Blog by Martin Raiser and Suresh Yadav
We live in times of unparalleled complexity where poverty, geo-political shifts, climate change, food insecurity, and conflict and fragility are intertwined, and are transforming the ways we live, work, and govern.
In this challenging context, no single institution has all the answers to the world’s most pressing problems. But when we put our collective heads together and pool our knowledge and expertise, we unlock solutions that we could not have thought of in silos.
With the belief that collaboration and knowledge are powerful tools driving development, the World Bank South Asia and the Commonwealth Secretariat have forged a partnership through the Building Resilience and Inclusivity in Development, Governance, and Empowerment (BRIDGE) program.
BRIDGE draws from our collective experience of more than 150 years in international development across South Asia to unlock greater prosperity in one of the fastest growing regions of the world. Under this program, we recently brought together the management teams of both organizations for a two-day workshop in London and discovered that there are many things we can learn from each other, resulting in exciting new opportunities for collaboration.
The whole is greater than its parts
Partnerships are an integral part of the World Bank’s new approach to development. They are part of being a “Better Bank” focused on speed and scale, simplicity, and accountability, while still leveraging our convening power and thought leadership to implement innovative solutions and drive meaningful change.
Partnership is also at the heart of the work of the Commonwealth Secretariat, an organization dedicated to fostering peaceful, respectful, and prosperous relations among its members and advancing the shared interests of its 2.7 billion citizens.
Partnerships empower and foster an “outside in” perspective. They make us realize that we do not and cannot know everything and that we must learn from others with equanimity. One critical group of stakeholders is the 1.2 billion young people across emerging and developing economies, who will be looking for a job in the next decade.
A highlight of our workshop was the presence of several youth representatives, members of the Commonwealth Secretariat’s Youth Council, representing 1.5 billion young people across its membership. Their voices provided invaluable perspectives on the aspirations and perspectives of young people, and they took the opportunity to question and challenge us to think about more inclusive development models for South Asia.
Partnerships can add important value as we try to respond to this challenge. For example, the Commonwealth Secretariat’s involvement in South Asia over the past 75 years strengthening democratic institutions and governance mechanisms across varied political landscapes gives it a nuanced perspective on navigating the complex political economy of the region.
The World Bank’s approach to citizen engagement in its projects provides an important complementary perspective, rooted in the local reality of our beneficiaries. Through our exchanges, we gained a richer appreciation of the strategies to encourage governance reforms and to manage implementation risks in our operational work.
Knowledge is power
The World Bank is as much a knowledge bank as a money bank. Part of our work is to help countries build capacity by deploying our knowledge—whether that is in water, infrastructure, digital development, jobs, or climate—and to help craft sound policies. The Commonwealth Secretariat, with its 56 member countries spanning across all continents, promotes development, democracy, and peace.
Both our institutions share synergies across many areas of work such small island developing states, and other vulnerable states; climate financing; women’s empowerment; and youth advocacy. As such, our partnership in sharing knowledge and experience and in building client capacity can serve as a force multiplier for development in the region.
One area we paid particular attention to during our BRIDGE program workshop is the digital transformation ongoing across the South Asia region. Significant digital innovation is happening across the region, especially in India, and with almost complete electrification, access to basic internet connectivity has rapidly expanded everywhere. The rapid development of Artificial Intelligence (AI) will multiply the opportunities that come with growing connectivity.
However, outside the urban centers, the available bandwidth is too small, and mobile connections are too patchy to leverage the potential of digital technologies for public service delivery or the development of business use cases. The coming decade will be critical in bridging this digital divide across the region and ensuring that it is not left behind in accessing a share of the $15.7 trillion that AI is expected to add to the global economy by 2030.
Digital Transformation
In 2023, the Commonwealth Secretariat launched its Commonwealth AI Consortium, strengthening its Commonwealth Connectivity Agenda. And in July, the World Bank launched a new vice presidency dedicated to digital transformation, and our Reimagining Inclusive Services and Empowerment through Digital (RISE) program in South Asia is supporting digitization across the region, partnering with research and academic institutions and data protection agencies.
The World Bank’s AI sandbox for South Asia and the Commonwealth Secretariat’s StrategusAI toolkit, developed in partnership with Intel Corporation, help governments craft comprehensive policies and strategies drawing on global best practices while allowing them to be tailored to local needs. When our organizations streamline processes with digital tools, we can move from planning to action more quickly and reduce the time it takes to deliver to our client countries.
Further, the Commonwealth’s AI for Youth—a learning platform that demystifies AI—encourages its responsible use and empowers young people across nations to harness its potential with the right skills and training, and preparing the leaders for tomorrow.
A second area of focus for our knowledge exchange is access to climate finance. The World Bank Group is steadily increasing the provision of climate finance for projects that support cleaner energy, more resilient communities, and stronger economies to help countries rise to climate-related challenges.
The Commonwealth Secretariat also helps small and other vulnerable states secure funding for climate change initiatives through its Climate Finance Access Hub, which provides governments with advisors to help prepare grant applications, share knowledge, build capacity, and craft policy. Given our strong synergies in this area, our two institutions can work together to provide a more comprehensive package of climate services and funding to our clients.
One plus one is equal to three
With our partnership, we are bringing more experience, more expertise, and more knowledge to the service of our clients. By fostering collaboration and cooperation, the World Bank and the Commonwealth Secretariat can each bring our strengths to the table, bear the fruit of our collective knowledge, experiment in new methods of delivery, and scale solutions for the development and prosperity of the people of South Asia.
Martin Raiser is Vice President for the South Asia Region, World Bank Group, and Suresh Yadav is Senior Director a.i. for Trade, Oceans and Natural Resources and lead on AI and Digital Transformation at the Commonwealth Secretariat.
This blog was first published by the World Bank: Partnering for prosperity across South Asia
Credit: CRS PHOTO / Shutterstock.com
