Tijan Bah, a resident of the Navarra Center for International Development (NCID) at the University of Navarra, has been selected in the World Bank 's Young Professionals Program to work at the Bank's headquarters in Washington for the next five years. This is a very competitive program that each year selects 50 candidates from all over the world. In this edition, 6,000 applicants applied.

Bah, a native of Gambia, holds a doctorate European degree in Economics 'Erasmus Mundus' from the Nova School of Business and Economics of the University of Lisbon (Portugal) and the University of Paris 1 Pantheon-Sorbonne (France). He joined the Institute for Culture and Society (ICS) -center to which NCID belongs- at the end of 2020.

He explains that his origin, training and experience in this center have been decisive. "Coming from sub-Saharan Africa, having done my doctorate at Economics in Lisbon and Paris and having worked on development at the University of Navarra contributed to the fact that the World Bank chose me among so many candidates," he said.

Research on irregular migration from Africa

Within the World Bank, the young economist will work in the Gender and Human development unit, where he will be able to continue the research he has carried out at NCID on irregular migration from Africa. He wishes to continue working on high-impact development issues. "At the University of Navarra I have been able to continue with the projects I started in Lisbon and start new ones on the influence that cell phone applications have on migrant remittances," she detailed. 

The researcher has explained that his greatest motivation is to help people living in impoverished environments such as those he has met on his home country. "I hope to get to some position at the World Bank that will allow me to make decisions that will improve the lives of people anywhere in the world. I have the privilege of doing an academic degree program and now my dream is to help people living in poverty situations with my research ," he concluded.