Session 6

Tuesday, April 20, 2021

How can Municipalities Hosting Refugees Work with the Private Sector for Economic Recovery? 

8:00am-9:00am 

• Presentation
• Key takeaways

In the Middle East and Turkey, local authorities were already struggling with hosting high numbers of refugees and Internally Displaced Persons (IDPs) before the outbreak of COVID-19 and are now facing a crisis on top of a crisis. With rising unemployment and business closure, they now see stronger demand for jobs for refugees and locals alike, alongside the need to support local businesses and undertake innovative actions for economic recovery. This webinar will explore the main challenges and new priorities for municipalities hosting refugees, and actions undertaken in collaboration with the private sector to mitigate the crisis. The discussion will include a presentation of the latest findings collected by the CMI from surveys, assessments, and consultations among local representatives during the pandemic, as well as testimonies of municipalities from Jordan, Palestine, and Turkey. The event will particularly showcase how local authorities can face the new challenges of COVID-19 and speed up economic recovery by attracting investments and stimulating the local business environment to support both displaced populations and host communities.

Opening remarks:

• Blanca Moreno-Dodson, Manager, CMI

Moderator:

• Sara Boughedir, Consultant, CMI 

Speakers:

• Giulia Marchesini, Senior Partnership Specialist, CMI
• Fuat Ozharat, Gaziantep Metropolitan Municipality, Turkey  
• Nadine Burbar, Head of Local Economic Development and Deputy Chief Resilience Officer, Ramallah Municipality, Palestine 
• Reham Jammal, Director of Planning Department & Director of International Projects and Programs Unit, Greater Irbid Municipality, Jordan  

Closing remarks:

• Vara Vemuru, Practice Manager, Social Sustainability and Inclusion, World Bank 

Speakers' Bios:

Blanca Moreno-Dodson, Manager, Center for Mediterranean Integration. Blanca is the Manager of the CMI, a partnership between the World Bank and several national, regional, and local authorities from around the Mediterranean, as well as international financial institutions and civil society. She has over twenty-eight years of experience as a World Bank development economist, including several positions as Lead Economist, mainly for the Global Tax Team, the West Africa Region, the Investment Climate Department, and the Office of the Vice-President for Poverty Reduction and Economic Management. As a Senior Economist, she previously worked at the World Bank Institute, the West Africa Region, and the Corporate Strategy Group of the World Bank. Her regional experience includes the Middle East and North Africa, Latin America and the Caribbean, Sub-Saharan Africa, and East Asia (China, India, and Indonesia).  She started her career as a Robert Shuman scholar at the European Parliament and as junior economist at the European Commission, before joining the World Bank Group. Blanca authored and co-authored five books throughout her career including the latest “Enhancing Mediterranean Integration” (CMI, 2020). She has also been published in several internationally renowned economic journals, such as the Bulletin of Economic Research, Hacienda Pública Española, the USA National Tax Association Journal, and Banca d'Italia Annual Volumes.

Sara Boughedir, Consultant, Center for Mediterranean Integration. Sara works for the CMI and the World Bank as a consultant, specialized in urban development, local governance, and resilience issues in North Africa, the Middle East, and Western Africa. As part of the Refugees and Host Communities Program team, she supports since 2016 the management and development of the Host Municipalities Learning Network through peer-to-peer learning and training activities. Since 2012 she has been organizing dialogue and consensus building activities between governments (national and local) and donor organizations with CMI and took part in World Bank teams ‘efforts to deliver public policy advisory services for Programs in Morocco, Tunisia and Senegal related to disaster risk and climate change adaptation, and local governance reforms. Her experience also includes preparation and moderation of participatory workshops for the design of public policy programs. Before, she worked as a junior urbanist in private urban planning firms. Sara holds a Master's in Urban Planning from the Paris Institute of Political Sciences (Sciences-po Paris) and a Masters in Sociology from the Ecole Normale Superieure Paris-Saclay.

Giulia Marchesini,  Senior Partnership Specialist,  Center for Mediterranean Integration. Giulia joined the CMI in March 2014 as Senior Partnership Specialist. She maintains and explores liaisons between the Center’s founding members and partners while managing new partnerships and supporting fundraising. In addition, Giulia leads the human capital agenda including migration and mobility components, as well as the work with the Host Municipalities Learning Network. She also led the implementation of the Mediterranean Forum on Energy and Climate Change, in partnership with the European Commission. Before joining the CMI, Giulia worked for the French Development Agency (AFD) in the Partnerships and Mediterranean departments. From 2012 to 2013 she was advisor to the French Ministry for Development where she was notably in charge of dialogue with the MENA region. Her experience in the MENA region also includes coordinating MENA economic and commercial issues for the French Ministry of Economy and Finances (2007-2009). Giulia holds master's degrees in Public Administration from Ecole Nationale d'Administration in France, and in International Affairs and Diplomacy from the University of Bologna in Italy. 

