Hello, everyone. And welcome to the session. Uh, can you all hear me? Maybe drop it in a chat if you can. Excellent. Very good. Thank you all very much for joining. My name is Irina Nikolic. I am the Young Professionals program, program manager for the World Bank Group. I'm joined um by some great colleagues who are young professionals at the World Bank Group or uh have recently uh completed the first uh couple of years of the program. And uh they will talk a little bit about their respective work areas later on. Um, and I am also a former young professional. Welcome to the session. Please visit our website. Please look at our frequently asked questions, uh, look up my LinkedIn. We are indeed, uh, continuously posting new content. Um, and so, this would be a good way for you to see whether this is the right program for you and, uh, also to learn about how to apply and hear about the experiences of people who've been through the program. I will, uh, go briefly through a presentation, but today's focus is not on how to apply. It is not on general presentation. It really is about the work that young professionals do at World Bank IFC and MIGA across the World Bank Group. And uh for more general information, there is actually a recording of a session from September 4th on our website already. There is also going to be a recording that is uh specific to those with the economics profile and background. Um, and then we will be making this uh session available as well. We will reserve the questions, uh, to the, uh, so-called coffee corners or breakouts, which are by area of work after the plenary session finishes at about 9:40 um this morning. So, with that, uh, our dream at the World Bank Group is a world free of poverty and a livable planet. That is our shared mission. Uh, my colleague Marcus is going to help me go through this presentation. Let's talk a little bit about who we are. So, we, um, work uh across all areas of development. Uh, we have 189 member countries, over 12,000 different projects and operations, and partner up, uh, with institutions around the world. Our client countries, um, include, uh, people who live really all over the world and, uh, we're particularly concerned with 700 million people around the world who live in extreme poverty. Next slide, please. Um, our collective, uh, fiscal year 24 commitments across the World Bank Group reached, uh, over $130 billion helped feed 156 million people, improved schooling for 280 million students. Provid healthy water, sanitation or hygiene to almost 60 million people, enabled access to sustainable transportation to 77 million people. That's just a small sample. If this is exciting to you, this is a great place to be. Next slide, please. World Bank Group consists of five institutions. Uh, what's known as the World Bank is the International Bank for Construction Development, IBRD, and IDA, International Development Association. IFC, International Finance Corporation, uh, works on a private sector, creating markets, um, and opportunities, uh, for mobilization of private capital. MIGA is a unique institution. It's a multilateral investment guarantee agency, um, and it has significantly broadened the scope of its work over the past year. It's really worth exploring their website. It's a very exciting agenda that they're working on and ICSID, um, is an arbitration, um, um, part of our institution. We have over 18,000 staff members with 170 nationalities working in around 130 offices plus, uh, the Washington DC headquarters. Moving to the next slide, please. We, uh, work in accordance to our values. So, our values are really important. Please make sure that before you apply, you ask yourself, am I excited by this mission? Do I share these values? They're the values of impact, integrity, respect, teamwork, and innovation. Next slide, please. Next slide. So I mentioned that we work across all of uh areas of development. Please explore our website. We continuously post information about our projects and operations. Most of it is completely public. You really can explore um as much in depth as you wish in your area of expertise, um, and otherwise. And, um, I also wanted to mention that we have some of the most generous access to information policies, um. Of, uh, similar type of institutions. So you really will be able to find a wealth of data, whether you decide to join us or not. Um, we maintain, um, development data as well, which I think is very useful in, in, in much of the work that many people around the world do who work in international development. Next slide, please. So this is where we would like to focus today. Um, we would encourage you to go to the World Bank Group scorecard because that scorecard will tell you a little bit about how we measure our success. When you go into the application form, you will see that there are in step 6, 19 um areas of work uh in which you could um select to apply to. So that would be your first rotation in the World Bank Group. You could, of course, move to other parts of, uh, the organization in your second rotation and build your career really in any part of the World Bank Group. These 19 areas are IFC, uh, MIGGA, and then 17 areas in the World Bank, which are organized into 5 groupings. Those groupings are people, people, um, uh, vice presidential unit works on the protection for the poorest, no learning poverty, and healthier lives. So, uh, it's health, education, um, and social protection. Prosperity focuses on effective macroeconomic and fiscal management. So you will see when you go into the application form and when you go on our website that this includes areas such as um economic policy, um, the, uh, finance, competitiveness, um, and innovation, uh, poverty and equity, and institutions. Planet work includes Green and Blue Planet and resilient. Populations, inclusive