finally, I would say, we have spoken about
34:48 not leaving anyone behind.
34:50 I'm really concerned about the number of boys
34:53 and young men we are leaving behind.
34:55 In the end, women and girls
34:57 have to live in a society with boys and men.
35:00 This needs to be a place where the next generation
35:03 does this together.
35:05 So, while we catch up with the girls,
35:07 I still want us to remember that
35:08 there are many boys that are falling out
35:10 and that's not good for girls or men and women as we go forth.
35:16 [Rachelle Akuffo] As you mentioned,
35:16 what's happening outside of the classroom in terms of mental health,
35:19 being able to even have the breathing room
35:21 to try and learn very important to address.
35:23 Malala, you're a global role model
35:25 when it comes to overcoming adversity.
35:27 Unfortunately, so many have suffered incredible setbacks
35:30 and continue to be impacted by them.
35:33 Advice you have for young people
35:34 that are also facing incredible difficulties right now.
35:37 [Malala Yousafzai] I don't think young people
35:41 need my advice or anyone's advice.
35:43 Young people already are advocating for their rights.
35:47 They are speaking out for a more equal, fairer society.
35:51 They are advocating for climate change related policies.
35:56 They are talking about gender equality.
35:58 They're talking about their right to education.
36:00 I want to bring attention to one issue.
36:02 That is the situation in Afghanistan.
36:05 Girls' education has been banned by the de facto government,
36:08 by the Taliban.
36:09 Afghanistan right now is the only country in the world
36:13 where adolescent girls are prohibited
36:15 from secondary education.
36:17 There is no justification for this under Islamic laws
36:21 or under any other cultural context either.
36:25 Education is a basic human right,
36:27 culturally, religiously, and morally as well.
36:32 So, I am inspired by all the young women
36:38 in Afghanistan and around the world
36:39 who are protesting for their rights.
36:41 They are raising their voices already.
36:44 All I need to say to them is I stand with you.
36:47 That's the message they need to hear from the world,
36:49 that we stand with them,
36:51 we can hear them and that we will take action,
36:54 we will support them,
36:55 we will give them a world
36:56 where they can have access to safe, free and quality education,
37:00 they can have the right to work.
37:01 I think girls, children,
37:03 as Amina Mohammed mentioned, like boys children, everyone.
37:06 They need our attention.
37:07 We need to promise
37:09 a safer and a better world to our future generation.
37:14 We have been taking so long.
37:17 We have been taking decades and decades.
37:19 We should not be living in a world
37:20 where more than 250 million children are out of school.
37:25 So, education is a way
37:29 for having a brighter, safer future.
37:32 We need to ensure that
37:35 we invest in this sustainable solution for our future
37:37 and ensure that all children can have access to quality education.
37:41 They can have dreams, and they can make those dreams come true
37:43 and make this world a better place for all.
37:47 [Rachelle Akuffo] We do have just a few minutes left.
37:48 Amina, I do want to get your take here.
37:50 UNICEF, UNESCO and the World Bank
37:52 releasing a report on learning loss
37:53 that you described as an urgent wake up call.
37:56 What message do you want to share with
37:57 Ministers of Education or Finance
37:59 about investments in education?
38:02 [Amina Mohammed] I think the first thing to do is
38:04 to remind everyone that education is a human right.
38:07 It's fundamental.
38:08 Every government, head of state and government
38:11 after security, is education,
38:13 without which we cannot get anything.
38:15 For a Minister of Finance to be the champion of Education,
38:20 not just to talk about this foundation,
38:22 but to invest in it, education cannot be a trade-off.
38:26 It cannot be either/or.
38:27 Do we do education? Do we invest in industry?
38:30 It is fundamental to everything.
38:32 I think if we can have
38:34 education ministers seeing education as an investment
38:39 in the human being, the person, the citizen, the society,
38:43 then we have a mindset change.
38:46 Here again, I would say that ministers of education
38:48 have to stop sitting and talking in a silo.
38:51 Education matters to everything,
38:53 just as we say women's rights do.
38:55 Therefore, for education itself,
38:57 the co-convening creating of the needs that you have
39:01 in agriculture, in industry, in connectivity, in the digital world.
39:07 All of that has to happen
39:09 not just in the education sector, but across all sectors
39:12 so that they see the value of it.
39:14 When you're around a cabinet table which I have been,
39:19 that you're not just talking about the education agenda,
39:21 as though it is not a part of every other agenda.
39:24 Both the finance ministers and ministers of education
39:27 will have to have that conversation
39:29 and bring it to the center of economic growth,
39:32 so that you understand that GDP,
39:35 the quality of which cannot be without education.
39:38 As Malala has just said,
39:40 It's taken decades for us to do this.
39:43 What is stopping us?
39:44 We cannot possibly think that we're going to grow any nation,
39:48 any people without the very basics.
39:50 We have an opportunity now.
39:52 We are speaking about the transformation of education.
39:56 We will be speaking about the financing.
39:59 Every domestic budget has to put aside
40:02 resources for basic services and rights.
40:04 That is education, that is health, that is water and sanitation.
40:08 Here, I would say to our colleagues
40:11 in the finance community
40:13 that we've got to think about how we leverage
40:15 the growth of economies where the returns actually pay
40:19 for the education, for health,
40:21 and are not seen as something we have to go borrow for.
40:25 It should be that first charge.
40:28 Until we get that,
40:29 we are not going to be talking about
40:31 all people leaving no one behind.
40:33 We will only be talking about the elite
40:35 and certain sections of society.
40:37 I think this conversation of transformation of education
40:41 has to begin with policymakers.
40:43 Politicians have to understand it
40:45 and they have to be measured against
40:47 whether they have an educated population or not
40:49 and that education fits the person
40:52 and fits the society,
40:53 and therefore, that nation can join the comity of nations
40:57 as an equal partner.
40:59 [Rachelle Akuffo] Mari, we have about a minute left.
41:01 I want to get your take on
41:03 how you see investing in people
41:04 catalyzing a greener, more resilient, inclusive development
41:08 and how perhaps digital technologies
41:10 and youth aspirations factor into this.
41:12 [Mari Pangestu] I think a lot has been said
41:15 and I'm in wide agreement with what Amina has been saying.
41:18 I think investing in human capital is key for development
41:22 and also, for inclusiveness.
41:24 Whether it's making sure girls can get to school,
41:26 making sure that no one is left behind.
41:29 A holistic approach on human capital,
41:32 it's education, it's health, it's food and nutrition,
41:36 it's the ability to be connected in a digital way.
41:39 So, it has to be a holistic approach
41:42 and it has to be the priority for the country
41:45 because it is about longer term development
41:47 including green, resilient and inclusive development.
41:50 I think here, just because you mentioned youth,
41:54 I think we are in a situation
41:57 where we had a lot of adolescents,
42:00 boys and girls dropping out of school
42:02 and in a slow growth environment.
42:05 The issue of being able to employ youth,
42:08 I think is going to be a very big global problem.
42:11 How do we design skills upgrading to be able to have
42:17 this youth be able to either find jobs or to become entrepreneurs?
42:22 I think digital connectivity is one of the key issues,
42:25 but the fact is we have a digital divide still,
42:28 2.9 billion people are still not connected
42:31 and it's much higher in Africa.
42:33 I think it's something like 70%
42:35 are not connected to the internet
42:37 and 43% for developing countries.
42:39 It's about the connectivity
42:41 and once you're connected, digital literacy.
42:44 What do you do to get value added from it?
42:47 Also really make them inclusive
42:50 as part of the education and the job opportunities
42:54 and the entrepreneurs.
42:55 So, it has to be combined with also the ability to access markets,
43:00 access finance and so on.
43:02 I think the final thing I would say
43:03 is related to what's the message for policymakers.
43:07 I think Amina is absolutely right,
43:09 we really need to get to the top of political decision-maker,
43:14 this is crucial for the country's development
43:16 and it requires a holistic approach
43:19 in terms of the interventions needed.
43:21 It is really important the domestic resource mobilization
43:26 that goes around it, which can be complemented by
43:29 international cooperation.
43:31 But it needs to start with the political commitment
43:33 and the ability of the country itself
43:36 to come up with a holistic program.
43:38 It has to be a combination of finance ministers,
43:41 education ministers, health ministers,
43:43 digital-related ministers.
43:47 It has to come together because you want to make sure
43:50 the financing goes to where it will have the most effect
43:53 and transform the education system, as Amina said.
43:58 [Rachelle Akuffo] I do want to thank our panel.
43:59 Obviously, the challenges are many,
44:01 but you've given us a lot to think about today.
44:03 We do appreciate it.
44:04 Thank you once again.
44:05 [Malala Yousafzai] Thank you.
44:06 [Amina Mohammed] Thank you very much.
44:08 [MONTELÍBANO, COLOMBIA]
44:08 [Jairo] Hi, I am Jairo, in Montelíbano Colombia
44:11 and you are watching the World Bank Group-IMF Spring Meetings.
44:18 [Rachelle Akuffo] If you've just joined us,
44:20 I'm Rachelle Akuffo
44:21 and you're watching Human Capital at the Crossroad.
44:24 A reminder that you can join the conversation
44:26 on today's event at any time using the hashtag #InvestInPeople.
44:31 We're also asking you to take part in a special poll.
44:34 Now, the pandemic has been a major setback to human capital progress.
44:38 What do you think is the most pressing
44:40 priority to help people achieve their potential?
44:43 Is it A, quality, inclusive education? or B, stronger health systems?
44:49 Do you think C, equitable social protection is the key?
44:53 or is it D, putting women and girls at the heart of solutions?
44:58 And your last option is E, jobs and private sector investment?
45:03 We're asking which of these five options
45:06 is the most important in helping people achieve their full potential?
45:10 You can cast your vote right now
45:12 at live.worldbank.org
45:14 and we'll bring you the results at the end of this event.
45:17 [LIVE.WORLDBANK.ORG]
45:17 Now, strong and accessible health and social protection systems
45:21 help build, employ and protect human capital.
45:24 Let's take a look at how the World Bank has been helping developing countries
45:28 protect and invest in their people, especially in times of crisis.
45:33 [QUALITY HEALTH CARE & STRONG HUMAN CAPITAL GO HAND-IN-HAND.]
45:37 We acted like frontline soldiers,
45:40 risking our own health and that of our family.
45:48 [PHILIPPINES]
45:50 [The World Bank Group is supporting countries globally
45:53 in their COVID-19 vaccines deployment.]
45:55 [From cities to hard-to-reach rural areas...]
45:59 [LIZ ARELLO, VILLAGE HEALTH WORKER] To be vaccinated means to be protected,
46:01 and we can start getting back to our normal lives.
46:04 [ECUADOR]
46:06 [We are supporting national communication strategies,
46:08 to reinforce vaccine uptake.]
46:09 This is my COVID vaccination card.
46:12 It represents my commitment
46:14 as a responsible citizen, to myself and my country.
46:20 [The World Bank is also helping countries strengthen their health systems.]
46:23 [BENIN]
46:26 The government of Benin, with the support of The World Bank,
46:29 through the REDISSE project,
46:31 has made it possible for us to not only strengthen
46:33 the technical support center of the previously established laboratory,
46:35 but also set up 12 other laboratories.
46:37 [As a result, Benin has closed a 20-year gap in disease surveillance and management.]
46:44 [MONGOLIA]
46:47 There was a lack of breathing aid devices in the intensive care unit.
46:54 And this was purchased
46:56 with World Bank financing, which was very helpful.
47:02 The assistance provided to us for fighting against the pandemic
47:06 will continue to provide the foundation for providing quality health care services
47:10 and positively impact future health care services.
47:13 [TAJIKISTAN]
47:16 [Ensuring that every woman and child have access to health care
47:19 is at the heart of our work.]
47:20 Public health, particularly maternal and child health
47:23 [ZULFIYA ABDUSAMATZODA, DEPUTY MINISTER OF HEALTH]
47:24 [ZULFIYA ABDUSAMATZODA, DEPUTY MINISTER OF HEALTH]
47:26 of the Government of the Republic of Tajikistan.
47:28 A healthy mother gives birth to a healthy child.
47:32 [Human capital is central to a green, resilient, and inclusive recovery.]
47:36 [The World Bank is helping countries
47:39 to protect and invest in their people for a more prosperous future.]
47:44 [Rachelle Akuffo] The pandemic has caused severe disruptions
47:46 to routine and essential health services,
47:49 resulting in devastating impact on health outcomes for people,
47:53 especially on the the most vulnerable.
47:55 But as we've just seen, it also presents an opportunity
47:58 to strengthen health systems as well as social protection.
48:02 Our next panel discussion explores
48:03 how building this resilience from shocks can deliver better human capital outcomes.
48:10 We're now joined by Senator Dr. Sania Nishtar from Pakistan,
48:14 Gustavo Béliz, Argentina's Secretary of Strategic Affairs,
48:18 and Dr. Morena Makhoana, the CEO of Biovac,
48:21 a South African based vaccine manufacturer.
48:24 A big thank you to all our guests for joining us today.
48:28 First, Senator Nishtar, I want to start with you.
48:30 There are linkages between health
48:32 and social protection systems.
48:34 How do they work together
48:35 to protect and build human capital in Pakistan?
48:38 In particular, tell us about the impact COVID-19 has had
48:42 and the role technology has played in delivering services.
48:47 Well, thank you very much.
48:48 Firstly, let me make a focal point
48:50 about the synergies between health and social protection.
48:55 Well, firstly,
48:56 social protection is a battle against low income,
48:58 and we know that low income is...
49:00 we know that income is one of the strongest determinants
49:04 of health status achievements.
49:06 Secondly,
49:08 social protections can also protect families
49:10 from the negative coping strategies
49:13 which are part of possible shocks and economic crises.
49:17 Thirdly, social protection can significantly contribute
49:22 to human capital building
49:24 through ensuring financial access to education,
49:26 financial access to health care and nutrition.
49:29 And through this, it can really help
49:31 improving health and nutrition outcomes.
49:34 In the fourth place,
49:36 social protection can really help
49:38 a world catastrophic health expenditures
49:42 and protect people from foregoing health care.
49:45 We were very cognizant of all these four linkages
49:48 when we established Pakistan's largest social protection program
49:52 called Ehsaas which means compassion in our local language.
49:56 We used a number of different programmatic levers
50:00 to improve health outcomes
50:01 through a social protection centered program
50:04 and through the Social Protection Ministry.
50:06 For instance, we've got
50:08 an unconditional cash transfer program for eight million families.
50:11 Research tells us that
50:14 the bulk of the money is used to buy food rations.
50:17 Secondly, we've got a nationwide
50:20 health and nutrition condition cash transfer program
50:22 and a nationwide education condition cash transfer program.
50:27 You'll be pleased to know that, in both of these cases,
50:30 we offer a higher stepping amount for the third child.
50:33 We also have a fund-based health financing system
50:36 to complement the country's health insurance initiative.
50:39 Then we have a shock responsive registry,
50:42 which is brand new and has just been created.
50:45 Very quickly in COVID,
50:47 through the infrastructure that we built,
50:49 we were able to reach out to 15 million individuals,
50:53 15 million families,
50:55 and we used technologies and a process
50:59 that was end-to-end embedded in technologies.
51:02 I'm very humbled to let you know that
51:04 ours is the fastest deployment globally
51:06 and the third largest
51:08 in terms of the percentage of population reached.
51:13 [Rachelle Akuffo] Secretary Béliz, I want to bring you in here.
51:15 Sustained human capital development requires
51:18 a whole of government approach.
51:19 How is Argentina prioritizing human capital progress
51:22 across health, social protection and other key sectors?
51:28 [Interpreter] Integral human development
51:30 is the essence of the program we are launching.
51:34 Instead of talking only about human capital
51:37 we talked about philosophical concept
51:41 of integral human development.
51:44 We are inspired by what our Pope is doing globally.
51:50 It's a philosophy that he is fostering
51:53 which is improving after the pandemic
51:56 and that's how we are approaching our public policy.
51:59 In the case of Argentina, we dedicated very important funds
52:02 to the prevention of social damage caused by the pandemic.
52:08 We've invested more than 6 points of our GDP
52:13 in social assistance.
52:15 Also, one billion dollars in an emergency nutrition plan.
52:21 We also covered 60% of the population, the working population
52:27 with subsidies for employment, for businesses
52:31 so that we could actually prevent a wave of massive unemployment
52:38 We also strengthened programs to assist families.
52:43 This program is called Universal Child Allowance
52:50 and it includes health services and education services.
52:54 In the midst of all this, we managed to restructure our public debt
52:58 the foreign one and the domestic one
53:00 with the International Monetary Fund as well as with private creditors
53:04 In 2021, we managed to really...
53:11 We manage to see the results of our post-pandemic economic recovery.
53:17 Thanks to the measures implemented in 2020,
53:19 our economy managed to grow more than 10% of our GDP in 2021
53:27 and we decrease our unemployment rate to 7%
53:32 and we increase investment by 32.9%.
53:37 We did this together with the private sector
53:42 and mainly with the technological sector.
53:47 Argentina is very strong in this industry
53:50 and that is why comprehensive human development
53:53 has to come hand in hand with technological humanism
54:00 so that all these skills are for the common good.
54:05 [Rachelle Akuffo] Senator Nishtar, I want to bring you back in here.
54:07 After decades of progress,
54:09 we do see a sharp rise now in poverty
54:11 that's been detrimental to Human Capital.
54:14 Countries also facing, of course, shrinking budgets.
54:17 How can we help arrest some of these losses now,
54:20 as well as set the stage for poverty alleviation
54:22 and recovery at this point?
54:25 [Sania Nishtar] You're absolutely right,
54:27 because the MDG on poverty eradication
54:31 was achieved ahead of time,
54:32 but, with the corresponding sustainable development goal,
54:35 we are sliding backwards.
54:37 I think the answer to this
54:39 is that governments have to commit to
54:42 increasing investments in social protection,
54:45 and not look at it as a cost,
54:49 but as an investment in the future of generations.
54:53 I can give you the example from my own country,
54:56 because during COVID, as I've already mentioned,
55:00 we reached out to 15 million families
55:04 and we executed a very large cash transfer program.
55:08 But it was during the initial stages of COVID
55:12 that we decided to increase our investments
55:15 in social protection and poverty alleviation going forward,
55:19 and we did not drop the ball
55:21 on implementation.
55:23 Over the last two and a half years,
55:27 we have brought to fruition the upscaling of a health
55:31 and nutrition conditional cash transfer program nationwide.
55:35 We have successfully upscaled
55:37 our education condition cash transfer program nationwide.
55:41 Even while COVID was arranging
55:43 and we were completely consumed in the execution
55:46 of the cash transfer program.
55:47 We've completed the building
55:50 of a new shock-responsive national socioeconomic registry,
55:55 which will allow us to preposition
55:58 cash transfers during subsequent shocks.
56:01 And we've already tested it
56:02 during an earthquake as well.
56:06 We're also making and continuing to make
56:09 these strategic enhancements in data and digital systems,
56:12 which will bolster our ability not only
56:15 to upscale social protection systems,
56:17 but continue to respond more effectively during shocks.
56:24 It's all about political will.
56:28 It's all about investments,
56:30 and it's all about due diligence
56:32 and seriousness in implementation.
56:36 [Rachelle Akuffo] Given how much of a wake up call COVID has been,
56:39 Secretary Béliz, vaccine procurement and deployment
56:42 are crucial to combating not just the pandemic,
56:45 but obviously economic recovery as well.
56:47 It requires cooperation across countries,
56:49 multilateral organizations, and the private sector.
56:52 How did it work in Argentina,
56:54 and what lessons are you able to share?
56:57 [Interpreter] The lessons are many.
57:01 Very interestingly, Argentina developed technological capacity
57:05 of our own but also linked to added value chains.
57:11 Nationally, we managed to develop tests
57:15 to detect COVID-19 in five minutes.
57:18 We are also developing trials for our own vaccine
57:25 with our universities and the technological sector
57:29 We've also joined the supply chain to work with AstraZeneca.
57:35 We've donated vaccines to less developed countries.
57:43 We understand there is a difference
57:46 between rich countries and, low and middle-income countries
57:51 but we all need to have access to vaccines.
57:53 That's a common global good.
57:56 I would like to highlight the assistance
57:57 we received from the World Bank to acquire vaccines,
58:00 this was an effort that we truly value.
58:04 I would also like to nee to understand the concept of public health.
58:10 This has to be also comprehensive.
58:13 We need to address public health at a global level,
58:19 we are talking about preserving our environment.
58:22 In this regard, in the case of Latin America,
58:25 Regional and multilateral development banks that
58:31 have a presence in our continent, need to capitalize
58:37 taking advantage of the SDRs issued
58:41 by the International Monetary Fund.
58:45 This is a great opportunity to capitalize our banks
58:48 and make sure that a very important percentage
58:52 of those resources are used in order to strengthen
58:57 comprehensive human development and to preserve the health of our planet
59:02 through developing environmental policies that consolidate health
59:11 in global terms.
59:14 [Rachelle Akuffo] I do want to make sure we bring in Morena here.
59:15 As we keep hearing about this holistic approach,
59:18 what can the private sector do
59:19 to help arrest human capital losses and catalyze the recovery?
59:23 What does the private sector needs from the governments
59:26 to be able to fully contribute to better human capital?
59:31 [Morena Makhoana] I think it's important to acknowledge
59:34 that I think both sectors need each other,
59:36 both private and public sector.
59:40 However, I think globally it's clear that
59:43 the private sector is best at executing
59:46 and being a little bit more efficient.
59:49 Therefore, I think if there is a partnership
59:51 that can be drawn, where the public sector
59:55 can provide the framework that enable the private sector
59:59 to work more efficiently and to be able to harness
01:00:02 the type of human capital that it needs.
01:00:05 In that way, that is probably the best use of human capital,
01:00:08 but also the innovation really has come out of private sector
01:00:12 and what human capability can be ahead.
01:00:16 However, that cannot, as I said, work on its own.
01:00:20 It will need to work under a policy guidance
01:00:23 from the public sector, but also in a manner
01:00:26 that enables policies and the framework
01:00:31 and ecosystem in which private sector can work in.
01:00:36 [Rachelle Akuffo] I know our guests today
01:00:38 have shared a lot of useful information
01:00:39 and really combating these challenges.
01:00:41 We do appreciate your time today,
01:00:43 Senator Nishtar, Secretary Béliz and of course, Morena.
01:00:45 Thank you so much for joining us today.
01:00:47 A lot of people, I'm sure, will be inspired
01:00:49 by a lot of the innovations that we've been hearing
01:00:52 in terms of ways to possibly strengthen
01:00:54 the health and social protection systems everywhere.
01:00:57 Thank you so much.
01:00:59 [ULAANBAATAR, MONGOLIA]
01:01:00 [Donoz] Hello, I am Donoz in Ulaanbaatar, Mongolia
01:01:02 and you're watching the World Bank Group-IMF Spring Meetings.
01:01:09 [Rachelle Akuffo] Young people have been challenged
01:01:11 in many ways throughout this pandemic.
01:01:13 yet they remain optimistic and have ideas
01:01:16 for how things can be improved.
01:01:18 We ask young people around the world to share their aspirations
01:01:21 and some ideas of what's needed to achieve their potential.
01:01:25 Here's what they had to say.
01:01:27 [DON NYAGUDI, KENYA]
01:01:28 Hello everyone. My name is Don Nyagudi.
01:01:30 [XINYU LIU, CHINA] Hi, I'm Xinyu.
01:01:31 [GLORIA AGYARE, GHANA] My name is Gloria Agyare.
01:01:33 [NANDHAKUMAR, INDIA] Let me share my ideas with you.
01:01:35 [What do you NEED to fulfill YOUR potential?]
01:01:38 [Gloria Agyare] We require the right support,
01:01:40 an enabling environment and youth inclusion
01:01:43 at all decision-making levels.
01:01:45 [Nandhakumar] We need to develop our public transport facility
01:01:47 with better connectivity and the best time management.
01:01:51 [CHIJIOKE AKUMA, NIGERIA] Access to energy.
01:01:53 I mean safe and clean energy.
01:01:55 Then, access to the internet.
01:01:59 Then, access to tech skills.
01:02:02 [PATTY DIAZ ROMERO] I firmly believe that
01:02:03 the most important issues are education,
01:02:06 the use of technologies
01:02:08 [AHMAD JAMAL WATTOO, PAKISTAN] We need to finally take
01:02:10 climate change seriously.
01:02:13 [HOW can your lives be improved?]
01:02:16 [JESSICA HAINGOTIANA] Acknowledge the skills
01:02:17 of the active population
01:02:19 by organizing a training program for small businesses
01:02:23 in order to promote entrepreneurship
01:02:26 [Don Nyagudi] Increasing the amount of foreign direct investment into Kenya
01:02:30 and channeling those funds to the businesses
01:02:32 of young people who struggle to access capital
01:02:34 due to lack of enough collateral and guarantee.
01:02:37 [YASMIN HAMDY MOHAMED, EGYPT] Through providing comprehensive health coverage
01:02:40 and engaging youth in improving
01:02:41 education circumstances
01:02:43 empowering young women by granting them
01:02:44 leading roles in local communities.
01:02:46 [SARAFINA, GHANA] Prevent child marriage
01:02:48 to stop abuse and violation.
01:02:50 [VALENTINA CARDENAS, COLOMBIA] Using technology to close the inequality gaps
01:02:54 and to give access to everyone.
01:02:55 [Xinyu Liu] Workshops should be arranged
01:02:57 in the communities for the people
01:02:59 who have lost their jobs because of the pandemic.
01:03:02 This could equip them with more skills
01:03:04 to adapt themselves to the changing job market.
01:03:08 [NOURAN KHALED, EGYPT] Investing in people.
01:03:09 [MUSA IBRAHIM, NIGERIA] Invest in human capital.
01:03:11 [FAISA SYAHLA SABILA, INDONESIA] For me, for you and for generations to come.
01:03:14 [Gloria Agyare] The time to invest in people is now.
01:03:20 [Rachelle Akuffo] We heard several of those young people
01:03:22 talking about the importance of skills and training.
01:03:25 It's more important than ever to equip them for the jobs of the future.
01:03:28 Our next two guests have been involved in just that,
01:03:31 building skills and leveraging technology to create jobs and opportunities.
01:03:39 We're joined now by Zeena Majali,
01:03:41 the Co-founder of Crystel,
01:03:43 a pioneering business process outsourcing firm
01:03:45 in Jordan that makes gender equality
01:03:47 and competitiveness a priority.
01:03:50 And Beatrice Mahuru, the Founder and CEO of GLaD,
01:03:53 a management and PR firm in Papua New Guinea.
01:03:56 Beatrice is also a mentor
01:03:58 to marginalized youth in her country.
01:04:00 A very warm welcome to you both.
01:04:02 Zeena, I'll start with you.
01:04:04 You created a diverse and inclusive workforce at Crystel.
01:04:08 Was that always part of your inspiration