Fuat Ozharat, Gaziantep Metropolitan Municipality, Turkey. Fuat has been working for the Foreign Affairs Department at Gaziantep Metropolitan Municipality for three years and is responsible for the coordination with UCLG and other international networks. Fuat is also a core member of the Host Municipalities Learning Network and a country coordinator and focal point for the Network in Turkey. After 30 years of experience in the private sector, Fuat decided to start working in his hometown to contribute to solve issues risen with the high influx of refugees and to have a positive impact on people’s lives. 

Nadine Burbar, Head of Local Economic Development and Deputy Chief Resilience Officer, Ramallah Municipality, Palestine. Nadine acts as Deputy Chief Resilience Officer at Ramallah City since 2017, she supports the city in the development and implementation of urban resilience and sustainable development plans and Heads the Local Economic Development Unit at Ramallah Municipality. She completed a master’s degree in Competitiveness and Innovation from Deusto University-Spain, which allowed her to undertake a consulting role in digitization and business development. Nadine’s interests extend from urban resilience and good governance to supporting the innovation ecosystem. Nadine is a graduate of Founder Institute Silicon Valley and takes an active role in entrepreneurship platforms. 

Reham Jammal, Director of Planning Department & Director of International Projects and Programs Unit, Greater Irbid Municipality, Jordan. Reham is an engineer and urban planner. After several roles as an engineer in the private and public sector, she became Director of Planning Department & International Programs and Projects Unit for the Greater Irbid Municipality in 2015, where she is now responsible for solid waste management, works on the city’s master plan and contributes to Irbid’s observatory, including updating municipal data and undertaking population studies. She also works on grants and project proposals, and on cultural heritage and rehabilitation of historical sites. Reham is also a permanent member of the community prevention network for protection from violence and extremism in Jordan.  

Session 5

Tuesday, March 16, 2021

How have Women-led Social Enterprises adapted to the COVID-19 challenge? What can we learn for an inclusive recovery?

• Survey
• Presentation
• Key Takeaways
• Recording

This interactive webinar will look at the way women-led social enterprises have responded to the COVID crisis. Through the eyes of social entrepreneurs, we will reflect on the main challenges they have faced, as well as breakthroughs and unexpected opportunities they have encountered along the way. Based on their experiences, this webinar aims to facilitate a conversation on what is working and what can organizations like the World Bank do better to support social enterprises. Collectively, we will reflect on some of the lessons that we can take forward to a post-COVID world.

Opening remarks:

• Aly Zulficar Rahim, Practice Manager, Social Sustainability and Inclusion, World Bank
• Parmesh Shah, Global Lead, Rural Livelihoods and Jobs, GSG, World Bank

Moderator:

• Isabel Guerrero, Founder and Executive Director, IMAGO Global Grassroots

Speakers:

• Mirai Chatterjee, Chairperson, SEWA Federation
• Jean Guo, Founder and Executive Director, Kinexio
• Aishwarya Lakshmi Ratan, Senior Program Officer, Bill & Melinda Gates Foundation

Olasimbo Sojinrin, Country Director, Solar Sister Nigeria

Speakers Bio:

Isabel Guerrero, IMAGO’s Executive Director
Isabel is an economist, a psychoanalyst and the founder of IMAGO. She worked at the World Bank as Vice President for South Asia managing a portfolio of 39 billion dollars. She was also Country Director for Bolivia, Ecuador, Colombia, India, Mexico, Paraguay and Peru. While at the WB she led Change Management processes across the organization. Since 2014 she has taught “Scaling up for Development Impact” at Harvard Kennedy School. She is also a member of the UN High Level Panel on Digital Cooperation.

