Navtej Dhillon

Navtej Dhillon is a Fellow and Director of the Middle East Youth Initiative at the Wolfensohn Center for Development, housed in the Global Economy and Development program at the Brookings Institution.

Before working at Brookings, Mr. Dhillon spent two years as a junior associate at the World Bank (2003-2005). His current research interests include international development with a critical focus on youth in the Middle East. He has written on the topics of waithood, marriage, the Middle East’s economy, the Middle East youth bulge, has provided recent commentary on economic development in the Middle East and was featured in the New York Times commenting on youth in Algeria. Navtej Dhillon also serves as special advisor and speech writer to former World Bank President and Special Envoy to the Middle East James D. Wolfensohn.

Before working at Brookings, Mr. Dhillon spent two years as an associate at the World Bank (2003-2005). At the World Bank, he founded the Youth2Youth Community (Y2Y) and Youth Innovation Fund – two initiatives which empowered young World Bank professionals to partner with young civil society organizations in developing countries to address youth-related issues. He also worked on social development issues in China, Indonesia, Philippines and parts of the Balkans. Before joining the World Bank, he worked with Lord David Owen, former UK foreign Secretary and Chief Negotiator to former Yugoslavia.