The continuing impacts of the COVID-19 pandemic, rising inflation, and the war in Ukraine have exacerbated global poverty levels. According to the World Bank, between 75 and 95 million people are likely to be pushed into extreme poverty this year, reversing decades of progress on global poverty alleviation. In the face of severe loss of income, social protection measures like direct cash transfers, poverty graduation, and cash plus programs have proven extremely effective in providing fast relief to those facing disruption. Strengthening the social protection infrastructure, and pairing immediate poverty relief with long-term strategies, is key to helping the most affected communities rebound and withstand future shocks.

The session explored:

• How can governments, businesses, and NGOs work together to implement and scale up evidence-based anti-poverty solutions?

• How can we make social protection programs more robust and more responsive?

• How can we leverage data and technology to improve the targeting of anti-poverty interventions so that the most vulnerable are not left behind?

Speakers:

• Dr Ngozi Okonjo-Iweala, Director-General, World Trade Organization.

• Cina Lawson, Minister of Digital Economy and Transformation, Government of Togo

• Prof. Abhijit Vinayak Banerjee, Ford Foundation International Professor of Economics, Massachusetts Institute of Technology

• Gargee Ghosh, President, Global Policy and Advocacy, Bill & Melinda Gates Foundation

• Alice Patterson Albright, Chief Executive Officer, Millennium Challenge Corporation