01:04:09 and vision for the company?
01:04:11 What obstacles did you face along the way?
01:04:14 [Zeena Majali] Thanks, Michelle.
01:04:16 That was always our vision.
01:04:18 We started this company when we were 23 years old.
01:04:21 Our vision was always to start the first call center in Jordan,
01:04:27 an independent call center that employs youth
01:04:30 and a lot of females and be able to create
01:04:33 a very safe workplace for them to work in.
01:04:37 Thankfully, we've been successful in doing so.
01:04:41 Today we employ thousand Jordanian youth,
01:04:44 55% of which are females.
01:04:46 It's a very safe place for them to work in.
01:04:49 It gave all these people the opportunity
01:04:52 to find a safe place to work in.
01:04:55 That has always definitely been our vision
01:04:57 and we're happy to see it coming to life.
01:05:01 [Rachelle Akuffo] Certainly safety is a key issue
01:05:03 when it comes to even wanting to be in a place of work.
01:05:05 You do want to feel secure where you are.
01:05:07 [Rachelle Akuffo] Beatrice, I want to bring you in here.
01:05:08 You support young people as they develop the technical and soft skills
01:05:12 necessary to realize their potential.
01:05:15 What would you say are the most in demand or in need soft skills?
01:05:20 [Beatrice Mahuru] Amazingly, in Papua New Guinea,
01:05:22 with over one thousand different languages
01:05:25 and eight hundred different cultures,
01:05:26 communication is the core soft skill that's required
01:05:30 to get them through their day to day lives.
01:05:33 They are living in a world where technology is fast paced,
01:05:39 but they come from communities where time stands still.
01:05:42 So, communication is an in need skill.
01:05:46 I think adaptability, therefore,
01:05:48 is also critical for them in moving ahead.
01:05:51 Conflict resolution is definitely
01:05:54 one of those soft skills that's required
01:05:57 both to manage workplace conversations
01:06:01 as well as their communities back at home.
01:06:03 And I feel very strongly, therefore,
01:06:06 critical thinking is another soft skill
01:06:09 that's necessary for youth of today,
01:06:11 particularly here in Papua New Guinea.
01:06:14 [Rachelle Akuffo] As we talk about skills
01:06:15 that are important to recognize perhaps some skills
01:06:17 that don't traditionally get as much attention.
01:06:19 Zeena, there are certain characteristics
01:06:21 I'm sure that you tend to look for
01:06:23 when you're hiring employees.
01:06:25 In terms of what you think education systems could do to help ensure
01:06:28 that students are well equipped for job opportunities,
01:06:31 What can you share with us?
01:06:33 [Zeena Majali] As Beatrice said as well,
01:06:36 there are a lot of skills that
01:06:38 we're looking for with our youth,
01:06:40 a lot that has to do with critical thinking
01:06:43 knowing how to solve problems.
01:06:45 Really, what we're always looking at is trying to get our youth
01:06:50 to understand how important it is to work today,
01:06:53 especially in countries like ours.
01:06:55 We want them to understand
01:06:57 that females play a major role in our economy and our society.
01:07:01 And we want them to understand that
01:07:04 no matter what you do, you always need to find a job.
01:07:08 Hopefully if you're married,
01:07:10 for example, you have a dual income,
01:07:12 and that's something that's essential.
01:07:14 So, we want them to always realize
01:07:15 and understand how important it is to work
01:07:18 and while at work, to always be aggressive, competitive,
01:07:23 and to try to do their best
01:07:25 just to reach their dreams and be able to add
01:07:30 all the amazing impact to our economy and society.
01:07:35 One skill that we're always looking for,
01:07:38 in particular, is language skills.
01:07:40 I would say in such a globalized world,
01:07:44 we need our youth to speak perfect English.
01:07:47 I would say this is extremely needed in our education system today
01:07:52 to be able to serve customers from all around the world.
01:07:55 We need many languages,
01:07:57 but specifically the English language is something that is essential
01:08:00 for us to be able to hire more people today here in Jordan.
01:08:05 [Rachelle Akuffo] It could be difficult,
01:08:06 depending on how you're socialized,
01:08:08 to really build the confidence in those things.
01:08:11 So then, Beatrice, in terms of policies,
01:08:12 what do you think are the most critical policies
01:08:14 that are needed to reach the most vulnerable
01:08:17 and bridge these gender gaps
01:08:18 and really unlock human capital potential?
01:08:23 [Beatrice Mahuru] I feel very strongly that youth empowerment is a policy
01:08:26 that needs to be put in place.
01:08:28 When you look at Papua New Guinea,
01:08:30 where education starts
01:08:32 and there's over two thousand young children in elementary,
01:08:36 and as the pyramid closes up for university graduates,
01:08:42 we only have 5 thousand spaces available for students to enter.
01:08:47 There's a huge gap for skills
01:08:50 where youths are sadly unemployed
01:08:54 and don't have the skills either.
01:08:56 So, youth empowerment policy is really critical
01:08:59 for moving them forward in this world.
01:09:02 I feel also that GESI policy,
01:09:04 the Gender Equity & Social Inclusion Policy
01:09:07 is another critical policy that needs to be looked at
01:09:11 because women right around the world,
01:09:14 and I think particularly here in Papua New Guinea
01:09:16 where we are a patriarchal society,
01:09:19 the policies are there to protect us,
01:09:22 our rights, our ability to participate
01:09:26 without fear or favor.
01:09:29 I think those are critical in today's age
01:09:31 especially for youth,
01:09:33 as they move forward, finding their feet.
01:09:36 I think these two are really important.
01:09:38 And because women in traditional Papua New Guinea
01:09:42 are looking at breaking glass ceilings,
01:09:45 the gender equality is also critical.
01:09:48 So, they have equal pay for the amount of hours
01:09:50 that they put in.
01:09:53 [Rachelle Akuffo] Zeena, in terms of what you'd like,
01:09:55 in terms of listening to, perhaps
01:09:58 seeing what the finance ministers
01:09:59 who might be listening in on this
01:10:00 and messaging that you'd like them to understand
01:10:03 about why it is so important to invest in this space,
01:10:06 when you think of where the public sector
01:10:08 comes in and the private sector.
01:10:09 What message do you have for them?
01:10:11 [Zeena Majali] It has always been our message,
01:10:14 since the first day,
01:10:16 that we want everybody's support for our sector.
01:10:20 We believe that this is a great stepping stone
01:10:22 for our youth and our females
01:10:25 to start stepping into the workplace
01:10:27 and either growing in this space
01:10:30 or going into maybe something that's more specific
01:10:32 to their area of education or expertise.
01:10:35 But it's a great place
01:10:37 for hundreds of thousands of youth to start
01:10:42 and for all these females to start here with us as well.
01:10:45 Hopefully, they either grow with us
01:10:47 and other companies alike
01:10:49 or they go into something that's more specific for them.
01:10:52 We feel the more we invest, the more we can grow this space
01:10:56 and the lower unemployment rates we can reach
01:10:59 which is essential for us at this point.
01:11:02 [Rachelle Akuffo] Beatrice, for you, obviously you have the ear
01:11:04 of a lot of youth in your country as well.
01:11:06 Tell finance ministers what young people in your country say
01:11:09 they need in terms of skills and why investing in them is so critical.
01:11:15 [Beatrice Mahuru] Basic finance literacy, I think, is a skill
01:11:19 that's really required for use of today.
01:11:22 As I said, especially in Papua New Guinea
01:11:24 where they've not been able to complete their education.
01:11:28 Just basic financial literacy is really critical for them.
01:11:31 So, Finance Ministers, the Central Bank,
01:11:34 if they can look at inclusion for lending money
01:11:40 to this youth who are looking at
01:11:42 small and medium enterprise businesses,
01:11:44 these are critical and they can't go into it successfully
01:11:48 if they don't have the basic finance skills.
01:11:50 I'd love for our influential people in the areas of finance
01:11:56 to consider that and also governance.
01:11:59 I think governance is really critical
01:12:01 as a skill for young youth that are going into enterprise
01:12:05 because they don't have the skill set to join organizations.
01:12:10 They should be encouraged to start their own.
01:12:14 [Rachelle Akuffo] We certainly do appreciate
01:12:15 you joining us today with your insights, Zeena and Beatrice.
01:12:18 Obviously, a lot of impressive stories and successes
01:12:21 that a lot of people will be looking up to you.
01:12:23 We do appreciate your time for sharing that with our audience today.
01:12:26 I'm sure your insights and experiences
01:12:28 will also provide a lot of good lessons
01:12:30 for everybody listening.
01:12:31 Thank you so much.
01:12:33 [Rachelle Akuffo] I'm joined by Sri Sridhar,
01:12:35 who's been following the conversation online and on social media.
01:12:39 Sri, what have people been saying?
01:12:41 [Sri Sridhar] Thanks. Great to see you.
01:12:43 People are joining us from all over the world.
01:12:45 Here's a snapshot from where they're joining us,
01:12:47 from Tanzania, India, France, the United Kingdom, Uganda,
01:12:52 Indonesia, Ethiopia, Nigeria, and, of course, here in the United States.
01:12:54 [Srimathi Sridhar, Communications Associate, World Bank Group]
01:12:56 They're using the hashtag for today's event, #InvestinPeople.
01:12:59 They're joining us on Twitter, Facebook, LinkedIn and also Instagram.
01:13:04 They're talking about the ways in which countries can better invest
01:13:07 in people and support communities to recover from the pandemic.
01:13:11 Now, one particular topic of interest has been education today.
01:13:16 People are stressing the need to recover from learning losses
01:13:19 during the pandemic and also invest in quality learning.
01:13:22 Let's take a look at some of the actual comments
01:13:25 that have been coming in on social.
01:13:27 First up on LinkedIn,
01:13:28 Sara from Tanzania says that "investing in a nation's human capital
01:13:32 goes hand in hand with promoting and protecting
01:13:36 every citizen's human rights."
01:13:38 Pretty powerful statement there, I think.
01:13:40 Up next, we have a comment from Facebook.
01:13:44 Michael in Nigeria who says, "I believe that quality education anchored
01:13:48 on quality learning is the bedrock of development."
01:13:51 Touching a bit on how education is
01:13:55 really a focus of today's conversation online.
01:13:57 Finally on Instagram, Wilford Williams says that "education is
01:14:02 a key component of human capital
01:14:04 and investments in education, health and other areas
01:14:08 are crucial for economic growth."
01:14:10 A lot of good engagement coming in today.
01:14:13 [Rachelle Akuffo] I do believe this is where
01:14:14 we do have some of the results from the poll overall.
01:14:17 [Sri Sridhar] Yeah. Today's poll asks,
01:14:19 what is the most pressing priority to help people achieve their potential?
01:14:25 Five options here.
01:14:27 Is it a quality, inclusive education?
01:14:29 Is it stronger health systems,
01:14:31 equitable social protection, women and girls at the heart of solutions,
01:14:36 or is it jobs and private sector investment?
01:14:39 These are all really good options to choose from.
01:14:42 It's hard to pick a top priority.
01:14:44 But what would be yours?
01:14:46 [Rachelle Akuffo] Given how many children we saw at home,
01:14:50 what we see with the skills gap,
01:14:52 I would say quality inclusive education, A, but, as you mentioned,
01:14:56 a lot of incredibly important options that really do need to work together.
01:14:59 [Sri Sridhar] Why don't we see how people voted?
01:15:01 We had nearly 1300 people take part in today's poll.
01:15:05 Answers coming up here to the right, 43% of people do believe
01:15:09 that the most pressing priority is a quality inclusive education,
01:15:13 12% stronger, health systems,
01:15:15 14% equitable social protection,
01:15:18 9% women and girls at the heart of solutions,
01:15:21 and finally, 22% of people, jobs and private sector investment.
01:15:25 As you can see here, much like you were saying,
01:15:27 a lot of people believe that a quality inclusive education is
01:15:30 the most pressing priority.
01:15:32 [Rachelle Akuffo] You would think, because of COVID,
01:15:34 that the stronger health systems would perhaps rate a little bit higher.
01:15:38 [Sri Sridhar] That's what I was leaning towards to.
01:15:39 But like you said, these are all just such important areas.
01:15:42 [Rachelle Akuffo] Indeed. Thank you so much.
01:15:44 Very important poll. Thank you everyone for voting.
01:15:46 Sri Sridhar, thank you.
01:15:48 [Sri Sridhar] Thanks.
01:15:49 [PORT VILA, VANUATU]
01:15:49 Hello, [foreign language] everyone.
01:15:51 I am Leisenda in Fort Villa, Vanuatu,
01:15:55 and you're watching the World Bank Group-IMF Spring meetings.
01:16:02 [HUMAN CAPITAL AT THE CROSSROADS]
01:16:04 [Rachelle Akuffo] I'm joined in the atrium of the World Bank Group
01:16:07 by Iffath Sharif, Manager of the World Bank's Human Capital Project,
01:16:10 and Charles Dalton, a Senior Health Specialist with IFC,
01:16:14 the private sector arm of the World Bank Group.
01:16:17 They'll answer some of the questions you've been posting in just a moment.
01:16:21 First, let's recap on the main points from this event.
01:16:24 What did we learn?
01:16:26 COVID-19 has had a devastating impact, reversing recent gains in human capital.
01:16:32 That's the knowledge, skills, and health that people need
01:16:35 to achieve their potential and live healthy, productive lives.
01:16:38 We also learned about how countries have been innovative
01:16:41 in building and protecting human capital and were reminded
01:16:45 that sustained political commitments and financing are still needed.
01:16:49 We heard about how the World Bank Group is helping countries
01:16:52 make more and better investments to stop human capital losses,
01:16:56 protect and invest in people, and support stronger, more inclusive growth.
01:17:01 Let's turn to Iffath Sharif and Charles Dalton.
01:17:05 Thank you so much for being with us today.
01:17:07 Our first question actually comes
01:17:09 from Victor in Nigeria, and he sent us this video question.
01:17:13 [Victor] Hello. Thanks for having me in this series.
01:17:15 My name is [inaudible], Victor in Nigerian.
01:17:19 The rate at which the COVID-19 pandemic travels
01:17:22 proves that the world is here to evolve into a strong healthcare system.
01:17:27 My question is, what does it really require to build
01:17:31 a strong and resilient healthcare system that can withstand any form of pandemic?
01:17:37 Thank you.
01:17:40 [Rachelle Akuffo] Victor asked
01:17:42 how we can be better prepared for the next pandemic
01:17:45 and what it takes to build a stronger and resilient healthcare system?
01:17:48 That question for both of you. Iffath let's start with you.
01:17:51 [Iffath Sharif] Thank you. Thank you, Victor for this very important question.
01:17:55 Building resilient health systems was
01:17:58 always a priority even before the pandemic.
01:18:01 The pandemic essentially highlighted
01:18:03 how building such systems is actually part of a global public good.
01:18:07 The concern really for us is that this
01:18:09 is not a one off, that climate change, unplanned urbanization,
01:18:15 lack of water and sanitation,
01:18:16 they're all factors that are going to contribute
01:18:19 to more such fast spreading disease outbreaks.
01:18:22 What we really need is really a whole of society effort at the country levels,
01:18:28 regional and global levels, to help with preparing against such pandemics.
01:18:33 At the country level, what we will need is improved health infrastructure.
01:18:37 This is investments in labs, surveillance,
01:18:40 health equipment to really boost up that infrastructure.
01:18:44 Equally important, we have learned from this pandemic
01:18:47 that we need a well-trained healthcare staff,
01:18:52 human capital, the human resources that will be needed
01:18:55 to deliver not just the vaccinations,
01:18:58 but essential health care that is required.
01:19:02 This is, again, going to be critically important.
01:19:06 Alongside, you will also need the support of community-based organizations
01:19:11 to add support in terms of, again, delivering the vaccinations,
01:19:15 basic immunizations that were short-changed during this pandemic.
01:19:20 Their efforts will be critical.
01:19:23 Equally critical would be the role of the private sector,
01:19:25 working very closely with public health agencies
01:19:29 in terms of improved research and development work,
01:19:32 in terms of supporting community campaigns across countries,
01:19:39 supporting privately delivered healthcare services.
01:19:44 Our estimates state that countries will need
01:19:48 an additional 30% increase in their health budget
01:19:52 to address pandemic preparedness.
01:19:53 This is not going to be easy
01:19:55 given very tight government budgets.
01:19:57 Again, the role of the private sector in helping to mobilize
01:20:01 additional resources, efficient use of resources
01:20:05 is going to be very important.
01:20:06 It's a collective society effort in terms of mobilizing resources,
01:20:12 both natural and human, to deal with the pandemic.
01:20:15 What we've also learned from this pandemic
01:20:18 is that addressing such an outbreak
01:20:20 within the country's borders is not sufficient.
01:20:22 You would need to work across countries, regions and globally
01:20:26 to address a coordinated action to prevent spread.
01:20:30 [LIVE: WORLD BANK GROUP EXPERTS ON INVESTING IN PEOPLE]
01:20:31 Here, the World Bank has been working closely
01:20:33 with a number of regional operations to support countries do exactly that,
01:20:38 offer coordinated public action towards investments in infrastructure
01:20:43 in the country level, but also communication and better coordination
01:20:47 is something that we're supporting.
01:20:52 Finally, the World Bank's low cost financing window, IDA,
01:20:57 will be supporting the poorest countries investing in their health infrastructure,
01:21:03 but also preparing not just for this pandemic, but other crisis.
01:21:08 Thank you.
01:21:09 [Rachelle Akuffo] Charles, how would you respond to Victor?
01:21:11 [Charles Dalton] I agree with a lot of the comments that have just been made.
01:21:14 What we've seen through COVID,
01:21:17 is that a many health care systems
01:21:19 have demonstrated some form of dysfunctionality,
01:21:22 and I think we need to figure out how we can remove maybe the silo mindset
01:21:26 that we've seen and how we can join the dots to create a system.
01:21:30 For me, simplistically, you put the patient in the middle
01:21:33 and say, What services do we need?
01:21:36 What human resources do we need?
01:21:37 How do we finance it?
01:21:39 Just as mentioned, we've got a massive financing gap.
01:21:42 Can we create more insurance coverage so there's less out-of-pocket coverage?
01:21:46 We then need to look at the regulation side.
01:21:49 We need to look at the whole digitization we're seeing.
01:21:52 I think what we're also seeing from COVID is there has been
01:21:57 a switch in dialogue between the public sector and the private sector.
01:22:02 I think we need to continue that dialogue and understand
01:22:05 how we can promote better understanding,
01:22:08 better trust between the public and the private sector.
01:22:11 and where the private sector can support governments.
01:22:14 Remember, governments are the custodian of the whole health care system.
01:22:17 [LIVE: YOUR QUESTIONS ANSWERED]
01:22:18 We need to figure out how to make them work more together.
01:22:21 We got supply chain.
01:22:22 We have supply chain and manufacturing.
01:22:25 We have vaccines, we have drugs, we have medical equipment.
01:22:30 We also have how can the private sector support more training and development,
01:22:34 how the private sector can work with government on gaps in services.
01:22:37 We have seen a lack of ICU beds, for example, during COVID.
01:22:41 We need more lab testing as well,
01:22:44 where the private sector working with the public sector can help,
01:22:48 but also on the human resources side as well as the training side, as I said.
01:22:53 One thing for me is a better use of data analytics.
01:22:59 If we're setting up social health insurance systems,
01:23:03 there's a massive amount of data that's going to be within those systems.
01:23:06 The private sector can help the public sector
01:23:09 with the tools and the ability
01:23:11 to innovate and just understand how and what that data means
01:23:16 so they can get more value
01:23:17 and they can stretch that dollar further, if that makes sense.
01:23:21 We need to look at how we can strengthen the system
01:23:25 and move away from the silo mentality. Thank you very much.
01:23:28 [Rachelle Akuffo] That integration is very important.
01:23:31 It certainly was a wake-up call for all healthcare systems.
01:23:35 Our next question is on gender equality,
01:23:38 and comes from Abu, also from Nigeria.
01:23:41 Iffath, Abu asks, how can we empower women
01:23:44 for the benefit of all society? How would you respond?
01:23:48 [Iffath Sharif] Empowering women is really about supporting a process
01:23:53 to help women make choices and decisions.
01:23:57 To help with that, it's about addressing the fundamental constraints
01:24:01 that prevent women from being able to make those choices.
01:24:05 Here we see three areas of work that could help
01:24:09 in terms of context, access to resources and women's agency.
01:24:15 In terms of context, it's really about offering a conducive context
01:24:21 for women to be able to make decisions.
01:24:24 This would mean sort of changing norms, institutions,
01:24:28 often laws and cultural expectations
01:24:31 to again help women be able to make those choices.
01:24:35 Second, it's about offering them the resources that are needed
01:24:38 to offer them the tools to again achieve the goals that they set for them.
01:24:45 This could be access to human capital.
01:24:47 This could be access to financial capital, social capital that will help.
01:24:52 The third area of constraint is really women's agency.
01:24:56 What do I mean by that?
01:24:57 It is really being able to give women
01:24:59 the tools and the skills to help implement the decisions that they want to make.
01:25:05 It's really working across all of these three areas
01:25:08 that we think would really help empower women.
01:25:11 It's not easy to do so,
01:25:14 but not doing so comes at huge costs to countries, both economic and social.
01:25:19 There's a lot of research that shows that mothers,
01:25:22 when they're empowered to make decisions,
01:25:24 are helping with improved outcomes for children's health and education.
01:25:28 In fact, I've seen through first hand work in Nigeria
01:25:33 that giving mothers a mere 15 dollars a month,
01:25:38 a majority of them, use that money to help
01:25:44 with the health and education of the children.
01:25:46 When I asked some of the fathers,
01:25:49 they use the money essentially for farm inputs to buy fertilizer.
01:25:53 I know this is an anecdote,
01:25:54 but it is quite consistent with the research evidence we have.
01:26:00 In fact, a recent study by the World Bank suggests
01:26:04 that not being able to give girls
01:26:07 a full 12 years of education
01:26:09 could cost countries 15 to 30 trillion US dollars
01:26:15 of lost lifetime earnings.
01:26:17 This is quite substantial.
01:26:20 The World Bank as a result, has actually launched a public campaign,
01:26:25 Accelerate Equality,
01:26:27 to help countries bridge some of these gaps in the context,
01:26:31 resources and agencies I mentioned
01:26:34 to bring in transformative change in women's lives.
01:26:37 [Rachelle Akuffo] It's interesting how they prioritize what to spend it on,
01:26:40 and when you see the broader payoff as well.
01:26:43 Charles, we heard from some earlier guests
01:26:46 about the important role of the private sector
01:26:48 in solving development challenges.
01:26:50 Our next question touches on just that and comes from Diallo from Senegal.
01:26:53 Now, Charles Diallo asks,
01:26:55 how does the World Bank Group help promote private investment
01:26:58 to benefit communities?
01:27:00 [Charles Dalton] Good question.
01:27:01 I sit within the IFC, the International Finance Corporation,
01:27:05 which is the private sector arm of the World Bank.
01:27:08 Our work is really
01:27:11 to work with countries, to invest into countries,
01:27:14 to stimulate the economy, to create jobs
01:27:17 and just a general upliftment of strengthening the private sector.
01:27:24 We do that with traditional financing solutions,
01:27:28 plus innovating finance solutions,
01:27:31 looking to work with multiple entities across multiple industries.
01:27:35 We look at a country, see what their needs are,
01:27:38 and then we invest into many, many different industries.
01:27:41 I sit within the healthcare sector focus.
01:27:43 From a healthcare sector focus, we look at health services,
01:27:47 we look at life sciences, we look at medical equipment,
01:27:50 and more recently, at digital health as well,
01:27:52 because digital health all of a sudden has had this light bulb moment.
01:27:56 I want to give you two quick examples of investments that we've made.
01:28:01 One is in Asia in an entity called My Care.
01:28:04 They support governments and the private sector
01:28:07 from an insurance perspective,
01:28:09 where they're giving them the data analytics
01:28:12 to be able to manage their social health insurance programs,
01:28:17 better understanding disease, understanding population,
01:28:20 understanding what's affordable, looking at benefit design.
01:28:23 The underpinning is this data management.
01:28:25 I mentioned it in my first question,
01:28:27 and you can see something I'm passionate about.
01:28:29 We've got to get data management right, remove the data out of the silos,
01:28:33 and look at it in an integrated manner.
01:28:36 A second example is in Mexico.
01:28:38 Mexico has a very high diabetes and hypertension rate.
01:28:43 We've made an investment there in a group called Clínicas del Azúcar.
01:28:46 They are a dedicated growing chain of clinics
01:28:51 working with local populations across multiple income groups
01:28:56 where they've designed from a people, process and technology perspective
01:29:00 how to offer diabetes management and hypertension management.
01:29:05 They've integrated nurses with clinicians, with pharmacists,
01:29:09 with dieticians to basically create this one stop-shop
01:29:13 and the importance of that
01:29:15 is it enables patients to manage their diabetes but not end up in hospital
01:29:22 where they become economically inactive, if I can call that.
01:29:26 The whole thing is that they're contributing to the population
01:29:32 to make sure that they maintain their economic activity.
01:29:35 That's a couple of examples of where we're focused.
01:29:38 We're trying to bring innovative ideas into countries
01:29:41 to strengthen the healthcare system, as I said earlier.
01:29:45 That's where IFC fits in and we do that in multiple industries.
01:29:49 Thank you.
01:29:50 [Rachelle Akuffo] Fascinating. The data then should inform
01:29:53 the solutions, creating solutions that don't actually solve the problem.
01:29:56 [Charles Dalton] Exactly.
01:29:57 [Rachelle Akuffo] A very interesting point there.
01:29:58 Thank you both for taking the time to answer these questions.
01:30:01 Lots of great answers and of course to you,
01:30:03 our viewers, thank you as well and continue to post your questions.
01:30:06 Our live expert bloggers are staying online,
01:30:09 and will try to answer as many as possible.
01:30:12 This brings us to the end of this event.
01:30:14 I want to thank all of our guests for joining us
01:30:16 and sharing in this important discussion.
01:30:19 Of course, I want to thank you, our viewers.
01:30:21 We've had quite a line-up of events this week
01:30:24 and they're all available to watch again.
01:30:26 The meetings kicked off with a discussion
01:30:28 between the leaders of the World Bank Group and IMF
01:30:31 on responding to global shocks.
01:30:33 We've also been discussing the potential of the digital revolution
01:30:37 for developing countries and how to best finance climate action.
01:30:41 Yesterday's event focused on helping communities
01:30:44 living in fragile or conflict-afflicted situations,
01:30:47 and explored how to best preserve open trade.
01:30:50 You can watch all of those as well as a replay of this event
01:30:53 at live.worldbank.org.
01:30:56 You could share your comments on these Spring Meetings
01:30:59 using the hashtag #ResilientFuture.
01:31:00 #RESILIENTFUTURE]
01:31:01 We hope you've enjoyed hearing from all of our distinguished guests
01:31:04 at today's event and please do continue sharing those comments.
01:31:08 We would love to hear from you.
01:31:10 I'm Rachelle Akuffo. Thank you again.

