Strengthening Collaboration to Maximize Development Impact
Read the transcript
- 00:00 [UPBEAT MUSIC]
- 00:07 [THE WORLD BANK GROUP BEHIND THE MISSION]
- 00:10 [INCLUSIONS AND DISABILITIES & WBG]
- 00:11 - Good morning, good afternoon, and good evening.
- 00:13 And welcome to Behind the Mission.
- 00:15 Our monthly series here, where we discuss what it takes
- 00:17 and what it's like to work at the World Bank Group.
- 00:20 [SRIMATHI SRIDHAR - EXTERNAL AFFAIRS ASSOCIATE] I'm your host Srimathi Sridhar and it's my pleasure
- 00:23 to be guiding you through today's discussion on inclusion and disabilities at the World Bank Group.
- 00:28 Now I'll be joined by an excellent panel of guests
- 00:30 that include Charlotte McClain-Nhlapo
- 00:32 who is our global disability advisor at the World Bank Group,
- 00:36 Karthik Tiruvarur, an investment officer with the International Finance Corporation
- 00:40 and Özgül Calicioglu, an environmental engineer at the World Bank Group
- 00:44 who is also part of the 2019 cohort for the Young Professionals Program.
- 00:49 Now ahead of international day of persons with disabilities on December 3rd,
- 00:54 Charlotte, Karthik and Özgül are here to share with us their experiences,
- 00:58 debunk some common myths and answer your questions.
- 01:01 So do talk to us throughout the program,
- 01:03 leave your questions for us in the comment section of this chat
- 01:06 and join us online using the #behindthemissionWBG.
- 01:10 And with that being said, Charlotte, Karthik and Özgül,
- 01:13 welcome to Behind the Mission.
- 01:15 I want to start off by asking each of you a question
- 01:18 and please feel free to also introduce yourselves at that time.
- 01:21 Charlotte, let me start with you.
- 01:24 You've spent your entire career advocating inclusion for persons with disabilities
- 01:28 on a national and global scale.
- 01:30 So as awareness of inclusion has grown,
- 01:33 what changes have you seen over the years?
- 01:36 - Thank you very much, Sri and thank you so much for having me.
- 01:39 By way of introducing myself,
- 01:41 I'd like to say my name is Charlotte McClain-Nhlapo, [CHARLOTTE MCCLAIN-NHLAPO]
- 01:44 I'm the global disability advisor at the World Bank Group [GLOBAL DISABILITY ADVISOR, WORLD BANK GROUP]
- 01:47 and for those who may not be able to see me,
- 01:50 I am a brown skinned woman, I have brown long hair,
- 01:54 I wear tortoise shell glasses, I have greenish eyes
- 01:59 and I'm wearing big gold hoops
- 02:01 and I have a jacket on that is dark blue with some black spots on it.
- 02:07 So to your question, I think over the years, Sri,
- 02:10 I've witnessed a significant uptick in awareness around disability inclusion.
- 02:16 And I attribute this, in a large part,
- 02:19 to the UN convention on the rights of persons with disabilities
- 02:21 that has now reached almost universal ratification.
- 02:25 The convention, like many of the frameworks,
- 02:27 has really began to take root in society and it's beginning to guide and direct
- 02:31 how we engage with persons with disabilities
- 02:34 and how we ensure that persons with disabilities are part of the development agenda.
- 02:39 I'd also like to say that organizations of persons with disabilities across the globe
- 02:44 are advocating for their rights based on the convention.
- 02:48 And they're beginning to influence and direct policy
- 02:51 and increasingly assuming positions of leadership.
- 02:54 So as a result of this, as a result of the awareness,
- 02:58 we're seeing, nationally, an increase
- 03:00 in the number of anti discrimination disability laws.
- 03:04 Currently, about 45 countries have laws.
- 03:07 so definitely room for improvement here.
- 03:10 And globally, I'd say the awareness of disability inclusion and disability rights
- 03:15 are also being internalized by many bilateral donors.
- 03:19 Many of whom now have disability strategies or policies in place.
- 03:24 And then, of course, the awareness of disability inclusive development
- 03:27 is finding traction in institutions like the World Bank,
- 03:31 where we have a disability inclusion and accountability framework,
- 03:35 as well as the environmental social framework
- 03:37 that prohibits discrimination on the basis of disability.
- 03:40 And also further provides triggers for disability inclusion in our projects.
- 03:45 So I'd conclude by saying,
- 03:48 yes I have seen significant advancements
- 03:51 in the development of laws and policies
- 03:55 and now we need to focus on enforcement and implementation,
- 03:59 the collection of more robust disability data.
- 04:03 And we need to ensure that persons with disabilities are not left behind.
- 04:06 And this is particularly important given COVID-19
- 04:10 and our efforts to build back better.
- 04:15 - Absolutely, it's great to have you here, Charlotte, thank you.
- 04:19 Karthik I want to now turn over to you.
- 04:21 You're someone who has worked out in the field in different country offices,
- 04:25 so tell us more about what that experience has been like for you.
- 04:30 - Absolutely.
- 04:31 Hi, everyone, I'm very excited to be speaking with you,
- 04:35 [KARTHIK TIRUVARUR - DISRUPTIVE TECHNOLOGIES] my co-panelists and everyone who's joined us live.
- 04:39 [INTERNATIONAL FINANCE CORPORATION] I'm Karthik, I grew up in India, as a way of introduction.
- 04:42 I moved to the U.S about eight years back when I came here for my grad school
- 04:47 and joined the World Bank Group as a young professional
- 04:50 and based here in our IFC headquarters in Washington, DC.
- 04:54 When I was nine years old, I met with an accident
- 04:57 that ended up in me having an amputation of my right arm and right leg.
- 05:02 And I have been wearing prosthetic limbs for about 25 years now.
- 05:07 To the specific question on working in local offices,
- 05:11 Sri, I had a brief stint of two years in the IFC South Asia office in Delhi
- 05:16 and as a young professional, I spent one year in our Beijing office.
- 05:22 As part of the experience in the field, I'd say I had the opportunity
- 05:25 of working across multiple countries in South Asia.
- 05:27 So Maldives, Nepal, Sri Lanka and when I was in Beijing
- 05:32 I ended up traveling to a large part of China, and through the last five years,
- 05:37 as a young professional here based in DC,
- 05:40 Turkey, Brazil, Mexico, you know, the works.
- 05:44 So I've had the opportunity of traveling a lot
- 05:46 and I would say that's been one of the best parts of my job
- 05:50 in terms of, you know, meeting local managements, companies,
- 05:53 understanding cultures.
- 05:56 Now owing to the use of a prosthetic limb,
- 05:59 specifically the leg, strenuous travel can be a challenge for me.
- 06:03 And one thing that enables me to travel well
- 06:07 is how understanding my colleagues and supervisors have been,
- 06:11 in terms of any budgeting when we are planning travel,
- 06:15 there is usually an accommodation of a gap day, if I seek one,
- 06:19 and things around that.
- 06:20 Also when it comes to travel,
- 06:22 given, at the World Bank Group, we are able to travel business class for the large part.
- 06:28 I have found that to be fairly accommodative in the sense of travel for me
- 06:35 and I have always been able to perform
- 06:37 on our colleagues who have no disabilities in that context...
- 06:43 physically in terms of prosthetic limbs.
- 06:46 So, in a nutshell I think, the travel, and, you know, the colleagues
- 06:51 make working in the field offices an absolute pleasure.
- 06:56 - Well, thanks for sharing that with us Karthik
- 06:59 and we're so happy to have you here with us today.
- 07:02 And finally, I want to turn to Özgül.
- 07:04 Now, Özgül you joined the World Bank Group
- 07:06 through the Young Professionals Program in 2019.
- 07:09 So tell us more about that process and how it was like for you?
- 07:16 Oh, and Özgül can you just unmute yourself please?
- 07:20 - All right, do you hear me better now?
- 07:22 - Yes.
- 07:22 - Okay thank you very much first of all for the opportunity to share my experiences.
- 07:27 I know that there can be many that can relate to
- 07:29 [ÖZGÜL CALICIOGLU] and I'm happy to also take the conversation offline.
- 07:33 [ENVIRONMENTAL ENGINEER, WORLD BANK] Again, that being said, my name is Özgül, I am a Turkish national.
- 07:37 I grew up in Turkey mostly and partly in Russia
- 07:40 and I am an environmental engineer.
- 07:44 So in this is actually a good question for me,
- 07:48 because the Young Professionals Program is actually...
- 07:51 it's known that it has a very structured
- 07:54 selection process.
- 07:56 And, in my case, I really needed some modifications in that
- 08:01 because I have low vision, I'm legally blind,
- 08:04 and depending on the elements of the interview,
- 08:07 sometimes I can need bigger text, or a large monitor or screen reader.
- 08:14 So I basically decided to disclose right away.
- 08:17 I just wrote that I had a disability on the application form online
- 08:21 and then I was selected for the interview,
- 08:23 I also had the chance to go back and forth
- 08:25 with the recruitment team and to make sure
- 08:28 that all the accessibility needs were going to be met.
- 08:31 And this was also, of course, a fine tuned discussion,
- 08:35 because you also don't want to get excess of information
- 08:38 about the interview because you also want it to be fair
- 08:41 for the other candidates, but after all, and eventually,
- 08:45 all of the disability accommodation needs were met
- 08:49 and the assessment center was very accessible and I passed the interview.
- 08:54 And even after that, and during relocation and onboarding,
- 08:59 the recruitment team was very practical, very approachable
- 09:02 to make sure that all of the accessibility needs were met.
- 09:09 - I'm happy to hear that Özgül, and thanks for being here with us today.
- 09:12 Folks, if you're just joining us,
- 09:14 you're watching Behind the Mission where today I'm speaking
- 09:17 with Charlotte McClain-Nhlapo who is our global disability advisor at the World Bank Group,
- 09:22 Karthik Tiruvarur, an investment officer with the International Finance Corporation,
- 09:27 and Özgül Colicioglu,
- 09:28 an environmental engineer at the World Bank Group
- 09:31 who was a part of the 2019 cohort for the Young Professionals Program.
- 09:35 Now, ahead of the International Day of Persons with Disabilities, on December 3rd,
- 09:39 we're talking about the importance of disability and inclusion in the workplace.
- 09:43 Now we've had a question come up from our online audience
- 09:46 that I'd like to pose here now.
- 09:48 And it's that oftentimes a question that comes up in an interview
- 09:52 is wanting to know "how will you accommodate my disability?"
- 09:56 Charlotte, I'd like to turn to you here.
