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A World Bank blog on the power of investing in people

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Education is universally recognized as one of the most fundamental building blocks for human development and reducing poverty. Our blog explores issues related to global education policy.

Education is universally recognized as one of the most fundamental building blocks for human development and poverty reduction. When given the opportunity to achieve their own goals, people are empowered to contribute fully to the development of their communities, societies, and economies. Education remains one of the most powerful instruments for reducing poverty and inequality and helps lay a foundation for sustained economic growth. For this reason, it is at the center of the World Bank’s mission.

eBay Scholarships and Engineering for Kindergarteners: New Paths toward Tertiary Education

As I was bidding farewell to the World Bank earlier this year, I received an invitation from Green Templeton College, Oxford University, to attend the Emerging Markets Symposium – an initiative that convenes leaders from government, academia and the private sector to address the major policy challenges facing emerging market countries.

Education in Europe and Central Asia (ECA) region: Investing Early, Smartly and for All

The World Bank’s new Education Strategy, Learning for All, invites us to invest early, invest smartly, and invest for all. It proposes fostering a comprehensive view of education – a systems approach strengthened by a knowledge base on what works to improve education systems that can be shared amongst the global community.

Waiting for Superman in Mexico

In the award-winning documentary, Waiting for Superman, alternatives to the traditional public school system are explored and debated. Following this tradition, the civil society group Mexicanos Primero recently released the documentary ¡De Panzazo! (‘barely passing’), directed by journalist Carlos Loret de Mola and documentary filmmaker Juan Carlos Rulfo.

Interview: A “Bright Horizon” for Girls’ Education

The Bank’s education team recently hosted a one-day colloquium, “Getting to Equal in Education,” to address how girls worldwide can achieve the full benefits of a quality education and as a result lead healthy, productive lives that benefit their families, their communities, and their nations.

Education—An Integral Piece of the Gender Puzzle


I was delighted to join the recent colloquium, Getting to Equal in Education: Addressing Gender and Multiple Sources of Disadvantage to Achieve Learning.  It was a great initiative, with a whole range of experts and advocates in the room, ranging from old hands to much young blood!

Making Schools Work: Lessons from an Information Campaign in India


My last two blogs, Lessons on School-Based Management from a Randomized Experiment and Empowering Parents to Improve Schooling: Powerful Evidence from Rural Mexico, have focused on empowering parents to help increase accountability in schools. However, too often, decentralization programs are designed without adequately conveying the messages about their purpose to the intended audiences; or, it is done in such a way that the program is rendered useless. 

Getting to Equal in Education


International Women’s Day is a good day to remind ourselves that gender equality is indeed smart economics. As the global economy continues to struggle to regain its footing after a severe economic slump, it is increasingly apparent that the power of women must be harnessed—and it must happen now.

Lessons on School-Based Management from a Randomized Experiment

          In my last blog I wrote about how empowering parents helps increase accountability in schools in rural Mexico. Although I said evidence was sparse, it is accumulating. In Africa, a number of rigorous impact evaluations are underway and starting to report findings. 

A ‘Skilled’ Approach to Development


These days, there is a lot of talk about skills and their importance for a country’s development. Not too long ago the Indian Prime Minister Manmohan Singh called skills and knowledge “the driving forces of economic growth and social development in any country.” Last week, President Obama in his State of the Union address mentioned, once again, the critical importance of upgrading workers skills as part of his call for ‘An America Built to Last’.