Human Capital at the Crossroads: Reversing the Losses, Reclaiming our Future

Follow the event on Twitter #InvestInPeople

- Watch in: العربية | Français | Español -

Now, more than at any other time in living memory – human capital is being dealt devastating blows by conflict, climate change, and the COVID-19 pandemic. The losses to learning, health outcomes, livelihoods, and gender equality have immediate and long-term impacts on people’s wellbeing – and can undermine economic recovery and prosperity for years.

Listen to leaders, innovators and change-makers who are taking action to put people at the heart of recovery. You will hear firsthand how such investments can not only change lives for individuals, but also create more inclusive and equitable societies.

PAGE SECTIONS

- LIST OF SPEAKERS -

- 25-MIN AUDIO SUMMARY -

- RESOURCE LINKS -

- READ THE LIVE Q&A -

- ABOUT THE SPRING MEETINGS -

00:00 Welcome! WBG Spring Meetings 2022 | Human Capital
03:44 Investing in human capital: The case of Tanzania
19:39 Data in focus: Learning poverty and the impact of the pandemic
21:44 Investing in the early years
45:17 Helping developing countries to protect and invest in their people
48:10 Building resilience from shocks to deliver better human capital outcomes
1:01:09 Young voices: How things can be improved to achieve their potential
1:03:38 Building skills and leveraging technology to create jobs and opportunities
1:12:34 Social media conversation and poll results
1:16:04 Live Q&A: How to support a stronger inclusive growth
1:30:12 Closure | Thanks for watching the WBG Spring Meetings 2022