- 09:57 Can you share with us your experience
- 10:00 as to how the World Bank Group has worked with you
- 10:02 to ensure that your needs are met?
- 10:05 [CHARLOTTE MCCLAIN-NHLAPO] - Sure, so, you know, I will say I use a wheelchair
- 10:09 [GLOBAL DISABILITY ADVISOR, WORLD BANK GROUP] and I think that one of the ways in which my needs were met
- 10:13 was that I needed to have a desk that was slightly higher
- 10:17 so that I could roll under my desk.
- 10:20 And that was really pretty effortless.
- 10:21 We were able to go through the disability accommodations fund at the bank,
- 10:26 put in applications to enable me to have this desk.
- 10:30 And soon after it was, it was purchased and I had it.
- 10:35 So there are all those types of tweaks that need to happen
- 10:38 and those usually happen pretty quickly.
- 10:42 I think it's really important
- 10:43 that, when a person with a disability joins the institution,
- 10:47 that the person is very explicit about his/her/their needs.
- 10:52 This is very important for the person to say
- 10:55 this is what I need, because you cannot make any assumptions
- 10:58 that your manager or the person you're reporting to knows what your needs are.
- 11:05 I think the other point to just point out here
- 11:07 is that there's, you also shouldn't be ashamed
- 11:11 of what your needs are or afraid to articulate them.
- 11:15 And that's really important to be able to get past that,
- 11:18 and recognize that you have a right to this.
- 11:24 - Wonderful, and I mean, Charlotte, let's dive into this a bit further,
- 11:27 because, in 2018, the World Bank Group
- 11:29 signed up to 10 commitments which included an undertaking
- 11:33 to promote disability inclusion in client projects
- 11:36 with a specific goal to hire more people with disabilities.
- 11:40 How far have we come with that?
- 11:42 - So thanks for asking that question, Sri.
- 11:44 So, I mean, I think I should just start off by saying
- 11:47 [CHARLOTTE MCCLAIN-NHLAPO] that these 10 commitments were made
- 11:49 [GLOBAL DISABILITY ADVISOR, WORLD BANK GROUP] at the global disability summit in London two years ago.
- 11:53 And the commitment was to increase the number of staff
- 11:58 with disabilities in the World Bank.
- 12:00 And the idea here was that, yes it's great that we're looking
- 12:03 at making our projects more disability inclusive,
- 12:06 but we really need to walk the talk,
- 12:08 and, therefore, we need to think about what we're doing in in-house.
- 12:11 So, many of you have already mentioned the World Bank's Young Professionals Program
- 12:17 and it has made significant strides
- 12:19 in ensuring the recruitment process is inclusive
- 12:22 of full staff with disabilities and it's looked at not just hiring,
- 12:26 but onboarding and beyond.
- 12:29 And, as you can see, we have a cohort with us here today.
- 12:33 What's also been important about this process around the YP Program,
- 12:37 is that they built in an ongoing feedback loop.
- 12:40 So we're constantly looking at ways to enhance this process
- 12:45 and, again, focusing on outreach, recruitment and onboarding.
- 12:49 And I'll just say, what's been very important in this regard
- 12:52 is to partner with other universities.
- 12:55 For example, the University of Johannesburg.
- 12:58 We've also had partnerships with University of Gallaudet
- 13:02 and other groups like Mobility International and the Federation of the Blind.
- 13:07 Finally, I need to say that what we're seeing
- 13:10 is that it's important to have these pieces in place,
- 13:14 programs that are inclusive, but there is a need for training internally.
- 13:19 And, in this regard, the disability and inclusion team
- 13:22 has completed a filming of a virtual reality training
- 13:26 called "Picture Yourself Included - Disability Inclusion",
- 13:30 and this training is being rolled out shortly.
- 13:33 And, then finally, I'll just say that this event today
- 13:36 is exactly one of the indications that the bank really is interested
- 13:41 in attracting staff with disabilities into its fold.
- 13:47 - Absolutely, Charlotte.
- 13:48 I'm so glad we're having this conversation right now.
- 13:51 You know, guys, this next question is really for all of you.
- 13:55 It can be intimidating to talk about having a disability
- 13:58 when applying for a job for a number of reasons, right?
- 14:01 There's the fear of being seen as less capable, of it being too time consuming
- 14:05 or even too expensive to make the necessary accommodations.
- 14:08 And, of course, there's also the fear
- 14:10 of how you'll be treated in the workplace once you begin.
- 14:14 So what I would like to know is what is your response to that fear
- 14:18 and Özgül I'd like to start with you on this one.
- 14:23 - Yeah, sure thanks for this question.
- 14:25 I know how intimidating it can be and, to be honest,
- 14:32 I also feel like it's good to also try to overcome these fears
- 14:36 mainly because of two reasons.
- 14:40 [ÖZGÜL CALICIOGLU] So the first reason is out of dignity and self-respect.
- 14:44 [ENVIRONMENTAL ENGINEER, WORLD BANK] Personally, I'd rather work for a company,
- 14:47 or an organization, which actually lets me bring in value.
- 14:52 So which is going to be having more time and interest
- 14:58 and resources for inclusion,
- 15:00 so that I can truly bring in my competencies and skillsets.
- 15:04 So if a company is not there to provide this environment,
- 15:08 maybe it's even better to learn this sooner than later.
- 15:13 And the second point is mostly about more disability education that's right.
- 15:20 Unfortunately, in the workforce,
- 15:23 the representation of the disabled people is not as high.
- 15:26 So, I mean, as much as the people with disabilities have their,
- 15:31 fears, their coworkers or the visitors have their own as well.
- 15:36 And this is not necessarily a fear of disability,
- 15:41 but it's more a fear of unknown, in some cases,
- 15:44 and this is a natural human behavior.
- 15:47 So I take this opportunity as a disability education moment,
- 15:52 so that, you know we can really open up the space,
- 15:54 we can address each other's fears and actually communicate and find solutions,
- 15:59 and basically prove that it's actually not as scary.
- 16:02 Accomodations are oftentimes very easy.
- 16:05 And this is, I think, kind of this proof that I need that communicating openly
- 16:11 has more benefits than negative points.
- 16:15 Thanks.
- 16:17 - Yeah, it's true, that awareness is very crucial.
- 16:20 Thank you, Özgül.
- 16:21 Oh, Charlotte, I'd like to turn to you now, what is your response to fear?
- 16:27 - So my response is that I guess it can be fearful,
- 16:33 but it really doesn't have to be nor should it be.
- 16:36 And, in many ways, I think this points to the need
- 16:39 for changing of mindsets and attitudes,
- 16:42 if we're really serious about being inclusive.
- 16:45 But I think unfortunately what we still see
- 16:48 is that there is a sense amongst some staff
- 16:51 that they are unable or uncomfortable in disclosing their disability.
- 16:57 And this is particularly the case
- 17:00 when the disability is an invisible disability
- 17:03 or they feel intimidated to ask for reasonable accommodations,
- 17:07 and this is still widespread.
- 17:10 And we know that this does not lend itself
- 17:13 to having an inclusive work environment.
- 17:15 So I would say that the responsibility
- 17:18 should really not lie with the person with a disability
- 17:20 to dispel the fear and stigma that others have towards them,
- 17:25 or really it's not the responsibility
- 17:28 for the person with disability to make the case
- 17:31 for why they need accommodations, right?
- 17:35 So I would argue that the responsibility is really that of the hiring manager,
- 17:40 for him/her to be a lot more aware, to take the necessary tradings
- 17:47 and address, you know, maybe unconscious or conscious bias
- 17:51 that they may have, to certainly familiarize themselves
- 17:56 with institutional supports I mentioned earlier on,
- 17:59 the disability accommodation fund that the bank has in place.
- 18:02 And to then really speak
- 18:04 to the person with disabilities and ask them
- 18:06 and learn about what, what their specific needs are.
- 18:10 And so I think this is really important,
- 18:12 because if we don't do that, we run the risk
- 18:15 of having the person with the disability prejudged
- 18:20 in terms of their ability or to really start looking
- 18:24 at what the costs could be for that and the question should be
- 18:28 ask the person with the disability what they require.
- 18:33 As I mentioned, sometimes the cost is a once off cost,
- 18:37 it might be a recurring cost, but that should never be the determining factor
- 18:42 for hiring a person who's qualified to do the job.
- 18:49 - Absolutely, Charlotte, thank you for that.
- 18:51 And, Karthik, finally, let me turn over to you.
- 18:54 What are your thoughts on this?
- 18:58 - I think great points were made by my panelists there, Sri,
- 19:01 the only point that I had to, you know, that have already been made,
- 19:04 [KARTHIK TIRUVARUR - DISRUPTIVE TECHNOLOGIES] is an interview tends to be an organic conversation
- 19:08 [INTERNATIONAL FINANCE CORPORATION] and I recollect one of my conversations while, you know,
- 19:13 I was getting interviewed for my role at IFC,
- 19:15 where I did, you know, specify what my disability was
- 19:21 and, you know talk to the manager around what necessary,
- 19:24 you know, accommodations would have to be made.
- 19:27 And that candid conversation actually opened up doors
- 19:31 to, you know, the interviewer
- 19:32 actually sharing one of their temporary disability
- 19:35 in terms of, you know, a back issue that they were going through.
- 19:38 And we spent a good five, six minutes
- 19:41 in that 30 minute interview, I remember, speaking about,
- 19:44 you know, her own experiences, right?
- 19:46 And, so it did end up forming a really organic bond between,
- 19:53 you know the interviewer and me at that point.
- 19:55 And also the other thing I would add is,
- 19:57 you know, my role entails scoping investments
- 20:02 and presenting that to, you know, the management
- 20:05 and one of the key elements of that is talking about both the positives,
- 20:10 but also the risks and, you know, what challenges exist.
- 20:13 And while it might seem intimidating and, you know,
- 20:17 there is a lot of fear about, you know, talking about disabilities,
- 20:21 I think one who thrives in an organizations like the World Bank Group
- 20:25 is one that's able to articulate both these equally well.
- 20:28 And the fear is mostly in the mind
- 20:30 I would say now having looked back at my journey
- 20:32 at the World Bank Group for about six years, it was exactly the way, you know,
- 20:36 the interviewer explained it to me in terms of,
- 20:39 you know, how things would be when I'm here.
- 20:41 So it's in the mind, I would say.
- 20:45 - Great, thank you, Charlotte, Karthik, Özgül,
- 20:48 for sharing with us your thoughts on that.
