World Bank Reports
Global Skill Partnerships for Migration: Preparing Tomorrow’s Workers for Home and Abroad (2025) [Link]
Higher-income countries are aging at unprecedented rates, creating skills shortages in critical sectors ranging from healthcare to construction to information technology. At the same time, many lower-income countries are experiencing booming youth populations, but many lack the skills needed to access quality work opportunities both at home and abroad. In Global Skill Partnerships (GSPs), origin and destination countries partner to invest in education and training systems in the origin country to meet skill needs in both countries. Through collaboration and innovation in skills development and migration management, GSPs cost-effectively expand domestic training capacity in the origin while facilitating the benefits of regularized skilled migration. This report reviews the state of knowledge of GSPs, considers terminology and approaches, provides a roadmap for policymakers who want to implement GSPs, and clarifies the role of multilateral development institutions in this pivotal agenda. Various GSP and GSP-like programs and pilots have already been implemented globally and financed through various sources, and this report reviews their essential features, challenges faced, and lessons learned for future initiatives. Before highlighting these examples, the report discusses the current global economic landscape, focusing on demographic and education trends and why they call for international partnerships to invest in education and training for workers to participate in domestic and international markets.
Expanding Development Approaches to Refugees and Their Hosts in Ethiopia (2024) [Link]
Ethiopia, with its long history of hosting refugees, is grappling with the complex challenges of accommodating close to one million refugees and asylum seekers. While Ethiopia has adopted progressive refugee policies, including the Comprehensive Refugee Response Framework (CRRF), challenges persist in translating these policies into tangible socioeconomic outcomes for refugees. To address these challenges and achieve better development outcomes for both refugees and host communities, a shift towards supporting refugees' self-reliance and economic integration is essential. The Socio-Economic Survey of Refugees in Ethiopia (SESRE) plays a crucial role in informing policy decisions by providing comprehensive data on the socioeconomic dimensions of refugees and host communities. SESRE is a separate but integrated survey alongside the Ethiopian Household Welfare Statistics Survey (HoWStat), the national household survey to measure poverty and other socio-economic outcomes. This report uses data from the SESRE extensively to analyze the Ethiopian refugee situation and to devise policy directions.
Blog Posts
¿Cómo impacta la migración venezolana a la economía colombiana? Resumiendo las lecciones de investigaciones recientes [VoxLacea]
New survey highlights the unique challenges that Guatemalan deportees face with economic integration back home (with Mateo Villamizar-Chaparro and Erik Wibbels) [VoxLacea]