DEVEX WORLD 2022: Mark Green on the Biggest Development Challenges Facing the World Today

There are obviously lots of fires burning these days from Ukraine and Afghanistan and elsewhere. But what I would point to is the problem of human displacement. [There are] record levels of human displacement in every corner of the world. … The reason I point to this is, with each passing day, we're having young people being more and more disconnected from the world around them. And so, in so many ways, we're planting the seeds of future trouble.

Right now, when we look at human displacement, people naturally think of the humanitarian assistance challenges. … But I think we have to look beyond that. We have to not only deal with immediate needs … we need to be finding ways to connect those who are displaced to the world around them, and help them to be self-reliant, to develop their own path to self-reliance in the future.
We want young people to be contributors in the future. And the only way that's going to happen is if we not only provide the immediate needs but start to invest in education, start to connect every displaced community with the internet … and the community around them so they can be productive citizens in the future.