A fresh look at the Spring Meetings with Pabsy

Spring is finally here, and for many of us cherry blossoms and crocuses mean gearing up for the World Bank Group and International Monetary Fund Spring Meetings. On my team, External and Corporate Relations, we start preparing months in advance: videos and podcasts to produce, blogs and reports to write, global media interviews, social media promotions, campaigns, and much coordination and organization. Constant calendar revisions, anyone?

The Spring Meetings are important events that bring together donors and stakeholders in international development. In recent years, there has been a decisive transformation; these meetings are turning into an important dialogue platform for new and exciting ideas in international development. Under the lead of World Bank Group and IMF experts and specialists, world leaders and finance ministers, private donors, other international aid and development organizations and big institutions exchange ideas with youth leaders, nonprofits, and grassroots organizations from all over the globe.

​​​We have a depth of knowledge and expertise here at the World Bank Group. One fascinating example is our recent World Development Report on Mind, Society, and Behavior which showed that personal financial decisions can be influenced more by sociology and habit than by economics. 

Many people around the world really don’t know what the World Bank is or what it does, so perhaps we could better explain to the general public what we do and get them excited about our mission to end poverty worldwide. Many of us have experienced situations where “I work at World Bank” is followed by “so how’s the dollar nowadays?” and “has your Bank started lending yet?”  
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​To help connect and engage to a wider audience and to create awareness among young people about our mission, we are starting a brand-new video series for the Spring Meetings, called PabsyLive. Our colleague Michelle “Pabsy” Pabalan will be interviewing people throughout the meetings and interacting with attendees and delegates. Every day, she’ll report live from the meetings and give us updates.  
 
Pabsy, a native of the Philippines, came to the Bank two years ago, and among her many other duties she is in charge of maintaining the World Bank YouTube channel. She has years of experience working with grassroots organizations in her country like Gawad Kalinga and Hapinoy. Pabsy is a fearless explorer and an intrepid adapter. Being new to DC didn’t slow her down one iota; within months of arriving she was playing guitar and singing in two bands.
 
In the words of our director of corporate communications, Jeremy Hillman, “Pabsy is a perfect antidote to the inaccurate stereotype of a World Bank filled with men in suits. She is young, creative and has a burning passion to play her part in achieving our mission of ending extreme poverty. I hope she can help shed a light on the amazing things that happen here at the Bank to transform the lives of the world’s poorest people and encourage more people to support this important mission”
 
Pabsy has plans for several informal yet informed video blogs. Follow her hip-hop style-live reporting from the Spring Meetings here and connect with her on Twitter and Facebook.