Human Capital Project: Key Reports

The Human Capital Umbrella Trust Fund Program, launched in 2019 with support from the Gates Foundation and the Government of Canada, catalyzes investments in people through a comprehensive, evidence-based approach. Since its inception, activities funded by the Umbrella Program have informed 29 World Bank-financed operations, totaling more than $8.5 billion in lending. Working across sectors and government agencies, the program drives lasting social and economic transformation through three key pillars: knowledge and measurement, country engagement, and global collaboration.

Human capital — knowledge, skills, and good health — plays a critical role in job creation and economic prosperity. Two-thirds of the income gap between developed and developing countries can be attributed to disparities in human capital. Healthy, skilled, and innovative people are better equipped to seize job opportunities, create businesses that generate jobs, and drive economic growth.

On October 24, 2024, 33 countries joined the Annual Meetings Human Capital Ministerial Conclave to discuss how to equip young women and men with the skills to build resilience and thrive in a fast-changing world and boost women’s economic opportunities and leadership. Young people today need a toolkit of skills for work and life that includes basic literacy and numeracy; digital skills; and social, emotional, and behavioral skills. Investing in skills can expand opportunities for young women and accelerate equality.

Supported by the Bill & Melinda Gates Foundation and Government of Canada, the Human Capital Umbrella Program serves as a catalyst for accelerating investments in people. The Program continued to advance its work through a whole-of-government approach to support evidence-based initiatives across sectors to foster lasting social and economic transformation. Through analytical work and strategic initiatives, the program influences project design and implementation to effectively advance human capital outcomes. 

Climate change is a direct threat to human capital. At the same time, human capital empowers people to advocate for climate action and to pioneer the technology for a net-zero-emissions future. Read to learn the impacts of climate change on people and how to protect, build, and use human capital to ensure a livable planet.

On October 13, 2023, 33 countries joined the Annual Meetings Human Capital Ministerial Conclave to discuss how to connect people to good jobs and empower entrepreneurs to innovate and fuel job growth. Connecting healthy, skilled, and innovative people to jobs allows them to use their human capital to forge better lives. Equipping people with the know-how to be entrepreneurs enables them to launch and run businesses that create jobs for themselves and others.

This case study examines how Ceibal—a digital agenda by the Government of Uruguay that includes launching a nationwide educational program—promotes digital inclusion and decreases the digital gap. Since 2007, the program has been implemented in four phases. Its core objectives include deploying digital devices and internet connections to every student and institution and developing education technology to combat inequality in access to digital technology and educational opportunities in Uruguay. 

This case study examines how Evoke—an education technology (EdTech) innovation structured as an ongoing action research project—piloted the use of blockchain technologies to enable an incentive-based approach to engage students who took a course on “Sustainable Cities” at EAN University in Bogotá, Colombia.

This case study examines how Evoke—an education technology (EdTech) innovation structured as an ongoing action research project—piloted the use of project-based learning on an open-source e-learning platform to develop relevant 21st century skills, such as empathy, creativity, critical thinking, and collaboration. The program has implemented a number of innovations with various stakeholders since 2010, including in universities, secondary schools and with out-of-school youth in a number of countries.

How can countries ensure resilience in the face of growing food and nutritional crises? What implications do these crises have on children, and how can they be abated? Find out more by reading the report. Keywords: high food prices, food shortages, supply chain disruption, food insecurity, vulnerability. 

On April 14, 2023, 40 countries joined the Spring Meetings Human Capital Ministerial Conclave to discuss policy priorities and solutions to prepare people for the effects of climate change and empower them to drive the transition to a more sustainable, resilient, and inclusive economy. Human capital investments are central to helping people adapt to climate shocks and build resilience. Ensuring a successful and just transition to a low-carbon economy requires equipping people to be part of climate solutions and benefit from emerging opportunities. The magnitude of climate and human capital financing requires reforms, new platforms, and partnerships to crowd in resources.

The 2022 Annual Report highlights program results in 18 countries in Africa and South Asia. The Umbrella Program mainstreams and embeds a human capital approach to development, and collectively addresses challenges through multisectoral action—a ‘whole-of-government’ approach—yielding results at scale in high priority countries and globally.

On October 15th, 2022, 44 countries and 200 participants joined the 2022 Annual Meetings Human Capital closed-door Ministerial Conclave to discuss policy priorities and solutions to provide immediate support to the vulnerable and invest in sustainable food and nutrition security. Targeted cash transfer programs underpinned by social registries can shield the poor and vulnerable from the immediate impacts of food and other price hikes. Productive inclusion programs that go beyond cash benefits can help improve households’ resilience in the long-term. Supporting sustainable, nutritious, and affordable food systems is key.