- 20:50 And before we get to the last couple of questions,
- 20:53 I actually want to take a few moments here
- 20:54 to get your reaction to some common myths
- 20:57 around working at the World Bank Group, as it relates to, you know this topic
- 21:01 that we're talking about today.
- 21:03 You can react to any of these but tell me what you think.
- 21:07 The first myth is that it's very difficult for persons with disabilities
- 21:11 to find opportunities to work in the field, true or false?
- 21:18 And to Karthik maybe I'll turn to you on this one,
- 21:21 [MYTHBUSTER #1] what are your thoughts on this?
- 21:24 [IT'S VERY DIFFICULT FOR PERSONS WITH DISABILITIES] - Sri you know, just as had mentioned
- 21:27 [TO FIND OPPORTUNITIES TO WORK IN THE FIELD] worked in the IFC Delhi office and Beijing office,
- 21:30 one thing that stood out to me is that, you know,
- 21:33 this is what Charlotte alluded to, as the World Bank Group,
- 21:36 we do have policies and procedures in place when we look at office locations,
- 21:41 when we look at travel policies,
- 21:45 and so I do believe that there is a common thread
- 21:47 that runs across our local offices and our headquarters
- 21:51 and equally so managers and staff that I have spoken to
- 21:57 I do believe have a very, you know,
- 22:00 nuanced understanding of the inclusion and diversity aspects
- 22:05 of what the role entails.
- 22:07 And so, from that perspective, I do feel that,
- 22:10 while I was either in South Asia or East Asia, in Beijing,
- 22:14 or am here in DC, I've had all the possible,
- 22:22 you know, aspects taken care of
- 22:24 and all the accommodations have been handled in a similar way.
- 22:29 And so I would say that that myth of finding local offices
- 22:34 to be more challenging, actually not quite true.
- 22:38 - Great Karthik, thank you.
- 22:40 The second myth is that mental illness
- 22:43 ´MYTHBUSTER #2] is not considered a disability.
- 22:46 [MENTAL ILLNESS IS NOT CONSIDERED A DISABILTY] Is that true or false?
- 22:48 Who would like to take that one? Perhaps, Charlotte?
- 22:52 What are your thoughts on this myth?
- 22:54 So happy to take that one, Sri.
- 22:57 It's a myth so it's not true.
- 23:00 So I think, you know, mental illness is increasingly defined as a disability.
- 23:06 I think what's important about thinking about the definition of disability
- 23:09 is that it really is an expansive spectrum
- 23:14 and within that, as I mentioned earlier on,
- 23:17 you have people who have invisible disabilities
- 23:20 and often mental health issues may not be the first thing
- 23:24 that you notice about an individual,
- 23:27 but we need to think about mental illness
- 23:31 as part of the broader understanding of disability.
- 23:35 And I think that then would enable us
- 23:38 to really develop support and accommodations
- 23:43 for people who have episodic mental health crises
- 23:48 and this really is... it's a great way to make the workplace more inclusive,
- 23:53 to think about how mental illness forms part of disability
- 23:58 and how it can be addressed more broadly.
- 24:02 - Absolutely, thank you, Charlotte.
- 24:03 [MYTHBUSTER #3] And for our final myth here there are no disability accommodations
- 24:08 [THERE ARE NO DISABILITY ACCOMODATIONS] in World Bank Group offices.
- 24:10 [IN THE WORLD BANK GROUP OFFICES] Özgül, how about I turn this over to you?
- 24:14 - Yeah, sure.
- 24:15 Actually I'm giving a direct example of qualification of business,
- 24:23 because even before... starting from the very beginning
- 24:29 of the recruitment process and beyond, I've always had accommodations.
- 24:34 So it's all about, you know,
- 24:36 really sharing what you need and World Bank is a place
- 24:41 that really asks about those proactively.
- 24:46 So as long as, you know, you just identify yourself
- 24:51 and then you ask for certain accommodations, as Charlotte also mentioned,
- 24:56 there's even a disability accommodation fund.
- 24:59 And for example, I use that fund to get a sit stand desk
- 25:04 and the larger monitor and even, really, the managers are very proactive.
- 25:11 My COVID home office is also very accessible.
- 25:15 They even took initiative
- 25:17 beyond what's really in the policies according to this,
- 25:22 because this is a very special circumstance.
- 25:25 So definitely the mindset and also the resources
- 25:28 are there for disability accommodations.
- 25:36 - So, Özgül, Charlotte, Karthik, you know,
- 25:39 thanks for taking the time to dispel some of these myths.
- 25:42 I know, I think it's really important
- 25:43 as we talk about diversity and inclusion in the workplace.
- 25:47 And, you know, as we head to the end of the program,
- 25:50 Charlotte, the World Bank Group is actively recruiting people with disabilities.
- 25:55 So what support does a bank provide for staff with disabilities?
- 25:59 And especially now, when many of us are having to work remotely.
- 26:04 - So great question, I think, like Ozgul said,
- 26:08 you know, the support has been really very good,
- 26:12 but, then, I think, you know, for a lot of people with disabilities,
- 26:15 [CHARLOTTE MCCLAIN-NHLAPO] they have their home environments that they've already made accessible,
- 26:20 [GLOBAL DISABILITY ADVISOR, WORLD BANK GROUP] so supports are not necessarily needed.
- 26:24 So in my case, for instance, I'm quite comfortable at home,
- 26:27 I haven't had to have any additional supports,
- 26:29 because my home has been adjusted to me and me using a wheelchair.
- 26:36 But I do think that it's really important, again,
- 26:39 to be able to be upfront with your manager and talk about what your needs are
- 26:45 because nobody can guess what you're thinking,
- 26:49 and, so, having that candid conversation is very important.
- 26:53 And I just wanted to pick up on a point
- 26:55 around mental illness and mental health more broadly,
- 26:58 because I think that, you know, given the COVID-19 pandemic,
- 27:02 and the fact that many people are at home, the issues around mental health
- 27:06 are really going to escalate.
- 27:10 And so we need to start thinking about how we address this
- 27:13 and how we provide the accommodations to ensure that we are inclusive.
- 27:21 - Great, thank you for that, Charlotte.
- 27:23 And, you know, guys, now for this final question here,
- 27:26 I would love to know what is your one takeaway
- 27:29 for persons with disabilities that are looking to work here
- 27:33 at the World Bank Group?
- 27:34 Karthik, let me start with you.
- 27:40 - Sri, I guess the way I have approached my job
- 27:43 is, you know, I, I think of bringing my whole self
- 27:46 to the workplace and not just my technical skills
- 27:50 and let me tell you more, right?
- 27:53 What stands out to me the most about the World Bank Group
- 27:56 compared to, you know, some of the other work places where I've worked before,
- 27:59 is that we are a truly diverse set of people, right?
- 28:03 People from different countries, people who speak multiple languages,
- 28:07 who've had very different carrier paths.
- 28:10 And so when I'm on a team, it's very usual that,
- 28:14 you know, there's probably not more than two people
- 28:17 who are from a similar context, right?
- 28:19 Be it country, or, you know speaking a language
- 28:21 or have similar industries as well.
- 28:23 And what that brings is a very, you know robust methodology of problem solving
- 28:29 and thinking about, you know, hard challenges
- 28:32 which we are trying to solve here at the World Bank Group.
- 28:34 And so as I think of myself, you know
- 28:38 that there's four different languages I speak,
- 28:41 there are multiple countries I represent, disability is one element of it.
- 28:45 And, you know, I do end up bringing that aspect to the workplace as well.
- 28:49 And so, one recommendation I would have for whoever's,
- 28:52 you know, thinking of the World Bank Group
- 28:54 and who's live on this chat is to bring their whole self,
- 28:56 you know, to the institution and this is one institution
- 28:59 that leverages multiple cultures and multiple talents really well.
- 29:05 - Thank you, Karthik. Bring your whole self, that's great advice.
- 29:08 Özgül, let me now turn over to you, what is your advice?
- 29:13 - Okay, so I think I'll echo Karthik a little bit here
- 29:16 and say that the workplace is very, very diverse
- 29:20 and it's really trying to get more and more inclusive every day.
- 29:24 And that's what I also see even since I started at the bank
- 29:27 there has been some improvements.
- 29:29 And I just want to kind of, you know, allude on the twin goals of the bank,
- 29:35 which is eliminating poverty and boosting shared prosperity.
- 29:39 And this is all about equal opportunities worldwide,
- 29:43 and it's really reflected to the workplace too.
- 29:45 So I would just say that there's no need to be intimidated
- 29:51 and it's definitely a place that I feel represented,
- 29:56 as Karthik was saying, that fits all aspects of my personality and my individuality.
- 30:02 And, really, it's great to use all of these things
- 30:07 that you have and, you know, it's like, you don't think out of the box,
- 30:13 but live outside the box as person with a disability,
- 30:16 because it really makes you think in different ways to come up with solutions.
- 30:20 And I think the World Bank is a place
- 30:23 that you can make good use of these positive skills.
- 30:29 - It certainly is, thank you, Özgül.
- 30:32 And finally, Charlotte, what is your one takeaway?
- 30:36 - Not to repeat my colleagues, I totally agree with them,
- 30:39 but I would just say it is gratifying.
- 30:43 So I would really encourage people
- 30:45 who really want to see issues around addressing poverty and boosting shared prosperity
- 30:51 to apply and to join.
- 30:54 It's really a great place to work.
- 30:57 - It really is and, you know, on that note,
- 30:59 Charlotte, Karthik, Özgül, it's been, you know, a really inspiring conversation,
- 31:03 it's been great speaking with you and learning more
- 31:06 from you and about you, so I want to thank you again so much
- 31:09 for joining me here today on Behind the Mission.
- 31:12 And, you know, a big thanks to you, our online audience,
- 31:16 for joining us here today.
- 31:17 You know, we hope our conversation has inspired you
- 31:20 and also just giving you more insight
- 31:22 into working with us here at the World Bank Group.
- 31:25 Now, do remember that the International Day of Persons with Disabilities
- 31:29 is coming up on December 3rd, that's this Thursday,
- 31:32 and we'll actually be having a virtual job fair
- 31:34 where we hope you'll connect with us and learn more
- 31:37 about the opportunities to join us here at the World Bank Group.
- 31:40 We'll be sharing the invitation to that event on our LinkedIn channel here,
- 31:44 so do keep an eye out for it.
- 31:46 In the meantime you can always follow the conversation online
- 31:49 using the #behindthemissionWBG.
- 31:52 and be sure to follow us on Facebook, Twitter, and LinkedIn.
- 31:55 Thanks again for joining us here today.