and equitable water and sanitation services, sustainable food systems, and again, when you go on our website and you listen to this presentation, you'll learn more about the units that constitute uh work that we do in the planet as presidential unit and across the regions. All of these, we're matrix organizations, so all of these areas also work across all of the regions in which we are present. Um, infrastructure, uh, works towards connected communities, affordable, reliable, and sustainable energy for all, and digital works in digital transformation, including connectivity and better services across the world. Next slide, please, Marcus. Next slide. I want to stress that the World Bank Group, uh, Young Professionals Program is a wonderful opportunity to join the World Bank Group. It is by no means the only opportunity. If you don't meet certain criteria, if you decide this is not the right way for you to join the World Bank Group, please know that there are many, many other ways to join. We have a bank internship program and a variety of other talent programs, including junior professional associate, Africa Fellows, Treasury Fellows, um, etc. We also have opportunities for short-term and extended term consultancies as well as career opportunities as staff members, which are continuously advertised on the careers websites of all of our institutions. Next slide, please. Next slide. Young professionals program, join an initial 5-year contract. It's renewable based on performance in your work that is best matched to your technical skills and experience. Um, there is a distinctive valid proposition to this program. Your 1st 2 years are spent in at least 2, sometimes 3 rotations where you can experience different parts of the World Bank Group. Um, there is a knowledge and learning curriculum. There are leadership development opportunities, training and coaching, networking and mentoring, and you can work in Washington DC as well as country offices. Um, and next slide, please. And as I've just talked about, there are different parts and different work areas um of the World Bank, IFC and MIGA that you can join and work in. So, when you go into the application form again, my colleagues are going to speak more to each of these areas, but there's 17 areas. So, let me just give an overview. This is also on our website and it is also in the step 6 of the application form. So, please visit the websites of each of these areas. Please also read qualifications um that are expected and, you know, you can interpret it sort of as broadly as you wish, but I think it's really important to understand the type of work that we do and make sure that this is the right program through which to join. So, as I mentioned, um, IFC is 1, MIGA is the 2nd. And then there's 17 more areas which are organized into 5 groupings that YPs could possibly sort of work in at this time. So, people includes uh health, social protection, education. Prosperity includes economic policy, poverty inequity, finance, competitiveness and investment slash innovation, and institutions. Planet includes agriculture, climate, environment, social, is around social inclusion, and water. Infrastructure includes energy and extractive, sustainable infrastructure, finance, transport, urban development, and digital is digital transformation. Next slide, please. Um, we're very diverse, uh, group. Uh, this is the, this year's cohort. Please, next slide. Uh, selection process, we're going to close the window on September 30th, and then there is a series of things that happens. Please don't worry too much about whether you get an email at the same time as somebody else. If you're talking to other people who are applying. It's, uh, all you need to know, it's a process that you will get informed and you, you will know for sure by February whether you've received an offer. Next step. So, basic eligibility for the program is you need to be 32 or younger at the time you start. Um, those who are applying now to the program, if they're successful, will be joining on September 8, uh, 2025. We don't defer the start date. So, um, the birth date that you need to have, and this is not flexible, it's on or after October 1, 1992. It moves up by a year every year. So really, everybody has equal opportunity. Um, you need to have graduate level education, um, and master's level degree or equivalent is the minimum. CFA does not replace master's degree. It's very good to have a CFA in addition. Uh, you need to have 4 years of relevant professional experience or an equivalent after your undergraduate degree. And that's at the time of application. So what that means is either 4 years full-time, it means equivalent of, uh, you know, more time, part-time. And if you're doing a, uh, doctorate, uh, which is a research doctorate degree, then that would count towards your professional experience. You have to be fluent in English and have excellent writing and communication skills in English language because that's the language we work in. Additional languages are advantageous. You have to demonstrate relevant expertise and experience of the chosen work program. In the application form, when you select um the area that you would wish to join, that is where you are going to be asked, how do you qualify? You have 250 words to tell us about yourself. What are your qualifications they recommend you for this area. And then we also ask you to talk about A couple of other questions in your personal statements. Please be as specific to yourself, your experience, your skills, what you bring as possible. Um, we do want you to be committed to our mission and values, as I mentioned. Uh, you need to hold a nationality of World Bank Group, IBRD member country. All of this is on our website, and you need to meet employment eligibility requirements. What that means is there's a certain policy around relatives and you also cannot be a current, um, Uh, term or open-ended staff member of the World Bank Group, but you can be, um, consultant, extended or short term, or, um, uh, junior professional associate. Uh, next step, please. Stay in touch, follow us. Uh, we post content regularly, and you will see, for those of you who missed out on these events, you will see the events online. With that, I would like to hand over to the main purpose of today, uh, for about 5 minutes each. I'll invite my colleagues um to speak about their respective areas of work, to speak about their experience, uh, being successful in joining the program, as well, um, as their tips for you. So, I will start um with Fatin, who works in people, move on to Daniel, who works in prosperity, and then we'll go from there. Uh, Fatin, over 2. Thank you very much, Irina. Hello, everyone, and uh thank you very much for connecting today. Um, as Irina said, I'm a 2-year YP working under the people vertical uh of the World Bank, especially the education sector. Um, as mentioned, so people covers education, health, and social protection, which, uh, reinforces, you know, the importance of these three sectors to, to build human capital for growth and development. And really highlights the, the World Bank commitment uh to allow people across the world in the countries we work on, um, or we work with, sorry, to, to reach their, their full potential. Uh, one thing I wanted to highlight, uh, that, uh, Irina briefly mentioned, uh, is that for each of these practices, you have a global unit, uh, and regional units. So, the global unit usually sits, um, in DC, um, and, you know, is responsible of producing and curating global knowledge. Think all the big World Bank reports, uh, that you see online, uh, facilitate exchange between the countries we work on. Um. Also contribute to capacity development uh of staff and, um, And the teams in, in the ministries we work on and, um, And also is responsible of fostering new, new partnerships and trust funds. On the other hand, you have regional teams, uh, that cover a set of, uh, of countries, so, um, Africa West, Africa East, um, Europe and Central Asia, Latin America, South Asia, East Asian and Pacific, Middle East and North Africa. So really covering everything, and this is really much about, you know, uh, running lending operations, um. For these countries and also working on, on, on analytical products uh with them. So, I wanted to, to just give this overview to give more context into the, the, my experience, uh, last year as a first-year YP I was mapped to the education uh sector, Middle East and North Africa unit. Um, and maybe just to give you a, a sense concretely of how work, uh, looked like for me last year, I'll give three different, uh, examples. One is more on the operational side, uh, one is more on the analytical side, and one is also analytical, but Um, across the different sectors of the people vertical. On operations, um, I had the opportunity to work with, uh, the Tunisia Country Office to develop a new higher education project, working closely with the Ministry of Higher Education and, uh, scientific Research, um, to identify their needs and, and priorities, uh, and to develop really a new project with them, which was really exciting and I think something that Uh, is very unique to the World Bank is the level at which we're able to, to collaborate with, with our, um, country clients and, and also as a young professional to, to have that exposure was, uh, was quite unique. Um, another very exciting project I worked on more on the analytical side was working with the Ministry of Education and Higher Education in Lebanon, um, on a new analysis of, um, the efficiency of, uh, their education financing and how they can Um, you know, using their data, how to ident help them identify how the ministry can better use their resources to improve, to improve learning, uh, for children in the country. And maybe one last, um, very exciting, uh, project I wanna work on. There, there were much more, but I try to, to just handpick a, a few, um, was working on the human capital Review of Tunisia, and this was really interesting because it was really working with the team. With health specialists, social protection specialists, and education specialists. They really working across sectors. So that's also to say, you know, that these verticals are also really thought sometimes as unit and we work uh together to have that, uh, coherent and comprehensive approach, uh, to policy and support our client countries, uh, in that sense. So, lots of exciting work to be done and I'd be very happy to, to answer more questions during the, the coffee corners. Thank you, Emina. Thank you, Fain, and I too was a young professionals in people, so this sounds very exciting indeed. So, now over to Daniel and prosperity. Um, hello. Uh, thanks for the opportunity to, to speak today. Uh, so I'm, uh, Daniel Prince. I am a, well, I'm an economist because I graduated, um, last week from the Young Professionals Program. I work in the, uh, Economic policies, uh, unit for Middle East and North Africa, primarily working on, on the countries of Algeria and um. And Morocco. So basically, our um vertical, the prosperity vertical, uh, consists of four, what are called global practices or four thematic areas. One is uhm economic policies, um, where we focus basically on, um, mostly macroeconomic but all sorts of broadly defined economic policies, uh, that can, uh, that can enhance, um, Prosperity in the countries that we work on and we support these via both um lending operations and then analytical products and, uh, and the economic um macroeconomic surveillance. I'll come back to speaking about uh my job in a, in a little bit, but uh let me give you just a bird's side overview of the other three practices that are within prosperity. So we have finance and competitiveness, um, that they focus on a variety of areas that, that you could consider finance, so that includes financial, uh, financial stability, uh, private sector, uh, dynamics, competition, um. Basically sorts of the more uh micro aspects of, of the, the, the, the, the, the economy that are really, really uh important for many developing countries to improve. We also have the uh what is uh called the governance or institutions, uh, where they focus on a variety of, um, Of projects in the, what you consider, what you may consider institution building. So that, that again is very diverse, so that can include uh everything from uh tax and tax administration to how like all sorts of aspects of, of the government operate and, and, and the institutions interact, anti-corruption, digitalization within the government, uh, you will also hear words here that, that, that also often fall under other Verticals uh of the bank. We also have now a digital vertical. So this will also kind of tell you that within the bank, we collaborate across these boundaries of verticals and the boundaries of the global, um, global practices. Um, and then finally within prosperity, we have the poverty group which is where a lot of the really great microeconomists of the, of the bank are, are housed and they work a lot on poverty measurement. Surveys, statistical capacity building, um, and these sorts of, uh, of, uh, issues, and they work a lot with, with really good, uh, microdata and in countries where that does not exist to help the governments, uh, create, uh, Uh, such data. So I should actually say, and this is a really positive aspect of the young professionals program that I did not join the bank uh working in, in economic policies. I actually joined working in health, nutrition and population, which is not even in my vertical. It's under people. And then in my second year, I figured out that I wanted to work in a different area of the bank and so I rotated. So I spent 1 year in health, nutrition and population in Europe and Central Asia. And then moved in my 2nd year into economic policies in Middle East and North Africa, and this opportunity. To move between uh areas of the bank is really a core strength of the young professionals program. Let me just say a couple of sentences about my day to day job and why I find it exciting to work in the bank and then I will, uh, hand over. So as I said, I've worked, um, primarily in Algeria and Morocco, um, and so my day to day job as a, as an economist is to, um, is to monitor the economies of, of these countries, uh, sort of even on a day to day basis and then write, uh, reports on kind of what is happening, for example, uh, in the Algerian economy. I also work on technical assistance projects where we are trying to enhance the capacity of the ministries of finance in these countries, for example, Uh, preparing their own macroeconomic forecasts or, or, uh, enhance their ability to do, to, to improve their tax policy making, for example. So these are things that I work on currently in Algeria. We also, um, work on uh analytical work on a variety of issues that you might consider economic policy. So for example, right now I need a report in Morocco that studies how Morocco could, uh, Could, uh, could grow much more rapidly, uh, in the coming years. Um, and then finally, uh, very important for the bank is of course our lending operations. So in my, uh, area of the bank, we, we do what are called the development, uh, policy financing operations where we basically give budget support to the governments in exchange for improving policies in various areas. So that could Include social protection, that could include um uh that could include fiscal policy, that could include a variety of, of, uh, of policies. So these are kind of, these, these, these four aspects kind of compose my, my, uh, my day to day work and then if I still have time left over, I also get to do some research. So I came to the bank from a PhD program, so I, I actually do have uh some research that I, that I try to do whenever uh I have time. So I think uh I will stop here and then uh answer more of your questions in the, in the, in the coffee corner. So thank you. Thank you, Daniel, um, over to Patrick and Planet. Thank you very much, Irina, and welcome to everyone. It's a real pleasure to speak to you today. I just recalled this morning. It's been already 2 years that I've been in your position, so very, very exciting to speak to you. Uh, my name is Patrick Schmitzek. I am within the Planet Vertical in the environmental practice. And, um, for me, Planet really brings a very exciting and dynamic work program because many of the development challenges are really centered around the questions of how societies interact with the environment and interact with natural resources and how we use that resources to, um, to boost, uh, prosperity and, uh, to fight poverty. Um, that's also really at, at the core of, of the World Bank's agenda and the planet vertical speaks a lot to the livable planet in the, in the mission statement. So the vertical, uh, consists of 5, practice area. Uh, first, uh, one area is the agricultural and, uh, food area, which deals a lot with like questions around food protection, climate smart agriculture, food processing, and food security. Then we have environment, natural resources and the blue economy. It's, it's quite broad. There is a forestry business line. There are questions around biodiversity conservation, protected area management. But also fisheries and the blue economy development. Then we have, uh, social inclusion and social sustainability, which, um, deals a lot with local institution building with questions