In a rapidly evolving world influenced by digital technology, climate change, and fragility, the youth face new challenges and opportunities. The Human Capital Ministerial Conclave at the 2024 World Bank Group’s Annual Meetings focused on how countries can equip young people with essential skills to adapt and succeed in future jobs.
The Conclave brought together voices from various sectors, including private industry, academia, civil society, and ministers from the World Bank’s Human Capital Network. This network is a global initiative aimed at accelerating investments in people across its 95 member countries.
Rukmini Banerji of Pratham Education Foundation, Brent Roberts from the University of Illinois-Urbana Champaign, and Mossadeck Bally of Azalaï Hotels Group participated in an opening panel discussing employer-desired skills. Banerji emphasized the importance of literacy and numeracy as foundational skills alongside digital literacy. Roberts highlighted teamwork, emotion regulation, time management, leadership, and innovation as crucial workplace skills that require investment from individuals and institutions. Bally noted the need for both technical and soft skills such as problem-solving and adaptability.
Mamta Murthi from the World Bank provided opening and closing remarks. Insights were echoed by Ekaterine Guntsadze of Georgia's Ministry of Finance and Kaba Nialé from Côte d'Ivoire’s Ministry of Economy. A project in Côte d'Ivoire demonstrated how education is unlocking potential for young women.
A second panel featured Esther Waititu from Safaricom, Roya Mahboob of Digital Citizen Fund, and Anna Bjerde from the World Bank Group. Waititu spoke on networking and mentorship for women in STEM fields. Mahboob shared her organization's impact on Afghan women's entrepreneurship through IT centers in schools. Bjerde stressed closing gender opportunity gaps with targets like broadband use and access to capital under the World Bank Group’s new Gender Strategy.
Biman Prasad of Fiji's government and Faisal bin Fadhil Al-Ibrahim from Saudi Arabia discussed efforts to promote gender equality in labor markets through childcare provision, wage transparency, and corporate cultural shifts.
The Conclave underscored the World Bank Group’s commitment to inclusive human capital investments that enable all individuals to learn, work, create businesses, and live productively. The organization aims to cut Learning Poverty in half by 2030 while expanding health services to 1.5 billion people and social protection programs to reach at least 500 million people—half being women and girls.