Building Human Capital Where It Matters: Homes, Neighborhoods, and Workplaces

Human capital—people’s health, skills, and knowledge—is the most valuable asset any society possesses. It is the foundation of economic growth, poverty reduction, and shared prosperity. No country has achieved sustained development without investing in it.
This report puts forward a simple but underappreciated observation: human capital is not built in sectors alone, nor only at specific stages of life. It is built—slowly, unevenly, and often invisibly—in places: through the health of a child, the quality of a classroom, the safety of a neighborhood, and the learning that takes place or fails to take place at work. In homes, nutrition, care, and early stimulation shape lifelong trajectories. In neighborhoods, the quality of schools, health services, infrastructure, safety, and social norms influence what people can become. And, in workplaces, skills are refined, or they are wasted, and learning by doing can either accelerate productivity or leave workers stuck in low-return activities.
This report offers practical insights and policy priorities to help countries move from fragmented interventions to coherent, people-centered strategies. It aims to support governments and partners in renewing progress on human capital accumulation and unlocking people’s potential. And, in doing so, it seeks to restore progress where it has stalled and expand opportunities where they have
been out of reach.