Next-Generation Human Capital Investments for Inclusive Jobs.

The aim of this policy note is to examine the relative efficiency and equity of public expenditures and policies for human capital and labor markets over the past decade in Türkiye in preparing for a post-COVID, inclusive, green transition. 

Launched in April 2019, the African Human Capital Plan (HCP) focuses on prioritizing investments in critical social sectors to improve Africa's human capital outcomes and economic growth. As we take on COVID-19, climate change, and other compounding crises that threaten to erode the human capital of an entire generation, the African HCP provides a strong framework to address emergency response and inclusive recovery efforts. 

On April 26th, 2022, Ministers of finance and planning, private sector leaders, and heads of foundations and agencies from over 60 countries joined the 2022 Spring Meetings Human Capital Ministerial Conclave to discuss policy priorities and solutions to overcome learning losses and restore jobs and skills.

The Advancing Human Capital Outcomes Globally Multi-Donor Trust Fund was established in November 2019 with a contribution by the Gates Foundation. In March 2021 it formally became the “Human Capital Umbrella Program” and received an additional commitment from the government of Canada. The Umbrella Program is an agile financing mechanism designed to support catalytic initiatives focused on accelerating human capital outcomes, and it is aligned with the multisectoral development objectives of the Human Capital Project (HCP) at the World Bank Group (WBG).

This case study examines how—Clínicas del Azúcar (CdA), a private sector company—developed an innovative, integrated, digitally supported approach to combat diabetes, serving low- and middle-income populations in ways that work for them.

This report highlights the challenges and successes countries have experienced over the past year. It acknowledges that countries have struggled to stem their losses with the impact of the Corona virus on lives and livelihoods. Countries continue to invest in their people, for resilient and inclusive development, supported by the Human Capital Project.

This brief summarizes the proceedings of the Human capital ministerial conclave event 2021. The conclave covered three main themes: Scalability of service delivery, Efficiency of spending on human capital and Equity which puts people at the center of development.

This case study looks at the story of Ireland’s remarkable economic and social transformations since the 1960s, with a focus on the contribution made by education to human capital development. The people of Ireland are armed with the relevant knowledge, entrepreneurial agility, and analytical skills to support economic and social prosperity.

This report looks at how South Asia could capitalize on technologies to accelerate human capital development and promote adaptability and resilience to future shocks. These breakthroughs can improve service delivery, productivity, and innovation, but they can also exacerbate inequalities and eliminate people’s agency and empowerment. 

This progress report, highlights how the World Bank has supported countries in Africa to weather the COVID-19 pandemic. It is a story of speed, scale, and ambition and an enduring commitment to investing in Africa’s people.

The Approach Paper considers the role of public finance to build, protect and utilize human capital as well as lay a foundation for inclusive, resilient and sustainable development. The paper defines the problem with respect to human capital outcomes amid the COVID-19 crisis and outlines three areas for action, including policy priorities, governance, and utilizing human capital. 

This report presents statistical data from 192 countries on children experiencing COVID-19-associated orphanhood and death of grandparent caregivers. The report demonstrates that protecting children from the dire, potentially irreversible threats of this health emergency demands both immediate and sustained action at all levels.

On April 5, 2021, ministers of finance and planning, together with high-level government officials and development partners from the 81 HCP member countries, participated in the Human Capital Project Ministerial Conclave to discuss the importance of investing in human capital for a green, resilient and inclusive recovery from the COVID-19 crisis.

The Human Capital Project has completed its second official year of activities. This report describes new tools, networks, knowledge-sharing, and operations helping ensure we #investinpeople.

At the 2020 Annual Meetings Human Capital Ministerial Conclave, speakers shared unique views around; Mobilizing finance to protect and invest in human capital in response to Covid-19; Prioritizing expenditures and generating efficiencies within a limited fiscal space, and Deploying innovative solutions to protect human capital outcomes and close equity gaps. 

In the first 100 days of the COVID-19 operational response the World Bank has leveraged over $16 billion in funding for human capital priorities. These resources are supporting more than 100 governments to save lives, safeguard the poor and vulnerable, protect jobs, and rebuild better systems for the future.

