World Bank Podcasts

Raj Rao, Chief Executive Officer of Ford Smart Mobility, discusses transport mobility with Josh Slusher, Director of Global Entrepreneurs Council, United Nations Foundation.

Mary Snapp, Vice President of Microsoft Philanthropies, talks about how technology is the vehicle to a better future for the less fortunate during the 2017 World Bank Group Annual Meetings.

Get inspired by Katrina Sasse, farmer at Leichhardt Fields, Australia, and Brian Ndyaguma, Project Manager and Entrepreneur, Uganda, as they talk about technologies in farming, how youth can help revive the agriculture sector and growing your own food.

World Bank Group President Jim Yong Kim talks about the important connection between investing in human capital and economic growth.

Kristalina Georgieva, World Bank CEO, and Kathy Calvin, President and CEO of United Nations Foundation, discuss how working with partners can help build resilience and end extreme poverty by 2030.

New World Bank report Uncharted Waters presents new evidence on how increasingly erratic rainfall impacts farms, firms and families. It also shows that although floods and storm surges pose major threats, droughts are “misery in slow motion,” with impacts deeper and longer lasting than previously believed. The report proposes solutions to avoid a parched path and help chart a new course. In this podcast, one of the report’s authors Richard Damania discusses its findings with Communications Officer Martin Hall. To learn more, go to: www.worldbank.org/unchartedwaters

Join World Bank Chief Economist for Africa Albert Zeufack for a discussion with lead economists Punam Chuhan-Pole, David Evans, and Cesar Calderon on the most recent economic trends that are impacting growth and development on the continent. Together they review the latest findings of the region’s flagship report, Africa's Pulse. This issue includes a special focus on Africa’s skills agenda and takes an in-depth look at the progress made so far and what more can be done by countries and development organizations to ensure African citizens have the skills for the jobs of the future.

In this edition of Afronomics, World Bank Africa Region Chief Economist, Albert Zeufack, speaks with Dr. Zaki Khoury of Microsoft at the Investing in Africa Forum in Dakar, Senegal. Dr. Zaki Khoury leads Microsoft with International, Multi-lateral, and Bi-lateral Organizations, across Middle East and Africa.

Across Africa and around the world, the urban poor, especially those in informal settlements, are increasingly faced with risks to their lives, health and livelihoods. In Somalia’s urban centers, the situation is particularly challenging. Cities that are already fragile and struggling with resources are seeing an influx of migrants coming from rural areas as well as people fleeing conflict. In order to address these challenges, the World Bank is working with the Somali government and development partners through the Somalia Multi-Partner Fund (MPF), to try and strengthen the resilience of Somalia’s urban centers. This means supporting the inclusion of vulnerable populations through improvement of infrastructure, service delivery and livelihood opportunities in targeted cities.

Chief Economist of the World Bank's Africa Region, Albert Zeufack, chats with Silicon Valley’s Kamran Elahian about the power of disruptive technologies when it comes to development in Africa. For Elahian, disruptive technologies coupled with ramped up broadband and electricity access opens up the democratizing force of the internet to men and women equally, empowering them to come up with the solutions of the future.

Earlier this year, hundreds of geeks gathered in South Africa for the first ever World Data Forum. Among them, was Tariq Khokhar. In a special edition marking the end of the first series of “Between 2 Geeks”, he reports on innovations in how data are being produced, with discussions featuring Amazon, Facebook and The World Pop Project. He also speaks with Anna Rosling Rönnlund of Gapminder, and explores new ideas for how data can be used to promote a “fact based view of the world”

Solar power is changing lives in Bangladesh and has helped the South Asian country leapfrog into an era of using renewable energy to light up homes – and quickly going a step further. Clusters of solar panels in remote islands like Monpura and villages such as Saidpur are helping small business owners and farmers access affordable and reliable electricity to improve productivity and climb the rungs of economic prosperity.

Globally, 77 countries still don’t have the data they need to adequately track and measure poverty. These data come from household surveys, but how exactly are these surveys designed, tested and run? Presenters Raka Banerjee and Tariq Khokhar speak with Diane Steele - an expert in the World Bank’s Living Standards Measurement Study team, and discover that collecting data from surveys may be more complicated than you think.

Phiona Mutesi, the Ugandan chess champion who inspired the movie Queen of Katwe, shares with communications officer Pabsy Pabalan Mariano her strategies for advancing her own life through education, and empowering youth through her support of a foundation. Mutesi and her coach Robert Katende sat down with Pabsy during the World Bank Group-IMF Spring Meetings 2017.

Has renewable energy reached the stage where it’s cheaper than fossil fuels? Presenters Tariq Khokhar and Raka Banerjee talk to Mafalda Duarte, head of the Climate Investment Funds, about the data behind renewables, and if we’re reaching a ‘tipping point’ in them becoming the preferred energy source for countries around the world. To read more, visit: http://blogs.worldbank.org/opendata/between-2-geeks-episode-5-renewable-energy-tipping-point