- 31:57 I'm Srimadhi Sridhar and I'll see you next time, bye-bye.
- 32:02 [UPBEAT MUSIC]
- 32:04 [THE WORLD BANK GROUP - BEHIND THE MISSION]
- 32:07 [DISABILITIES INCLUSIONS AT THE WORLD BANK GROUP]
- 32:19 [THE WORLD BANK GROUP - BEHIND THE MISSION]
Strengthening Collaboration to Maximize Development Impact
- ABOUT THE EVENT
- TRANSCRIPT
- AGENDA
GO TO: SPEAKERS
Join World Bank President Ajay Banga and Inter-American Development Bank (IDB) President Ilan Goldfajn for an insightful discussion about strategic and collaborative approaches in a world faced with complex challenges.
From sustainable development in the Amazon and climate resilience in the Caribbean to transforming education systems through digitalization, discover how the two institutions envision driving positive change in Latin America and the Caribbean, and propelling the region toward a more resilient and prosperous future.
Press Release: World Bank and IDB Join Forces to Maximize Development Impact
Watch this event with simultaneous interpretation in SPANISH and PORTUGUESE
[Gabriela Frias]
Good morning. How are you? Welcome to this historic event where the presidents of IDB and the World Bank will share with us their vision for development and also the importance for multilateral development banks working together. My name is Gabriela Frias. I'm a business journalist for CNN and I am delighted to be moderating this conversation. We're honored to have you and those following this live transmission. And now I would like to welcome to the stage IDB President Ilan Goldfajn and World Bank President Ajay Banga.
[audience applauds]
[Gabriela Frias]
Hello. [foreign language]. How are you?
[Ajay Banga]
Very well.
[Gabriela Frias]
This is a historic moment, so I'm delighted to be here talking to you. First things first, you're both relatively new in your roles, you both come from the private sector, and you both want to mobilize more capital to achieve more development. Why is it so important right now? President Goldfajn.
[Ajay Banga]
I'm going to let him go first since he's been in the job longer than I have.
[Ilan Goldfajn]
Just a few months. It's interesting because we are going to have this difference for some time. You're always going to pass through me, or just a few months.
[Ajay Banga]
Well, age above beauty, so [inaudible].
[Ilan Goldfajn]
So, I think it's very important what we are doing here. We’ve known each other for some time. We were together in the private sector, then when I was at Central Bank, and now at the public sector. It's interesting because we were together and I was hearing Ajay mention impact and how he sees things, and I realized I was saying this too. It's very interesting that we are all talking about how important it is for us… It’s not the amount of money we disperse, but the actual impact. And for us, scale and impact is the name of the game. And to do scale, you need to join forces. We need to work differently but work together differently. We have been asked by the stakeholders, by [inaudible], by everybody, "You need to increase your ambition." And that's what we are doing here in terms of the MOU, in terms of the agreements we are having together, and that's very important. You ask me why now. Well, first it is because the other day I was reading Yogi Berra quotes and he says, "The future ain't what it used to be." We are in a point of no return in terms of climate, so we need trillions, but we are in the billions. So that's the first reason. Second reason is that I see a consensus in the region and I see a consensus out of the region that we need to change. And finally, leaderships. For some reason, we were both elected to make this change. So that's why it's now.
[Gabriela Frias]
Thank you.
[Ajay Banga]
The only thing I'd add to that, because that's actually a very complete answer, is that in my three months between being nominated and getting elected, I had a chance to meet 90-odd countries around the world, including Ilan at a couple of events. This message that he spoke about, the need for change, the need for speed, the need for impact, the need to measure how many girls went to school, how many people got a better job because of a skilling institute, how much greenhouse gas emissions we avoided as compared to how many dollars we put in or how many projects we finance. That aspect of outside-in thinking rather than inside-out thinking came through from clients, from stakeholders, from NGOs, from everybody. A sense of urgency attached to it is because I believe that the gains that we made on poverty alleviation as a society over the last three or four decades, a large part of it was enabled by the generation of jobs. What has happened during the pandemic and has got multiplied and exacerbated by the impact of climate, and by fragility and violence and food insecurity, all these crises have got together like a perfect storm. They are intertwined, they are interrelated, and the challenges therefore are at a point where it's like a geometric progression. You cannot win by yourself. You have to join forces, and you have to join forces not just between the multilateral banks or with governments, but actually with civil society, philanthropy and the private sector. Because the trillions that he referred to do not exist in a government's balance sheet or in the balance sheet of an MDB, but they do exist in our system with capital. So, we have to think of how to de-risk and enable private capital to come in as well. It's a complex Rubik's cube, but the reality is it is a Rubik's cube. It's intertwined.
[Gabriela Frias]
It's a very interesting era also because you highlight different. Different how? Since you've worked in different projects as multilateral development banks, as institutions, but when you say different, how should we understand that?
[Ajay Banga]
Well, the biggest difference, I think, has to be in this idea of impact. What tends to happen in a lot of our systems is that the way the process works is you will try and create a country strategy, a country partnership, framework is what the World Bank calls it. I'm sure they have a different name, but it's the same thing. We agree-
[Ilan Goldfajn]
The [inaudible] strategy.
[Ajay Banga]
There you go. We agree on what's important for the next few years with the country and our teams, and then you try and focus resources on them, sometimes successfully, sometimes not so much. You end up spending a lot of time on trying to find projects that work with that country partnership framework. What we cannot afford to lose sight of is, finally, what's the end result of that? We cannot measure the project and we cannot celebrate the approvals. We have to celebrate the execution and the change in the lives of people. That celebration is a very different celebration from the inside-out approach that I think over the years most development finance institutions have come to be. That's the biggest difference.
[Ilan Goldfajn]
It's also very complete, and I agree a hundred percent. We need that cultural change. Our institutions somehow have the culture of celebrating approvals, celebrating disbursements, and we need to change that through new incentives, new processes, new mentality, new country strategy, and also what the governments or our clients from the private sector expect from us. Impact from the beginning, from the leadership to the country representatives. We need all to change that.
[Ajay Banga]
Gabriela, I think that, if I could just add to that for a second, I think that we all have to realize that at the end of the day, the money we put in is a small percentage of the money that country needs to make a difference. It's not the dollars, it's the knowledge and the capacity and the skills and the expertise that we bring and our teams bring. We are very blessed by the teams we have. Right to the lowest level of our institutions are very qualified people, who have chosen to come to these institutions and not go to some other place where they personally, financially may have been better off. They're here for a purpose in their minds. Our job as the head of the institutions is to channelize that person, channelize their willingness to do this, and give them a chance to hit the ball out of the park, since we're talking Yogi Berra, and we should be thinking about that in that logic.
[Gabriela Frias]
Yeah, absolutely. You've recently traveled to Peru and Jamaica together. We covered it. It's a different trip, both of you. How did that influence the vision of collaboration? And maybe it was probably at a dinner time in Lima maybe or in Peru that you come up with this new way of doing things.
[Ilan Goldfajn]
It was an historic trip. I think it was the first time the two presidents traveled together to the region. And yes, we were, in some small time, we just had some coffee and we said, "We need to think about-"
[Ajay Banga]
He remembers it as coffee. I remember it as a glass of wine.
[Ilan Goldfajn]
You know what? I had coffee. He had wine. That's the reason.
[Gabriela Frias]
What time was it? No, I'm just kidding.
[Ilan Goldfajn]
But then we agreed that we need to implement what we were talking about, what we are looking at. We need to somehow choose a few items that are important to us. We cannot just say, "Well, let's do it in general. We want to be very specific, very clear of where are we going to implement? Where are we going to work together?"
[Ajay Banga]
So what actually happened was that, first of all, when I started thinking about this trip, I reached out to him to say, "Listen, let's convert conversation to action. And the best action we can do is to be there together, because that changes the dialogue on the ground." He was amazing. He had a whole series of conflicting trips. He hasn't told you this, but he flew back and forth between the course of my trip in an effort to make it possible to attend both the Peru leg of my journey and the Jamaican leg of my journey and in the process convinced me that he cared deeply. Even though I knew him as a friend, that one action showed how deeply he cared about the topic. That was the first thing. Example, set your own example. The second thing was that when we did this back with a napkin discussion, we were trying to prioritize three things. We have come from a world where three things is what we can focus on. There's a hundred things we have to do together. That doesn't mean, nobody should take the message that the other 97 things are not important to the Inter-American Development Bank or to the World Bank. It's just that these three are what he and I will put all our own energy and personal capital into in an effort to make sure that our institutions and the governments we work with treat these with the priority they deserve. Those three were chosen for that impact across the region, rather than an individual country. That was how we ended up with this list of three.
[Ilan Goldfajn]
Let me just [inaudible].
[Gabriela Frias]
Please.
[Ilan Goldfajn]
I've been saying that prioritizing is not choosing not to do what you don't want to do. It's choosing not to do the things you really want to do but are not chosen for priorities. You have a lot of things you want to do and you're prioritizing the ones that you can implement at that time.
[Gabriela Frias]
Got it. Let's talk about this era of working together, specifically on the areas that you decided to focus. And probably maybe the next following question is, were there other areas that you consider as well, but then discard it?
[Ajay Banga]
We are focusing on three spaces, the Amazon, but not only from the point of view of reforestation or slowing down deforestation, but actually approaching it as a full ecosystem, which includes the people who live off the Amazon. If you don't address them and their needs merely it's... If you don't do that, you're putting a Band-Aid on an open wound. We have to fix the whole piece. It's about both the protection of the Amazon, but also the prosperity of the people who live in the Amazon. Ilan educated me that day about some of the numbers to do with the Amazon. But the three things that stuck in my head from those numbers, one was the size of the Amazon and its contribution to our ecosystem. Water, forestry, biodiversity, carbon sink, the amount of carbon it stores, all that stuff. There are lots of good numbers, but that's the first piece. The second part he educated me about was that 40% of the 45, 50 million people who live in the Amazon live below the poverty line, and 40%, 50% of them do not have access to sanitation, let alone jobs. That I hadn't quite understood until that evening with him. I knew it was a challenge, I just didn't know that it was such a big challenge. That, to me, was a big difference. That's why the Amazon became an important part of this. If by 2028, Brazil as one country, as part of the Amazon wants to meet its own nationally determined contributions, they're going to need $5 billion a year objective to do something about that. Then after that, they're going to need three-plus billion every year to keep it going. This is real large sums of money. That picked up the one big topic, how do we help them raise money for this? Second big topic that came up as a result of this was around the idea of digitization and how digitization could deliver better governance, of course, but learning circumstances. We started discussing rural urban divides, gender divides in the access and affordability of digital technology. We said, "Let's pick both the topics, access rural urban Columbia as an opportunity, but also learning loss across the continent that happened accelerated during COVID-19." Can we use an idea of digital technology to connect the schools better, enable the schools and teachers and students to be better educated? That became the second one. The third one was the Caribbean and the impact that climate has on the Caribbean. Again, a topic that I actually had addressed in Paris with Prime Minister Mia Mottley. It is important to me as well, and to him. That's the three we chose. Now, I'll let him tell you about a couple more that were in our list, but we couldn't prioritize in our list of three. That doesn't mean we're not working on them.