around, uh, how to involve communities into decision making and increase, uh, inclusion and participation. Uh, the water practice area, um, is focused on water supply, but also irrigation systems, uh, wastewater treatment. And last but not least, we have climate change, which is a little bit different from the others because climate change is really mainstream throughout the, the World Bank portfolio. And this crew, group takes more like a, a central function in ensuring that, uh, all the projects are Paris aligned, that the climate core-benefits are properly assessed. Uh, they do a lot of work on carbon pricing and carbon finance and fundraising to move the World Bank's agenda in the climate realm forward. Um, so, like, uh, two cross-cutting themes across all of these practices is the question of climate resilience, which is one of the most pressing issues for, for our client countries, as well as the question, OK, how can we use the natural resources to improve jobs and income for the most vulnerable and poor. Um, I also would like to highlight that the vertical takes care of some Like, um, cross-cutting functions for the whole World Bank portfolio. For example, the environment and the social practice area, they are responsible for the environmental and social risk management throughout the whole World Bank portfolio. And that's, um, an area of work that basically means that they support the preparation and the implementation of all the projects to ensure that we properly manage and mitigate environmental and social risks. Um, for me, the planning vertical has been really an exciting place to join the bank. I come more from an agriculture development background, but joined in the environment GP which, uh, first was interesting, but really gave me the opportunity to, to learn a lot. Um, in the past, I worked a lot on sustainable land management. Right now, I work a lot on coastal resilience. And what I realized is actually, I could transfer a lot of the skills that I gained in the past to that area, and it gives me opportunities to learn. So that's been really exciting. Uh, I think a perk about Planet is that many of the projects are decentralized, so mission trips are really, really great. In my case, I said, I work a lot on coastal resilience, so I spend a lot of time on boats going around, uh, protected areas or visiting mangrove reforestation projects. So that's been really some of the highlights, uh, for me, the, the last year. I have a colleague who works on pollution. She likes to, to visit landfills. So, pick your battle wisely. Um, I think the planet vertical also brings really a good balance between analytical work and operational work. So, for example, the climate, uh, the country Climate and Development reports is, uh, a core analytical product in which the, the planet vertical is very, very much engaged. And if you join the bank, you will sooner or later work, work on one of those. Um, I think not much more to say at this moment for me. I'm happy to take more questions in the coffee corner. I wish you all the luck for your applications. It's a great program. It's a great institution. And, um, yeah, for me, a very exciting place to be. Thank you very much, Patrick, over to Mattel for infrastructure and digital. Thank you very much, Irina. Um, can you all hear me? I hope so. And I'm very excited to be here today. Welcome everyone. My name is Matteo. Um, I, I just graduated from the YP program, much like Daniel. Uh, so technically I'm no longer a YP. I'm, I'm just a, a regular, regular P. Um, I'm an energy specialist. I've been working in energy for the last 5 years now with the World Bank. I was an SDC uh, uh, short-term consultant at the bank, uh, then became an extended term consultant, and then eventually became a YP and, and now I, I just graduated. Um, I covered the West Africa region. A region I, I used to cover, I've covered for many years. And last year, I spent the whole year in Indonesia, also working in energy, um, as part of my YP rotation. Um, and I would be more than happy to answer any question on the YP rotation, which is a, a really cool part of the YP program. So, enough about me. I'll, today, I'll be presenting very briefly the infrastructure and digital vertical of the World Bank and, and we'll take questions later. The infrastructure vertical is all about connectivity. Connectivity, connecting people to essential services, whether it's energy services, whether it's uh transport, whether it's uh urban um spaces, whether it's digital infrastructure. The, each department of this vertical aims to connect people, connect businesses, connect, uh, communities, um, so that people can, can work, can move, uh, and can participate in the, in the global, um, economy. So the high-level purpose of the infrastructure vertical is to Uh, build and sustain infrastructure in a sustainable way, uh, but also in an inclusive way and in, uh, increasingly climate resilient, uh, way. There are 5 global practices, 5 departments within this vertical. Um, we have energy and infrastructure, uh, sorry, energy and extractives. That's the, the department where I've been working for the last 5 years. Um, transport. Um, urban development. And then digital, uh, transformational, just digital. Um, in recent, uh, months, it, it has become its own, um, its own vice presidency here at the World Bank. But, for the sake of this presentation and, and for today, we'll still be, uh, we'll still consider it to be part of the infrastructure family. And then, um, sustainable, uh, infrastructure finance. It is also very important department which typically works alongside all of the previous 4 departments, energy, transport, urban or digital, um, bringing ways to, to enhance the financing, uh, solutions, uh, that we provide to our client countries. Um, to give you, this is just a, a very broad overview of the infrastructure vertical, infrastructure and digital vertical. Um, please bring any questions you may have during the coffee corners. And I'll just wanna finish, take a few minutes just to talk about the, the kind of, uh, uh, work that I do, uh, On a day to day or week to week basis, um, and we'll take it from there. So, as an energy specialist, um, right now, I cover a lot of lending operation. Um, meaning I either can, I either help, um, prepare new lending projects that are typically energy projects. They can be about installing new renewable energy in, in client countries. Uh, we work, uh, we do a lot of solar projects, um, also wind or hydro. Um, or it could also be about energy access. This is a very important topic in the Africa region, especially. Um, and so, Um, a lot of my time goes into preparing these new projects or helping our counterparts implement projects that have already been, uh, approved and um, uh, which implementation has, uh, uh, started. Um, but also there, we do, uh, in, in the energy department, we also do a ton of, uh, of data collection, of research, of analysis. Most of which then eventually help us create better projects, um, put on, you know, better, um, instruments to, for our client countries. Um, and there's a, there is a lot of our energy that goes into that. We are also much like, uh, my YP colleagues explained, we're also divided in, into global units and regional units. I'm myself in a regional unit in, in West Africa. Um, and there are global units, most of whom sit here in Washington DC, um, but we collaborate on a, on a, on a, on a very, uh, very often, uh, uh, especially on these analytical, uh, products. Um, what else can I tell you? The um Just a few comments on the, just to conclude on the YP and then I'll, I'll leave it to the rest of the presentation. Um, it's a very exciting program. It's a, it's a demanding application, and, and I encourage you to, to really take it seriously, but it's, um, it's a wonderful opportunity. Um, it's, it's been, it's given me a, a lot in the last two years. I'm, I'm also reflecting on the, on the end of the YP uh program for myself. The last few years have been extremely rich in, in terms of learning experience. Um, the YP is a wonderful opportunity to join the World Bank, but also to meet a ton of people who really work on, on a ton of really cool projects, uh, and very interesting, most of, uh, which aren't, aren't necessarily related to my own fields, but there's a, there's a lot to learn. Um, in this sort of cross-pollination of ideas, um, when, you know, when talking to, uh, colleagues who work in different departments, I think this is really what the YPA, uh, is about. Um, so, it, it's a very exciting program and it's a, and it's a fantastic way to, uh, to kickstart a career in, in, uh, economic development. Um, so I, uh, strongly encourage you to apply and to take the application seriously, and, and to give it, uh, to give it your all. Thank you very much, Irene. I'll, I'll leave it to the next presenter. Thank you, Matteo. I'm going to, I'm going to hand over to Morgan next. IFC has a very special, uh, place in my heart in my career. I co-led the work program in health with IFC, and I worked on, uh, spinning out one of our initiatives called Ethical Principles in Healthcare, which is an IFC initiative. And so Morgan, over to you. There's so many different areas one can work in in IFC, isn't it? Yeah, thank you, uh, Irina, and uh also very excited to be here to talk about the YP program because for me it has been also like uh an amazing uh year, like, uh, super rewarding professionally and personally like um. Uh, I joined the, uh, the World Bank, uh, as an IFCYP, uh, a year ago, same course as, uh, Fatin and Patrick, uh, who I had the chance to, uh, interact with because we have some training, uh, some, um, induction, uh, at the very beginning together. So, uh, we are very all, uh, uh, all connected, uh, as part of the World Bank, uh, Young Professional program. And maybe just to give uh a bit about my, to say some words about my background to see if IFC is for you. Like I joined IFC because I was interested in uh impact investing and I had previous uh private sector experience before. I, I had, I have a master's degree in finance, um, and I was working in investment banking covering, uh, Europe, Middle East and Africa before joining uh IFC. Uh, so I joined IFC, um, as an associate investment officer. The difference with the IBRD is, uh, that at IFC we are not assigned to a specific team when we have the offer from the YP program. So you get the offer to be an associate investment officer, and then, uh, in the spring, you are put in touch with different teams and then you can decide which team you can join. So how it's organized, IFC it's the same. We have sector and regions. So for regions, we have global team and also regional teams and sector, we have uh all the sectors mentioned uh uh on, on the website and I can go into more details in the coffee chat. Uh, for me, I was very interested in Africa and I wanted also to uh spend more time in the agriculture sector. So I joined for my first rotation at IFC, um. The agribusiness and Forestry West Africa team. Um, I, I did my first, uh, so at IFC the YP program is structured that way. Uh, so the YP program is a 2-year program. The first year is with IFC within the same team. And then for the second year, you have 2 6-month rotation. The first one is with IBRD Omega, and then you are back at IFC. So for my first rotation that just ended, I was uh with Agribusiness and Forestry West Africa. I did my 1st 6 months in Washington DC. And I did the, uh, the last 6 months of my rotation in Dakar in Senegal. So it was great to be, um, in the field. I think uh there is a big push