Global Philanthropy Forum

The international community has achieved its bold goal of cutting in half the number of individuals who were living in abject poverty at the time the Millennium Development Goals were set. Buoyed by this success, the World Bank has established an even more ambitious objective, and that is to end poverty by 2030. The United Nations will soon follow suit when it adopts the Sustainable Development Goals. Success will take extraordinary efforts, and the engagement of the public, private and charitable sectors, working in tandem to get the job done. Smart national policies have unleashed private capital flows, raising the GDP of fast growing economies. But in order for the benefits to be felt by the bottom 40% of the economic ladder, sound policy, strategic philanthropy and sustained, long-term investment will be required. Key to this effort will be the conquering of the jobs challenge by addressing the mismatch between the skills required for the jobs that await and the education and training currently available