Emiliana Vegas is one of Latin America’s leading voices in education policy. Originally from Venezuela, she studied at Harvard and went on to senior roles at the World Bank and the Inter-American Development Bank, where—as Division Chief of Education—she managed a portfolio of over $3B a year in grants and loans. In this conversation, she reflects on what it really takes to move from evidence to systems change inside international development organisations.

In this episode, Bautista Fazio discusses her new book, Let’s Change the World, and the practical lessons she draws for people working in or with multilaterals: why evidence must travel with values; how autonomy and judgment at the task-team level shape outcomes; the cultural and governance differences between the World Bank and the IDB; and what “cross-regional learning” looks like in practice. Emiliana walks through the Chile reform episode on quality assurance, the importance of co-creation with governments, and her personal “70/30 rule” for knowing when it’s time to seek a new challenge.

We also reflected upon Latin America’s education journey in recent years — from the expansion of access to the enduring challenge of learning — and the opportunities that lie ahead.

Jana Bischler is the focal point for social protection and climate change at the International Labour Organization (ILO), where she works with governments worldwide to design systems that protect people from climate shocks and support long-term resilience. From a career in development consulting to shaping global social protection policy, Jana brings both on-the-ground insight and international perspective.

In this episode, Jana explains how cash transfers, pensions, health insurance, and adaptive social protection programs can break the cycle of climate-driven vulnerability, protecting children, older people, informal workers, and whole communities before, during, and after disasters. Drawing on examples from Kenya, Brazil, the Philippines, China, Côte d’Ivoire, and the United States, she shows how countries with different systems can prepare, expand coverage, and respond quickly to floods, droughts, and heatwaves.

The conversation also tackles financing and governance challenges from coverage gaps and debt burdens to the role of the new loss-and-damage fund while exploring how national adaptation plans and COP negotiations can bring social protection to the centre of climate action. Jana highlights why stronger coordination between environment and social ministries is key, and how growing public demand for climate action opens a window for universal, climate-ready social protection.

Grounded in global evidence and practical country cases, this episode offers a clear roadmap for building resilient, inclusive social protection systems that safeguard lives and livelihoods in an era of worsening climate change.

Vinod Karate is Project Director for State Reform at the Central Square Foundation where he helps drive India’s landmark NIPUN Bharat Mission to ensure every child can read, write, and count by age ten. From an early career in investment banking to shaping one of the world’s largest foundational learning reforms, Vinod’s journey bridges sharp strategy with deep community engagement.

In this episode, Vinod shares how India is rethinking the very foundations of schooling and how CSF partners with states to design and scale reforms that align with India’s NIPUN Bharat goals. He unpacks CSF’s three-phase approach to state reform: strengthening teacher capacity, redesigning governance around learning outcomes, and building political and administrative coalitions, which helps make large-scale change possible.

Drawing on his experience in Uttar Pradesh, Madhya Pradesh, and Haryana, Vinod illustrates how reform really takes root on the ground. He explains how structured pedagogy, sustained teacher mentoring, and real-time data and assessment can translate policy into daily classroom practice, and how seizing windows of political alignment, unlocking budgets, and shifting decision-making from state capitals to districts ensures that change is owned and sustained at the local level.

Grounded in evidence, this episode offers a clear, actionable roadmap for strengthening foundational learning and creating education systems that sustain reform and deliver lasting results for every child.