at IFC for decentralization. So many of the YPs, uh, covering regions were, uh, in country offices for, uh, at least a part of their first, the first year of their rotation. Uh, and during my first year, um, to describe a bit my work. Uh, I look at new equity and debt investment in the agri. This in the agriculture sector in West Africa. I did also some business development to try to find new clients and I did some portfolio work to look at existing investments to make sure like uh The operations, the constructions we were financing was going well, that the client was repaying. So there are these three pillars when you are an investment officer at IFC looking at new projects, new equity investment, new debt investment, you have to do some business development to find new clients, new investment opportunities to deploy the capital for impact, and you have the portfolio work, um, because when you, after investing, you need to um To follow up with the client, uh, and make sure all, um, the conditions, uh, are, are in place. So I've been working on, uh, some exciting projects, um, in the DRC in Burkina Faso, Senegal. Uh, so it's, uh, been really an amazing opportunity each time you travel, uh, to meet the clients, see the operations, um, So for me, it's like, uh, I could really like uh see the impact of my, of my work. Um, and now, uh, I'm moving to my second rotation. I'm moving to IDRD, um, and this is where I think the YPP is so unique is that for example, in the agribusiness at IFC we have lots of issues for environmental and social constraints to invest in the fishery sector. So my manager advised me to uh do my rotation at IBRD uh within the planet, um, uh, vertical in uh the, the Blue Economy team to see how IBRD in the Blue Economy team interacting with governments can maybe, uh, work on regulation, a regulatory framework to make sure, uh, the conditions for private sector investments are there. And so I'm moving to, um, to Nairobi, uh, to work, uh, with the IBIRD uh Blue Economy team, um, East Africa for my next rotation, so very excited. Uh, and, uh, I think I will, uh, uh, hand it to, uh, to Miga, um, but, uh, yeah, uh, for me, it's been, uh, it's been a great year and I'm looking forward to your questions in the coffee chat. Thank you, Morgan. Amanda, over to you. I'm very excited about Miga. It's even since last year, it's changed a lot. Would love to hear more about uh what Y be can expect from Miga and what the expectations uh uh Miga has of the YP. Thanks so much, everyone. Happy to be here. Uh my name is Amanda. I joined the YP program back in September 21. I graduated last year and I've been an underwriter in media for a year now. Um, so, let's start with what is MIGA, right? Um so MIGA is the multilateral Investment guarantee Agency, part of the World Bank Group. Um, starting from July this year, we start a platform called the World Bank Guarantee Platform. Um, so before guarantees are offered in different parts of the World Bank Group, so IFC has its own guarantee, World Bank has its own guarantee, and MA obviously, um, you know, serve as the guarantee platform, but now it's all merged into one. So, the World Bank Group clients can now choose from a simplified market friendly menu of guarantee options, all housed in media. Now, this platform provides three types of coverage. Um, the first one is credit guarantees for loans to the public or private sectors. Second one is something I'm very excited about, uh, is trade finance guarantees for trade finance projects involving public entities. And our bread and butter, which is the political risk insurance against non-commercial risk for private sector projects or PPPs or public-private partnerships. Now what do our guarantees to, um, do, um, our guarantees protect investments against non-commercial risks and what this does is it's actually helping investors obtain access to financing on better terms and conditions because the risks are lower, such as longer tenure or improved, um, costs. Now since Mia's creation we have issued over $76 billion in guarantee supporting over um 1000 projects and this fiscal year alone we issued a record um at $10.3 billion. Now that all of the World Bank guarantees are housed in MIG we aim to double the issuance to $20 billion by 2030. So it's a big ambition and we're very excited, um. To share what I do, um, as an underwriter, I lead cross-functional teams, mm, involving lawyer, environmental and social specialists, and economists to underwrite projects across various sectors. Uh, what is underwriting? By, um, conducting due diligence, structuring deals, performing financial analysis, um, managing clients and stakeholders, and preparing and presenting projects both internally, uh, within the committees and to the World Bank board of directors as well. So what really excites me is when I first started off as the YP, I get to already lead projects. I was co-transaction team leader from day one, And I can start with that experience now, um, going back to the first day. So, in my first year, Uh, I was with PIGA when I joined the YP program. I was assigned two projects as co-testing leader, both in the energy sector. The first one was an acquisition of an operational solar power plant in South Africa. It was an equity investment by one of our private equity firms, and another was a refinancing for 6 operational solar power plants in Egypt. I mean, it was the country's first private green project fund issuance, and both transactions closed within 1 year. It was very exciting. Um, I think From that moment on, I realized that it's joining the YP program to MiG was one of the best decisions I've ever made. So, I then decided that, you know, I need to see outside of MIGA as well as part of the uh YP program. So I spent a year in IFC. Um, so my second year of the YP