Mirai Chatterjee, Chairperson SEWA Federation
Mirai Chatterjee is the Director of the Social Security Team at Self-Employed Women’s Association, (SEWA). She is also Chairperson of the SEWA Cooperative Federation of 106 women’s primary cooperatives. In addition, she is responsible for SEWA’s health care, childcare and insurance programmes. She joined SEWA in 1984 and was its General Secretary after its Founder, Ela Bhatt. Ms Chatterjee serves as Chairperson of the global informal workers and policy-makers network, WIEGO (Women in Informal Employment Globalising and Organising), and on the Boards of several organizations, including the Public Health Foundation of India (PHFI), Save the Children, PRADAN and now the Schwab Foundation for Social Entrepreneurship. She was advisor to the National Commission for Enterprises in the Unorganized Sector and is in the Advisory Group on Community Action of the National Rural Health Mission. She was also a Commissioner in the World Health Organization’s Commission on the Social Determinants of Health. In addition, she was a member of the High-Level Expert Group on Universal Health Coverage set up by the Planning Commission of India in 2010. Further, she was a member of the National Advisory Council (NAC), appointed by the Prime Minister of India in 2010. She was conferred the Global Achievement award by the School of Public Health, Johns Hopkins University. Ms. Chatterjee has a B.A. from Harvard University in History and Science and a master’s from Johns Hopkins University’s School of Public Health, USA.

Jean Guo, Founder and Executive Director, Kinexio
A social entrepreneur with a background in public health and economics, Jean Guo is passionate about advancing economic opportunity and quality of life for marginalized populations. Jean founded Konexio based on her own experience of immigrating to the U.S. at a young age, where she witnessed firsthand the social and financial struggles faced by immigrants. Most recently a Rubenstein Scholar at the Harvard Center for Public Leadership, Jean’s research found that investment in skills training predicted integration success for refugees and migrants. Jean holds degrees in economics and biology from Stanford University, was a Fulbright research fellow at the Paris School of Economics and has worked as a consultant in Silicon Valley. In 2020, 4 years after starting Konexio, Forbes ranked her as one of the most influential, 30 under - 30 social entrepreneurs in Europe.

Aishwarya Lakshmi Ratan, Senior Program Officer, Gender Equality, Bill & Melinda Gates Foundation
Aishwarya’s focus is on building evidence base on women’s economic empowerment. She previously managed research and evaluation investments for the Foundation’s Financial Services for the Poor team.
Prior to the Foundation, she served as the director of monitoring, research, and evaluation at the international non-profit Women for Women International where she guided internal monitoring and evaluation operations and external research partnerships focused on improving women’s agency and welfare in fragile settings. Her past work includes serving as director of the Global Financial Inclusion Initiative at Yale University and Innovations for Poverty Action and working as an associate researcher in the Technology for Emerging Markets group at Microsoft’s research lab in Bangalore. Aishwarya earned a bachelor’s degree in economics and women’s studies from Wellesley College and a master’s degree in public administration and international development from the Kennedy School of Government at Harvard University.

Olasimbo Sojinrin, Nigeria Country Director, Solar Sisters
Olasimbo Sojinrin is Country Director at Solar Sister Nigeria where she leads a network of women entrepreneurs distributing clean energy products in underserved communities across Nigeria. She is a strong advocate for renewable energy and women empowerment.
Simbo is President of the Women's Consortium of Nigeria. Simbo has received many awards including Gender mainstreaming in Energy Award Champion by ECOWAS ECREEE, Google Impact Challenge in 2018, Winner of the 2017 Ruhr Summit in Germany, 2016 Woman in Energy awardee by Nigerian Energy Forum and 2015 Emerging Leader at Techwomen USA. She holds a Certificate in Social Entrepreneurship from INSEAD and a master’s in public and international affairs from University of Lagos.

Session 4

Wednesday, December 2

The Power of Savings Groups: An Underutilized Platform for Local Economic Development in Africa

• Presentation
• Takeaways

Savings Groups are one of the most widespread community development initiatives worldwide. In Africa, there are about 20 million active members in Savings Groups, supported by hundreds of local and international development organizations; and a recent study identified 74 public policies and programs related to Savings Groups, across 20 countries. These groups mobilize financial resources and social capital in marginalized communities; and experience demonstrates they are at the frontlines of the local response to crisis, including the COVID pandemic. And yet, Savings Groups remain a largely underutilized platform for local economic development. Join us for a discussion with the World Bank, the Bill & Melinda Gates Foundation, CARE, Hand in Hand International, the International Rescue Committee and World Vision on leveraging Savings Groups as a platform for local economic development in Africa.

