Give us 20 minutes, and we’ll take you on a journey around the world of international development in this flagship podcast from the World Bank Group. Everyday World Bank researchers and staffers are working to address the biggest international problems – everything from poverty to climate change, education to nutrition, and a whole lot more. Through conversations focused on revealing the latest data, the best research, and the solutions making the world a better place, let hosts Paul Blake and Raka Banerjee introduce you to the folks working to make the world a better place.

The International Monetary Fund, World Bank Group, World Health Organization and World Trade Organization have joined forces to accelerate access to COVID-19 vaccines, therapeutics and diagnostics by leveraging multilateral finance and trade solutions, particularly in low- and middle-income countries.

The aim is to vaccinate at least 40 percent of people in every country by the end of 2021, and at least 60 percent by mid-2022.  The effort will track, coordinate, and advance delivery of COVID-19 vaccines, therapeutics and diagnostics, working with governments and partners at the global and local levels to address finance and trade barriers to ensure that vulnerable populations have access to these life-saving tools. It supports the goals of the ACT-Accelerator and complementary initiatives.

The Multilateral Leaders Task Force members are mobilizing critical financing, with a focus on grants and concessional lending; helping to...

The youth of Sierra Leone were already poorly served by an education system starved of resources. Then the global COVID-19 pandemic struck in March 2020, and schools shut their doors.  

The pandemic brought grim reminders of the Ebola crisis of 2014, which led to eight months of school closures in Sierra Leone. The impacts were soon evident. Research by the World Bank estimated that girls aged 12–17 were 16 percent less likely to return to school after the Ebola crisis subsided. Child labor by girls increased by 19 percentage points.  

But the experience of Ebola has also informed a better response to this pandemic—one that is effectively reducing learning losses. The IDA-supported Free Education (FREE) Project supports these efforts through several targeted interventions.  

A top priority was to keep students safely up-to-speed on their studies through distance learning. The Radio Teaching Program—which went to air a...

Climate change is one of the defining challenges of our time, but today we have an historic opportunity to change course. For every country, being more ambitious on climate can also build a better future.  Our Climate Stories series highlights the World Bank Group's support for investments, solutions and innovations that have made a real difference in the lives of people, communities, and economies. 

Today we are tackling an issue that is on the minds of every African policy maker, and one that has captured international discussions for several years: African Debt. Debt can be an incredibly useful tool for governments when managed transparently and correctly, and when it is used to fund investments that pay off in the long term. It can fill important funding gaps that development assistance and domestic resource mobilization cannot. But several countries have found themselves in a vicious cycle of debt, effectively mortgaging their people’s futures by agreeing to riskier and less transparent terms that hold their fiscal space hostage. Civil society groups in many places have rightly become increasingly vocal in opposition to borrowing for large projects, advocating for more prudent spending and greater transparency. Host Albert Zeufack, Chief Economist for Africa at the...

Like many of the world’s megacities, Kinshasa faces many challenges. With nearly 15 million residents, the capital of the Democratic Republic of the Congo is known for its epic traffic jams, widespread poverty, unreliable electricity, decades of violent confrontation and an underlying vulnerability to floods, droughts, and other climate shocks. In addition, the COVID-19 pandemic has affected the wellbeing of Kinshasa’s people economically and health-wise.

In this, Kinshasa is hardly unique. Among the more than 30 megacities around the world with 10 million or more inhabitants, many of these same issues are urgent. Moreover, rapid urbanization in Sub-Saharan Africa will lead to an estimated threefold increase in the urban population from 441 million in 2020 to 1.3 billion by 2050. In 2020, the country’s urban population grew by 4.5%, indicating that 1.5 million new residents arrive in its cities every year.

In the near future, Kinshasa, like many other...

Yu Thy and his wife, Neath Sim, a Cambodian couple in their late fifties, had to return home to Chaem Kravien commune in Tboung Khmum province in June 2020 because of the COVID-19 pandemic.

Sitting on a bamboo bed under the shade of a mango tree at their home, the couple smile as they explain their story. When the pandemic halted global travel and tourists stopped coming to the town of Siem Reap, they lost their jobs and were worried about the future.

Luckily they had a house and land to return to. Since coming home, the couple have been growing vegetables, raising fish and chickens, and tapping their rubber trees. On top of providing enough food for the family, their garden produces about 600,000 riel ($150) of vegetables for sale per season. Their 80 chickens are ready for sale, and they can earn around 800,000 riel ($200) per month from the rubber trees on their 1.5 hectares of farmland.

Thy, his wife and two children are one of 250 formerly...

Liberia's Minister of Mines and Energy, Hon. Gesler Murray reflects on the current state of the power sector in the country and the government's ambition to connect more citizens to the grid and provide them with more affordable and reliable energy.

Hydro-climatic hazards don’t need to become disasters: Hydro-climatology looks at the interaction between weather, watersheds, and water. Hydro-climatic extremes, such as periods of abnormal dryness or wetness, are natural hazards and are increasing in a warming world. Whether a hydro-climatic hazard results in a flood or drought disaster depends on how society manages these risks.

Flood and drought disasters impose a huge toll: Over the last two decades, at least 1.65 billion people have been affected by floods and 1.43 billion by droughts. The economic costs have been staggering, and the social costs even higher as the poor and marginalized are disproportionately affected. Hydro-climatic disasters can have intergenerational poverty impacts, spur migration, and contribute to geopolitical instability. 

Some progress has been made but we have not yet come to terms with enormity of the challenge: Over the last few decades, many countries have made significant...

Like many of the world’s megacities, Kinshasa faces many challenges. With nearly 15 million residents, the capital of the Democratic Republic of the Congo is known for its epic traffic jams, widespread poverty, unreliable electricity, decades of violent confrontation and an underlying vulnerability to floods, droughts, and other climate shocks. In addition, the COVID-19 pandemic has affected the wellbeing of Kinshasa’s people economically and health-wise.

In this, Kinshasa is hardly unique. Among the more than 30 megacities around the world with 10 million or more inhabitants, many of these same issues are urgent. Moreover, rapid urbanization in Sub-Saharan Africa will lead to an estimated threefold increase in the urban population from 441 million in 2020 to 1.3 billion by 2050. In 2020, the country’s urban population grew by 4.5%, indicating that 1.5 million new residents arrive in its cities every year.

In the near future, Kinshasa, like many other...

PROGRAM UPDATE: The World Bank and IFC have merged their respective Young Professionals Programs into one World Bank Group Young Professionals Program (WBG YPP).

The new program is now accepting applications on behalf of three institutions (the World Bank, IFC and MIGA).  Building on the rich legacy of its predecessor programs, the WBG YPP will recruit and develop future leaders to collaborate effectively across our institutions on joint WBG solutions to development challenges.

Young Professionals are recruited from around the world, with preference to nationals of WBG member countries and countries of operations. We welcome all qualified individuals from diverse professional, academic, and cultural backgrounds to apply.