[Ilan Goldfajn]
So you can see that we have chosen very defined, very specific-
[Ajay Banga]
Narrow spaces.
[Ilan Goldfajn]
Narrows. For example, in the Amazon we have this Amazon Forever umbrella program, which is basically want to get the financing, either we have Amazon bonds or other type of financing we want to bring, we to think about how to help countries to have the projects they need. We want to be able to let the countries of the Amazon have this coordination. As Ajay say, this is an holistic [inaudible]. It's about the people. It's about the cities, because there are cities there. It is about the economy. You have to offer something different. In the Caribbean, it is about resilience. Let me give you an example. We just had a hurricane in The Bahamas. The cost was 26% of GDP.
[Gabriela Frias]
26% of GDP?
[Ilan Goldfajn]
GDP. And that's just one example. We are having more natural disasters with larger costs.
Thinking about resilience, thinking about how can we help this region, is fundamental. Can we do it in terms of building more resilience? Can we have financing that gives some insurance? We are going to think about the systemic risk for disasters together. One institution can think about the CAT bonds, the Catastrophe Bonds. Other institutions can think about how we can give some time for the countries to not pay their debt while this happens. I know that the World Bank has announced some suspension. We can think about these things in more general terms. Finally, digitalization is something that, Ajay, you mentioned, and it's very important. For the region, digitalization is about education, which we have chosen, but we have digitalization for health. We think about digitalization for governments. When you asked me-
[Ajay Banga]
What court left out, those were [inaudible].
[Ilan Goldfajn]
Those we left out.
[Ajay Banga]
For example, you were talking to me about my experience with financial inclusion. To me, financial inclusion, digitization is an element to part of that, but we've currently not addressed that here. We're trying to focus on learning gaps and access. That doesn't mean that financial inclusion and digitization is not important to our individual institutions. It's just that we've got to pick something, and that's all we are doing. Similarly, in the issue with the Caribbean, we've got the World Bank in Jamaica, we'd launched these Catastrophe Bonds, which are like an insurance in the event of a bad event happening. We've done that for other countries around, but not all of them. We would love to do them for the region of the Caribbean as a whole. We believe that gives people something in their pocket for a bad day. It's not just debt repayment, which we've announced. It's also having financing available for the bad [inaudible], whether through insurance or through deferred drawdown options, things that the bank has been doing in different countries. The question is, can we scale them? Can we learn from each other? Can we do more together? That's the idea.
[Gabriela Frias]
You wanted to add something?
[Ilan Goldfajn]
No, I wanted to add that what we can do together is not only in the public side, but we're going to talk also about what are we going to do in terms of the private sector together. That's also some part of it, which is very important. And finally, we have our personal experiences. You mentioned financial inclusion. I work at the Central Bank, and financial inclusion is very deep into what I feel proud about what we have done. This is a very important work.
[Ajay Banga]
He was my regulator when he was in Central Bank, so he's gone from being a friend to not such a friend to being a friend again.
[Ilan Goldfajn]
You see how the regulator will continue to be a friend, and that's a major success-
[Ajay Banga]
Correct.
[Ilan Goldfajn]
... that you continue to have friends afterwards.
[Gabriela Frias]
In spite of years later.
[Ajay Banga]
The private sector part is an important part. As I said right at the beginning, we're trying to crowd in that money. Without that, there is no way we get to these numbers. Both of us are trying to do it in different ways. In the context of this specific thing, there is an effort between what we call MIGA, which is our insurance guarantee agency, and their work with IDB Invest and our IFC. With IDB Invest and IFC, we have sourcing power. With MIGA, we have the capacity to reduce the risk that is inherent in those projects for the private sector. Not the risk that they should bear of execution, of management, of delivery, but the risks that they do not know how to price and understand. Those risks sometimes will reduce their energy or their desire to play. If we can lay off that risk for them, you remove an unnecessary friction point in attracting private capital. That's what we're trying to do together.
[Gabriela Frias]
I'd just like to add, because we're pressuring time, if you have anything else to add in regards to this new era of collaboration when multilateral development institutions are very much needed, when time is of the essence, what would you like to add?
[Ilan Goldfajn]
I'll say, Ajay has been very active in that. He has been pushing us for more collaboration. There are several areas that I think are very important. We were there in Jamaica, and Ajay mentioned something very important. We cannot go there to the same people with different standards, with different ways. They're the same people and we keep telling them, "Do it in that way." Somebody else comes 10 minutes later and says, "Let's do it in a different way." We need to have a standard. We need to reduce the burden in terms of our clients. Standards means, for example, procurement. Can we look at the procurement, the way we do it? Can we have a standard for that? And that's a very good place to start. Another thing, how do we measure things? Ajay has been pushing for measuring in terms of climate. We look together. Yes, we do need to look together how we measure that. We need to do other stuff, like credit ratings, together. Because if we are going to go from billions and we need trillions-
[Gabriela Frias]
Yes.
[Ilan Goldfajn]
And I have an issue with de-risk because risks doesn't disappear.
[Ajay Banga]
Yeah, it's just passed to another place.
[Ilan Goldfajn]
I like to change to re-risk, probably I won't be able to do it, but re-risk means that we need to talk to the credit rating agencies. We need to talk to everybody, say, "Well, where is this risk going to land and how are we going to deal with it?" All of these issues, we need to work together in this new era. And then we have been asked to do it, and what we're doing today is a response to not only what we want to do, both of us, but what I believe the system wants from us.
[Ajay Banga]
The topics he raised about us working together on standards, on rating agencies, and on things of that type, he's going to become the head of our informal group of MDBs later this year. He's going to take charge of trying to get these done. I was the one raising them at a recent breakfast, but I'm now giving the pass to him. That's our partnership at work. But the closing thought I'll leave you with is we need all shoulders at the wheel. We need concessional capital from philanthropies and richer countries. We need the private sector to come in for the right reasons. Not that they shouldn't make money, but we need them to come in for the right reasons and with the right risk profile. We need multilateral banks to work together. We need governance in countries to work well together. There's the issue of all shoulders at the wheel, is the message I would leave you with.
[Gabriela Frias]
Well, thank you so much, President Banga. Thank you so much, President Goldfajn. Now let me ask you to get ready to sign the MOU. If you could please help us with setting the table and we can proceed to sign it.
[Ilan Goldfajn]
This is a new way to do it. The table comes to us.
[Gabriela Frias]
Exactly. Yeah, because it's not ready. While it's ready, maybe let me just remind you that there are people connected in this live transmission. If there's a final message that you want to serve for them?
[Ilan Goldfajn]
Yeah. While we wait for the table, let me give you a final message.
[Gabriela Frias]
Yes.
[Ilan Goldfajn]
I like to think about us as the ones that implement stuff, that we go from the talk to the walk. If somebody would like to remember us, remember what we have done and not what we have talked. I think our institutions need to be focused on implementation. There are too many conferences. There are too many seminars. I like to think about us as the ones that will actually take it to the ground with our country strategies, with our representatives, with our connections, with our clients, either the governments or the private sector with IDB Invest, IDB [inaudible].
[Ajay Banga]
The only thing I would add to that is that I believe that the World Bank has had a very storied history. It got started for various reasons. They evolved and changed and has built itself over the years into a premier institution, but our future cannot rely on our past. Our world is changing with very severe challenges. Our future requires us to redesign these institutions for the next 30, 40 years to be elemental in driving developmental change, because my grandchild has to enjoy her world as much as I have. I believe in that with all my passion. That's what we have to do.
[Gabriela Frias]
Thank you so much. We wish you success in this endeavor, in this new era.
[Ilan Goldfajn]
Thank you.
[Gabriela Frias]
And now, if you could please proceed to the table to sign the MOU. Thank you so much to both of you.
[Ilan Goldfajn]
Thank you.
[audience applauds]
[Gabriela Frias]
Thank you. Thank you, sir.
[Ilan Goldfajn]
Thank you, Gabriela.
[Gabriela Frias]
Thank you. Please go ahead. Just a reminder that this is a historic moment, as I was telling you before, between the World Bank and the IDB, where both of, please go ahead, where both organizations established their commitment to collaborate and work together for the sustainable development of Amazon region, the Caribbean, and digitalization in Latin America and the Caribbean, including education.
[Ilan Goldfajn]
Very good.
[audience applauds]
[Ilan Goldfajn]
And I would like to thank here for Ajay for coming here for this partnership. We couldn't have done it without your support for this historic moment.
[Ajay Banga]
Thank you. I'm very happy to be here and I'm very happy that it's very few pages in the MOU. So that's a start.
[Gabriela Frias]
Thank you both.
[Ajay Banga]
Thank you.
[Ilan Goldfajn]
Very good. Thank you.
[audience applauds]
[Gabriela Frias]
Please don't [inaudible] our event. Thank you so much.
[Ilan Goldfajn]
Thank you, Gabriela.
[Gabriela Frias]
Have a good day.
[Ilan Goldfajn]
Very good.
00:00 Welcome
00:56 How to mobilize more capital to achieve more development
05:19 A different approach as multilateral development banks
08:20 Recent visits of Ajay Banga and Ilan Goldfajn to Peru and Jamaica
11:34 Areas of joint collaboration between the World Bank and the IDB
24:45 Closure and signature of the memorandum
Related Resources
Read the transcript
- 00:00 [UPBEAT MUSIC]
- 00:07 [THE WORLD BANK GROUP BEHIND THE MISSION]
- 00:10 [INCLUSIONS AND DISABILITIES & WBG]
- 00:11 - Good morning, good afternoon, and good evening.
- 00:13 And welcome to Behind the Mission.
- 00:15 Our monthly series here, where we discuss what it takes
- 00:17 and what it's like to work at the World Bank Group.
- 00:20 [SRIMATHI SRIDHAR - EXTERNAL AFFAIRS ASSOCIATE] I'm your host Srimathi Sridhar and it's my pleasure
- 00:23 to be guiding you through today's discussion on inclusion and disabilities at the World Bank Group.