Moderator: 
Sybil Chidiac, Senior Program Officer, Gender Equality, The Bill & Melinda Gates Foundation

Speakers: 

Helene Monika Carlsson Rex
Practice Manager, Social Sustainability and Inclusion Global Practice, The World Bank

Japheth Muli
Chief Operations Officer, Eastern Africa, Hand in Hand International

Angeline Munzara
Senior Advisor, External Engagement & Savings Groups, World Vision

David Panetta
Program Director, Savings Groups, The SEEP Network

Aisha Rahamatali
Senior Advisor, Women Economic Justice and Rights Action Coalition, CARE International

Shobha Shetty
Practice Manager, Food & Agriculture Global Practice, The World Bank

Brian Ssebunya (Ph.D)
Senior Technical Advisor, Enterprise Development and Employment, International Rescue Committee

Speakers Bio

Japheth Muli is s development professional with 14 years of program management experience in microfinance, livelihoods, agriculture, natural resource management, disaster risk reduction, and resilience.

Angeline Munzara is the Livelihoods Senior External Engagement Advisor and Savings for Transformation Project Model Lead for World Vision International. Under her leadership, World Vision has supported 54,400 Savings for Transformation (S4T) groups in 34 countries with 1.3 million members (80 percent of whom are women). Angeline holds a Bachelor of Laws Honors (LLBS) and a Masters in International Relations and has over 15 years of development experience working with non-governmental organisations at the national, regional (SADC) and international levels. She is the current Global Chair for the UN’s Food and Agriculture Organization’s (FAO) International Treaty on Plant Genetic Resources for Food and Agriculture Compliance Committee (2019-2021). She recently published a book: "Faith that Breaks Storms': http://angiechawira.co.za/

David Panetta leads the SEEP Network’s practice area in Savings Groups, and a portfolio of learning initiatives to improve standards of practice, mobilize knowledge and strengthen partnerships in the sector. Previously, David led the development of Savings Group programs in 19 countries, reaching approximately one million members – working with the Aga Khan Foundation, DFID, Plan International, Mercy Corps, VSL Associates, World Vision and over one hundred local NGOs. He has a Master’s in Economics from McGill University and is fluent in English, French and Spanish.

Aisha Rahamatali is as Senior Advisor, Women Economic Justice and Rights Action Coalition, Aisha currently supports CARE’s participation in the Generation Equality Forum Action Coalition on Economic Justice and Rights. Before that, she acted as CARE Regional Advocacy Coordinator in West Africa, supporting the implementation of Women on the Move, an initiative that aims to scale up Savings Groups in West Africa trough partnership and advocacy with governments. In this role she engaged closely with governments, regional institutions, and women rights organisations to advance the adoption and implementation of Savings Groups by government institutions through financial inclusion, gender and social protection policies. She is the co-author of the recent state of practice report on Savings Groups and the Role of Government in Sub-Saharan Africa and served as co-facilitator of the SEEP Network’s Peer Learning Group on The Role of Savings Groups in Supporting Graduation from Social Safety Nets. Prior to joining CARE, Aisha worked on child rights and women rights advocacy with several NGOs (Defence for Children International, International Federation for Human Rights and the International Catholic Child Bureau). She also advocated for the promotion and protection of women rights as part of the team of the UN Special Rapporteur on Violence against Women.

Shobha Shetty is a Practice Manager, Shobha covers Eastern and Southern Africa and oversees a portfolio of agriculture and rural development projects and analytic work of over US$2 billion. From 2012-2018, she served in a similar position in the South Asia region based in the World Bank office in New Delhi. Her current work and interests span agribusiness development, women’s economic empowerment, disruptive Technology, nutrition-sensitive agriculture, urban food systems, rural youth employment, and climate resilience. In 2015 she was a Visiting Fellow at the Tata-Cornell Agriculture and Nutrition Initiative (TCi) at Cornell University, New York. She has previously worked in the Philippines, Indonesia, Papua New Guinea, Timor-Leste, Mozambique, Zimbabwe, Nigeria, Tunisia, Syria, Saudi Arabia on a wide range of issues of agriculture and rural development. Shobha has a Bachelor’s degree in Electronics and Communication Engineering from Anna University, India. She earned her Masters and Ph.D. degrees in Agricultural Economics from Cornell University, USA.

Brian Ssebunya (Ph.D) based at the IRC Hub in Nairobi, Brian has over 15 years’ experiences with market systems and private sector development in emergency, recovery and development contexts in Africa and the Middle East. Brian supports IRC’s urban livelihoods projects in East Africa, focused on skills development, entrepreneurship and financial inclusion of urban refugees, as well as new delivery models for IRC’s urban refugee livelihoods programming globally. Brian holds a PhD in Social and Economic Sciences from the University of Natural Resources and Life Sciences (BOKU), in Austria.