RESOURCES

HUMAN CAPITAL

EDUCATION

HEALTH SYSTEMS

GENDER

SOCIAL PROTECTION

Read the transcript

00:00 [Upbeat Music]
00:02 [Spring Meetings 2022]
00:05 [Learning]
00:07 [COVID-19]
00:10 [Healthcare]
00:13 [Social Protection]
00:15 [Equal Opportunities]
00:18 [HUMAN CAPITAL AT THE CROSSROADS]
00:27 [Rachelle Akuffo] Good morning, good afternoon and good evening
00:30 to our viewers from around the world.
00:32 Thank you for joining us for this event, Human Capital at the Crossroads.
00:36 I'm Rachelle Akuffo, your host for today's event.
00:39 [Rachelle Akuffo, Yahoo Finance Anchor & Moderator]
00:40 How investments in education, health,
00:42 social protection, jobs, and gender equality
00:45 that build human capital
00:47 are intrinsically important for individual well-being,
00:50 creating more equitable societies, sustaining economic growth,
00:54 and preventing millions of people from falling into poverty.
00:58 Now, more than at any other time in living memory,
01:01 human capital is being dealt devastating blows
01:04 by conflicts, climate change, and the COVID-19 pandemic.
01:08 The losses to learning, health outcomes,
01:10 livelihoods and gender equality have immediate and long-term impacts
01:15 on people's well-being
01:16 and can undermine economic recovery and prosperity for years to come.
01:21 Today we'll hear from leaders, innovators and changemakers
01:25 who are taking action to put people at the heart of recovery.
01:28 We will hear firsthand how such investments
01:31 can not only change lives for individuals,
01:33 but also create more inclusive and equitable societies.
01:37 Now, you'll be inspired by how so many are coming together to rebuild and reclaim
01:42 the future for today's generation and those to come.
01:45 A reminder that you can watch this event live
01:48 in English, Spanish, French, or Arabic at live.worldbank.org.
01:53 Here's a quick look at what's coming up over the next 90 minutes.
01:58 [COMING UP]
02:04 [TANZANIA: HUMAN CAPITAL CHALLENGES & PRIORITIES]
02:07 [H.E. Samia Suluhu Hassan, President of Tanzania]
02:09 [David Malpass, President, World Bank Group]
02:16 [LEARNING POVERTY AND THE EARLY YEARS]
02:17 [Amina Mohammed, UN Deputy Secretary-General]
02:19 [Malala Yousafzai, Co-Founder, Malala Fund]
02:20 [Mari Pangestu, Managing Director of Development Policy & Partnerships, World Bank]
02:25 [STRENGTHENING HEALTH & SOCIAL PROTECTION SYSTEMS]
02:27 [Dr. Sania Nishtar, Senator, Pakistan]
02:29 [Gustavo Béliz, Secretary of Strategic Affairs, Argentina]
02:30 [Dr. Morena Makhoana, CEO, Biovac]
02:35 [DEVELOPING SKILLS & CREATING OPPORTUNITIES]
02:37 [Zeena Majali, Co-Founder, Crystel]
02:38 [Beatrice Mahuru, Founder & CEO, GLaD and B&WE]
02:44 [Rachelle Akuffo] Such an impressive and diverse range of voices.
02:47 We're in for some very interesting discussions
02:50 as we explore how protecting and investing in people is central
02:54 to sustainable, resilient and inclusive development.
02:58 To kick us off, I'm delighted to introduce
03:00 the President of the United Republic of Tanzania,
03:02 Her Excellency Samia Suluhu Hassan.
03:05 Now, President Samia is the first female president of her country
03:09 and is a powerful agent and voice for change.
03:12 She's a champion for gender equality and economic empowerment for women and girls.
03:17 In addition, she has reset Tanzania's response
03:20 to combat the COVID-19 pandemic,
03:23 including access to effective COVID-19 vaccines.
03:26 We're delighted to have this opportunity today
03:29 to hear from President Samia on her country's progress and approach.
03:32 She is joining David Malpass,
03:34 President of the World Bank Group,
03:36 for a conversation on the importance
03:38 of protecting and investing in human capital.
03:42 Over to you, President Malpass.
03:44 [David Malpass] Thank you very much, Rachelle.
03:46 And thank you, Madam President, for joining us today.
03:50 We've had meetings all week.
03:52 The theme of the meetings is both the challenges facing countries,
03:56 that's COVID, that's inflation,
03:58 that's the insecurity and the war in Ukraine,
04:02 all facing leaders around the world.
04:05 Also what some of the solutions are.
04:08 One of the key areas for progress
04:12 is human capital itself.
04:14 Unfortunately, through the COVID crisis,
04:18 there was a loss of education, a loss of progress on health, on nutrition.
04:23 That's our topic for today.
04:27 Our audience is very interested in your approach
04:31 and you're thinking about how to resume progress on human capital.
04:35 What are the key steps?
04:38 [Samia Suluhu Hassan] Human capital is imparted
04:42 in our five-year development plan,
04:45 the third development plan.
04:48 But also in the vision, the 20-year vision which started in 2020 to 2025.
04:55 So for us, human capital involves
05:02 actions with social service to the people.
05:06 And by social service we start with health.
05:10 Somebody has to be healthy to be able to live in peace and to live happily.
05:17 But then they have to get education,
05:20 then they have to get clean and safe water, and that's part of health.
05:26 Then they have to be happy living with others.
05:30 They have to have something to do to earn their own bread.
05:35 So talking of education, we have made a stride.
05:39 First of all,
05:40 we're offering free education for all,
05:44 at least from pre-primary to primary-secondary education.
05:49 Free education for all.
05:50 We have made a stride.
05:53 In 2015, our enrollment was about 58.8%
06:01 and now we are almost...
06:03 no, we were at 80% and we are almost at 95.5%.
06:10 So, we are going to 100% enrollment, and it's free for all boys and girls.
06:16 Then, talking of secondary schools,
06:20 we are continuing with a free education
06:22 and most of our kids go to secondary school.
06:26 But then we have created a fund
06:29 whereby, when they go to university, they have to borrow money from that fund,
06:36 go for the education,
06:37 and then they are paying back when they get employed,
06:41 whether self-employment or they get employed somewhere,
06:45 that's when they are paying back.
06:47 And we have done so knowing that
06:50 if we leave, or we left, the burden of
06:54 educating those kids in universities,
06:59 their parents couldn't do that.
07:01 So we have created a fund.
07:03 But then in the same way in education,
07:08 you remember we had a ban on adolescent mothers going back to school,
07:14 and now we have lifted that ban.
07:18 Now the adolescent mothers, the dropouts, whether boys or girls,
07:23 adolescent mothers or not, they are free to go back to school,
07:28 to complete their education, at least at the primary level.
07:32 But some of them, they are doing good.
07:34 We have a very good example in Zanzibar,
07:37 where this ban was lifted long ago and most of the adolescent mothers
07:42 went back to school and now they are completing
07:45 their university education.
07:46 We thought we should give that privilege
07:50 to the adolescent mothers and the dropouts.
07:53 On health, we have done well.
07:58 We're still having challenges,
08:01 but our policy is health for all and we have tried hard.
08:08 We have different segments of health service.
08:11 We have the village level,
08:13 then ward level, district level, regional level, then national referral level.
08:21 We have done well from the district, regional and referral,
08:27 we have tried.
08:29 But then we are now concentrating on the village level,
08:33 because we learned it from COVID.
08:36 We need to have the first aid, first treatment down to the village.
08:41 Now we are concentrating on the village level,
08:44 of where, as I'm talking, we have done about...
08:50 Tanzania has about 12,300 villages
08:54 and before my time
08:57 we have built around 5 to 6 thousand health centers at the village level.
09:04 And we are continuing.
09:05 As we are talking, I'm having a project of about 333 dispensaries
09:12 built at the village, just to add on to what we have done.
09:16 In health sector, we have tried that much, but we still do have challenge.
09:23 The challenge is, we have done very well on infrastructure,
09:27 but now to improve the quality of the services
09:32 which are given to the people.
09:33 [David Malpass] Who provides the healthcare at that village level?
09:36 The government, of course.
09:40 [David Malpass] Nurse... do doctors travel through?
09:43 How does it break down?
09:44 [Samia Suluhu Hassan] They call them the assistant medical officers.
09:48 They are doing the services down to the village.
09:51 Of course, every dispenser is having two nurses,
09:56 plus a medical doctor, an assistant medical doctor.
09:58 [David Malpass] Do they look at nutrition?
10:01 Will they identify children that are
10:04 either under nourished or have the incorrect vitamins and so on?
10:08 [Samia Suluhu Hassan] Yes.
10:09 [IN CONVERSATION: PRESIDENT OF TANZANIA]
10:10 because we are starting giving service to the mothers
10:15 when they are pregnant,
10:17 making sure they all have folic acids, avoid pneumonia, anemia,
10:23 and so that they can give birth to healthy babies.
10:27 When the babies are born, we take all the necessary measures,
10:32 vaccination, checking whether they're disabled or not,
10:37 then the early health services,
10:41 we are trying to give them all.
10:43 [David Malpass] That used to be a big problem in Tanzania,
10:46 the childbirth complications.
10:51 Can that improve the situation rapidly?
10:55 Because we're talking about a nine month period
10:59 or a one year period before birth.
11:02 How's that going?
11:04 [Samia Suluhu Hassan] We have improved.
11:05 We have improved because...
11:13 five years back we were talking of,
11:17 let's say 120 deaths per 100 thousand
11:23 for babies, zero to one year of age.
11:27 Now, we are talking about 27.
11:31 Only 27.
11:32 [David Malpass] You're at 80% improvement, which is huge.
11:36 [Samia Suluhu Hassan] This is because we are taking care of the pregnant mother
11:40 and then we are giving necessary services
11:44 when the child is being born.
11:48 Our health centers down to the villages,
11:51 they provide theaters for the pregnant mothers,
11:55 the complicated ones,
11:56 to be operated and save their lives, for both babies and mothers.
12:00 [David Malpass] I see.
12:01 [Samia Suluhu Hassan] Then, we are still struggling with maternal mortality.
12:08 We have reduced it a great deal, but the numbers are still not acceptable.
12:13 [David Malpass] What do you find are the challenges,
12:15 both in education and in health,
12:17 is it fiscal, is it the amount of money or is it to train the personnel?
12:23 Or is it imports that are...
12:25 What are the biggest challenges?
12:27 [Samia Suluhu Hassan] I think it's a mixture because, in education,
12:32 the challenge was the acceptance of parents to send their kids to school.
12:42 [David Malpass] Especially girls?
12:43 [Samia Suluhu Hassan] Yes, especially girls.
12:45 In some societies, the housekeepers, they love storekeepers.
12:50 They prefer their kids to go for herding rather than going to school.
12:55 So we had to educate the parents to accept sending their kids to school.
13:00 My number two challenge was infrastructure,
13:03 the lack of classrooms.
13:07 But now we are done with that.
13:10 We are still having shortages, but not as much as it was before.
13:14 The third challenge is the number of teachers,
13:18 be able to employ teachers
13:21 which would be enough for every school in the whole country. be able to employ teachers
13:21 which would be enough for every school in the whole country.
13:26 That was our challenge.
13:28 [David Malpass] Is there a qualification standard?
13:32 Is that important, the quality of the teacher?
13:35 How do you think about that?
13:36 [Samia Suluhu Hassan] The quality of the teachers?
13:38 Yes.
13:40 But we are taking on the quality of the teachers in science subjects.
13:44 That's where we are struggling.
13:46 The art subjects, we are having enough.
13:48 The challenge with the arts subject IS
13:50 [LIVE: PRESIDENT OF TANZANIA ON INVESTING IN PEOPLE]
13:52 the capacity of the government to employ more teachers.
13:55 But for the science subjects, yes, we are still struggling.
13:58 Training more science subject teachers.
14:02 We are working on that.
14:04 [David Malpass] Is there a difference between women teachers and men teachers
14:07 as far as effectiveness?
14:08 [Samia Suluhu Hassan] Yeah [David Malpass] Which way?
14:10 Fortunately, the health and education sector
14:14 employs more women than men.
14:17 We are having more female teachers than male, in numbers.
14:23 Also in health sector, we are having more female nurses than men.
14:29 But when you go up to the doctors,
14:32 we're having more male doctors than female doctors.
14:35 [UP NEXT: HOW TO JOIN THE CONVERSATION]
14:37 [David Malpass] Someday maybe those can balance.
14:39 [Samia Suluhu Hassan] This is because, when we were moving to our...
14:45 former stream of education, girls kept on dropping out,
14:53 and there were not much on science subjects than men.
14:59 But nowadays that gap has been reduced.
15:02 [David Malpass] We find if girls are given the chance,
15:05 they do very well in maths and science.
15:07 [Samia Suluhu Hassan] Yes, sure.
15:08 [David Malpass] I know you've been a big promoter of girls' education
15:12 and also countering gender-based violence.
15:17 How is that going and what are the obstacles to that?
15:22 Is it educating the society not to allow it, or...
15:27 What's most effective?
15:29 [Samia Suluhu Hassan] Before the gender-based education, we had both.
15:34 We had the legal frameworks and then we had education.
15:38 But then with the legal frameworks,
15:43 most of those who are victims of gender-based violence
15:49 wouldn't like to go for legal frameworks,
15:52 they would like to fix things at home.
15:57 So we go for education.
15:59 And education...
16:02 I think we started wrongly by educating women only.
16:06 But now we have realized that both have to be educated,
16:10 men and women,
16:12 that gender-based violence is neither good for men nor for women.
16:17 We are conducting the NGOs,
16:20 the civil society organizations are conducting training for all of them.
16:26 [David Malpass] That's an important insight.
16:29 It's obvious when you say it that men are part of the problem
16:33 and have to be educated and brought forward along.
16:38 Okay, very good.
16:42 Any advice?
16:44 We have couple more minutes.
16:46 Do you have advice for other leaders?
16:48 You've been a strong leader, a new leader.
16:52 Is it important to move fast?
16:53 What do you take away from your experience?
16:56 [Samia Suluhu Hassan] From my experience,
16:59 I think everybody needs to be a good leader to his or her country.
17:03 But then we are having challenges.
17:06 With these challenges might be supported...
17:10 or the government be supported by different multilateral institutions,
17:17 bilateral means to eradicate those challenges.
17:21 We do have challenges,
17:25 maybe to improve the qualities of health and education,
17:29 challenges of provision of safe and clean water to our people.
17:33 Challenges of provision of green energy to our people.
17:39 And now we are talking of green energy.
17:42 The international organizations come up with new terminologies every now and then.
17:47 "Green energy", "leave this", "don't use that".
17:50 But they have to look at the situations we are in,
17:56 because, as we are talking now, we are told to go for green energy.
18:01 For us, in Africa, for example,
18:05 we can go for hydro-power,
18:08 we can go for solar, we can go for gas.
18:11 This is being put in question mark.
18:15 But we have a lot of gas.
18:16 We can go for gas.
18:18 We can go for thermal and wind.
18:21 Those are the green sources of energy.
18:24 But we need support to generate energy from those sources.
18:29 [David Malpass] You're doing a remarkable job, and we're looking
18:31 for ways to expand our program.
18:33 I'm particularly happy to hear about
18:35 the progress in education, in health,
18:38 and gender-based violence.
18:40 These are all key to the future of Tanzania.
18:43 Thank you very much, Madam President.
18:47 I'll go back to Rachelle.
18:49 [Samia Suluhu Hassan] Thank you very much.
18:51 [David Malpass] Thank you.
18:53 [Rachelle Akuffo] A very big thank you to you as well,
18:54 President Samia, for sharing your insights.
18:57 Please do share your thoughts on that discussion and those to come.
19:00 [#INVESTINPEOPLE]
19:01 You can post your comments using #InvestInPeople
19:04 and follow us on Twitter, Instagram, Facebook and LinkedIn.
19:09 You can also post comments and questions at live.worldbank.org.
19:13 We have experts standing by to answer your questions
19:16 in English, Spanish, French and Arabic.
19:19 You can see some of them in action right here.
19:22 We'll be putting some of the most popular questions
19:25 to two Bank's experts at the end of today's event.
19:30 [AMMAN, JORDAN]
19:31 [Nabil] I'm Nabil in Amman,
19:33 and you're watching the World Bank Group-IMF Spring Meetings.
19:39 [Rachelle Akuffo] The world has been facing
19:40 a global learning crisis for some time.
19:43 Countries are faced with issues of inadequate resources
19:47 and many children lack access to quality education.
19:50 Then, of course, comes the COVID-19 pandemic.
19:54 To really understand how COVID has escalated
19:57 the learning crisis, let's look at the latest data.
20:00 Now, remember, we define learning poverty
20:03 as being unable to read and understand
20:05 a simple text by age ten.
20:08 So, how did the pandemic affect students around the world?
20:11 At its peak, 1.6 billion children were impacted
20:16 by COVID-19 related school closures.
20:19 This really was a global crisis,
20:22 188 countries were impacted.
20:25 How has the unprecedented hit on schooling
20:28 affected learning poverty?
20:30 Well, back in 2015,
20:32 the rate of learning poverty
20:34 in low and middle-income countries was 53%.
20:38 Just to give you a sense of the global disparity,
20:41 in high-income countries, that figure was just 9%.
20:46 So, it may be some time before we have the final data
20:49 on the impact of the pandemic,
20:50 but the projections are startling.
20:53 Recent simulations suggest that learning poverty
20:56 could have increased to 70%,
20:59 a rise of 17 percentage points.
21:02 To understand the extent to which this pandemic has derailed progress,
21:06 take a look at this blue line,
21:08 which shows the international target for learning poverty,
21:12 which was to halve the rate by 2030.
21:15 That ambitious target now appears unattainable.
21:21 Clearly, we must get learning back on track and accelerate progress.
21:25 Tackling learning poverty is a crucial component
21:28 to building a country's human capital.
21:30 We must also ensure we are giving children
21:33 the best possible start in life.
21:35 How we best go about this is something
21:37 upon which our first panel of guests all have interesting perspectives.
21:44 I'm joined now by three global leaders
21:46 who understand that investing in the early years
21:48 helps to break the cycle of poverty,
21:50 address inequality and boost productivity.
21:54 I'm joined here by Mari Pangestu,
21:56 World Bank Managing Director
21:57 of Development Policy & Partnerships,
22:00 Malala Yousafzai, co-founder of the Malala Fund,
22:03 the youngest ever Nobel laureate
22:05 and a tireless advocate for girls' rights to education.
22:08 And Amina Mohammed, Deputy Secretary-General
22:11 of the United Nations.
22:13 A very warm welcome to all of you.
22:15 Thank you for joining us on this important day.
22:17 A lot of important conversations to be had.
22:19 Mari, I want to first start with you.
22:21 The devastating impact of school closures on learning outcomes,
22:25 with a spiraling learning poverty
22:27 threatens to derail an entire generation.
22:30 What are the extents of the challenges
22:31 and what should be done?
22:33 [Mari Pangestu] Thanks, Rochelle.
22:35 It's a great pleasure to be on this panel
22:37 with Amina Mohammed, my old friend and of course,
22:40 Malala as a role model for the right for girls to have education.
22:45 I think just to put the context of the challenges,
22:48 we've never had such a situation in the world
22:51 where you had long global lockdown of schools.
22:55 The average is 286 days that schools were closed down.
22:59 In some regions, like South Asia, it's very high.
23:02 It's like 480 days.
23:04 That's a year to almost two years of kids not being in school.
23:09 The learning losses are something
23:12 that will be the big challenge.
23:14 The impact of not going to school
23:17 and loss of learning is also unequal in its impact,
23:22 affecting young children the most,
23:24 as well as those in poorer households
23:27 and those who are not connected.
23:29 To the extent that remote learning is available,
23:31 but if you don't have connectivity,
23:33 you will not be able to reach any type of remote learning.
23:37 UNICEF estimates that 31% of school children
23:40 could not access any kind of remote learning.
23:44 These are the challenges,
23:46 and it translates into a lost decade of development.
23:49 You can actually put a number to it,
23:51 which is 17 trillion dollars worth of loss earnings
23:55 because of the reduced learning.
23:58 That's 14% of the world GDP.
24:01 What needs to be done?
24:02 I think this is really what we are all working
24:06 with our partners and with countries.
24:09 How can we address this?
24:11 We need swift and urgent action.
24:13 First of all, get kids back to school
24:16 because we also know there has also been a high dropout rate,
24:19 kids not coming back to school,
24:21 even as schools opening up, especially girls.
24:24 This happened with the Ebola crisis
24:26 where less girls came back to school.
24:29 We've got to create the incentives
24:31 for kids to come back to school
24:33 and stay in school, especially girls.
24:36 Incentives combined with school meals,
24:39 making sure like, in Brazil,
24:41 we're working with the Brazilian government
24:43 to sort of have a check system,
24:45 a survey system to understand
24:48 when kids are not coming back to school
24:51 and finding how to get them back to school.
24:53 Creating safe schools for girls is very important.
24:57 Second, how do you regain the learning losses?
25:00 It's not just the one or one and a half years
25:03 of not going to school that's lost.
25:05 They've also forgotten what they learned
25:07 even when they were in school.
25:09 This accelerated learning recovery really needs a focus
25:14 in terms of the programs that we need to design,
25:16 the teachers that we need to train
25:18 to be able to have the tools and resources to address this.
25:22 Then third,
25:23 as we are addressing the learning recovery,
25:26 we should also be addressing what we need to change
25:30 for the more medium-term education issues, the core skills,
25:36 how do we get teachers to be trained?
25:39 We're also looking at what we call school beyond walls,
25:42 the important role of parents
25:44 and communities as well in the learning,
25:46 and the whole digital divide.
25:49 We need to address how to get the remote learning and
25:53 using digital and connectivity is very important.
25:55 I just want to share one...
25:58 We're working with a lot of countries on this.
26:00 One area that is important,
26:04 how do you develop tools and train teachers
26:07 to understand the differentiated learning needs of children?
26:12 In Gujarat, we actually have tools
26:15 to have teachers look at the learning needs of kids every week
26:20 and then adjust the learning materials
26:22 to be able to adjust for the different needs.
26:25 This is the kind of thing that needs to also happen
26:28 on the ground as we really address the urgent need
26:31 for recovering the losses.
26:33 The final thing I would say is funding, of course,
26:35 how can we really raise this awareness
26:38 for governments to allocate sufficient budget
26:41 for recovering these learning losses?
26:44 Otherwise, it's a lost generation and loss of future income.
26:48 Then also, how does the international community
26:51 comes around to really help
26:54 to accelerate this regaining of the learning losses?
26:58 [Rachelle Akuffo] As you mentioned,
26:58 this really is a holistic approach that needs to be taken.
27:01 A real wake up call, obviously,
27:03 with COVID building on what was already happening
27:05 in the education system.
27:07 Malala, I want to bring you in here
27:08 because in some regions and contexts,
27:11 very few students are able to read.
27:13 How do we address this
27:14 and what special considerations are needed
27:16 from a gender and fragility context?
27:20 [Malala Yousafzai] I think in this time,
27:22 education advocates need to take the issue
27:25 of the quality of education more seriously.
27:28 We know that when children enroll into schools,
27:30 there's also the issue of what they learn in their classrooms.
27:34 It's the access to education,
27:36 but also, the quality of education that are important.
27:40 We know that there is also the element of gender in it.
27:45 Girls do outperform boys in arts,
27:49 and they're also catching up on maths as well.
27:52 If we look at the averages,
27:54 averages only tell us half the story.
27:57 We need to dig deeper into this
28:00 and look at how girls from marginalized,
28:03 from low-income communities are more impacted,
28:05 they're less likely to excel in these academic subjects.
28:10 There's also the issue of the crisis.
28:15 When an external crisis hit an economy,
28:18 girls are usually the first ones to drop out,
28:20 and the last ones to return to their classrooms.
28:23 So, we need to look at the factor of gender,
28:26 the factor of their background as well,
28:29 to ensure that we are addressing
28:34 the issues that are there in the systems.
28:39 We also know that
28:42 we need policies that are more inclusive,
28:46 holistic, and also creative
28:49 when we are talking about the future of education.
28:52 This pandemic has taught us that
28:54 we need to consider education beyond just a classroom.
28:59 Think about how we can use digital platforms as tools for education.
29:06 I hope that this is a time when our leaders, when our policymakers
29:11 realize that this is an urgent issue.
29:14 This is a crisis that needs to be addressed sooner.
29:17 Every year, children are losing out on access to education.
29:21 Girls are left behind because of lack of access to schools.
29:25 The number is in millions.
29:27 We still live in a world where 127 million girls
29:30 do not have access to education.
29:33 We want this to change.
29:34 We want all children, in any part of the world,
29:36 to be able to go to school, to have dreams
29:39 and to make those dreams come true for themselves.
29:42 I hope that policymakers, experts, do more for this cause.
29:48 We know that they are making good verbal statements,
29:52 but now it's time that they take action as well.
29:54 They increase their finance.
29:56 They increase financing for education.
29:58 We know that financing for education has been stagnant.
30:04 There has been little increase.
30:06 And so we need that
30:09 but we also need an investment in the quality of education as well.
30:13 [Rachelle Akuffo] As you mentioned, in terms of COVID-19,
30:16 Amina, I want to bring you in here
30:18 because we know that COVID-19 has been the biggest setback
30:21 to human capital in living memory.
30:24 What are the unique impacts on young people,
30:26 and what are the key priorities to get back on track?
30:29 [Amina Mohammed] Thank you very much.
30:31 It's great to be with Malala and with Mary
30:33 on a subject that is so important
30:36 in us taking advantage of the recovery.
30:38 It is about the socioeconomic recovery from COVID,
30:43 and now we have another exacerbating crisis
30:45 with the war in Ukraine.
30:47 I think Mary has spoken to really
30:50 the facts and figures for the learning losses.
30:53 I think that
30:54 something we really need to think about is that they were there before COVID.
30:59 We were having children dropping out.
31:01 We were having many who couldn't read or write.
31:03 I mean, we have had this situation for decades.
31:06 What are we going to do differently?
31:08 I think that this is the question now
31:10 for us to rethink education.
31:12 To have a rebirth of the way the future,
31:14 the next generation are going to have education.
31:17 The learning losses showed us
31:19 that even if you had connectivity,
31:21 teachers were not prepared to teach
31:24 and learners were not prepared to learn.
31:26 Even though, we thought we had them connected.
31:28 I think that those lessons are important,
31:31 that we invest in the capacities
31:34 for knowledge and for learning to happen
31:37 and for the right skill sets for that individual to contribute
31:41 A) to themselves, but B) to the community
31:43 and the society at large.
31:45 Many of the learning losses were compounded by many issues,
31:50 not just not having access to education, but remember,
31:53 we did the school feeding around the world
31:55 to make sure that at least that one square meal happened
31:59 and we got better nutrition.
32:00 We lost that not just in the Global South but even in the Global North.
32:04 Here in New York,
32:05 we had 300 thousand meals that people had to come and collect
32:08 just because they fell out of school.
32:10 But we also, I think, learned very quickly
32:15 the importance of the curriculum itself.
32:21 I think that when we are thinking forward
32:24 and re birthing education,
32:25 we will need to give a lot more thought to
32:27 what is education for.
32:29 We cannot have this cookie cutter
32:31 where in every country we aspire to one norm,
32:34 which may not work for us.
32:35 We saw that in the learning losses
32:39 that happened as we went along.
32:42 My greatest concern for what has happened
32:44 during this time with young people
32:47 and I'm really listening to them,
32:48 when I visited Costa Rica, a girls' school there
32:50 and just listened to the young girls,
32:52 was in fact the mental health dimension to this.
32:55 The head is on the body,
32:57 and we often talk about the health of the body,