- 00:28 Now I'll be joined by an excellent panel of guests
- 00:30 that include Charlotte McClain-Nhlapo
- 00:32 who is our global disability advisor at the World Bank Group,
- 00:36 Karthik Tiruvarur, an investment officer with the International Finance Corporation
- 00:40 and Özgül Calicioglu, an environmental engineer at the World Bank Group
- 00:44 who is also part of the 2019 cohort for the Young Professionals Program.
- 00:49 Now ahead of international day of persons with disabilities on December 3rd,
- 00:54 Charlotte, Karthik and Özgül are here to share with us their experiences,
- 00:58 debunk some common myths and answer your questions.
- 01:01 So do talk to us throughout the program,
- 01:03 leave your questions for us in the comment section of this chat
- 01:06 and join us online using the #behindthemissionWBG.
- 01:10 And with that being said, Charlotte, Karthik and Özgül,
- 01:13 welcome to Behind the Mission.
- 01:15 I want to start off by asking each of you a question
- 01:18 and please feel free to also introduce yourselves at that time.
- 01:21 Charlotte, let me start with you.
- 01:24 You've spent your entire career advocating inclusion for persons with disabilities
- 01:28 on a national and global scale.
- 01:30 So as awareness of inclusion has grown,
- 01:33 what changes have you seen over the years?
- 01:36 - Thank you very much, Sri and thank you so much for having me.
- 01:39 By way of introducing myself,
- 01:41 I'd like to say my name is Charlotte McClain-Nhlapo, [CHARLOTTE MCCLAIN-NHLAPO]
- 01:44 I'm the global disability advisor at the World Bank Group [GLOBAL DISABILITY ADVISOR, WORLD BANK GROUP]
- 01:47 and for those who may not be able to see me,
- 01:50 I am a brown skinned woman, I have brown long hair,
- 01:54 I wear tortoise shell glasses, I have greenish eyes
- 01:59 and I'm wearing big gold hoops
- 02:01 and I have a jacket on that is dark blue with some black spots on it.
- 02:07 So to your question, I think over the years, Sri,
- 02:10 I've witnessed a significant uptick in awareness around disability inclusion.
- 02:16 And I attribute this, in a large part,
- 02:19 to the UN convention on the rights of persons with disabilities
- 02:21 that has now reached almost universal ratification.
- 02:25 The convention, like many of the frameworks,
- 02:27 has really began to take root in society and it's beginning to guide and direct
- 02:31 how we engage with persons with disabilities
- 02:34 and how we ensure that persons with disabilities are part of the development agenda.
- 02:39 I'd also like to say that organizations of persons with disabilities across the globe
- 02:44 are advocating for their rights based on the convention.
- 02:48 And they're beginning to influence and direct policy
- 02:51 and increasingly assuming positions of leadership.
- 02:54 So as a result of this, as a result of the awareness,
- 02:58 we're seeing, nationally, an increase
- 03:00 in the number of anti discrimination disability laws.
- 03:04 Currently, about 45 countries have laws.
- 03:07 so definitely room for improvement here.
- 03:10 And globally, I'd say the awareness of disability inclusion and disability rights
- 03:15 are also being internalized by many bilateral donors.
- 03:19 Many of whom now have disability strategies or policies in place.
- 03:24 And then, of course, the awareness of disability inclusive development
- 03:27 is finding traction in institutions like the World Bank,
- 03:31 where we have a disability inclusion and accountability framework,
- 03:35 as well as the environmental social framework
- 03:37 that prohibits discrimination on the basis of disability.
- 03:40 And also further provides triggers for disability inclusion in our projects.
- 03:45 So I'd conclude by saying,
- 03:48 yes I have seen significant advancements
- 03:51 in the development of laws and policies
- 03:55 and now we need to focus on enforcement and implementation,
- 03:59 the collection of more robust disability data.
- 04:03 And we need to ensure that persons with disabilities are not left behind.
- 04:06 And this is particularly important given COVID-19
- 04:10 and our efforts to build back better.
- 04:15 - Absolutely, it's great to have you here, Charlotte, thank you.
- 04:19 Karthik I want to now turn over to you.
- 04:21 You're someone who has worked out in the field in different country offices,
- 04:25 so tell us more about what that experience has been like for you.
- 04:30 - Absolutely.
- 04:31 Hi, everyone, I'm very excited to be speaking with you,
- 04:35 [KARTHIK TIRUVARUR - DISRUPTIVE TECHNOLOGIES] my co-panelists and everyone who's joined us live.
- 04:39 [INTERNATIONAL FINANCE CORPORATION] I'm Karthik, I grew up in India, as a way of introduction.
- 04:42 I moved to the U.S about eight years back when I came here for my grad school
- 04:47 and joined the World Bank Group as a young professional
- 04:50 and based here in our IFC headquarters in Washington, DC.
- 04:54 When I was nine years old, I met with an accident
- 04:57 that ended up in me having an amputation of my right arm and right leg.
- 05:02 And I have been wearing prosthetic limbs for about 25 years now.
- 05:07 To the specific question on working in local offices,
- 05:11 Sri, I had a brief stint of two years in the IFC South Asia office in Delhi
- 05:16 and as a young professional, I spent one year in our Beijing office.
- 05:22 As part of the experience in the field, I'd say I had the opportunity
- 05:25 of working across multiple countries in South Asia.
- 05:27 So Maldives, Nepal, Sri Lanka and when I was in Beijing
- 05:32 I ended up traveling to a large part of China, and through the last five years,
- 05:37 as a young professional here based in DC,
- 05:40 Turkey, Brazil, Mexico, you know, the works.
- 05:44 So I've had the opportunity of traveling a lot
- 05:46 and I would say that's been one of the best parts of my job
- 05:50 in terms of, you know, meeting local managements, companies,
- 05:53 understanding cultures.
- 05:56 Now owing to the use of a prosthetic limb,
- 05:59 specifically the leg, strenuous travel can be a challenge for me.
- 06:03 And one thing that enables me to travel well
- 06:07 is how understanding my colleagues and supervisors have been,
- 06:11 in terms of any budgeting when we are planning travel,
- 06:15 there is usually an accommodation of a gap day, if I seek one,
- 06:19 and things around that.
- 06:20 Also when it comes to travel,
- 06:22 given, at the World Bank Group, we are able to travel business class for the large part.
- 06:28 I have found that to be fairly accommodative in the sense of travel for me
- 06:35 and I have always been able to perform
- 06:37 on our colleagues who have no disabilities in that context...
- 06:43 physically in terms of prosthetic limbs.
- 06:46 So, in a nutshell I think, the travel, and, you know, the colleagues
- 06:51 make working in the field offices an absolute pleasure.
- 06:56 - Well, thanks for sharing that with us Karthik
- 06:59 and we're so happy to have you here with us today.
- 07:02 And finally, I want to turn to Özgül.
- 07:04 Now, Özgül you joined the World Bank Group
- 07:06 through the Young Professionals Program in 2019.
- 07:09 So tell us more about that process and how it was like for you?
- 07:16 Oh, and Özgül can you just unmute yourself please?
- 07:20 - All right, do you hear me better now?
- 07:22 - Yes.
- 07:22 - Okay thank you very much first of all for the opportunity to share my experiences.
- 07:27 I know that there can be many that can relate to
- 07:29 [ÖZGÜL CALICIOGLU] and I'm happy to also take the conversation offline.
- 07:33 [ENVIRONMENTAL ENGINEER, WORLD BANK] Again, that being said, my name is Özgül, I am a Turkish national.
- 07:37 I grew up in Turkey mostly and partly in Russia
- 07:40 and I am an environmental engineer.
- 07:44 So in this is actually a good question for me,
- 07:48 because the Young Professionals Program is actually...
- 07:51 it's known that it has a very structured
- 07:54 selection process.
- 07:56 And, in my case, I really needed some modifications in that
- 08:01 because I have low vision, I'm legally blind,
- 08:04 and depending on the elements of the interview,
- 08:07 sometimes I can need bigger text, or a large monitor or screen reader.
- 08:14 So I basically decided to disclose right away.
- 08:17 I just wrote that I had a disability on the application form online
- 08:21 and then I was selected for the interview,
- 08:23 I also had the chance to go back and forth
- 08:25 with the recruitment team and to make sure
- 08:28 that all the accessibility needs were going to be met.
- 08:31 And this was also, of course, a fine tuned discussion,
- 08:35 because you also don't want to get excess of information
- 08:38 about the interview because you also want it to be fair
- 08:41 for the other candidates, but after all, and eventually,
- 08:45 all of the disability accommodation needs were met
- 08:49 and the assessment center was very accessible and I passed the interview.
- 08:54 And even after that, and during relocation and onboarding,
- 08:59 the recruitment team was very practical, very approachable
- 09:02 to make sure that all of the accessibility needs were met.
- 09:09 - I'm happy to hear that Özgül, and thanks for being here with us today.
- 09:12 Folks, if you're just joining us,
- 09:14 you're watching Behind the Mission where today I'm speaking
- 09:17 with Charlotte McClain-Nhlapo who is our global disability advisor at the World Bank Group,
- 09:22 Karthik Tiruvarur, an investment officer with the International Finance Corporation,
- 09:27 and Özgül Colicioglu,
- 09:28 an environmental engineer at the World Bank Group
- 09:31 who was a part of the 2019 cohort for the Young Professionals Program.
- 09:35 Now, ahead of the International Day of Persons with Disabilities, on December 3rd,
- 09:39 we're talking about the importance of disability and inclusion in the workplace.
- 09:43 Now we've had a question come up from our online audience
- 09:46 that I'd like to pose here now.
- 09:48 And it's that oftentimes a question that comes up in an interview
- 09:52 is wanting to know "how will you accommodate my disability?"
- 09:56 Charlotte, I'd like to turn to you here.
- 09:57 Can you share with us your experience
- 10:00 as to how the World Bank Group has worked with you
- 10:02 to ensure that your needs are met?
- 10:05 [CHARLOTTE MCCLAIN-NHLAPO] - Sure, so, you know, I will say I use a wheelchair
- 10:09 [GLOBAL DISABILITY ADVISOR, WORLD BANK GROUP] and I think that one of the ways in which my needs were met
- 10:13 was that I needed to have a desk that was slightly higher
- 10:17 so that I could roll under my desk.
- 10:20 And that was really pretty effortless.
- 10:21 We were able to go through the disability accommodations fund at the bank,
- 10:26 put in applications to enable me to have this desk.
- 10:30 And soon after it was, it was purchased and I had it.
