The World Bank has tapped Equity Bank boss James Mwangi to be a member of its newly-established advisory council, that seeks to gather policy and programme recommendations on global job creation strategies.
Dubbed the High-Level Advisory Council on Jobs, the body was set up in October under World Bank’s work on poverty, bringing together eminent individuals to offer thought leadership and actionable recommendations for the Bretton Woods institution to explore, test and scale.
The 14-member Council will be co-chaired by Singapore President Tharman Shanmugaratnam alongside Chile’s ex-President Michelle Bachelet, with membership drawn from business leaders, academia, policy makers as well as civil society groupings.
“The World Bank is sharpening its focus on job creation through the High-Level Advisory Council, as it is estimated that over the next 10 years, an unprecedented 1.2 billion people in the Global South will become working age adults,” said the multilateral lender in a statement.
“The Council will focus on youth and female employment opportunities in emerging and developing economies to help nations turn the challenge into an opportunity that powers the future.”
The Council will meet every two months for an initial period of up to two years, and will interact directly with senior management of the World Bank Group, in an effort to ensure that the Council’s ideas are taken forward.
Reacting to the appointment, Dr Mwangi said he will utilise the learnings from the Council to maximise his Equity-backed Africa Recovery and Resilience Plan that seeks to create 50 million jobs in the region by 2030.
“Over the next decade, the world is expected to experience significant demographic shift with one in four people on the planet being African, and more than a third of the world's young people residing in Africa,” he said.
“I'm honoured to have been asked to serve on the World Bank Global Jobs Council, in order to support the creation of jobs for the young people of Africa. Young people are our future and the key to sustainable development for the continent.”