33:00 but we don't talk about the health of the head.
33:02 And we are one.
33:03 And as they came out of this, the anxiety that they had,
33:07 the depression that set in,
33:09 the lack of connect human interaction
33:13 that was missing from the new classroom,
33:16 and in fact, with the crises,
33:20 not being able to deal with what happens next,
33:25 what is my future about?
33:26 How am I going to connect with it?
33:28 Can I catch up? Will I be left behind?
33:31 I think that this, in crisis situations,
33:34 in normal situations,
33:36 are all going to come in the aftermath
33:38 of as we try to get back on track.
33:40 For us at the United Nations,
33:42 working with partners in the country-level,
33:44 the transforming education conversation
33:47 has to happen at the local level.
33:49 We should take this as an advantage
33:52 in trying to build back better.
33:54 When we speak to the investments that are needed
33:56 in trying to achieve the 2030 agenda and the SDGs,
33:59 we've got to do it differently, and perhaps
34:02 make good on all the promises that we've had
34:05 for young people, for communities, for countries,
34:09 that education truly is the foundation,
34:12 truly is the cornerstone.
34:13 I think we've got to get past that
34:15 and make use of this crisis.
34:17 There is a silver lining there,
34:18 but it's about being very clear on the steps
34:21 and acknowledging that it wasn't COVID just opened up
34:26 and made more urgent for us to get a response
34:31 and to get it with a sense of urgency.
34:34 Education can't wait. It really can't.
34:36 Girls are at the forefront of losing that.
34:40 That's half your population.
34:41 We cannot be without half our population.
34:44 This doesn't work.
34:46 Maybe finally, I would say, we have spoken about
34:48 not leaving anyone behind.
34:50 I'm really concerned about the number of boys
34:53 and young men we are leaving behind.
34:55 In the end, women and girls
34:57 have to live in a society with boys and men.
35:00 This needs to be a place where the next generation
35:03 does this together.
35:05 So, while we catch up with the girls,
35:07 I still want us to remember that
35:08 there are many boys that are falling out
35:10 and that's not good for girls or men and women as we go forth.
35:16 [Rachelle Akuffo] As you mentioned,
35:16 what's happening outside of the classroom in terms of mental health,
35:19 being able to even have the breathing room
35:21 to try and learn very important to address.
35:23 Malala, you're a global role model
35:25 when it comes to overcoming adversity.
35:27 Unfortunately, so many have suffered incredible setbacks
35:30 and continue to be impacted by them.
35:33 Advice you have for young people
35:34 that are also facing incredible difficulties right now.
35:37 [Malala Yousafzai] I don't think young people
35:41 need my advice or anyone's advice.
35:43 Young people already are advocating for their rights.
35:47 They are speaking out for a more equal, fairer society.
35:51 They are advocating for climate change related policies.
35:56 They are talking about gender equality.
35:58 They're talking about their right to education.
36:00 I want to bring attention to one issue.
36:02 That is the situation in Afghanistan.
36:05 Girls' education has been banned by the de facto government,
36:08 by the Taliban.
36:09 Afghanistan right now is the only country in the world
36:13 where adolescent girls are prohibited
36:15 from secondary education.
36:17 There is no justification for this under Islamic laws
36:21 or under any other cultural context either.
36:25 Education is a basic human right,
36:27 culturally, religiously, and morally as well.
36:32 So, I am inspired by all the young women
36:38 in Afghanistan and around the world
36:39 who are protesting for their rights.
36:41 They are raising their voices already.
36:44 All I need to say to them is I stand with you.
36:47 That's the message they need to hear from the world,
36:49 that we stand with them,
36:51 we can hear them and that we will take action,
36:54 we will support them,
36:55 we will give them a world
36:56 where they can have access to safe, free and quality education,
37:00 they can have the right to work.
37:01 I think girls, children,
37:03 as Amina Mohammed mentioned, like boys children, everyone.
37:06 They need our attention.
37:07 We need to promise
37:09 a safer and a better world to our future generation.
37:14 We have been taking so long.
37:17 We have been taking decades and decades.
37:19 We should not be living in a world
37:20 where more than 250 million children are out of school.
37:25 So, education is a way
37:29 for having a brighter, safer future.
37:32 We need to ensure that
37:35 we invest in this sustainable solution for our future
37:37 and ensure that all children can have access to quality education.
37:41 They can have dreams, and they can make those dreams come true
37:43 and make this world a better place for all.
37:47 [Rachelle Akuffo] We do have just a few minutes left.
37:48 Amina, I do want to get your take here.
37:50 UNICEF, UNESCO and the World Bank
37:52 releasing a report on learning loss
37:53 that you described as an urgent wake up call.
37:56 What message do you want to share with
37:57 Ministers of Education or Finance
37:59 about investments in education?
38:02 [Amina Mohammed] I think the first thing to do is
38:04 to remind everyone that education is a human right.
38:07 It's fundamental.
38:08 Every government, head of state and government
38:11 after security, is education,
38:13 without which we cannot get anything.
38:15 For a Minister of Finance to be the champion of Education,
38:20 not just to talk about this foundation,
38:22 but to invest in it, education cannot be a trade-off.
38:26 It cannot be either/or.
38:27 Do we do education? Do we invest in industry?
38:30 It is fundamental to everything.
38:32 I think if we can have
38:34 education ministers seeing education as an investment
38:39 in the human being, the person, the citizen, the society,
38:43 then we have a mindset change.
38:46 Here again, I would say that ministers of education
38:48 have to stop sitting and talking in a silo.
38:51 Education matters to everything,
38:53 just as we say women's rights do.
38:55 Therefore, for education itself,
38:57 the co-convening creating of the needs that you have
39:01 in agriculture, in industry, in connectivity, in the digital world.
39:07 All of that has to happen
39:09 not just in the education sector, but across all sectors
39:12 so that they see the value of it.
39:14 When you're around a cabinet table which I have been,
39:19 that you're not just talking about the education agenda,
39:21 as though it is not a part of every other agenda.
39:24 Both the finance ministers and ministers of education
39:27 will have to have that conversation
39:29 and bring it to the center of economic growth,
39:32 so that you understand that GDP,
39:35 the quality of which cannot be without education.
39:38 As Malala has just said,
39:40 It's taken decades for us to do this.
39:43 What is stopping us?
39:44 We cannot possibly think that we're going to grow any nation,
39:48 any people without the very basics.
39:50 We have an opportunity now.
39:52 We are speaking about the transformation of education.
39:56 We will be speaking about the financing.
39:59 Every domestic budget has to put aside
40:02 resources for basic services and rights.
40:04 That is education, that is health, that is water and sanitation.
40:08 Here, I would say to our colleagues
40:11 in the finance community
40:13 that we've got to think about how we leverage
40:15 the growth of economies where the returns actually pay
40:19 for the education, for health,
40:21 and are not seen as something we have to go borrow for.
40:25 It should be that first charge.
40:28 Until we get that,
40:29 we are not going to be talking about
40:31 all people leaving no one behind.
40:33 We will only be talking about the elite
40:35 and certain sections of society.
40:37 I think this conversation of transformation of education
40:41 has to begin with policymakers.
40:43 Politicians have to understand it
40:45 and they have to be measured against
40:47 whether they have an educated population or not
40:49 and that education fits the person
40:52 and fits the society,
40:53 and therefore, that nation can join the comity of nations
40:57 as an equal partner.
40:59 [Rachelle Akuffo] Mari, we have about a minute left.
41:01 I want to get your take on
41:03 how you see investing in people
41:04 catalyzing a greener, more resilient, inclusive development
41:08 and how perhaps digital technologies
41:10 and youth aspirations factor into this.
41:12 [Mari Pangestu] I think a lot has been said
41:15 and I'm in wide agreement with what Amina has been saying.
41:18 I think investing in human capital is key for development
41:22 and also, for inclusiveness.
41:24 Whether it's making sure girls can get to school,
41:26 making sure that no one is left behind.
41:29 A holistic approach on human capital,
41:32 it's education, it's health, it's food and nutrition,
41:36 it's the ability to be connected in a digital way.
41:39 So, it has to be a holistic approach
41:42 and it has to be the priority for the country
41:45 because it is about longer term development
41:47 including green, resilient and inclusive development.
41:50 I think here, just because you mentioned youth,
41:54 I think we are in a situation
41:57 where we had a lot of adolescents,
42:00 boys and girls dropping out of school
42:02 and in a slow growth environment.
42:05 The issue of being able to employ youth,
42:08 I think is going to be a very big global problem.
42:11 How do we design skills upgrading to be able to have
42:17 this youth be able to either find jobs or to become entrepreneurs?
42:22 I think digital connectivity is one of the key issues,
42:25 but the fact is we have a digital divide still,
42:28 2.9 billion people are still not connected
42:31 and it's much higher in Africa.
42:33 I think it's something like 70%
42:35 are not connected to the internet
42:37 and 43% for developing countries.
42:39 It's about the connectivity
42:41 and once you're connected, digital literacy.
42:44 What do you do to get value added from it?
42:47 Also really make them inclusive
42:50 as part of the education and the job opportunities
42:54 and the entrepreneurs.
42:55 So, it has to be combined with also the ability to access markets,
43:00 access finance and so on.
43:02 I think the final thing I would say
43:03 is related to what's the message for policymakers.
43:07 I think Amina is absolutely right,
43:09 we really need to get to the top of political decision-maker,
43:14 this is crucial for the country's development
43:16 and it requires a holistic approach
43:19 in terms of the interventions needed.
43:21 It is really important the domestic resource mobilization
43:26 that goes around it, which can be complemented by
43:29 international cooperation.
43:31 But it needs to start with the political commitment
43:33 and the ability of the country itself
43:36 to come up with a holistic program.
43:38 It has to be a combination of finance ministers,
43:41 education ministers, health ministers,
43:43 digital-related ministers.
43:47 It has to come together because you want to make sure
43:50 the financing goes to where it will have the most effect
43:53 and transform the education system, as Amina said.
43:58 [Rachelle Akuffo] I do want to thank our panel.
43:59 Obviously, the challenges are many,
44:01 but you've given us a lot to think about today.
44:03 We do appreciate it.
44:04 Thank you once again.
44:05 [Malala Yousafzai] Thank you.
44:06 [Amina Mohammed] Thank you very much.
44:08 [MONTELÍBANO, COLOMBIA]
44:08 [Jairo] Hi, I am Jairo, in Montelíbano Colombia
44:11 and you are watching the World Bank Group-IMF Spring Meetings.
44:18 [Rachelle Akuffo] If you've just joined us,
44:20 I'm Rachelle Akuffo
44:21 and you're watching Human Capital at the Crossroad.
44:24 A reminder that you can join the conversation
44:26 on today's event at any time using the hashtag #InvestInPeople.
44:31 We're also asking you to take part in a special poll.
44:34 Now, the pandemic has been a major setback to human capital progress.
44:38 What do you think is the most pressing
44:40 priority to help people achieve their potential?
44:43 Is it A, quality, inclusive education? or B, stronger health systems?
44:49 Do you think C, equitable social protection is the key?
44:53 or is it D, putting women and girls at the heart of solutions?
44:58 And your last option is E, jobs and private sector investment?
45:03 We're asking which of these five options
45:06 is the most important in helping people achieve their full potential?
45:10 You can cast your vote right now
45:12 at live.worldbank.org
45:14 and we'll bring you the results at the end of this event.
45:17 [LIVE.WORLDBANK.ORG]
45:17 Now, strong and accessible health and social protection systems
45:21 help build, employ and protect human capital.
45:24 Let's take a look at how the World Bank has been helping developing countries
45:28 protect and invest in their people, especially in times of crisis.
45:33 [QUALITY HEALTH CARE & STRONG HUMAN CAPITAL GO HAND-IN-HAND.]
45:37 We acted like frontline soldiers,
45:40 risking our own health and that of our family.
45:48 [PHILIPPINES]
45:50 [The World Bank Group is supporting countries globally
45:53 in their COVID-19 vaccines deployment.]
45:55 [From cities to hard-to-reach rural areas...]
45:59 [LIZ ARELLO, VILLAGE HEALTH WORKER] To be vaccinated means to be protected,
46:01 and we can start getting back to our normal lives.
46:04 [ECUADOR]
46:06 [We are supporting national communication strategies,
46:08 to reinforce vaccine uptake.]
46:09 This is my COVID vaccination card.
46:12 It represents my commitment
46:14 as a responsible citizen, to myself and my country.
46:20 [The World Bank is also helping countries strengthen their health systems.]
46:23 [BENIN]
46:26 The government of Benin, with the support of The World Bank,
46:29 through the REDISSE project,
46:31 has made it possible for us to not only strengthen
46:33 the technical support center of the previously established laboratory,
46:35 but also set up 12 other laboratories.
46:37 [As a result, Benin has closed a 20-year gap in disease surveillance and management.]
46:44 [MONGOLIA]
46:47 There was a lack of breathing aid devices in the intensive care unit.
46:54 And this was purchased
46:56 with World Bank financing, which was very helpful.
47:02 The assistance provided to us for fighting against the pandemic
47:06 will continue to provide the foundation for providing quality health care services
47:10 and positively impact future health care services.
47:13 [TAJIKISTAN]
47:16 [Ensuring that every woman and child have access to health care
47:19 is at the heart of our work.]
47:20 Public health, particularly maternal and child health
47:23 [ZULFIYA ABDUSAMATZODA, DEPUTY MINISTER OF HEALTH]
47:24 [ZULFIYA ABDUSAMATZODA, DEPUTY MINISTER OF HEALTH]
47:26 of the Government of the Republic of Tajikistan.
47:28 A healthy mother gives birth to a healthy child.
47:32 [Human capital is central to a green, resilient, and inclusive recovery.]
47:36 [The World Bank is helping countries
47:39 to protect and invest in their people for a more prosperous future.]
47:44 [Rachelle Akuffo] The pandemic has caused severe disruptions
47:46 to routine and essential health services,
47:49 resulting in devastating impact on health outcomes for people,
47:53 especially on the the most vulnerable.
47:55 But as we've just seen, it also presents an opportunity
47:58 to strengthen health systems as well as social protection.
48:02 Our next panel discussion explores
48:03 how building this resilience from shocks can deliver better human capital outcomes.
48:10 We're now joined by Senator Dr. Sania Nishtar from Pakistan,
48:14 Gustavo Béliz, Argentina's Secretary of Strategic Affairs,
48:18 and Dr. Morena Makhoana, the CEO of Biovac,
48:21 a South African based vaccine manufacturer.
48:24 A big thank you to all our guests for joining us today.
48:28 First, Senator Nishtar, I want to start with you.
48:30 There are linkages between health
48:32 and social protection systems.
48:34 How do they work together
48:35 to protect and build human capital in Pakistan?
48:38 In particular, tell us about the impact COVID-19 has had
48:42 and the role technology has played in delivering services.
48:47 Well, thank you very much.
48:48 Firstly, let me make a focal point
48:50 about the synergies between health and social protection.
48:55 Well, firstly,
48:56 social protection is a battle against low income,
48:58 and we know that low income is...
49:00 we know that income is one of the strongest determinants
49:04 of health status achievements.
49:06 Secondly,
49:08 social protections can also protect families
49:10 from the negative coping strategies
49:13 which are part of possible shocks and economic crises.
49:17 Thirdly, social protection can significantly contribute
49:22 to human capital building
49:24 through ensuring financial access to education,
49:26 financial access to health care and nutrition.
49:29 And through this, it can really help
49:31 improving health and nutrition outcomes.
49:34 In the fourth place,
49:36 social protection can really help
49:38 a world catastrophic health expenditures
49:42 and protect people from foregoing health care.
49:45 We were very cognizant of all these four linkages
49:48 when we established Pakistan's largest social protection program
49:52 called Ehsaas which means compassion in our local language.
49:56 We used a number of different programmatic levers
50:00 to improve health outcomes
50:01 through a social protection centered program
50:04 and through the Social Protection Ministry.
50:06 For instance, we've got
50:08 an unconditional cash transfer program for eight million families.
50:11 Research tells us that
50:14 the bulk of the money is used to buy food rations.
50:17 Secondly, we've got a nationwide
50:20 health and nutrition condition cash transfer program
50:22 and a nationwide education condition cash transfer program.
50:27 You'll be pleased to know that, in both of these cases,
50:30 we offer a higher stepping amount for the third child.
50:33 We also have a fund-based health financing system
50:36 to complement the country's health insurance initiative.
50:39 Then we have a shock responsive registry,
50:42 which is brand new and has just been created.
50:45 Very quickly in COVID,
50:47 through the infrastructure that we built,
50:49 we were able to reach out to 15 million individuals,
50:53 15 million families,
50:55 and we used technologies and a process
50:59 that was end-to-end embedded in technologies.
51:02 I'm very humbled to let you know that
51:04 ours is the fastest deployment globally
51:06 and the third largest
51:08 in terms of the percentage of population reached.
51:13 [Rachelle Akuffo] Secretary Béliz, I want to bring you in here.
51:15 Sustained human capital development requires
51:18 a whole of government approach.
51:19 How is Argentina prioritizing human capital progress
51:22 across health, social protection and other key sectors?
51:28 [Interpreter] Integral human development
51:30 is the essence of the program we are launching.
51:34 Instead of talking only about human capital
51:37 we talked about philosophical concept
51:41 of integral human development.
51:44 We are inspired by what our Pope is doing globally.
51:50 It's a philosophy that he is fostering
51:53 which is improving after the pandemic
51:56 and that's how we are approaching our public policy.
51:59 In the case of Argentina, we dedicated very important funds
52:02 to the prevention of social damage caused by the pandemic.
52:08 We've invested more than 6 points of our GDP
52:13 in social assistance.
52:15 Also, one billion dollars in an emergency nutrition plan.
52:21 We also covered 60% of the population, the working population
52:27 with subsidies for employment, for businesses
52:31 so that we could actually prevent a wave of massive unemployment
52:38 We also strengthened programs to assist families.
52:43 This program is called Universal Child Allowance
52:50 and it includes health services and education services.
52:54 In the midst of all this, we managed to restructure our public debt
52:58 the foreign one and the domestic one
53:00 with the International Monetary Fund as well as with private creditors
53:04 In 2021, we managed to really...
53:11 We manage to see the results of our post-pandemic economic recovery.
53:17 Thanks to the measures implemented in 2020,
53:19 our economy managed to grow more than 10% of our GDP in 2021
53:27 and we decrease our unemployment rate to 7%
53:32 and we increase investment by 32.9%.
53:37 We did this together with the private sector
53:42 and mainly with the technological sector.
53:47 Argentina is very strong in this industry
53:50 and that is why comprehensive human development
53:53 has to come hand in hand with technological humanism
54:00 so that all these skills are for the common good.
54:05 [Rachelle Akuffo] Senator Nishtar, I want to bring you back in here.
54:07 After decades of progress,
54:09 we do see a sharp rise now in poverty
54:11 that's been detrimental to Human Capital.
54:14 Countries also facing, of course, shrinking budgets.
54:17 How can we help arrest some of these losses now,
54:20 as well as set the stage for poverty alleviation
54:22 and recovery at this point?
54:25 [Sania Nishtar] You're absolutely right,
54:27 because the MDG on poverty eradication
54:31 was achieved ahead of time,
54:32 but, with the corresponding sustainable development goal,
54:35 we are sliding backwards.
54:37 I think the answer to this
54:39 is that governments have to commit to
54:42 increasing investments in social protection,
54:45 and not look at it as a cost,
54:49 but as an investment in the future of generations.
54:53 I can give you the example from my own country,
54:56 because during COVID, as I've already mentioned,
55:00 we reached out to 15 million families
55:04 and we executed a very large cash transfer program.
55:08 But it was during the initial stages of COVID
55:12 that we decided to increase our investments
55:15 in social protection and poverty alleviation going forward,
55:19 and we did not drop the ball
55:21 on implementation.
55:23 Over the last two and a half years,
55:27 we have brought to fruition the upscaling of a health
55:31 and nutrition conditional cash transfer program nationwide.
55:35 We have successfully upscaled
55:37 our education condition cash transfer program nationwide.
55:41 Even while COVID was arranging
55:43 and we were completely consumed in the execution
55:46 of the cash transfer program.
55:47 We've completed the building
55:50 of a new shock-responsive national socioeconomic registry,
55:55 which will allow us to preposition
55:58 cash transfers during subsequent shocks.
56:01 And we've already tested it
56:02 during an earthquake as well.
56:06 We're also making and continuing to make
56:09 these strategic enhancements in data and digital systems,
56:12 which will bolster our ability not only
56:15 to upscale social protection systems,
56:17 but continue to respond more effectively during shocks.
56:24 It's all about political will.
56:28 It's all about investments,
56:30 and it's all about due diligence
56:32 and seriousness in implementation.
56:36 [Rachelle Akuffo] Given how much of a wake up call COVID has been,
56:39 Secretary Béliz, vaccine procurement and deployment
56:42 are crucial to combating not just the pandemic,
56:45 but obviously economic recovery as well.
56:47 It requires cooperation across countries,
56:49 multilateral organizations, and the private sector.
56:52 How did it work in Argentina,
56:54 and what lessons are you able to share?
56:57 [Interpreter] The lessons are many.
57:01 Very interestingly, Argentina developed technological capacity
57:05 of our own but also linked to added value chains.
57:11 Nationally, we managed to develop tests
57:15 to detect COVID-19 in five minutes.
57:18 We are also developing trials for our own vaccine
57:25 with our universities and the technological sector
57:29 We've also joined the supply chain to work with AstraZeneca.
57:35 We've donated vaccines to less developed countries.
57:43 We understand there is a difference
57:46 between rich countries and, low and middle-income countries
57:51 but we all need to have access to vaccines.
57:53 That's a common global good.
57:56 I would like to highlight the assistance
57:57 we received from the World Bank to acquire vaccines,
58:00 this was an effort that we truly value.
58:04 I would also like to nee to understand the concept of public health.
58:10 This has to be also comprehensive.
58:13 We need to address public health at a global level,
58:19 we are talking about preserving our environment.
58:22 In this regard, in the case of Latin America,
58:25 Regional and multilateral development banks that
58:31 have a presence in our continent, need to capitalize
58:37 taking advantage of the SDRs issued
58:41 by the International Monetary Fund.
58:45 This is a great opportunity to capitalize our banks
58:48 and make sure that a very important percentage
58:52 of those resources are used in order to strengthen
58:57 comprehensive human development and to preserve the health of our planet
59:02 through developing environmental policies that consolidate health
59:11 in global terms.
59:14 [Rachelle Akuffo] I do want to make sure we bring in Morena here.
59:15 As we keep hearing about this holistic approach,
59:18 what can the private sector do
59:19 to help arrest human capital losses and catalyze the recovery?
59:23 What does the private sector needs from the governments
59:26 to be able to fully contribute to better human capital?
59:31 [Morena Makhoana] I think it's important to acknowledge
59:34 that I think both sectors need each other,
59:36 both private and public sector.
59:40 However, I think globally it's clear that
59:43 the private sector is best at executing
59:46 and being a little bit more efficient.
59:49 Therefore, I think if there is a partnership
59:51 that can be drawn, where the public sector
59:55 can provide the framework that enable the private sector
59:59 to work more efficiently and to be able to harness
01:00:02 the type of human capital that it needs.
01:00:05 In that way, that is probably the best use of human capital,
01:00:08 but also the innovation really has come out of private sector
01:00:12 and what human capability can be ahead.
01:00:16 However, that cannot, as I said, work on its own.
01:00:20 It will need to work under a policy guidance
01:00:23 from the public sector, but also in a manner
01:00:26 that enables policies and the framework
01:00:31 and ecosystem in which private sector can work in.
01:00:36 [Rachelle Akuffo] I know our guests today
01:00:38 have shared a lot of useful information
01:00:39 and really combating these challenges.
01:00:41 We do appreciate your time today,
01:00:43 Senator Nishtar, Secretary Béliz and of course, Morena.
01:00:45 Thank you so much for joining us today.
01:00:47 A lot of people, I'm sure, will be inspired
01:00:49 by a lot of the innovations that we've been hearing
01:00:52 in terms of ways to possibly strengthen
01:00:54 the health and social protection systems everywhere.
01:00:57 Thank you so much.
01:00:59 [ULAANBAATAR, MONGOLIA]
01:01:00 [Donoz] Hello, I am Donoz in Ulaanbaatar, Mongolia
01:01:02 and you're watching the World Bank Group-IMF Spring Meetings.
01:01:09 [Rachelle Akuffo] Young people have been challenged
01:01:11 in many ways throughout this pandemic.
01:01:13 yet they remain optimistic and have ideas
01:01:16 for how things can be improved.
01:01:18 We ask young people around the world to share their aspirations
01:01:21 and some ideas of what's needed to achieve their potential.
01:01:25 Here's what they had to say.
01:01:27 [DON NYAGUDI, KENYA]
01:01:28 Hello everyone. My name is Don Nyagudi.
01:01:30 [XINYU LIU, CHINA] Hi, I'm Xinyu.
01:01:31 [GLORIA AGYARE, GHANA] My name is Gloria Agyare.
01:01:33 [NANDHAKUMAR, INDIA] Let me share my ideas with you.
01:01:35 [What do you NEED to fulfill YOUR potential?]
01:01:38 [Gloria Agyare] We require the right support,
01:01:40 an enabling environment and youth inclusion
01:01:43 at all decision-making levels.
01:01:45 [Nandhakumar] We need to develop our public transport facility
01:01:47 with better connectivity and the best time management.
01:01:51 [CHIJIOKE AKUMA, NIGERIA] Access to energy.
01:01:53 I mean safe and clean energy.
01:01:55 Then, access to the internet.
01:01:59 Then, access to tech skills.
01:02:02 [PATTY DIAZ ROMERO] I firmly believe that
01:02:03 the most important issues are education,
01:02:06 the use of technologies
01:02:08 [AHMAD JAMAL WATTOO, PAKISTAN] We need to finally take
01:02:10 climate change seriously.
01:02:13 [HOW can your lives be improved?]
01:02:16 [JESSICA HAINGOTIANA] Acknowledge the skills
01:02:17 of the active population
01:02:19 by organizing a training program for small businesses
01:02:23 in order to promote entrepreneurship
01:02:26 [Don Nyagudi] Increasing the amount of foreign direct investment into Kenya
01:02:30 and channeling those funds to the businesses
01:02:32 of young people who struggle to access capital
01:02:34 due to lack of enough collateral and guarantee.
01:02:37 [YASMIN HAMDY MOHAMED, EGYPT] Through providing comprehensive health coverage
01:02:40 and engaging youth in improving
01:02:41 education circumstances
01:02:43 empowering young women by granting them
01:02:44 leading roles in local communities.
01:02:46 [SARAFINA, GHANA] Prevent child marriage
01:02:48 to stop abuse and violation.
01:02:50 [VALENTINA CARDENAS, COLOMBIA] Using technology to close the inequality gaps
01:02:54 and to give access to everyone.
01:02:55 [Xinyu Liu] Workshops should be arranged
01:02:57 in the communities for the people
01:02:59 who have lost their jobs because of the pandemic.
01:03:02 This could equip them with more skills
01:03:04 to adapt themselves to the changing job market.
01:03:08 [NOURAN KHALED, EGYPT] Investing in people.
01:03:09 [MUSA IBRAHIM, NIGERIA] Invest in human capital.
01:03:11 [FAISA SYAHLA SABILA, INDONESIA] For me, for you and for generations to come.
01:03:14 [Gloria Agyare] The time to invest in people is now.
01:03:20 [Rachelle Akuffo] We heard several of those young people
