Knowledge. Ideas. Jobs and opportunities.
No child should be hungry.
We depend on each other. And I'm the new president of the World Bank.
No surprise, the economic crisis
in the rich countries is on many people's minds Engelbert from Tanzania
says that it affects the rest of the world and especially
developing countries
Developed countries must recognize the impact their action or inaction
can have on the poorest countries
in this interconnected world.
Decisions in Europe have real impact on the most vulnerable around the world.
As president of the World Bank I'm particularly worried
about the impact on developing countries
Since 2008
we've invested over three hundred billion
dollars to support lower and middle-income countries to weather the
crisis.
So what are things we do?
We make sure that children can stay in school.
We make sure that health clinics stay open.
We've done a lot of work on food security including providing
food directly in times of crisis.
Now, and issue that many of you care about
and one of the top topics on our Facebook pages -
Roman from Germany asks, "how can we ensure that economic growth
translates into jobs and opportunities?
As I've talked to people across the world,
the issue of jobs is at the top of everyone's agenda.
this is because jobs determine what we earn,
how we prosper and develop
and often who we are.
At the World Bank we're making a new push to understand how to create jobs
and how to create jobs that are good for development in society.
Our next World Development Report examines this very issue.
And beyond that
we're working with countries to protect and create good jobs
during the global crisis
by helping companies to find sufficient credit to grow
by connecting them to markets through better and more reliable infrastructure
by ensuring that workers have social protection and access to skills and
training
and by supporting self-employment and entrepreneurship.
If there's one thing we've learned
it's that there is no silver bullet to creating good jobs.
Veronica Cho from Korea sends us this message on Twitter.
She believes that investing in girls can break the cycle of poverty.
Veronica, I agree with you.
As you might know the World Bank published a World Development Report on
gender and development last year.
And it found the gender equality is not only the right thing to do, but key to
breaking the cycle of poverty.
This is why we launched a global "THINKEQUAL" campaign.
I'm wearing the button right now.
Many girls face inequality because their mothers and grandmothers did
and often
particularly in poor countries
many think that this is just the way it's supposed to be.
But we found that when you prevent a repetition of gender inequality across
generations
through assistance,
economic opportunity, and political voice,
you also reduce poverty.
Much progress has been made
more girls are going to school than ever before.
Finely
maternal deaths are decreasing
and more and more women are getting land titles that increased their income.
But we have so much more to do.
We're looking at making all development policies gender smart
already a very high percentage of our lending and grants
are informed
by how they would affect gender inequality
with the aim to improve the lives of women and girls.
We want to increase this number even further.
We really think it's the right and
the smart thing to do.
A question from Stephan in Ghana.
How can we clampdown on child malnutrition?
Of all the symptoms of poverty,
child malnutrition
is one of the most heartbreaking.
I saw a lot of it
when i worked with poor communities in Latin America and Africa.
When children don't get enough to eat
especially when they're very young
they don't grow, their brains don't develop fully and they may never catch up.
And the only reason why this happens
is that their parents, mainly their mothers,
don't have the means to provide enough food.
They're simply to poor.
Malnutrition is not just a health issue
it's an economic issue
and it's also a moral issue.
It's about not having work.
It's about bad infrastructure.
It's about not having education.
It is about
better development.
We must all make a moral commitment in this day and age
to ensure that every child
has enough food to eat.
We're looking at how we can connect the dots. The World Bank is working with
countries to provide affordable and effective safety nets. We make sure
that children can stay in school.
We make sure that health clinics stay open to see children. We've done a lot of
work on food security
and sustainable approaches to agricultural development.
We reached people in eighty three countries through these programs
and tripled the volume of assistance
since the global financial crisis
put so many people at risk.
Our focus will always be on the most vulnerable:
children and single mothers as well as the elderly.
So you're right and we agree and we should all agree
no child should be hungry.