“We are closer than ever before to ending global poverty,” World Bank President Jim Yong Kim writes in a Foreign Policy opinion piece, adding, “As a result, the World Bank Group has adopted two new goals: end extreme poverty by 2030 and boost shared prosperity by maximizing income growth for the poorest 40 percent in every country.” He continues, “Two key groups can play a central role to help achieve these goals: the private sector and civil society.”

“We need the private sector to scale up investment in developing countries, to support job-creation, and strong, sustainable economic growth,” and “to start thinking about a double bottom line — the powerful possibility of both making a profit for your business and also being able to tell your children and your grandchildren that you are part of the movement to end poverty,” Kim states. “We need [non-governmental organizations (NGOs)] and civil society leaders to catalyze a global movement around ending poverty and building shared prosperity, focusing the world’s attention on the biggest challenge of our time” and “to dream beyond their individual mandates — to show us how their work is critical to the larger goal of ending extreme poverty and boosting shared prosperity,” he adds. “Together, we must rise to the occasion and create a groundswell of momentum toward the world we all want — one free of extreme poverty, with shared prosperity for all,” Kim concludes (6/26).