01:03:22 talking about the importance of skills and training.
01:03:25 It's more important than ever to equip them for the jobs of the future.
01:03:28 Our next two guests have been involved in just that,
01:03:31 building skills and leveraging technology to create jobs and opportunities.
01:03:39 We're joined now by Zeena Majali,
01:03:41 the Co-founder of Crystel,
01:03:43 a pioneering business process outsourcing firm
01:03:45 in Jordan that makes gender equality
01:03:47 and competitiveness a priority.
01:03:50 And Beatrice Mahuru, the Founder and CEO of GLaD,
01:03:53 a management and PR firm in Papua New Guinea.
01:03:56 Beatrice is also a mentor
01:03:58 to marginalized youth in her country.
01:04:00 A very warm welcome to you both.
01:04:02 Zeena, I'll start with you.
01:04:04 You created a diverse and inclusive workforce at Crystel.
01:04:08 Was that always part of your inspiration
01:04:09 and vision for the company?
01:04:11 What obstacles did you face along the way?
01:04:14 [Zeena Majali] Thanks, Michelle.
01:04:16 That was always our vision.
01:04:18 We started this company when we were 23 years old.
01:04:21 Our vision was always to start the first call center in Jordan,
01:04:27 an independent call center that employs youth
01:04:30 and a lot of females and be able to create
01:04:33 a very safe workplace for them to work in.
01:04:37 Thankfully, we've been successful in doing so.
01:04:41 Today we employ thousand Jordanian youth,
01:04:44 55% of which are females.
01:04:46 It's a very safe place for them to work in.
01:04:49 It gave all these people the opportunity
01:04:52 to find a safe place to work in.
01:04:55 That has always definitely been our vision
01:04:57 and we're happy to see it coming to life.
01:05:01 [Rachelle Akuffo] Certainly safety is a key issue
01:05:03 when it comes to even wanting to be in a place of work.
01:05:05 You do want to feel secure where you are.
01:05:07 [Rachelle Akuffo] Beatrice, I want to bring you in here.
01:05:08 You support young people as they develop the technical and soft skills
01:05:12 necessary to realize their potential.
01:05:15 What would you say are the most in demand or in need soft skills?
01:05:20 [Beatrice Mahuru] Amazingly, in Papua New Guinea,
01:05:22 with over one thousand different languages
01:05:25 and eight hundred different cultures,
01:05:26 communication is the core soft skill that's required
01:05:30 to get them through their day to day lives.
01:05:33 They are living in a world where technology is fast paced,
01:05:39 but they come from communities where time stands still.
01:05:42 So, communication is an in need skill.
01:05:46 I think adaptability, therefore,
01:05:48 is also critical for them in moving ahead.
01:05:51 Conflict resolution is definitely
01:05:54 one of those soft skills that's required
01:05:57 both to manage workplace conversations
01:06:01 as well as their communities back at home.
01:06:03 And I feel very strongly, therefore,
01:06:06 critical thinking is another soft skill
01:06:09 that's necessary for youth of today,
01:06:11 particularly here in Papua New Guinea.
01:06:14 [Rachelle Akuffo] As we talk about skills
01:06:15 that are important to recognize perhaps some skills
01:06:17 that don't traditionally get as much attention.
01:06:19 Zeena, there are certain characteristics
01:06:21 I'm sure that you tend to look for
01:06:23 when you're hiring employees.
01:06:25 In terms of what you think education systems could do to help ensure
01:06:28 that students are well equipped for job opportunities,
01:06:31 What can you share with us?
01:06:33 [Zeena Majali] As Beatrice said as well,
01:06:36 there are a lot of skills that
01:06:38 we're looking for with our youth,
01:06:40 a lot that has to do with critical thinking
01:06:43 knowing how to solve problems.
01:06:45 Really, what we're always looking at is trying to get our youth
01:06:50 to understand how important it is to work today,
01:06:53 especially in countries like ours.
01:06:55 We want them to understand
01:06:57 that females play a major role in our economy and our society.
01:07:01 And we want them to understand that
01:07:04 no matter what you do, you always need to find a job.
01:07:08 Hopefully if you're married,
01:07:10 for example, you have a dual income,
01:07:12 and that's something that's essential.
01:07:14 So, we want them to always realize
01:07:15 and understand how important it is to work
01:07:18 and while at work, to always be aggressive, competitive,
01:07:23 and to try to do their best
01:07:25 just to reach their dreams and be able to add
01:07:30 all the amazing impact to our economy and society.
01:07:35 One skill that we're always looking for,
01:07:38 in particular, is language skills.
01:07:40 I would say in such a globalized world,
01:07:44 we need our youth to speak perfect English.
01:07:47 I would say this is extremely needed in our education system today
01:07:52 to be able to serve customers from all around the world.
01:07:55 We need many languages,
01:07:57 but specifically the English language is something that is essential
01:08:00 for us to be able to hire more people today here in Jordan.
01:08:05 [Rachelle Akuffo] It could be difficult,
01:08:06 depending on how you're socialized,
01:08:08 to really build the confidence in those things.
01:08:11 So then, Beatrice, in terms of policies,
01:08:12 what do you think are the most critical policies
01:08:14 that are needed to reach the most vulnerable
01:08:17 and bridge these gender gaps
01:08:18 and really unlock human capital potential?
01:08:23 [Beatrice Mahuru] I feel very strongly that youth empowerment is a policy
01:08:26 that needs to be put in place.
01:08:28 When you look at Papua New Guinea,
01:08:30 where education starts
01:08:32 and there's over two thousand young children in elementary,
01:08:36 and as the pyramid closes up for university graduates,
01:08:42 we only have 5 thousand spaces available for students to enter.
01:08:47 There's a huge gap for skills
01:08:50 where youths are sadly unemployed
01:08:54 and don't have the skills either.
01:08:56 So, youth empowerment policy is really critical
01:08:59 for moving them forward in this world.
01:09:02 I feel also that GESI policy,
01:09:04 the Gender Equity & Social Inclusion Policy
01:09:07 is another critical policy that needs to be looked at
01:09:11 because women right around the world,
01:09:14 and I think particularly here in Papua New Guinea
01:09:16 where we are a patriarchal society,
01:09:19 the policies are there to protect us,
01:09:22 our rights, our ability to participate
01:09:26 without fear or favor.
01:09:29 I think those are critical in today's age
01:09:31 especially for youth,
01:09:33 as they move forward, finding their feet.
01:09:36 I think these two are really important.
01:09:38 And because women in traditional Papua New Guinea
01:09:42 are looking at breaking glass ceilings,
01:09:45 the gender equality is also critical.
01:09:48 So, they have equal pay for the amount of hours
01:09:50 that they put in.
01:09:53 [Rachelle Akuffo] Zeena, in terms of what you'd like,
01:09:55 in terms of listening to, perhaps
01:09:58 seeing what the finance ministers
01:09:59 who might be listening in on this
01:10:00 and messaging that you'd like them to understand
01:10:03 about why it is so important to invest in this space,
01:10:06 when you think of where the public sector
01:10:08 comes in and the private sector.
01:10:09 What message do you have for them?
01:10:11 [Zeena Majali] It has always been our message,
01:10:14 since the first day,
01:10:16 that we want everybody's support for our sector.
01:10:20 We believe that this is a great stepping stone
01:10:22 for our youth and our females
01:10:25 to start stepping into the workplace
01:10:27 and either growing in this space
01:10:30 or going into maybe something that's more specific
01:10:32 to their area of education or expertise.
01:10:35 But it's a great place
01:10:37 for hundreds of thousands of youth to start
01:10:42 and for all these females to start here with us as well.
01:10:45 Hopefully, they either grow with us
01:10:47 and other companies alike
01:10:49 or they go into something that's more specific for them.
01:10:52 We feel the more we invest, the more we can grow this space
01:10:56 and the lower unemployment rates we can reach
01:10:59 which is essential for us at this point.
01:11:02 [Rachelle Akuffo] Beatrice, for you, obviously you have the ear
01:11:04 of a lot of youth in your country as well.
01:11:06 Tell finance ministers what young people in your country say
01:11:09 they need in terms of skills and why investing in them is so critical.
01:11:15 [Beatrice Mahuru] Basic finance literacy, I think, is a skill
01:11:19 that's really required for use of today.
01:11:22 As I said, especially in Papua New Guinea
01:11:24 where they've not been able to complete their education.
01:11:28 Just basic financial literacy is really critical for them.
01:11:31 So, Finance Ministers, the Central Bank,
01:11:34 if they can look at inclusion for lending money
01:11:40 to this youth who are looking at
01:11:42 small and medium enterprise businesses,
01:11:44 these are critical and they can't go into it successfully
01:11:48 if they don't have the basic finance skills.
01:11:50 I'd love for our influential people in the areas of finance
01:11:56 to consider that and also governance.
01:11:59 I think governance is really critical
01:12:01 as a skill for young youth that are going into enterprise
01:12:05 because they don't have the skill set to join organizations.
01:12:10 They should be encouraged to start their own.
01:12:14 [Rachelle Akuffo] We certainly do appreciate
01:12:15 you joining us today with your insights, Zeena and Beatrice.
01:12:18 Obviously, a lot of impressive stories and successes
01:12:21 that a lot of people will be looking up to you.
01:12:23 We do appreciate your time for sharing that with our audience today.
01:12:26 I'm sure your insights and experiences
01:12:28 will also provide a lot of good lessons
01:12:30 for everybody listening.
01:12:31 Thank you so much.
01:12:33 [Rachelle Akuffo] I'm joined by Sri Sridhar,
01:12:35 who's been following the conversation online and on social media.
01:12:39 Sri, what have people been saying?
01:12:41 [Sri Sridhar] Thanks. Great to see you.
01:12:43 People are joining us from all over the world.
01:12:45 Here's a snapshot from where they're joining us,
01:12:47 from Tanzania, India, France, the United Kingdom, Uganda,
01:12:52 Indonesia, Ethiopia, Nigeria, and, of course, here in the United States.
01:12:54 [Srimathi Sridhar, Communications Associate, World Bank Group]
01:12:56 They're using the hashtag for today's event, #InvestinPeople.
01:12:59 They're joining us on Twitter, Facebook, LinkedIn and also Instagram.
01:13:04 They're talking about the ways in which countries can better invest
01:13:07 in people and support communities to recover from the pandemic.
01:13:11 Now, one particular topic of interest has been education today.
01:13:16 People are stressing the need to recover from learning losses
01:13:19 during the pandemic and also invest in quality learning.
01:13:22 Let's take a look at some of the actual comments
01:13:25 that have been coming in on social.
01:13:27 First up on LinkedIn,
01:13:28 Sara from Tanzania says that "investing in a nation's human capital
01:13:32 goes hand in hand with promoting and protecting
01:13:36 every citizen's human rights."
01:13:38 Pretty powerful statement there, I think.
01:13:40 Up next, we have a comment from Facebook.
01:13:44 Michael in Nigeria who says, "I believe that quality education anchored
01:13:48 on quality learning is the bedrock of development."
01:13:51 Touching a bit on how education is
01:13:55 really a focus of today's conversation online.
01:13:57 Finally on Instagram, Wilford Williams says that "education is
01:14:02 a key component of human capital
01:14:04 and investments in education, health and other areas
01:14:08 are crucial for economic growth."
01:14:10 A lot of good engagement coming in today.
01:14:13 [Rachelle Akuffo] I do believe this is where
01:14:14 we do have some of the results from the poll overall.
01:14:17 [Sri Sridhar] Yeah. Today's poll asks,
01:14:19 what is the most pressing priority to help people achieve their potential?
01:14:25 Five options here.
01:14:27 Is it a quality, inclusive education?
01:14:29 Is it stronger health systems,
01:14:31 equitable social protection, women and girls at the heart of solutions,
01:14:36 or is it jobs and private sector investment?
01:14:39 These are all really good options to choose from.
01:14:42 It's hard to pick a top priority.
01:14:44 But what would be yours?
01:14:46 [Rachelle Akuffo] Given how many children we saw at home,
01:14:50 what we see with the skills gap,
01:14:52 I would say quality inclusive education, A, but, as you mentioned,
01:14:56 a lot of incredibly important options that really do need to work together.
01:14:59 [Sri Sridhar] Why don't we see how people voted?
01:15:01 We had nearly 1300 people take part in today's poll.
01:15:05 Answers coming up here to the right, 43% of people do believe
01:15:09 that the most pressing priority is a quality inclusive education,
01:15:13 12% stronger, health systems,
01:15:15 14% equitable social protection,
01:15:18 9% women and girls at the heart of solutions,
01:15:21 and finally, 22% of people, jobs and private sector investment.
01:15:25 As you can see here, much like you were saying,
01:15:27 a lot of people believe that a quality inclusive education is
01:15:30 the most pressing priority.
01:15:32 [Rachelle Akuffo] You would think, because of COVID,
01:15:34 that the stronger health systems would perhaps rate a little bit higher.
01:15:38 [Sri Sridhar] That's what I was leaning towards to.
01:15:39 But like you said, these are all just such important areas.
01:15:42 [Rachelle Akuffo] Indeed. Thank you so much.
01:15:44 Very important poll. Thank you everyone for voting.
01:15:46 Sri Sridhar, thank you.
01:15:48 [Sri Sridhar] Thanks.
01:15:49 [PORT VILA, VANUATU]
01:15:49 Hello, [foreign language] everyone.
01:15:51 I am Leisenda in Fort Villa, Vanuatu,
01:15:55 and you're watching the World Bank Group-IMF Spring meetings.
01:16:02 [HUMAN CAPITAL AT THE CROSSROADS]
01:16:04 [Rachelle Akuffo] I'm joined in the atrium of the World Bank Group
01:16:07 by Iffath Sharif, Manager of the World Bank's Human Capital Project,
01:16:10 and Charles Dalton, a Senior Health Specialist with IFC,
01:16:14 the private sector arm of the World Bank Group.
01:16:17 They'll answer some of the questions you've been posting in just a moment.
01:16:21 First, let's recap on the main points from this event.
01:16:24 What did we learn?
01:16:26 COVID-19 has had a devastating impact, reversing recent gains in human capital.
01:16:32 That's the knowledge, skills, and health that people need
01:16:35 to achieve their potential and live healthy, productive lives.
01:16:38 We also learned about how countries have been innovative
01:16:41 in building and protecting human capital and were reminded
01:16:45 that sustained political commitments and financing are still needed.
01:16:49 We heard about how the World Bank Group is helping countries
01:16:52 make more and better investments to stop human capital losses,
01:16:56 protect and invest in people, and support stronger, more inclusive growth.
01:17:01 Let's turn to Iffath Sharif and Charles Dalton.
01:17:05 Thank you so much for being with us today.
01:17:07 Our first question actually comes
01:17:09 from Victor in Nigeria, and he sent us this video question.
01:17:13 [Victor] Hello. Thanks for having me in this series.
01:17:15 My name is [inaudible], Victor in Nigerian.
01:17:19 The rate at which the COVID-19 pandemic travels
01:17:22 proves that the world is here to evolve into a strong healthcare system.
01:17:27 My question is, what does it really require to build
01:17:31 a strong and resilient healthcare system that can withstand any form of pandemic?
01:17:37 Thank you.
01:17:40 [Rachelle Akuffo] Victor asked
01:17:42 how we can be better prepared for the next pandemic
01:17:45 and what it takes to build a stronger and resilient healthcare system?
01:17:48 That question for both of you. Iffath let's start with you.
01:17:51 [Iffath Sharif] Thank you. Thank you, Victor for this very important question.
01:17:55 Building resilient health systems was
01:17:58 always a priority even before the pandemic.
01:18:01 The pandemic essentially highlighted
01:18:03 how building such systems is actually part of a global public good.
01:18:07 The concern really for us is that this
01:18:09 is not a one off, that climate change, unplanned urbanization,
01:18:15 lack of water and sanitation,
01:18:16 they're all factors that are going to contribute
01:18:19 to more such fast spreading disease outbreaks.
01:18:22 What we really need is really a whole of society effort at the country levels,
01:18:28 regional and global levels, to help with preparing against such pandemics.
01:18:33 At the country level, what we will need is improved health infrastructure.
01:18:37 This is investments in labs, surveillance,
01:18:40 health equipment to really boost up that infrastructure.
01:18:44 Equally important, we have learned from this pandemic
01:18:47 that we need a well-trained healthcare staff,
01:18:52 human capital, the human resources that will be needed
01:18:55 to deliver not just the vaccinations,
01:18:58 but essential health care that is required.
01:19:02 This is, again, going to be critically important.
01:19:06 Alongside, you will also need the support of community-based organizations
01:19:11 to add support in terms of, again, delivering the vaccinations,
01:19:15 basic immunizations that were short-changed during this pandemic.
01:19:20 Their efforts will be critical.
01:19:23 Equally critical would be the role of the private sector,
01:19:25 working very closely with public health agencies
01:19:29 in terms of improved research and development work,
01:19:32 in terms of supporting community campaigns across countries,
01:19:39 supporting privately delivered healthcare services.
01:19:44 Our estimates state that countries will need
01:19:48 an additional 30% increase in their health budget
01:19:52 to address pandemic preparedness.
01:19:53 This is not going to be easy
01:19:55 given very tight government budgets.
01:19:57 Again, the role of the private sector in helping to mobilize
01:20:01 additional resources, efficient use of resources
01:20:05 is going to be very important.
01:20:06 It's a collective society effort in terms of mobilizing resources,
01:20:12 both natural and human, to deal with the pandemic.
01:20:15 What we've also learned from this pandemic
01:20:18 is that addressing such an outbreak
01:20:20 within the country's borders is not sufficient.
01:20:22 You would need to work across countries, regions and globally
01:20:26 to address a coordinated action to prevent spread.
01:20:30 [LIVE: WORLD BANK GROUP EXPERTS ON INVESTING IN PEOPLE]
01:20:31 Here, the World Bank has been working closely
01:20:33 with a number of regional operations to support countries do exactly that,
01:20:38 offer coordinated public action towards investments in infrastructure
01:20:43 in the country level, but also communication and better coordination
01:20:47 is something that we're supporting.
01:20:52 Finally, the World Bank's low cost financing window, IDA,
01:20:57 will be supporting the poorest countries investing in their health infrastructure,
01:21:03 but also preparing not just for this pandemic, but other crisis.
01:21:08 Thank you.
01:21:09 [Rachelle Akuffo] Charles, how would you respond to Victor?
01:21:11 [Charles Dalton] I agree with a lot of the comments that have just been made.
01:21:14 What we've seen through COVID,
01:21:17 is that a many health care systems
01:21:19 have demonstrated some form of dysfunctionality,
01:21:22 and I think we need to figure out how we can remove maybe the silo mindset
01:21:26 that we've seen and how we can join the dots to create a system.
01:21:30 For me, simplistically, you put the patient in the middle
01:21:33 and say, What services do we need?
01:21:36 What human resources do we need?
01:21:37 How do we finance it?
01:21:39 Just as mentioned, we've got a massive financing gap.
01:21:42 Can we create more insurance coverage so there's less out-of-pocket coverage?
01:21:46 We then need to look at the regulation side.
01:21:49 We need to look at the whole digitization we're seeing.
01:21:52 I think what we're also seeing from COVID is there has been
01:21:57 a switch in dialogue between the public sector and the private sector.
01:22:02 I think we need to continue that dialogue and understand
01:22:05 how we can promote better understanding,
01:22:08 better trust between the public and the private sector.
01:22:11 and where the private sector can support governments.
01:22:14 Remember, governments are the custodian of the whole health care system.
01:22:17 [LIVE: YOUR QUESTIONS ANSWERED]
01:22:18 We need to figure out how to make them work more together.
01:22:21 We got supply chain.
01:22:22 We have supply chain and manufacturing.
01:22:25 We have vaccines, we have drugs, we have medical equipment.
01:22:30 We also have how can the private sector support more training and development,
01:22:34 how the private sector can work with government on gaps in services.
01:22:37 We have seen a lack of ICU beds, for example, during COVID.
01:22:41 We need more lab testing as well,
01:22:44 where the private sector working with the public sector can help,
01:22:48 but also on the human resources side as well as the training side, as I said.
01:22:53 One thing for me is a better use of data analytics.
01:22:59 If we're setting up social health insurance systems,
01:23:03 there's a massive amount of data that's going to be within those systems.
01:23:06 The private sector can help the public sector
01:23:09 with the tools and the ability
01:23:11 to innovate and just understand how and what that data means
01:23:16 so they can get more value
01:23:17 and they can stretch that dollar further, if that makes sense.
01:23:21 We need to look at how we can strengthen the system
01:23:25 and move away from the silo mentality. Thank you very much.
01:23:28 [Rachelle Akuffo] That integration is very important.
01:23:31 It certainly was a wake-up call for all healthcare systems.
01:23:35 Our next question is on gender equality,
01:23:38 and comes from Abu, also from Nigeria.
01:23:41 Iffath, Abu asks, how can we empower women
01:23:44 for the benefit of all society? How would you respond?
01:23:48 [Iffath Sharif] Empowering women is really about supporting a process
01:23:53 to help women make choices and decisions.
01:23:57 To help with that, it's about addressing the fundamental constraints
01:24:01 that prevent women from being able to make those choices.
01:24:05 Here we see three areas of work that could help
01:24:09 in terms of context, access to resources and women's agency.
01:24:15 In terms of context, it's really about offering a conducive context
01:24:21 for women to be able to make decisions.
01:24:24 This would mean sort of changing norms, institutions,
01:24:28 often laws and cultural expectations
01:24:31 to again help women be able to make those choices.
01:24:35 Second, it's about offering them the resources that are needed
01:24:38 to offer them the tools to again achieve the goals that they set for them.
01:24:45 This could be access to human capital.
01:24:47 This could be access to financial capital, social capital that will help.
01:24:52 The third area of constraint is really women's agency.
01:24:56 What do I mean by that?
01:24:57 It is really being able to give women
01:24:59 the tools and the skills to help implement the decisions that they want to make.
01:25:05 It's really working across all of these three areas
01:25:08 that we think would really help empower women.
01:25:11 It's not easy to do so,
01:25:14 but not doing so comes at huge costs to countries, both economic and social.
01:25:19 There's a lot of research that shows that mothers,
01:25:22 when they're empowered to make decisions,
01:25:24 are helping with improved outcomes for children's health and education.
01:25:28 In fact, I've seen through first hand work in Nigeria
01:25:33 that giving mothers a mere 15 dollars a month,
01:25:38 a majority of them, use that money to help
01:25:44 with the health and education of the children.
01:25:46 When I asked some of the fathers,
01:25:49 they use the money essentially for farm inputs to buy fertilizer.
01:25:53 I know this is an anecdote,
01:25:54 but it is quite consistent with the research evidence we have.
01:26:00 In fact, a recent study by the World Bank suggests
01:26:04 that not being able to give girls
01:26:07 a full 12 years of education
01:26:09 could cost countries 15 to 30 trillion US dollars
01:26:15 of lost lifetime earnings.
01:26:17 This is quite substantial.
01:26:20 The World Bank as a result, has actually launched a public campaign,
01:26:25 Accelerate Equality,
01:26:27 to help countries bridge some of these gaps in the context,
01:26:31 resources and agencies I mentioned
01:26:34 to bring in transformative change in women's lives.
01:26:37 [Rachelle Akuffo] It's interesting how they prioritize what to spend it on,
01:26:40 and when you see the broader payoff as well.
01:26:43 Charles, we heard from some earlier guests
01:26:46 about the important role of the private sector
01:26:48 in solving development challenges.
01:26:50 Our next question touches on just that and comes from Diallo from Senegal.
01:26:53 Now, Charles Diallo asks,
01:26:55 how does the World Bank Group help promote private investment
01:26:58 to benefit communities?
01:27:00 [Charles Dalton] Good question.
01:27:01 I sit within the IFC, the International Finance Corporation,
01:27:05 which is the private sector arm of the World Bank.
01:27:08 Our work is really
01:27:11 to work with countries, to invest into countries,
01:27:14 to stimulate the economy, to create jobs
01:27:17 and just a general upliftment of strengthening the private sector.
01:27:24 We do that with traditional financing solutions,
01:27:28 plus innovating finance solutions,
01:27:31 looking to work with multiple entities across multiple industries.
01:27:35 We look at a country, see what their needs are,
01:27:38 and then we invest into many, many different industries.
01:27:41 I sit within the healthcare sector focus.
01:27:43 From a healthcare sector focus, we look at health services,
01:27:47 we look at life sciences, we look at medical equipment,
01:27:50 and more recently, at digital health as well,
01:27:52 because digital health all of a sudden has had this light bulb moment.
01:27:56 I want to give you two quick examples of investments that we've made.
01:28:01 One is in Asia in an entity called My Care.
01:28:04 They support governments and the private sector
01:28:07 from an insurance perspective,
01:28:09 where they're giving them the data analytics
01:28:12 to be able to manage their social health insurance programs,
01:28:17 better understanding disease, understanding population,
01:28:20 understanding what's affordable, looking at benefit design.
01:28:23 The underpinning is this data management.
01:28:25 I mentioned it in my first question,
01:28:27 and you can see something I'm passionate about.
01:28:29 We've got to get data management right, remove the data out of the silos,
01:28:33 and look at it in an integrated manner.
01:28:36 A second example is in Mexico.
01:28:38 Mexico has a very high diabetes and hypertension rate.
01:28:43 We've made an investment there in a group called Clínicas del Azúcar.
01:28:46 They are a dedicated growing chain of clinics
01:28:51 working with local populations across multiple income groups
01:28:56 where they've designed from a people, process and technology perspective
01:29:00 how to offer diabetes management and hypertension management.
01:29:05 They've integrated nurses with clinicians, with pharmacists,
01:29:09 with dieticians to basically create this one stop-shop
01:29:13 and the importance of that
01:29:15 is it enables patients to manage their diabetes but not end up in hospital
01:29:22 where they become economically inactive, if I can call that.
01:29:26 The whole thing is that they're contributing to the population
01:29:32 to make sure that they maintain their economic activity.
01:29:35 That's a couple of examples of where we're focused.
01:29:38 We're trying to bring innovative ideas into countries
01:29:41 to strengthen the healthcare system, as I said earlier.
01:29:45 That's where IFC fits in and we do that in multiple industries.
01:29:49 Thank you.
01:29:50 [Rachelle Akuffo] Fascinating. The data then should inform
01:29:53 the solutions, creating solutions that don't actually solve the problem.
01:29:56 [Charles Dalton] Exactly.
01:29:57 [Rachelle Akuffo] A very interesting point there.
01:29:58 Thank you both for taking the time to answer these questions.
01:30:01 Lots of great answers and of course to you,
01:30:03 our viewers, thank you as well and continue to post your questions.
01:30:06 Our live expert bloggers are staying online,
01:30:09 and will try to answer as many as possible.
01:30:12 This brings us to the end of this event.
01:30:14 I want to thank all of our guests for joining us
01:30:16 and sharing in this important discussion.
01:30:19 Of course, I want to thank you, our viewers.
01:30:21 We've had quite a line-up of events this week
01:30:24 and they're all available to watch again.
01:30:26 The meetings kicked off with a discussion
01:30:28 between the leaders of the World Bank Group and IMF
01:30:31 on responding to global shocks.
01:30:33 We've also been discussing the potential of the digital revolution
01:30:37 for developing countries and how to best finance climate action.
01:30:41 Yesterday's event focused on helping communities
01:30:44 living in fragile or conflict-afflicted situations,
01:30:47 and explored how to best preserve open trade.
01:30:50 You can watch all of those as well as a replay of this event
01:30:53 at live.worldbank.org.
01:30:56 You could share your comments on these Spring Meetings
01:30:59 using the hashtag #ResilientFuture.
01:31:00 #RESILIENTFUTURE]
01:31:01 We hope you've enjoyed hearing from all of our distinguished guests
01:31:04 at today's event and please do continue sharing those comments.
01:31:08 We would love to hear from you.
01:31:10 I'm Rachelle Akuffo. Thank you again.