- 10:35 So there are all those types of tweaks that need to happen
- 10:38 and those usually happen pretty quickly.
- 10:42 I think it's really important
- 10:43 that, when a person with a disability joins the institution,
- 10:47 that the person is very explicit about his/her/their needs.
- 10:52 This is very important for the person to say
- 10:55 this is what I need, because you cannot make any assumptions
- 10:58 that your manager or the person you're reporting to knows what your needs are.
- 11:05 I think the other point to just point out here
- 11:07 is that there's, you also shouldn't be ashamed
- 11:11 of what your needs are or afraid to articulate them.
- 11:15 And that's really important to be able to get past that,
- 11:18 and recognize that you have a right to this.
- 11:24 - Wonderful, and I mean, Charlotte, let's dive into this a bit further,
- 11:27 because, in 2018, the World Bank Group
- 11:29 signed up to 10 commitments which included an undertaking
- 11:33 to promote disability inclusion in client projects
- 11:36 with a specific goal to hire more people with disabilities.
- 11:40 How far have we come with that?
- 11:42 - So thanks for asking that question, Sri.
- 11:44 So, I mean, I think I should just start off by saying
- 11:47 [CHARLOTTE MCCLAIN-NHLAPO] that these 10 commitments were made
- 11:49 [GLOBAL DISABILITY ADVISOR, WORLD BANK GROUP] at the global disability summit in London two years ago.
- 11:53 And the commitment was to increase the number of staff
- 11:58 with disabilities in the World Bank.
- 12:00 And the idea here was that, yes it's great that we're looking
- 12:03 at making our projects more disability inclusive,
- 12:06 but we really need to walk the talk,
- 12:08 and, therefore, we need to think about what we're doing in in-house.
- 12:11 So, many of you have already mentioned the World Bank's Young Professionals Program
- 12:17 and it has made significant strides
- 12:19 in ensuring the recruitment process is inclusive
- 12:22 of full staff with disabilities and it's looked at not just hiring,
- 12:26 but onboarding and beyond.
- 12:29 And, as you can see, we have a cohort with us here today.
- 12:33 What's also been important about this process around the YP Program,
- 12:37 is that they built in an ongoing feedback loop.
- 12:40 So we're constantly looking at ways to enhance this process
- 12:45 and, again, focusing on outreach, recruitment and onboarding.
- 12:49 And I'll just say, what's been very important in this regard
- 12:52 is to partner with other universities.
- 12:55 For example, the University of Johannesburg.
- 12:58 We've also had partnerships with University of Gallaudet
- 13:02 and other groups like Mobility International and the Federation of the Blind.
- 13:07 Finally, I need to say that what we're seeing
- 13:10 is that it's important to have these pieces in place,
- 13:14 programs that are inclusive, but there is a need for training internally.
- 13:19 And, in this regard, the disability and inclusion team
- 13:22 has completed a filming of a virtual reality training
- 13:26 called "Picture Yourself Included - Disability Inclusion",
- 13:30 and this training is being rolled out shortly.
- 13:33 And, then finally, I'll just say that this event today
- 13:36 is exactly one of the indications that the bank really is interested
- 13:41 in attracting staff with disabilities into its fold.
- 13:47 - Absolutely, Charlotte.
- 13:48 I'm so glad we're having this conversation right now.
- 13:51 You know, guys, this next question is really for all of you.
- 13:55 It can be intimidating to talk about having a disability
- 13:58 when applying for a job for a number of reasons, right?
- 14:01 There's the fear of being seen as less capable, of it being too time consuming
- 14:05 or even too expensive to make the necessary accommodations.
- 14:08 And, of course, there's also the fear
- 14:10 of how you'll be treated in the workplace once you begin.
- 14:14 So what I would like to know is what is your response to that fear
- 14:18 and Özgül I'd like to start with you on this one.
- 14:23 - Yeah, sure thanks for this question.
- 14:25 I know how intimidating it can be and, to be honest,
- 14:32 I also feel like it's good to also try to overcome these fears
- 14:36 mainly because of two reasons.
- 14:40 [ÖZGÜL CALICIOGLU] So the first reason is out of dignity and self-respect.
- 14:44 [ENVIRONMENTAL ENGINEER, WORLD BANK] Personally, I'd rather work for a company,
- 14:47 or an organization, which actually lets me bring in value.
- 14:52 So which is going to be having more time and interest
- 14:58 and resources for inclusion,
- 15:00 so that I can truly bring in my competencies and skillsets.
- 15:04 So if a company is not there to provide this environment,
- 15:08 maybe it's even better to learn this sooner than later.
- 15:13 And the second point is mostly about more disability education that's right.
- 15:20 Unfortunately, in the workforce,
- 15:23 the representation of the disabled people is not as high.
- 15:26 So, I mean, as much as the people with disabilities have their,
- 15:31 fears, their coworkers or the visitors have their own as well.
- 15:36 And this is not necessarily a fear of disability,
- 15:41 but it's more a fear of unknown, in some cases,
- 15:44 and this is a natural human behavior.
- 15:47 So I take this opportunity as a disability education moment,
- 15:52 so that, you know we can really open up the space,
- 15:54 we can address each other's fears and actually communicate and find solutions,
- 15:59 and basically prove that it's actually not as scary.
- 16:02 Accomodations are oftentimes very easy.
- 16:05 And this is, I think, kind of this proof that I need that communicating openly
- 16:11 has more benefits than negative points.
- 16:15 Thanks.
- 16:17 - Yeah, it's true, that awareness is very crucial.
- 16:20 Thank you, Özgül.
- 16:21 Oh, Charlotte, I'd like to turn to you now, what is your response to fear?
- 16:27 - So my response is that I guess it can be fearful,
- 16:33 but it really doesn't have to be nor should it be.
- 16:36 And, in many ways, I think this points to the need
- 16:39 for changing of mindsets and attitudes,
- 16:42 if we're really serious about being inclusive.
- 16:45 But I think unfortunately what we still see
- 16:48 is that there is a sense amongst some staff
- 16:51 that they are unable or uncomfortable in disclosing their disability.
- 16:57 And this is particularly the case
- 17:00 when the disability is an invisible disability
- 17:03 or they feel intimidated to ask for reasonable accommodations,
- 17:07 and this is still widespread.
- 17:10 And we know that this does not lend itself
- 17:13 to having an inclusive work environment.
- 17:15 So I would say that the responsibility
- 17:18 should really not lie with the person with a disability
- 17:20 to dispel the fear and stigma that others have towards them,
- 17:25 or really it's not the responsibility
- 17:28 for the person with disability to make the case
- 17:31 for why they need accommodations, right?
- 17:35 So I would argue that the responsibility is really that of the hiring manager,
- 17:40 for him/her to be a lot more aware, to take the necessary tradings
- 17:47 and address, you know, maybe unconscious or conscious bias
- 17:51 that they may have, to certainly familiarize themselves
- 17:56 with institutional supports I mentioned earlier on,
- 17:59 the disability accommodation fund that the bank has in place.
- 18:02 And to then really speak
- 18:04 to the person with disabilities and ask them
- 18:06 and learn about what, what their specific needs are.
- 18:10 And so I think this is really important,
- 18:12 because if we don't do that, we run the risk
- 18:15 of having the person with the disability prejudged
- 18:20 in terms of their ability or to really start looking
- 18:24 at what the costs could be for that and the question should be
- 18:28 ask the person with the disability what they require.
- 18:33 As I mentioned, sometimes the cost is a once off cost,
- 18:37 it might be a recurring cost, but that should never be the determining factor
- 18:42 for hiring a person who's qualified to do the job.
- 18:49 - Absolutely, Charlotte, thank you for that.
- 18:51 And, Karthik, finally, let me turn over to you.
- 18:54 What are your thoughts on this?
- 18:58 - I think great points were made by my panelists there, Sri,
- 19:01 the only point that I had to, you know, that have already been made,
- 19:04 [KARTHIK TIRUVARUR - DISRUPTIVE TECHNOLOGIES] is an interview tends to be an organic conversation
- 19:08 [INTERNATIONAL FINANCE CORPORATION] and I recollect one of my conversations while, you know,
- 19:13 I was getting interviewed for my role at IFC,
- 19:15 where I did, you know, specify what my disability was
- 19:21 and, you know talk to the manager around what necessary,
- 19:24 you know, accommodations would have to be made.
- 19:27 And that candid conversation actually opened up doors
- 19:31 to, you know, the interviewer
- 19:32 actually sharing one of their temporary disability
- 19:35 in terms of, you know, a back issue that they were going through.
- 19:38 And we spent a good five, six minutes
- 19:41 in that 30 minute interview, I remember, speaking about,
- 19:44 you know, her own experiences, right?
- 19:46 And, so it did end up forming a really organic bond between,
- 19:53 you know the interviewer and me at that point.
- 19:55 And also the other thing I would add is,
- 19:57 you know, my role entails scoping investments
- 20:02 and presenting that to, you know, the management
- 20:05 and one of the key elements of that is talking about both the positives,
- 20:10 but also the risks and, you know, what challenges exist.
- 20:13 And while it might seem intimidating and, you know,
- 20:17 there is a lot of fear about, you know, talking about disabilities,
- 20:21 I think one who thrives in an organizations like the World Bank Group
- 20:25 is one that's able to articulate both these equally well.
- 20:28 And the fear is mostly in the mind
- 20:30 I would say now having looked back at my journey
- 20:32 at the World Bank Group for about six years, it was exactly the way, you know,
- 20:36 the interviewer explained it to me in terms of,
- 20:39 you know, how things would be when I'm here.
- 20:41 So it's in the mind, I would say.
- 20:45 - Great, thank you, Charlotte, Karthik, Özgül,
- 20:48 for sharing with us your thoughts on that.
- 20:50 And before we get to the last couple of questions,
- 20:53 I actually want to take a few moments here
- 20:54 to get your reaction to some common myths
- 20:57 around working at the World Bank Group, as it relates to, you know this topic
- 21:01 that we're talking about today.
- 21:03 You can react to any of these but tell me what you think.
- 21:07 The first myth is that it's very difficult for persons with disabilities
- 21:11 to find opportunities to work in the field, true or false?
- 21:18 And to Karthik maybe I'll turn to you on this one,
- 21:21 [MYTHBUSTER #1] what are your thoughts on this?