This report presents an update to the Human Capital Index (HCI), using the most recent health and education data available as of 2020. It documents new evidence on trends over time in the HCI, examples of success, and new analytical work on utilization of human capital, as well as a primer on the COVID-19 (coronavirus) pandemic and its potential impact on human capital.

Human capital is the stock of accumulated knowledge, experience, and attributes that workers bring to and use in the production of goods and services in an economy. Investing in people through quality healthcare, education, social services, and job opportunities develops human capital, which is key to ending extreme poverty and creating more inclusive societies. [Armenia, Azerbaijan, Georgia]

This report proposes several principles that can inform policy decisions when responding to the many challenges brought on by the COVID-19 pandemic. Written with contributions across the entire World Bank, it sketches possible solutions for containing the pandemic and protecting health, for protecting human capital and livelihoods and for safeguarding the economy.

The Human Capital Project is supporting a variety of case studies that examine the policies, programs and practices that governments have used to achieve their human capital goals and on identifying lessons for other countries. 

The formation of human capital--the knowledge, skills, and health that people accumulate over their lifetimes--is critical for the six Gulf Cooperation Council (GCC) countries. Human capital contributes not only to human development and employment but also to the long-term sustainability of a diversified economic growth model that is knowledge based and private sector driven.

In April 2019, we launched the Africa Human Capital Plan. This ambitious plan sets out clear targets and commitments to boost Africa's potential through its human capital. After just one year, the plan is well underway, helping African countries build momentum by leveraging investments and policy reforms across key sectors, empowering women, developing solutions tailored to the challenges of fragile and conflict-affected settings, mobilizing technology and innovation, and building knowledge and partnerships.

The Human Capital project is predicated on the importance of investing in all people. This brief outlines the barriers faced by persons with disabilities at different points in the lifecycle as they strive to purse their human capital goals. It describes the whole-of-government approach needed for disability inclusive development to take place and outlines what the World Bank will do to support action now.

The Human Capital Index (HCI) Compass is a guidance note for clients' own assessment of progress towards HCI. The launch of the Human Capital Index (HCI) in October 2018 spurred an interesting conversation on the state of the world in terms of preparing the current generation to the challenges of the future labor market.

Human capital can play an important role in reducing greenhouse gas (GHG) emissions, generating long-term human development gains. Actions to cut GHG emissions can lower air pollution, the fourth-leading risk factor for death worldwide largely affecting children. Low-carbon and resilient growth could deliver economic benefits of 26 trillion US Dollars by 2030. The Human Capital Project can support this shift to a new climate economy.

This report quantifies inequalities in human capital and particularly focuses on socioeconomic and subnational spatial differences. The authors discuss 50 low- and middle-income countries with comparable data and highlight the potential of detailed disaggregation for the design of well-targeted policies.

On October 17, 2019, as part of the World Bank Group and International Monetary Fund (IMF) annual meetings, ministers and high-level representatives from more than 70 countries and organizations came together for the third Human Capital Project (HCP) conclave, with a focus on how human capital investments benefit job opportunities and economic transformation.

Read what countries have accomplished during the first full year of the HCP.

Fears that robots will take away jobs from people have dominated the discussion over the future of work, but the World Development Report 2019 finds that on balance this appears to be unfounded. This report suggests investments in human capital and social protection can lead the way to the skills needed in a changing labor market.

On October 16, 2019, The World Bank launched a new plan for MENA countries to invest in human capital by focusing on early childhood development and improving learning outcomes.

On April 11, 2019, the World Bank hosted the first Human Capital Project (HCP) Ministers Conclave in Washington, DC. Held during the World Bank/IMF Spring Meetings, the event was attended by Ministers and other high-ranking government officials from over 60 countries. Other key development partners and champions for human capital were also represented. 

This series of four briefs explores strategies that governments have deployed to overcome barriers to investing in human capital: (i) sustaining effort across political cycles, (ii) coordinating across government, and (iii) designing policies according to evidence. (iv) whole of government approach.

Investing in Africa’s people is central to ensuring the continent’s future prosperity and full participation in global markets. This overview explains how some countries in Africa have already advanced the agenda and what the Human Capital Project will do to support outcomes.

This brief provides a definition of human capital, describes the HCP goals and theory of change, and presents evidence of the importance of investing in people, economies, and societies. The HCI methodology is detailed in the appendix.

The best way to equip children and youth for the future is to place their learning at the center the education system. The 2018 World Development Report explores four main themes: 1) education’s promise; 2) the need to shine a light on learning; 3) how to make schools work for learners; and 4) how to make systems work for learning.