Live chat with

Victoria Strokova

Senior Economist, World Bank
@vstrokova

For this Q&A, a great number of questions were submitted in advance. We asked the audience to help us select the questions that should be put to our experts. The star symbol ✮ indicates the most upvoted submissions.

Aisha Faquir (Moderator) Hello everyone, and welcome to Human Capital at the Crossroads: Reversing the Losses, Reclaiming Our Future. I’m Aisha Faquir. I am here to moderate this chat and share the highlights of the event while Victoria Strokova tries to answer as many of your questions as she can. Please tell us what brings you here today. Why are you interested in the topic at hand?

We'll start the event in a few minutes. While we wait for the event to begin, learn more about human capital: www.worldbank.org

Follow the live discussion with our hashtag: #InvestInPeople

This event will also be livestreamed on our World Bank Twitter, Facebook, and LinkedIn.

✮ Mwebaza Sylivia Samalie Can I get a summarised description of Human capital project of the world bank

Victoria Strokova / World Bank @Mwebaza Sylivia Samalie: Thank you for your interest! Our website has a wealth of the information about the Human Capital Project. You can start with this brief “About” page: www.worldbank.org

Mwebaza Sylivia Samalie Which programs have been availed by the world bank to help the people who have been severely affected by covid 19

Aisha Faquir (Moderator) @Mwebaza Sylivia Samalie: I invite you to visit our website dedicated to the World Bank Group's Response to the COVID-19 Pandemic: https://www.worldbank.org/en/who-we-are/news/coronavirus-covid19

Aisha Faquir (Moderator) Live now: World Bank Group President, David Malpass will welcome Tanzania’s first female president, Her Excellency President Samia Suluhu in a fireside chat on the key issue of investing in human capital and reclaiming the future.

Clement Owen Goldson Education must be a journey of discovery for a child. Using technology such as the view master or the Raspberry Pi + Raspberry Pi Foundation should provide a pathway to bring retired teachers or volunteer teachers in contact with more students. It is important to identify low cost ways of delivering world class education.

Vivienne Laing Safety, health and environment is a basic requirement for investing in human capital especially in promoting sustainability in developing countries, why then are countries such as Uganda not assisted to implement this for economic growth?

Victoria Strokova / World Bank @Vivienne Laing: This is a great point! We take safety, health and environment very seriously. The Environmental and Social Framework applies to all Investment Policy Financing projects initiated after October 1, 2018 and makes important advances in areas such as labor and working conditions, community health and safety, and stakeholder engagement – including expanding the role of public participation and grievance mechanisms. See more at www.worldbank.org

✮ Blossom Boyo Haruna Idris The poignant fact about human capital development is that inclusive growth requires unhindered access to financial capital, considering that access to Financial capital has been Financial capital has been bottle neck of some sort for businesses in low and middle income countries, why won't world bank bypass intermediary institutions of access to finance, and provide the funds directly to viable businesses in low and middle income countries or nations(LMCs), given that these intermediary institutions, hardly rarely, get funds to targeted end users in LMCs.

Victoria Strokova / World Bank @Blossom Boyo Haruna Idris: Financial inclusion is a key enabler to reducing poverty and boosting prosperity. The World Bank provides financing, technical assistance, and knowledge to governments to help improve access to finance: www.worldbank.org The International Finance Corporation, directly invests in companies through loans and other instruments as part of its mission to help countries develop their private sector: www.ifc.org

✮ Ijeoma Chibueze Victor The rate at which the COVID-19 ravaged humanity showed that the world is yet to evolve a strong healthcare system. Doesn't it really require to build a strong and resilient healthcare system that can withstand any form of pandemic?

Victoria Strokova / World Bank @Ijeoma Chibueze Victor: Experience from the COVID-19 pandemic has indeed highlighted the importance of building stronger, more resilient health systems. The World Bank supports One Health approaches that integrate human, animal, and environmental health; better data and early warning systems; digital emergency preparedness and information campaigns; and capacity building to ensure countries’ spending is financially sustainable. Our website has more information: www.worldbank.org

Ibrahim Gozaki Garba What is the world bank apport on African poor families whose wants takes theirs family to schools

Victoria Strokova / World Bank @Ibrahim Gozaki Garba: Thank you for your question. With support from the World Bank and other partners, many countries in Africa expanded access to social protection programs. Social protection programs help building the resilience of poor and vulnerable households by supporting them in investing in productive assets and human capital. Such programs can protect and enhance households’ education, nutrition, and health. For more information, you can look at the latest report: www.worldbank.org

BELEMA TOM_GEORGE I Suggest that grant should be given to CSOs inorder to disburse to individual aim to invest in businesses, skills and potentials for sustainability.

Amidu Bah Thank you for availing me this opportunity to submit a question about a burning issue concerning the state of children who have lost their parents , the breadwinners of the family, in relation to their fate when it comes to education, social upbringing, human rights, etc.

Juan Fernando Gutiérrez Gutierrez Is open for private sector organizations?

SUZAN AKELLO OTOL How can we inculcate Occupational Safety,Health and Environment training to improve the wellbeingof human capital

Siphiwe Namagowa How can human capital be nurtured in the millennial era where the young generation is self centered. Most young people do not want to work for the next generation or preserve for the next generation like how our fore fathers did.

Uthpal Kishore Das Can you invest on individual?

Akinradewo A.M.Orobola How can a nation developed, In what way can we invest in the life of others,and how can sustainable development be achieved?

Victoria Strokova / World Bank @Akinradewo: Thank you for raising these important questions. The World Bank stepped up our support to the poorest countries: by moving up the latest replenishment of International Development Association, our fund for the poorest, by a year, and by mobilizing $93 billion to address greater needs through 2025. In addition, the World Bank provides knowledge and financing to help close the global digital divide: www.worldbank.org

Ejimofor Empower the less privileged in Nigeria.

