The two-day event in Washington, starting with a speech by 2024 Nobel Prize winner James Robinson, aims to share knowledge and improve public policies.
(Washington, United States) The World Bank will hold a Global Forum starting tomorrow to share ideas and solutions for tackling poverty, inequality, and climate change. This comes at a time when developing countries face limited public funding to address these challenges.
The Forum is supported by the UK’s Foreign Ministry, Sciences Po University in France, Stanford University in the US, UNESCO, and Infobae. On September 16 and 17 in Washington, the World Bank will bring together government leaders, sociologists, academics, journalists, and experts to find ways to solve ongoing crises affecting millions daily.
Developing countries face complex, interconnected issues: poverty, inequality, climate change, conflicts, pandemics, and fragility. However, the funding available is often not enough to create policies that support job creation, social and economic development, or decent living conditions.
The Forum will open tomorrow with a speech by James A. Robinson from the University of Chicago, who won the 2024 Nobel Prize in Economics alongside Daron Acemoglu and Simon Johnson. Their research explores why countries differ based on their economic institutions and domestic policies, aligning closely with the Forum’s goals.
Governments and multilateral organizations often focus on technical solutions, like improving irrigation or designing fair pension systems. However, focusing on “what” to do can overlook “how” to do it, leading to solutions that are hard to implement because governments work alone.
The Forum will focus on four main areas:
- Reviewing global experiences on collective action to meet development goals, like the World Bank’s Global Challenges and the UN’s Sustainable Development Goals.
- Learning new skills and improving practices in managing change and building coalitions to support complex reforms and policies.
- Strengthening country policies and institutions by including collective action in World Bank operations and government programs.
- Building a community around key issues and strengthening partnerships.
The event will take place this Tuesday and Wednesday in Washington, DC. It will conclude with remarks from Roby Senderowitsch, Practice Manager at the World Bank, and Jose-Manuel Bassat, a governance specialist at the organization.