Session 3

Wednesday, October 7

How can we support the employment of vulnerable youth during and after COVID-19?

8:00am-9:00am  | 

• New S4YE Knowledge Brief, ‘How are Youth Employment programs adapting to COVID-19?’
• Slides
• Takeaways
• Intresting Resources
• Recording 

COVID-19 has put the jobs of millions of youth, especially in the informal sector, at risk. Estimates suggest that more than one in six young people have stopped working due to the pandemic. This session will explore strategies to create employment and entrepreneurship opportunities to facilitate longer-term resilience and stronger recovery from COVID-19. Bringing together panelists from the Solutions for Youth Employment’s (S4YE’s) network, this session will discuss how organizations are reviving small and medium businesses, increasing private sector engagement, leveraging new digital job opportunities, and increasing virtual learning access for vulnerable youth.

Opening remarks:
Ian Walker, Manager, Jobs Group, World Bank and Ingo Wiederhofer, Practice Manager, Social Sustainability and Inclusion Global Practice, World Bank

Fireside chat

Moderator: 
Namita Datta, Program Manager, Solutions for Youth Employment (S4YE)

• Mamadou Biteye, Vice President, Social Impact for Central Europe, Middle East and Africa, Visa
• Rob Urquhart, Lead, Knowledge & Research, Harambee Youth Employment Accelerator
• Akshay Kashyap, Deputy Head, Pradhan Mantri Kaushal Vikas Yojna, National Skill Development Corporation, India
• Colin Blackwell, Founder, Enablecode

Speakers Bio

Mamadou Biteye, Vice President, Social Impact for Central Europe, Middle East, and Africa, (CEMEA) region at Visa, based in Dubai. In this role, Mamadou works closely with the CEMEA Leadership Team to develop a Social Impact strategy for the region and implement programs that align to regional and market business priorities. Prior to Visa, Mamadou served at The Rockefeller Foundation as Managing Director for the Africa Region, leading programs such as the Digital Jobs Africa initiative, as well as developing partnerships with the African Development Bank, the Gates Foundation, and USAID to support the Foundation’s work. Mamadou is an Honorary Officer of the Most Excellent Order of the British Empire (OBE). He holds Master’s degrees in Agricultural Economics from Ohio University and The Crimean Agricultural Institute.
 
Rob Urquhart, Lead, Knowledge & Research, Harambee Youth Employment Accelerator. Rob leads research, monitoring, and evaluation at Harambee Youth Employment Accelerator. Rob works with teams inside and outside Harambee to build and communicate an evidence base for what is needed to solve youth unemployment at scale; developing knowledge and insights for policy, interventions, and practices that address youth unemployment. Prior to joining Harambee, Rob led consulting efforts in South Africa and beyond focused on talent management and thought leadership related to organisational change. Rob has both a Masters in Sociology and an MBA from the University of Witwatersrand.
 
Akshay Kashyap, Deputy Head, Pradhan Mantri Kaushal Vikas Yojna, National Skill Development Corporation, India. With National Skill Development Corporation (NSDC), a unique Public-Private-Partnership institution addressing a critical challenge – skills and jobs, Akshay has been instrumental in design and delivery of PMKVY, the largest human resource development program in the world. Providing access to industry-oriented short-term VET programs to 10 million youth in four years, the program has trained 2.4 million youth including two million dropouts, one million women and four hundred thousand socially marginalized individuals, in 300+ courses across 650 districts of India.

Colin Blackwell, Founder, Enablecode. Colin is the founder of Enablecode, a social enterprise based in Vietnam with the mission to create employment for people with disabilities. Previously he has worked for PwC.  He is a global judge of the United Nations Generation Unlimited Youth Challenge, a regional judge of the United Nations Hult Prize and judge of the Vietnam Human Resources Awards. Colin is a regular keynote speaker and media contributor on the topics of artificial intelligence, transformation and the future of work

Session 2

Wednesday, September 23

How can social innovators and entrepreneurs support inclusive local economic recovery?

8:00am-9:00am  | 

Online | Youtube

• Slides
• Key Takeaways
• Relevant resources

Social entrepreneurs and innovators solve market and government failures by serving excluded and vulnerable populations, which are most at risk from impacts of COVID-19. This webinar will explore how social entrepreneurs and innovators can transform and rebuild local economies for longer-term inclusive recovery.