Sujata das The world bank should make a law that no country should deprive any african or sarrc countries by name of devolopment. In details no single countries shouldnot give loan to any country 2

The world bank should make a law that no single country shouldnot give loan to any country for human devolopment ,education , or infrastructure devolopment to any loan receiver country not more than 2 percent GDP of that receiver country. At present their are country who want to capture country via bankrup . Aggitation among people at various country. Details research should be done ,world bank should study every country financial budget . What is the total demand of money for devolopment and growth in africa ,asia,europe southamerica ,america ,australia.

Selvaraj The one and only option left is giveup branding people , just make them resourceful by self reliance and resilience , both being possible provided the system is ablely supported by honest and just individuals with zeal to help. Volunteering is to be avoided as it makes them egotist.

Ram Charitra Sah Human capital condition of Nepal is at critical stage. As most of the people have migrated to abroad mainly the Gulf Countries for employment. This has became the major source of national economy at the cost of dead body received everyday. So what roles has been played by WORLD BANK to prevent such losses of life in the world of work?

Victoria Strokova / World Bank @Ram Charitra Sah: This is an important question. Our research shows that increasing the returns to migration—for both the migrant worker and the sending family, will boost job quality and household earnings, with positive economic spillovers: openknowledge.worldbank.org The Government of Nepal has also initiated programs such as the Youth Employment Transformation Initiative Project to address the labor market challenges in Nepal: www.worldbank.org

Hilpolith Rothschild I want to ask Madam President Of the United Republic Of Tanzania "is there any plan to establish new SOE(state owned enterprises) in Tanzania to address the issue of Unemployment because if they are well managed and integrated into the digital economy they will be tremendously beneficial like those in China, and is there any plan or Policy initiative to establish native Software Applications to address the needs in Tanzania like Social Media, Streaming Apps, Ride Hailing, Money Transafer etc to facilitate the development overall in Tanzania?

Houssam el krimi How will the private sector be able to make positive contributions by providing a share of 7% of a real partnership in the sectors of services, education and health?

Carmel As world Bank group who think about globalization, solving problems around the world like end poverty. What can you do for the capital humans who are located in underdeveloped countries?

Madugu Abdullahi This very very remarkable question

Victoria Strokova / World Bank @Carmel: Thank you for this question. Despite unprecedented human development gains over the past 25 years, serious challenges remain, especially for developing countries. The Human Capital Project is a global eﬀort to accelerate more and better investments in people for greater equity and economic growth. We are scaling up human capital investments in developing countries: www.worldbank.org

nutridoc Health is the foundation of life, yet requires an education on how to choose foods and activities which improve the quality of life and enjoyment there of. What steps is the World Bank planning to included nutrition education to both youth and adults? Support health enhancing crops, food production, and delivery to home and kitchens where it will be stored and prepared well.

Victoria Strokova / World Bank @nutridoc: Thank you for this question. Poor diets and resulting malnutrition in all its forms are unacceptably high across the world, creating one of the world’s greatest current societal challenges. The World Bank Group is committed to supporting client countries by building the knowledge base, providing technical assistance for policy/program design and prioritization, and financing the scale up evidence-based nutrition interventions. See more information at: www.worldbank.org

Josephine Davies Onder funding, no funding, the unknown or lack of political wil ect ect . My question to all stakeholders and banks . Why are you not working to make sure Africa and the people have the right to manufacture, produce and trade added value using their natural resources?

Most of the educational infrastructures are not properly designed to meet the institution accommodation demands and to work with the school curriculum form early education to higher education. To enable kids to fulfil their skills and ambitions. In industrialized called developed countries kids start practising and tapping in to their talents in School from early childhood education. Playing toys are all talent minded. Everything work to meet the existing development trend.

While it is the opposite to many area and region. and funding come with lots of bureaucracy . With this reason Africa cannot contribute in to their own countries infrastructure needs , from drinking water supply, energy, Internet connective, construction and also health and well-being.

My question again to all the banks that are working to "Invest in people consistently and also to provide opportunities for all to achieve their potential so that they can yield economic dividends and help bring greater stability in a challenging global context. Nicely defined . How are you ready to make it different this time for the upcoming generation?

Victoria Strokova / World Bank @Josephine Davies: Thank you for this important question on the importance of consistently investing in people! Governments, civil society, international financial institutions and the private sector must join forces to deploy ambitious, evidence-driven investments to help equip every person to achieve their potential. Ambitious, evidence-driven policy measures in health, education, and social protection can pave the way for today’s children to surpass the human capital achievements and quality of life of the generations that preceded them. Read more on our website: www.worldbank.org

✮ Amu Funmilola How do we empower our women to be more resourceful because the better our women the healthier our society?

Victoria Strokova / World Bank @Amu Funmilola: This question is very timely as the WBG’s year-long Accelerate Equality initiative explores the important progress made and lessons learned over the last 10 years in closing gender gaps and promoting girls’ and women's empowerment, and drives for transformative change in the future. There are a lot of resources responding to your question on its website: www.worldbank.org

James long maker liupiny Do world bank know that, people south sudan are suffering beyond description in term of health sector?

Victoria Strokova / World Bank @James long maker liupiny: Thank you for your question. Since its launch in June 2021, the South Sudan COVID-19 Emergency Response and Health Systems Preparedness Project, financed by the World Bank has been supporting the country to prevent, detect, and respond to the threat posed by COVID-19. This is just one recent example of how the World Bank is helping South Sudan to improve its health sector. www.worldbank.org

Clement Owen Goldson The average Jamaican is unaware of the importance of nutrition and early childhood development in national development. can the IMF/WBG support a programme of national education in these areas?

Victoria Strokova / World Bank @Clement: Thank you for this question. We have some fantastic evidence from Jamaica that shows how important early childhood development is to future earnings: hdl.handle.net Projects financed by the World Bank have achieved important results in Jamaica in recent years in these areas. For example, an education “passport” has been implemented to track the growth and progress of each Jamaican child in their first few years of life through the Early Childhood Development Project. See more results at: www.worldbank.org

Clement Owen Goldson Please end the discrimination against boys and men by using children and adults when referring to them. Discriminating against boys and men will have a negative outcome. Avoid all discriminatory references in your discourse.

Miriam Schneidman How is the government addressing the socio-cultural barriers to expanding use of modern contraceptive methods?

Aisha Faquir (Moderator) Tackling Learning Poverty is a crucial component to building a country’s human capital.
Our next panel of female leaders tackles the issue of the early years and learning poverty from a holistic view.

Carol Ndosi from Tanzania - recognizing that education reforms take a long time, what would be the low hanging fruits and if there are any plans from the Tanzanian government to prepare the human capital both in school and out of school with 21st century skills to keep up with emerging trends and regional and international markets i.e AFCTA

Victoria Strokova / World Bank @Carol Ndosi: Thank you for this question. The Government of Tanzania’s decision to remove barriers to access education underscores the country’s commitment to making education better, safer, and more accessible for its next generation, and to advance Tanzania’s social and economic development. There are many initiatives in this area, see for example: www.worldbank.org

Bal Ram Bhui To Madam President: One of the problem of government health service in rural/ village is that they open just a few hours in a day. This deprives the people of service, build negative attitudes among people and viscous cycle of under utilization of government services. How have you ensured that the health service in your country at grassroots level is available 24/7 and people are happily utilizing the services?

George N Are there any policies for investing in diversity & inclusion especially those who have a disability & those who are disadvantaged in life.

Victoria Strokova / World Bank @George N: This is a very important question! One billion people, or 15% of the world’s population, experience some form of disability, and disability prevalence is higher for developing countries. Including persons with disabilities and expanding equitable opportunities are at the core of the World Bank’s work to build sustainable, inclusive communities, aligned with the institution’s goals to end extreme poverty and promote shared prosperity. Please see many examples of policies and programs addressing this challenge: www.worldbank.org

Andry R. How does the WBG make sure of the good use of Covid-19 funds by Governments ? How do you ensure accountability and fight misuse or corruption?

Victoria Strokova / World Bank @Andry R.: Thank you for this important question. The World Bank is taking broad, fast action to help countries strengthen their pandemic response, making available up to $160 billion in financing tailored to the health, economic and social shocks countries are facing. In providing emergency financial assistance, the World Bank remains committed to maintaining strong fiduciary standards for operations. Under COVID-19 financing, the Bank is supporting governments’ efforts to be transparent about procurement and results. See more: www.worldbank.org

Ismaila A. Hassan Trying to get our people-first in the course of our pursuit for a meaningful life depends solely on our WILL to succeed or other wise .

Simmieglobe My name is Dr Simeon Peter Olusola Gbeleyi from Nigeria. I am suggesting support for private sector technical sectors who have solution to the economy issue. For example I belonged to a P.o. Water Technology Company called Way.CZ Group headquartered in Dubai and registered in Nigeria as African Biosphere Way.CZ Unity Ltd in order to cater for entire African Countries. The Tech Company has a big vision of capturing Carbon, recycling it then synthesizing in order to generate clean carbonated water from the Biosphere, at the sane time generating 24/7 Uninterupted Electricity. The company has plan to give out his nano technology to African Rural communities for free against 21 years long term pay back thereby empowering the local communities, creating employment including gender equality and eradicating poverty by making non active economy active. But unfortunately this kind of vision that is supposed to save humanity from Carbon emission lack funding from the World Financial Bodies. I shall appreciate if World Bank can take care of such vision and orher similar visions in order to resolve Human Capital issues practically

Khalidkhattak I am Geoglogist from pakistan, My question is how can we allow the people without restriction of money to go for eductation specially reserach base, because in poor country it is impossible to do research study' while supporting your family.As an example is my self.Should we develop that ways where job and Research goes togather with less amount of money Required from the student.

Victoria Strokova / World Bank @Khalid: Thank you for this question. Making education opportunities more affordable is an important dimension of our work. A report on “Cost-Effective Approaches to Improve Global Learning: What Does Recent Evidence Tell Us Are “Smart Buys” for Improving Learning in Low and Middle Income Countries?” summarizes some of the evidence in this space: www.worldbank.org

Aisha Faquir (Moderator) VICTORIA is answering your questions in real-time in this chat.

Clement Owen Goldson Internet is not available in many rural areas. We must find other means of delivery for children in these areas. An old technology such as view masters could be mated with current technology to deliver lessons to children in such areas.

Ismaila A. Hassan Approach to human capital development should be holistic and collaborative with all stakeholders hands on the deck.

Pooja Yerramilli The health workforce has been the backbone of the response to Covid-19, safeguarding human capital, and ensuring pandemic preparedness and climate resilience moving forward. Yet there remains a global shortage of at least 10 million health workers worldwide - and around the world, many health workers are leaving their jobs due to burnout and other factors, while many remain unemployed due to shortage of funds to absorb them. What should countries and the international community do to fill this gap that is so essential for reversing losses in human capital?

Victoria Strokova / World Bank @ Pooja Yerramilli: Great question! COVID-19 has shown the urgent need for more health workers. While there are no quick fixes, changes are needed to training, deployment, management, evaluation and compensation of health care workers. Medical education should be revamped to focus on collaborative and integrated team-based care, including in PHC. Digital technologies can help with decision support, team work, task shifting and patient participation. Please see more: blogs.worldbank.org

Amiej Human capital is influenced greatly by Equity in Education. The bank support in diversity inclusion and equity. How is the bank looking at DEI post pandemic and it’s impact on Human Capital.

Victoria Strokova / World Bank @Amiej: This is a very good question. Despite the considerable progress worldwide ensuring all children are enrolled in school, many children with disabilities are still left behind. This is an important area of our work. You can read more about it here: www.worldbank.org

Akinradewo A.M.Orobola Poverty and pandemic covid19, have affected many, and poverty increased in the third world countries, women and girls are affected much and left behind, many wanted to return to school, but the financial opportunity wasn't there, How can WBG help the poor community and those affected,? likewise, how can poor communities access the internet and have equal rights and inclusion in the area of new technology and innovation?

Aisha Faquir (Moderator) Join us now for a discussion on health systems and social protection.

Victoria Strokova / World Bank Social protection programs help individuals and families, especially the poor and vulnerable, cope with crises and shocks, find jobs, improve productivity, invest in the health and education of their children, and protect the aging population. As part of our pandemic response, World Bank is scaling up social safety net operations to over $10 billion, reaching more than a billion people. Please see select impact stories at: ida.worldbank.org

Kmaloufbous What more can the World Bank do to support governments to expand and strengthen the public provision of education and healthcare- that is free at the point of use so that all can benefit?

Victoria Strokova / World Bank @Kmaloufbous: Thank you for this question! The World Bank has quickly ramped up its education support to countries; our efforts are reaching over 400 million students and 16 million teachers. The World Bank supports 87 education-related projects with COVID-19 response investments in 62 countries, totaling $2.5 billion. The World Bank’s $27 billion global health portfolio includes over 200 projects that help countries improve health outcomes and health security, by taking a comprehensive approach. While more support is needed, these are important investments to scale up access to education and healthcare especially for poor and vulnerable people.

Aisha Faquir (Moderator) Make sure to take the POLL!

The pandemic has been a major setback to human capital progress. What is the most pressing priority to enable people to achieve their potential? Quality inclusive education, stronger health systems, equitable social protection, women and girls at the heart of solutions, jobs and private sector investment?

The live show host, Rachelle Akuffo, and Sri Sridhar will bring you the results at the end of this event.

Clement Owen Goldson suggestion before was incomplete: Solar Thermal is available globally unlike the other selections and can be stored. It is therefore the most cost effective solution for the global south and the poor. Geothermal extraction has caused earthquakes and should not be used.

siyal,zafar abbas how third world countries invest the human development it’s major budget allocation on defence, return of loans

Aisha Faquir (Moderator) Up next, we look at the importance of building skills and leveraging technology to create jobs and opportunities, especially for youth.

harry It's a plus to see the world recovering quickly from the covid-19. The inclusive involvement of medical practitioners across the world -both developed and developing countries in developing vaccines showed science education is advancing. More collaborations among scientist could improve health systems among nations.

Nwabisa Florence Ndzama Human Capital is a fundamental economic component, as labour is one of key inputs to Production function. However, Covid has showed us that people can simply work from home, working on MS Teams for example , replaces the need for a receptionist. So, how do we find a balance between maximising the benefits of technology, while preserving demand for labor?

Victoria Strokova / World Bank @ Nwabisa Florence Ndzama: This is a very good question. Even prior to the pandemic we have seen that work is constantly being reshaped by technological progress. The World Development Report (WDR) 2019: The Changing Nature of Work studies how the nature of work is changing as a result of advances in technology: www.worldbank.org This process was accelerated by the pandemic, as technology helped in the fight against COVID-19: blogs.worldbank.org

Nwabisa Florence Ndzama Indeed, improving human capital is a multifaceted challenge that requires both Political will and Private sector investment.

Madugu Abdullahi All the questions are excellent we need for more and more investing in private investment

Zeba Rasmussen Please define quality inclusive education, thanks

Victoria Strokova / World Bank @Zeba: Thank you for your question. Inclusive education refers to a process of strengthening the capacity of the whole general education system to reach out to all learners. The World Bank has many resources on this topic. See: www.worldbank.org

Mauby What technologies are being used in classrooms since the pandemic? Island kudos!

Victoria Strokova / World Bank @Mauby: Great question! The COVID-19 pandemic has disrupted education in over 150 countries and affected 1.6 billion students. In response, many countries implemented some form of remote learning. Please see a report on Remote Learning During COVID-19 that summarizes Lessons from Today, Principles for Tomorrow: www.worldbank.org

Mauby What about the Caribbean and Latin American education model since Covid-19?

Ron Boenau The traditional method of transferring knowledge and skills Mentoring has been tremendously enhanced as a result of the latest communication technology allowing for video and audio meetings to occur. One of the significant opportunities coming out of COVID is the ability and now, the experience to conduct one-on-one mentoring across borders which promotes international dialogue. How can World Bank help to invest in human capital by encouraging international mentoring.

Victoria Strokova / World Bank @Ron Boenau: Thank you for this interesting question! COVID-19 pandemic has greatly accelerated adoption of digital technologies to enable people to access basic services as well as connect to one another across borders. International mentoring and other types of knowledge sharing are critical to promote opportunities for collaboration. However, technology alone is not always a sufficient solution for improving service delivery: blogs.worldbank.org

Abdalla Omar I am so sorry, for my side I need World Bank and IMF to help small Enterprise to develop in there business because have funding problems, thank you

Ron Boenau In addition to institutional education, what opportunities exist for one-on-one education or mentoring?

harry It's a struggle to turn visions into reality as a young entrepreneur in developing countries like mine. Training the youth without available resources to commence the enterprise rather creates the gap. Therefore, thinking of youth in entrepreneurship should factor increasing the availability of resources, eg. grants.

SASA EMMANUEL JAMES Covid-19 has affected all business,or economic of the world and make human capital worse for underdevelopment countries to support the population with good, medical services,and job opportunities so we need to join hands together with world Bank and other partners like UN agencies to promote development in the Global.

First Africa's Leader Africa is the worst continent in economic growth due to poor governance which is affecting unserved areas in political work plan. 85% of its population fail to get one dollar a day. How are you going to handle this situation while central Governments have performed poorly?

Victoria Strokova / World Bank @ First Africa’s Leader: Thank you for this important question. Our Africa’s Pulse’s publication has a lot of information on how Governments in Africa are addressing the development challenges in the region. The last report shows how countries in Africa expanded access to social protection programs. Social protection programs help building the resilience of poor and vulnerable households by supporting them in investing in productive assets and human capital: www.worldbank.org

Bruno Is there any plan to manage successfully the birth-death ratio / population density, in high quality areas? Why are you all only focusing from the bar to below and not in lifting the proper bar?

Victoria Strokova / World Bank @Bruno: Thank you for this interesting questions on such complex issues. Demographic trends intertwine with economic, social, and political ones to create a dynamic context for the functioning of cities, towns, and metropolitan areas. A recent report – Demographic Trends and Urbanization – explores how population growth, aging and migration affect the growth trajectories of cities, and how and why city-level demographic trends diverge from national and regional trends. See: hdl.handle.net

Ron Boenau how can we capture the chat?

Aisha Faquir (Moderator) @Ron Boenau: Thank you for asking! The chat will remain available on this event page.

Akinradewo A.M.Orobola Thank you WBG ,thank you all.

Aisha Faquir (Moderator) That concludes the discussion. Thank you to all who tuned in! A recording of this event should be available soon on this page. Learn more about human capital: www.worldbank.org

For more information about our work, visit:
- World Bank
- IFC

Akinradewo A.M.Orobola Thanks, Rachelle Akuffo, you are a good moderator. And to all the panelists and WBG, kudos to you all.

Podcast

Listen to the 25-min summary

Use the timestamps to browse the main sections of the podcast.

[00:00] Welcome
[02:38] Tanzania's education system
[05:13] Tanzania's investment in health
[08:28] Tanzania: Challenges in education and health
[13:35] Tackling learning poverty
[17:36] Special considerations from a gender and fragility context
[19:07] Impacts of the pandemic on young people
[23:50] The value of investing in people
[28:10] Equipping young people for the jobs of the future
[29:32] Closure

About the Spring Meetings 2022

The Spring Meetings bring together leaders from government, business, international organizations, and civil society, along with a diverse group of experts, to discuss global challenges and the path ahead. Watch the replay of our events dedicated to international development.

Apr. 12: Addressing Challenges
Apr. 19: Responding to Global Shocks
Apr. 20: Opening Press Conference
Apr. 20: The Digital Revolution
Apr. 21: Financing Climate Action
Apr. 21: Support to Ukraine
Apr. 22: Fragility
Apr. 22: Preserving Open Trade
Apr. 23: Human Capital

Available with simultaneous interpretation in Arabic, French and Spanish.

Speakers

David R. Malpass

Former President, World Bank Group
@DavidMalpassWBG
Samia Suluhu Hassan

President of United Republic of Tanzania
@SuluhuSamia
Mari Pangestu

Former World Bank Managing Director of Development Policy and Partnerships
@Mari_Pangestu
Amina J. Mohammed

Deputy Secretary-General, United Nations
@AminaJMohammed
Malala Yousafzai

Co-Founder of Malala Fund
@Malala
Sania Nishtar

Senator, Pakistan
@SaniaNishtar
Gustavo Béliz

Secretary of Strategic Affairs, Argentina
Morena Makhoana

CEO, BIOVAC
Zeena Majali

Co-Founder, Crystel
@zeenamajali
Beatrice Mahuru

Founder & CEO, GLaD Ltd and B&WE Ltd
Iffath Sharif

Human Capital Project Manager, World Bank
@iffath_sharif
Charles Dalton

Senior Health Specialist, IFC

Moderator

Rachelle Akuffo

International Business News Anchor
@RachelleAkuffo

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