program, I rotated to the IFC global infrastructure team, uh, specifically under cities, water, waste and Circularity based in DC, um, in that role I was an associate investment officer, uh, focusing mainly on investment projects to roll out urban infrastructure, um, financing globally, uh, but mainly, uh, my projects were in India. I also covered Indonesia, so I traveled a lot during my um year with IFC. I think I went to Delhi twice in Jakarta once, um, but it was very exciting because I get to see another part of the World Bank Group and actually leverage on those networks and projects to collaborate with MIGA as well in my, um, full-time role here as an underwriter. So I've been in MIGA as an underwriter, like officially, like after graduating YP for a year now. Um, focusing on two relatively new products which are the capital optimization and trade finance guarantee. Uh, I can speak more to this in the coffee chat corner, but just to give you a sense of the pro like what I do or the impact of the projects, um, earlier this year for trade finance guarantee, um, our team provided 95% coverage against the risk of nonpayment, uh, from government of Senegal on a trade finance loan from Standard Chartered. Specifically for agriculture sector, uh, so the use of proceeds around €300 million are being used by the government to subsidize small medium enterprise and farmers for their, um, agricultural input purchase, and it was adopted as a regional model case for the trade trade finance project in the region. So we don't have to restrict ourselves within certain sector or certain regions because my three other projects are in Egypt, Serbia, and Ukraine right now, and, um. Essentially as an underwriter, you're not expected to specialize yet until a few years into the job and then you become senior underwriters where you pick a vertical where you specialize in um it's exciting because I have not figured out yet which sector that I want to specialize in and it's a great opportunity to explore different sectors and different regions at the same time. Um, I think I'll stop right here and I'll see you in the coffee corner. Thank you all very much. So, I will, um, in a moment, just invite one of our hosts to tell us, uh, one more time how to join the Coffee Corners. I just wanted to say a couple of things. This is the World Bank Group Young Professionals Program, and you have an opportunity to move across the institution. Um, also, um, it is important to, again, recognize what the expectations are from, uh, successful applicants. Um, so please, you know, do some soul searching and make sure that this is the right way for you to join the World Bank Group. There are many other ways. This is, uh, you know, relatively small, um, You know, program compared to our overall sort of uh recruitment, which includes all different classes of employment as well as different talent programs. Um, I also wanted to mention that there's nothing that will be shared in the coffee corners that we haven't shared in the plenary, that isn't available on our website, uh, etc. So, please don't feel like, uh, if you don't get a chance to join one of them, that, uh, this is an issue. And I just wanted to thank you all, um, you know, for joining. I mean, this is very exciting. I've actually learned a lot myself, um. Through the session and so I would encourage you all to apply if you qualify. Um, I think it's just a lot of time investment if you don't meet the qualifications and there are many better ways to invest that time, including in looking for opportunities with the World Bank Group. Um, with that, I don't know, Fernando or Marcus, if you just want to come in and remind everybody, um, how to join respective coffee corners, but I just wanted to really thank. Thank Matteo, Patrick, Morgan, Fain, Amanda, and Daniel for joining. Uh, go to our website, look at the recordings, read the FAQs, look on our LinkedInns. Um, there are recent YPs also sharing on LinkedIn, and I always try to repost their tips. They really are very, very, uh, good, very direct, very straightforward. The most important thing is, tell us about yourself. Tell us about yourself in a straightforward backed up manner, use examples. Tell us what is the skill you're bringing, you know, to the institution, Why are you're distinctive, why you should join the young professionals program, and don't be discouraged from joining because it's competitive. You have the same chance as everybody else who qualifies for the program. Uh, I think that's how probability works, but I just wanted to thank you all and um over to our host. Thank you. Thank you very much. Um, Marcus, are you joining us? Um, I'm happy to just take it from here. It's very straightforward. Thank you. You can take it from here, Fernando. Hey, cool. Uh, thank you very much. I'm, I'm one of the hosts, so, um, I only have to thank everybody for their contribution. It's been very interesting. Um, thank you to all of you. You've been posting questions all the time. I love it. Um, I also noticed that after the peak of attendance, uh, you guys are already beginning to move to the coffee corners, which is my next bit of the conversation. At the top here you will see an arrow. That will take you back to the lobby. From the lobby, you will see booths, you know, where all of our 6 representatives will be there. Join a booth, join the queue, and you'll be able to talk to them in a similar environment to what you're seeing right now on screen. Um, you will have multiple sessions, so they will process batches of you for conversations, um, turn your camera on, talk, engage, enjoy the session. This is about learning and discovering. Good luck to everybody. And we'll, we'll now shut this down, Marcus, you, that's it, perfect.

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