Niels Planel: Poverty Reduction and Social Innovation

Niels Planel ('04) has built a career focused on poverty reduction, social innovation, and sustainable development. With experience at international organizations such as the World Bank, the OECD, and the Green Climate Fund, as well as direct involvement in local governance as a city councilor in Burgundy, his work has deeply engaged on multiple levels in addressing economic and social challenges. “My passion is social innovation as well as job creation for the most vulnerable, people who are marginalized in the labor market, including women, people with disabilities, disadvantaged youth, and forcibly displaced people.” 

Although initially Planel was interested in journalism, his experience at Sciences Po allowed him to explore various topics in international relations, economics, and public policy. He developed his passion for economic change and development, and later attended the Harvard Kennedy School, which further expanded his knowledge in public policy. His education was not only applicable to his professional career, but also in his return to academia as a visiting professor at Sciences Po from 2020 to 2023. 

His course, "Fighting the Re-Emergence of Poverty Among Advanced Economies," explored the growing issue of “relative poverty” and potential strategies for mitigation. This offered a different perspective on poverty because too often advanced economies are ignored as subjects in need of better poverty reduction policies. “In the West, we have smashed extreme poverty. Now we have to take care of relative poverty. For that to happen, we need people to be interested and believe in that fight.” 

The experience of teaching was highly beneficial, Planel “would encourage anyone who works in any given field to teach at some point, because it gives you the opportunity to put your thoughts in order to build a framework.” He also said it was interesting to compare how scholars have suggested addressing the issues versus the reality of his experiences working in the field. Planel hopes to teach again in the future, but in the meantime has written a book partly based on his course. 

Pour en finir avec la pauvreté dans les pays riches presents three key innovations to combat poverty. Several countries are included in the analysis and the solutions concentrate on education and employment opportunities. His work illustrates how these approaches can be scaled effectively and widely to address systemic poverty. When combined, these innovations can change the destiny of the disadvantaged, across all stages of life. Tracing the history of poverty from the Middle Ages to the present day, it offers a fresh perspective on how societies can move toward a more equitable future. 

What makes Planel’s work especially engaging is that he remains optimistic about the fight against poverty. He explained, “I am optimistic, because despite everything that happened in 200 years, we managed to make sure extreme poverty was reduced. The second reason I'm optimistic is because of the three innovations that I looked at in this book. Wherever they were applied, they worked and delivered great results. This means they’re scalable and can be applied to entire societies.” 

Planel’s advice to students and those interested in international development is to “be flexible and prepared to adapt in a changing world, find new ways to do things, and don’t lose hope because the energy of youth is needed now more than ever.” 

For more on Planel’s published works and career, visit nielsplanel.com.