- 21:24 [IT'S VERY DIFFICULT FOR PERSONS WITH DISABILITIES] - Sri you know, just as had mentioned
- 21:27 [TO FIND OPPORTUNITIES TO WORK IN THE FIELD] worked in the IFC Delhi office and Beijing office,
- 21:30 one thing that stood out to me is that, you know,
- 21:33 this is what Charlotte alluded to, as the World Bank Group,
- 21:36 we do have policies and procedures in place when we look at office locations,
- 21:41 when we look at travel policies,
- 21:45 and so I do believe that there is a common thread
- 21:47 that runs across our local offices and our headquarters
- 21:51 and equally so managers and staff that I have spoken to
- 21:57 I do believe have a very, you know,
- 22:00 nuanced understanding of the inclusion and diversity aspects
- 22:05 of what the role entails.
- 22:07 And so, from that perspective, I do feel that,
- 22:10 while I was either in South Asia or East Asia, in Beijing,
- 22:14 or am here in DC, I've had all the possible,
- 22:22 you know, aspects taken care of
- 22:24 and all the accommodations have been handled in a similar way.
- 22:29 And so I would say that that myth of finding local offices
- 22:34 to be more challenging, actually not quite true.
- 22:38 - Great Karthik, thank you.
- 22:40 The second myth is that mental illness
- 22:43 ´MYTHBUSTER #2] is not considered a disability.
- 22:46 [MENTAL ILLNESS IS NOT CONSIDERED A DISABILTY] Is that true or false?
- 22:48 Who would like to take that one? Perhaps, Charlotte?
- 22:52 What are your thoughts on this myth?
- 22:54 So happy to take that one, Sri.
- 22:57 It's a myth so it's not true.
- 23:00 So I think, you know, mental illness is increasingly defined as a disability.
- 23:06 I think what's important about thinking about the definition of disability
- 23:09 is that it really is an expansive spectrum
- 23:14 and within that, as I mentioned earlier on,
- 23:17 you have people who have invisible disabilities
- 23:20 and often mental health issues may not be the first thing
- 23:24 that you notice about an individual,
- 23:27 but we need to think about mental illness
- 23:31 as part of the broader understanding of disability.
- 23:35 And I think that then would enable us
- 23:38 to really develop support and accommodations
- 23:43 for people who have episodic mental health crises
- 23:48 and this really is... it's a great way to make the workplace more inclusive,
- 23:53 to think about how mental illness forms part of disability
- 23:58 and how it can be addressed more broadly.
- 24:02 - Absolutely, thank you, Charlotte.
- 24:03 [MYTHBUSTER #3] And for our final myth here there are no disability accommodations
- 24:08 [THERE ARE NO DISABILITY ACCOMODATIONS] in World Bank Group offices.
- 24:10 [IN THE WORLD BANK GROUP OFFICES] Özgül, how about I turn this over to you?
- 24:14 - Yeah, sure.
- 24:15 Actually I'm giving a direct example of qualification of business,
- 24:23 because even before... starting from the very beginning
- 24:29 of the recruitment process and beyond, I've always had accommodations.
- 24:34 So it's all about, you know,
- 24:36 really sharing what you need and World Bank is a place
- 24:41 that really asks about those proactively.
- 24:46 So as long as, you know, you just identify yourself
- 24:51 and then you ask for certain accommodations, as Charlotte also mentioned,
- 24:56 there's even a disability accommodation fund.
- 24:59 And for example, I use that fund to get a sit stand desk
- 25:04 and the larger monitor and even, really, the managers are very proactive.
- 25:11 My COVID home office is also very accessible.
- 25:15 They even took initiative
- 25:17 beyond what's really in the policies according to this,
- 25:22 because this is a very special circumstance.
- 25:25 So definitely the mindset and also the resources
- 25:28 are there for disability accommodations.
- 25:36 - So, Özgül, Charlotte, Karthik, you know,
- 25:39 thanks for taking the time to dispel some of these myths.
- 25:42 I know, I think it's really important
- 25:43 as we talk about diversity and inclusion in the workplace.
- 25:47 And, you know, as we head to the end of the program,
- 25:50 Charlotte, the World Bank Group is actively recruiting people with disabilities.
- 25:55 So what support does a bank provide for staff with disabilities?
- 25:59 And especially now, when many of us are having to work remotely.
- 26:04 - So great question, I think, like Ozgul said,
- 26:08 you know, the support has been really very good,
- 26:12 but, then, I think, you know, for a lot of people with disabilities,
- 26:15 [CHARLOTTE MCCLAIN-NHLAPO] they have their home environments that they've already made accessible,
- 26:20 [GLOBAL DISABILITY ADVISOR, WORLD BANK GROUP] so supports are not necessarily needed.
- 26:24 So in my case, for instance, I'm quite comfortable at home,
- 26:27 I haven't had to have any additional supports,
- 26:29 because my home has been adjusted to me and me using a wheelchair.
- 26:36 But I do think that it's really important, again,
- 26:39 to be able to be upfront with your manager and talk about what your needs are
- 26:45 because nobody can guess what you're thinking,
- 26:49 and, so, having that candid conversation is very important.
- 26:53 And I just wanted to pick up on a point
- 26:55 around mental illness and mental health more broadly,
- 26:58 because I think that, you know, given the COVID-19 pandemic,
- 27:02 and the fact that many people are at home, the issues around mental health
- 27:06 are really going to escalate.
- 27:10 And so we need to start thinking about how we address this
- 27:13 and how we provide the accommodations to ensure that we are inclusive.
- 27:21 - Great, thank you for that, Charlotte.
- 27:23 And, you know, guys, now for this final question here,
- 27:26 I would love to know what is your one takeaway
- 27:29 for persons with disabilities that are looking to work here
- 27:33 at the World Bank Group?
- 27:34 Karthik, let me start with you.
- 27:40 - Sri, I guess the way I have approached my job
- 27:43 is, you know, I, I think of bringing my whole self
- 27:46 to the workplace and not just my technical skills
- 27:50 and let me tell you more, right?
- 27:53 What stands out to me the most about the World Bank Group
- 27:56 compared to, you know, some of the other work places where I've worked before,
- 27:59 is that we are a truly diverse set of people, right?
- 28:03 People from different countries, people who speak multiple languages,
- 28:07 who've had very different carrier paths.
- 28:10 And so when I'm on a team, it's very usual that,
- 28:14 you know, there's probably not more than two people
- 28:17 who are from a similar context, right?
- 28:19 Be it country, or, you know speaking a language
- 28:21 or have similar industries as well.
- 28:23 And what that brings is a very, you know robust methodology of problem solving
- 28:29 and thinking about, you know, hard challenges
- 28:32 which we are trying to solve here at the World Bank Group.
- 28:34 And so as I think of myself, you know
- 28:38 that there's four different languages I speak,
- 28:41 there are multiple countries I represent, disability is one element of it.
- 28:45 And, you know, I do end up bringing that aspect to the workplace as well.
- 28:49 And so, one recommendation I would have for whoever's,
- 28:52 you know, thinking of the World Bank Group
- 28:54 and who's live on this chat is to bring their whole self,
- 28:56 you know, to the institution and this is one institution
- 28:59 that leverages multiple cultures and multiple talents really well.
- 29:05 - Thank you, Karthik. Bring your whole self, that's great advice.
- 29:08 Özgül, let me now turn over to you, what is your advice?
- 29:13 - Okay, so I think I'll echo Karthik a little bit here
- 29:16 and say that the workplace is very, very diverse
- 29:20 and it's really trying to get more and more inclusive every day.
- 29:24 And that's what I also see even since I started at the bank
- 29:27 there has been some improvements.
- 29:29 And I just want to kind of, you know, allude on the twin goals of the bank,
- 29:35 which is eliminating poverty and boosting shared prosperity.
- 29:39 And this is all about equal opportunities worldwide,
- 29:43 and it's really reflected to the workplace too.
- 29:45 So I would just say that there's no need to be intimidated
- 29:51 and it's definitely a place that I feel represented,
- 29:56 as Karthik was saying, that fits all aspects of my personality and my individuality.
- 30:02 And, really, it's great to use all of these things
- 30:07 that you have and, you know, it's like, you don't think out of the box,
- 30:13 but live outside the box as person with a disability,
- 30:16 because it really makes you think in different ways to come up with solutions.
- 30:20 And I think the World Bank is a place
- 30:23 that you can make good use of these positive skills.
- 30:29 - It certainly is, thank you, Özgül.
- 30:32 And finally, Charlotte, what is your one takeaway?
- 30:36 - Not to repeat my colleagues, I totally agree with them,
- 30:39 but I would just say it is gratifying.
- 30:43 So I would really encourage people
- 30:45 who really want to see issues around addressing poverty and boosting shared prosperity
- 30:51 to apply and to join.
- 30:54 It's really a great place to work.
- 30:57 - It really is and, you know, on that note,
- 30:59 Charlotte, Karthik, Özgül, it's been, you know, a really inspiring conversation,
- 31:03 it's been great speaking with you and learning more
- 31:06 from you and about you, so I want to thank you again so much
- 31:09 for joining me here today on Behind the Mission.
- 31:12 And, you know, a big thanks to you, our online audience,
- 31:16 for joining us here today.
- 31:17 You know, we hope our conversation has inspired you
- 31:20 and also just giving you more insight
- 31:22 into working with us here at the World Bank Group.
- 31:25 Now, do remember that the International Day of Persons with Disabilities
- 31:29 is coming up on December 3rd, that's this Thursday,
- 31:32 and we'll actually be having a virtual job fair
- 31:34 where we hope you'll connect with us and learn more
- 31:37 about the opportunities to join us here at the World Bank Group.
- 31:40 We'll be sharing the invitation to that event on our LinkedIn channel here,
- 31:44 so do keep an eye out for it.
- 31:46 In the meantime you can always follow the conversation online
- 31:49 using the #behindthemissionWBG.
- 31:52 and be sure to follow us on Facebook, Twitter, and LinkedIn.
- 31:55 Thanks again for joining us here today.
- 31:57 I'm Srimadhi Sridhar and I'll see you next time, bye-bye.
- 32:02 [UPBEAT MUSIC]
- 32:04 [THE WORLD BANK GROUP - BEHIND THE MISSION]
- 32:07 [DISABILITIES INCLUSIONS AT THE WORLD BANK GROUP]
- 32:19 [THE WORLD BANK GROUP - BEHIND THE MISSION]
OCTOBER 9-15, 2023
- Watch the 2023 Annual Meetings
OCTOBER, 2023
- Inclusive Digital Transformation in Latin America and the Caribbean
- Balancing Act: Jobs and Wages in the Middle East and North Africa
- Delivering Growth to People through Better Jobs in Africa
- Services for Development in East Asia and Pacific
- Toward Faster, Cleaner Growth in South Asia