Two Years On: My Journey as a Young Professional at the World Bank Group
I joined the World Bank Group on 9th September, 2019. Over the last two years, I have worked as a Young Professional in the Digital Development Global Practice, and more recently, with the Office of the Chief Economist, Infrastructure Vice-Presidency. In this post, I reflect on my career journey thus far and perhaps simultaneously answer two questions I am frequently posed: 1) What does work in the Digital Development at the World Bank look like? and 2) Do you enjoy working at the World Bank? Why or why not?
I joined the Bank at an opportune moment. As the Bank’s newest standalone Global Practice (est. July 2018), Digital Development had just launched the Digital Economy for Africa Initiative with the ambitious goal of connecting every African government, business and household to broadband by 2030. This endeavor inspired other regions to assess and expand their digital development portfolio, a trend that only accelerated with the onset of COVID-19. In addition, only a week into my role, the next World Development Report (WDR): Data for Better Lives was internally announced. This centered data — both their infrastructure and their governance — in the World Bank’s annual flagship knowledge product. With the benefit of hindsight, both these factors, thoroughly outside my control or knowledge at entry, shaped my first two years to be an exciting and enriching professional experience.
In my last two years, I worked on numerous projects requiring a range of skills. The most important one was time and energy management. Jumping from a call with a minister to a meeting with a research team; writing management briefs in half a day to working on a research paper for months at a stretch; shuttling across five time zones before COVID-19 made it the norm: no two days look alike in the Bank. I was incredibly lucky that my management and leadership teams were wholly supportive and encouraging of my enthusiasm to jump in with both feet, and gave me ample opportunities to run with projects — including ones I proposed.
Perhaps most exciting to me, and the least different from my role at Penn, was my analytical portfolio. The Digital Development practice was a unique place in the Bank — during my first year, there was no single global research and expertise unit (est. Nov 2020), leading to operational teams also working closely on knowledge products. This was to me quite an exciting intersection, with close coordination across operations and the knowledge portfolio as a natural result of the working arrangements.
Knowledge products at the World Bank vary in scope and target different audiences: some are global, others country-specific (in response to a specific government ask), and yet others regional (comparing countries within or across sectors). I learned a lot from the internal discussions leading up to the World Development Report — a project that brought together colleagues from several parts of the Bank Group. Providing input to Part 2 through background papers focused on data infrastructure and governance was particularly rewarding. What I learned most was the importance of narrative: rigorous data analysis without compelling presentation tailored to an audience, can fall flat. I was lucky to work within and with diverse teams that worked immensely hard to shape several distinct analytical efforts into a compelling report, data stories, seminars, blogs, and even an online course.
I am excited by the broad range of relevant issues that the Digital Development knowledge portfolio covers today. I worked on two global, three-country specific, and one regional analytical project, in addition to my contributions to the WDR. I worked on trusted data sharing, sustainable, inclusive broadband access for the vulnerable and the marginalised, led analysis for an evaluation of EU investments in broadband in a member state, provided input into country-level data and digital policies, and contributed to a regional digital economy assessment covering one of my operational client countries. There was ongoing work on vaccine delivery during COVID-19, a workstream on cybersecurity that gained momentum, a report on cloud infrastructure that I am currently working on, work on the effects of digital skills pilots focused on women and girls in Africa and the Western Balkans, and so much more. While my engagement with the latter topics was sporadic, I learned a lot being amid the many colleagues who were deeply engaged and had expertise in these issues.
Beyond my analytical portfolio, working in operations across the life-cycle of financing projects was enlightening. I learned the importance of building and sustaining trust in relationships with government, the fast-paced nature of operations in bursts (tempered by political circumstances), the procedural complexities introduced both by governments and the regional and country-level management units (who often had very different rules of procedure, from my vantage point covering four regions) and the need for co-ordination at every step of the way to ensure no surprises (both on our side, and on the client side). Every project felt unique: my operational portfolio initially comprised three countries and two regions — a project in early stages of preparation (the recently approved Digital RMI Project), a project in mid-stage implementation (Digital CASA Afghanistan) and a project in late-stage implementation (Telecommunications Sector Reform Myanmar). Starting late last year, I also engaged in writing up a completion report for an operation in the Caribbean.
The challenges of low capacity, fragile, conflict-affected states are numerous — but in my experience, contextual specificities mattered a lot. A hardworking civil servant here, an excellent government adviser there — stellar individuals at key positions could move mountains at times, while at others, the gridlock and the overall political economy just didn’t permit progress.
Finally, I was proud to co-lead the World Bank’s Digital Development Gender Strategy through a highly consultative process. Working on an internal strategy highlighted the importance of securing staff buy-in through regular consultations, as otherwise, the strategy risked being an on-paper exercise. Speaking to so many colleagues over the course of a year was enriching — I learned about operational challenges in closing gender gaps to digital access and use, potential solutions, lessons on what had and had not worked, and importantly, what teams needed going forward to support clients better. This was a topic close to my heart — I am a beneficiary of Internet access in profoundly transformative ways — and I was grateful to have had the opportunity to work on this as one of my first tasks.
Beyond sharpening my technical skills and developing internal and external relationships, I learned so much through interactions with my colleagues who brought so much perspective, knowledge, support, and yes, humor, to our interactions. Digital Development is a truly diverse and incredibly inclusive group, with caring, humane, and incredibly supportive people who move mountains with shoestrings. I loved that amid the busy that everyday was, there was time for virtual Halloween cookouts, costume parties, VR escapades, and more.
Woven in between these many experiences was a rich career development program through the Young Professionals Program. I learned much about myself through the many modules on leadership and communication. I reflected on my vision, my strengths, and areas for development through a structured curriculum. It was my first ever experience of this kind and one I found valuable to my personal growth. The people were stellar; the coursework practical; the mentorship experience stunning. I count many among my cohort as dear friends — they have made these last two years in DC memorable in so many ways.
