Category Archives: Uncategorized

Rethinking water security in a water-insecure world

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“Every time disaster strikes, you rush to bring relief. Why don’t you do more to prevent it?”

The words came from a teenage girl standing amid the devastation of the Odisha Super Cyclone in Eastern India in 1999. At the time, I was a member of the Indian Administrative Service, coordinating relief efforts 48 hours after the storm. Her question cut through the chaos and would shape my life’s work. Relief was necessary, but the real solution lies in building strong, adaptive water systems.

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The world is facing a looming jobs crisis. Cities can help

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Over the next decade, an unprecedented 1.2 billion young people in the Global South will become working-age adults. However, the job market in these countries is projected to create only 420 million jobs, leaving nearly 800 million people without a clear path to prosperity.

That’s why the World Bank is doubling down on job creation and employment as not just the byproduct of our projects, but the explicit aim of them. Looking to the future, it is clear that urban development will play a key role in that process.

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Empowering Women Tech Entrepreneurs in Georgia Unleashes Innovation

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STORY HIGHLIGHTS

  • Women in Georgia’s technology sector face the same market challenges as men in launching startups but must also contend with preconceived notions of “acceptable” women’s work, and these biases can impact access to funding, mentorship, and networking.
  • The World Bank has helped the country address this gap by providing training and mentorship opportunities to thousands of entrepreneurs, over half of them women.
  • GENIE Program graduates—like Nato Toronjadze, founder and CEO of Bizon, and Ana Robakidze, founder and CEO of Theneo—despite the challenges, have turned their innovative ideas into successful ventures that are creating jobs and boosting growth.
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World Bank Group’s Global Digital Summit 2025- #WBGDigitalSummit

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World Bank Group staff are invited to the Global Digital Summit 2025, our second annual gathering of top tech leaders and digital pioneers from government, the private sector, academia, and the development community. Under the theme “Digital Pathways for All,” the Summit will explore cutting-edge topics like AI and emerging technologies, showcasing how digitalization can bridge gaps, drive innovation, and create economic opportunities worldwide. 

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Financing Shortfalls Hinder Road Safety Progress in Low- and Middle-Income Countries

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MARRAKECH, February 18, 2025 – Road safety financing faces a critical shortfall, hindering progress toward halving global road traffic fatalities and injuries by 2030. Each year, road crashes claim an estimated 1.19 million lives, leave countless others with permanent disabilities, and impose significant economic costs.

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Securing water in an uncertain world: The power of multi-stakeholder action

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The most pressing global risks over the next decade are environmental—and all closely linked to water. Extreme weather, biodiversity loss, critical changes to Earth’s systems, and natural resource shortages top the list of concerns, according to the World Economic Forum Global Risk Report 2025. These risks underscore the need for long-term strategies to safeguard ecosystems, secure resources, and build resilience.

Yet, these risks do not exist in isolation. Misinformation and disinformation rank among the most pressing short-term risks, eroding trust in governance and complicating efforts to address shared crises. Water management is no exception—securing water is not just about scarcity, pollution, or infrastructure, but about governance and cooperation. The challenge lies not only in ensuring water access but in aligning efforts across users, providers, and regulators, to manage it effectively.

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AI’s impact on jobs may be smaller in developing countries

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Artificial intelligence is transforming the global workforce, but its impact may not affect all regions equally. Much of the conversation about AI and jobs focuses on high-income countries—where the technology threatens to reshape entire industries. But what will AI mean for workers in developing nations, who constitute 80 percent of the global workforce?

To better understand AI’s labor market impact in the developing world, in a recent paper we analyzed data from 25 countries, covering a population of 3.5 billion people. For workers in those countries, we assessed the level of AI exposure, which captures to what extent their jobs could be performed using AI. Our findings suggest that AI’s effects on jobs will be more gradual in the Global South, particularly in low-income countries.

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Consultations on the World Bank’s New Country Engagement Approach

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As part of its Evolution Process, the World Bank Group is reviewing its country engagement approach to align it with its new vision and mission while becoming more efficient, outcome-focused, and more systematic in tapping into private sector solutions wherever possible. 

To inform the new country engagement approach, we will hold formal consultations with external stakeholders. Online consultations opened on January 16, 2025, and consultation meetings will be held in all seven operational regions of the WBG starting February. The consultations will close on March 21, 2025. The meetings will follow a hybrid format, combining in-person and virtual participation. Rethinking the Approach to WBG Country Engagement will provide the basis for consultations. To see the consultations outreach plan, click here.

Note: The approach paper is now available in Arabic, Chinese, French, Portuguese, Russian, and Spanish.

ONLINE CONSULTATIONS

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MENA is open to work: Tackling the jobs deficit

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The Middle East and North Africa (MENA) has a large reservoir of untapped human resources, with the world’s highest unemployment rate among youth and the lowest participation of females in the labor force. Desirable jobs, defined as high-paying or formal jobs, are few, and private employment is overwhelmingly of low added value.

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