Opening remarks:
Louise Cord, Global Director, Social Sustainability and Inclusion Global Practice, WBG

Fireside chat

Moderator:
Parmesh Shah, Global Lead, Rural Livelihoods and Agriculture Employment GSG, WBG

• Carlos Centeno, Lead, Economic Prosperity Community, MIT Solve
• Casey van der Stricht, Principal, Solve Innovation Future, MIT Solve
• Vikas Bali, CEO, Intellecap
• Alfred Kojo Yeboah, Regional Director, Africa, Grameen Foundation

Closing remarks: 
Susan Wong, Global Lead, Community Driven Development GSG, WBG

Speakers Bio

Carlos Centeno is the Lead for Solve's Economic Prosperity Community where the team engages leading voices from academia, the private and public sectors, as well as nonprofit organizations to explore solutions to challenges in accessing meaningful work, economic opportunities, and financial inclusion and equality. He’s passionate about the catalytic effect of technology in crisis contexts and rapidly modernizing rural economies. Carlos is a graduate of the University of Kansas, with post-graduate diplomas in AI for business from MIT Sloan & CSAIL, blockchain strategy from Oxford's Said Business School, humanitarian emergency management from Harvard's Humanitarian Initiative, and Georgetown's Program Evaluation summer academy.

Casey van der Stricht is Principal of Solve Innovation Future, an innovative mechanism to make investments in the Solver teams. Casey joined MIT Solve from Social Finance, where she was Vice President, Social Investments, responsible for sourcing, structuring, and placing social impact bonds and other impact instruments, as well as advancing firm strategic positioning. Committed to leveraging new tools to make impact, she has experience in management consulting, financial services, and the nonprofit sector. Casey holds an MBA from Harvard Business School and a BA in history from Yale University.

Vikas Bali is the CEO of Intellecap. He has close to 25 years of experience spread across management consulting and industry roles. At Intellecap he is focused on developing innovative business models for the majority markets, scale-up enterprises and contribute towards solving the jobless growth environment across the developing world. Most recently he is overseeing the digitization of women-centric value chains in rural India by creating a coalition of rural women, processing industry, payment banks, MFIs etc. Prior to joining Intellecap, Vikas was working with Accenture Strategy as Managing Director – Head of the Products industry group. Vikas has completed his Post Graduate Diploma in Management from the Indian Institute of Management (IIM) – Calcutta with Strategy as a major subject of his study. He has completed his Bachelor in Engineering from Vivekanand’s Institute for Technology.

Alfred Kojo Yeboah is the Regional Director, Africa of Grameen Foundation.  He embodies 15 years of program management and social development expertise with core competencies in leveraging user-centered design approaches to develop and implement ICT-enabled reproductive, maternal health, and agricultural extension behavior change communications programs. Most of his work today has focused on designing and deploying evidence-based innovative and practical interventions to health and agriculture communication challenges in low literate communities and has contributed to shaping knowledge on the cultural contexts of health and agriculture extension problems technology solutions seek to address for women, youth and smallholder farmers.Mr. Yeboah holds a Master’s degree in International Social Development Practice (MSc) from University College London and has contributed to program design in 5 countries. 

Session 1

Wednesday, September 9

How to support community/women groups for longer-term local economic recovery and resilience?

8:30am-10:00am  | 

Online

• LED Webinar Session 1 - Slides
• LED Series Session 1 - Interesting Resources Relevant to the Session
• LED Series Session 1 - Takeaways

Community groups (SHGs, farmer groups, saving groups etc.) are one of the important platforms for community-driven development and rural livelihoods. Most of the community group members are women. This session will explore how community/women/saving groups are coping up with COVID and discuss strategies to support women groups and informal workers for longer-term economic recovery and resilience.

Opening remarks:  Louise Cord, Global Director, Social Sustainability and Inclusion Global Practice, World Bank and Martien Van Nieuwkoop, Global Director, Agriculture, and Food Global Practice, World Bank
Fireside chat
Moderator: Parmesh Shah, Global Lead, Rural Livelihoods, and Agriculture Employment Global Solutions Group, World Bank

• Alka Upadhyaya, Additional Secretary, Government of India (NRLM)
• Sybil Chidiac, Senior Program Officer, Gender Equality, Bill and Melinda Gates Foundation
• Thomas de Hoop, Principal Economist at American Institutes for Research, Evidence Consortium on Women’s Groups
• Vinay Kumar Vutukuru, Senior Agriculture Specialist, World Bank

Closing remarks: Susan Wong, Global Lead, Community Driven Development Global Solution Group, World Bank