Pursue your education and professional life in the World Bank countries of operation. Good news! Applications for the World Bank Young Professionals Program are currently open. In this article, we will explain in detail about this scholarship program, its benefits, and the step-by-step application process.
The World Bank Young Professionals Program 2025-2026 is a distinctive chance to develop in intriguing top technical and managerial positions in the WBG for young practitioners with both a passion for international development and leadership potential. This program provides salary, health insurance, mobility premium, tax allowance, and a pension plan.
The program is intended for extremely qualified and motivated people who are competent in fields appropriate to WBG technical/operations, such as economics, finance, education, government health, social sciences, engineering, urban planning, agriculture, and natural resources, to name a few.
The Young Professionals Program has hired more than 1,700 individuals from almost 120 nations since its founding in 1963, ranging from fresh recruits to senior leadership within the World Bank Group. The program has been created and is still in place to attract excellent, extremely skilled, diverse, experienced, and motivated young people who have shown dedication to international development, backed by academic success, professional accomplishment, and leadership potential.
The program recruits into the company and culture of the World Bank Group through an extremely selective and competitive method, and then promotes the fast inclusion of the newly hired young professionals.
For over 60 years, the Young Professionals Program (YPP) has been both a highly competitive and uniquely rewarding opportunity to join the World Bank Group. As a premier international organization at the forefront of development, we look for prospective Young Professionals (YPs) to join us from around the world with diverse backgrounds, exceptional technical skills, outstanding leadership potential, and a demonstrated commitment to our mission and values. Working across the World Bank, IFC, and MIGA, our YPs help solve the world’s most pressing development challenges to improve the lives of millions globally.
Scholarship Summary
- Level of Study: Fellowship/Training
- Institution(s): The World Bank
- Opportunity Focus Areas: Click here to find the available programs
- Study in: Countries of operations
- Deadline: Applications are open September 1–September 30
Scholarship Coverage
The Young Professionals Program provides the recipient with the following benefits:
- Salary: As entry-level professionals in the WBG, Young Professionals are offered an internationally competitive salary, based on their education and professional experience.
- Health, Life, Accident, and Other Insurance Programs: Young professionals and their families (including declared domestic partners) may choose from three comprehensive medical/dental benefit plans. The WBG also provides basic life and accident insurance to all staff at no cost, and staff can elect optional life and accident insurance plans. The WBG provides disability and workers’ compensation coverage to staff at no cost.
- Mobility Premium: A financial benefit is provided for a fixed period to cover expenses associated with being an expatriate staff member, based on family size and nationality. This benefit is not available for U.S. citizens and U.S. permanent residents.
- Tax Allowance: U.S. staff receive an additional quarterly payment to cover the federal, state, and local income tax liabilities on their World Bank Group income. Expatriates and U.S. permanent residents do not incur U.S. income tax liability and are thus not eligible for this benefit.
- Pension Plan: The WBG sponsors a comprehensive pension plan for eligible staff. Upon separation from the WBG, either a lump sum or a pension will become payable to the staff based on eligibility.
- Relocation and Transportation Benefits: These benefits are only applicable to staff who are not residents of the greater Washington-Baltimore metropolitan area at the time of appointment. The World Bank will bear the cost of one-way transportation of staff and immediate dependent family from the staff member’s residence. A one-time grant is included in the first paycheck to cover the cost of relocation
- Financial Assistance: The World Bank Group offers several financial assistance programs, including a two-year interest-free settling-in loan to those who relocate upon appointment.
Young Professionals Program Features
Training
A comprehensive development curriculum has been designed to ensure that YPs develop a WBG mindset, gain the foundational learning needed to understand and contribute to the WBG, and build the competencies required for an entry-level position: collaboration, leadership, integrative thinking, and innovation skills, while strengthening a culture of continuous learning.
The curriculum includes a blend of learning activities in a WBG cohort, small groups, or individually. These activities range from onboarding activities, e-learning, cohort discussions with WBG leaders, and leadership training to career development conversations and networking opportunities.
Professional Experience
Young professionals are expected to make significant contributions toward their unit’s work program while they gain a broad overview of the WBG’s policies and work. As part of their two-year program and in line with their units’ business needs and Young Professionals’ interests, they will undertake a business-driven rotational “stretch/exposure” assignment where they will gain valuable on-the-job experience.
Field Work
Young professionals in the operations stream are likely to join colleagues on field business trips, also called ‘missions,’ in developing countries. These missions allow young professionals to experience firsthand the challenges of global development, understand key aspects of our work, and meet WBG’s clients.
Coaching and Mentoring
YP Buddy: Before they join, Young Professionals are assigned a YP buddy from the previous year’s group, based on their professional interests and cultural background. YP buddies help recruits to better settle into the new organization and location, as well as to understand the expectations and challenges of the program.
Technical Buddy: In their hiring units, an experienced colleague is assigned as a “go-to person” to answer technical questions in their fields.
WBG Mentor: Once they have settled into their jobs, young professionals can be paired with a senior technical colleague who can mentor them on topics such as career options and “stretch/exposure” assignment opportunities and help them gain insight into the organizational culture.
Youth Program Team: The Youth Program Team is dedicated to recruiting and helping integrate young professionals into the WBG. The team coordinates activities designed to support YPs, including mentoring and guidance, helps develop career strategies, and more. The Youth Program Team is a one-stop shop for young professionals looking for support and guidance.
Eligibility Criteria for the World Bank Young Professionals Program
The following are the minimum requirements to be eligible for the Young Professionals Program.
- Required Language: English
- Eligible Countries: Nationality of a World Bank Group member country as demonstrated by your officially issued passport or equivalent document.
- Minimum master’s degree with 2–6 years of professional working experience.
- Completion of a master’s degree in a relevant field, or a higher qualification in a relevant field, before September 1, 2026. If you are pursuing a doctorate, full-time doctoral research studies in a relevant field at an accredited institution may count towards the required work experience, and the degree must be substantially complete with all the written work submitted before September 1, 2026.
- Excellent command of the spoken and written English language (fluency in other languages might be advantageous to your application).
- You are not a World Bank Group staff member (this includes staff holding term, open, ST, and ET appointments), nor are you precluded from applying to or joining the program by the employment eligibility policy from the time of application to the Young Professionals Program.
- You may apply this year if you are a JPA or a former bank intern (interns should have their appointment end date on or before September 30, 2025).
How to Apply for the Young Professionals Program?
Please follow the instructions below to apply for the Young Professionals Program:
(1) The following documents are required:
- Resume/CV
- Academic Credentials*
- 2 Short Essays
- Short Summary of Thesis or Dissertation (World Bank candidates, only if applicable)
- 3 Professional or Academic Recommendations
(2) Before you apply, please ensure that:
- You meet the minimum requirements for eligibility for the Young Professionals Program and,
- You have all the information at hand, including key dates, an updated Curriculum Vitae (CV), education certificates/transcripts, PhD dissertation/master’s thesis topics (summary), if applicable, and the application essay, and they are ready to be uploaded.
(3) Once you submit your application, you will not be able to make any changes/updates.
(4) Upon successful submission of your application, you will receive an email confirmation along with a YPP ID number.
(5) Applicants will be informed of their status as the process moves along.
Website
To know more about the Young Professionals Program, please visit the official websites: