Bringing Ideas to “Build Forward Better” for our Youth

With the idea of connecting and engaging more with younger generations, the International Monetary Fund (IMF) organized a worldwide contest that received about 700 submissions from young communicators worldwide. What was their goal? To provide young aspiring leaders with an opportunity to join the IMF at the forefront of the COVID-19 crisis response and share their perspective on the global effort to “build forward better” -- an expression the IMF is using to refer to post-Covid-19 recovery -- towards a greener, fairer, and more inclusive recovery.  

Being selected to compete in the IMF contest is a big honor for me. Alongside 25 other fellows from 25 different countries, we participated in a great and exciting training program with senior IMF staff to discuss priority economic issues such as inclusive growth, gender equality, climate change and fintech. The program also featured media experts from the Financial Times, CNBC, and Politico, who trained us in multimedia storytelling.

The IMF contest was an excellent opportunity for me since economics has been one of the main topics I’ve covered during my almost five years as a foreign correspondent in the USA working for Agencia EFE (the largest newswire in Spanish worldwide.) I’ve also reported on economics from Barcelona, London, Austin, Washington D.C. and Los Angeles.

The Fund, its studies and projections have been sources I’ve written about a lot, but I also try to focus on the stories’ personal side. For example, last August, I wrote about the pandemic’s economic impact alongside the US-Mexico border, visiting several towns. 

Finding personal angles is key. One of the media experts we talked with during the IMF program highlighted the importance of giving real and concrete examples in our stories about economics to make it easier for the audience to understand the overall situation. He also insisted on the need for audiovisual content in every story since many people don’t read the news anymore or, sadly, read in general.

After completing the training program and participating in various events at the IMF-World Bank Annual Meetings, they asked us to share our policy proposals. These addressed the current crisis and how best to ensure a greener and more inclusive recovery after the pandemic—one that creates more jobs and opportunities for youth.

Four winners were selected and I was one of them. Imagine my reaction when I found out; I couldn’t believe it. The other three winners are great women who I can now call my friends too: Krithiga Narayanan (India), Cynthia Nyongesa (Kenya) and Mary-Jean Nleya (Botswana). Their proposals were about gender-inclusive policies for a faster recovery in India, ideas to create jobs and opportunities for African youth and tools to achieve a digitally transformed economy in Africa.

In my project called “Can fintech companies help close the gender gap in financial inclusion?” I proposed various policies to ensure a partnership between the public sector and the fintech companies to reduce the difference between women and men to access the financial system. To summarize, governments should aim to create public policies that increase women’s access to microcredit, digital ID and financial education, working alongside the fintech sector. We must take advantage of the private companies’ knowledge and expertise to advance public strategies that create a more inclusive world. 

Apart from being published on IMF social media and the IMF Finance&Development magazine, the Fund gave us winners the opportunity to participate in a panel. IMF First Deputy Managing Director Geoffrey Okamoto led the discussion that was live-streamed around the world and set the stage for the upcoming 2021 Spring Meetings. 

The Fund staff also promised us that this journey wouldn’t end here. Their communication channel will be open in the future for us to engage with and see how the organization tries to implement or recommend some of our ideas in the real world. 

Giving youth a platform to share ideas to “build forward better” was the initiative’s point. More organizations should stay away from ancient plans and give younger generations a voice in their channels.