Tembon new WB country director
Mercy Miyang Tembon has recently been appointed as the World Bank’s new country director for Bangladesh and Bhutan.
The Cameroonian national will lead the implementation of the WB group’s country partnership framework in support of the development priorities of both countries.
She will also lead the policy dialogue with government counterparts, civil society and other stakeholders to achieve country development goals.
Tembon will bring to her new role of bank operations, a track record in promoting economic growth and social development in several countries and a reputation for developing strong partnerships with stakeholders, the WB said in a statement.
She will also bring to this position a unique combination of experiences working at the country and sector levels, coupled with extensive multicultural experience of living in different countries and working in several languages. Tembon joined the World Bank in 2000 as an education specialist and has since held leadership positions in different countries.
Prior to taking this assignment, Tembon served as the country director for the South Caucasus (Armenia, Azerbaijan, Georgia) in the Europe and Central Asia region.
She also served as World Bank’s country manager for Burundi as well as for Burkina Faso in the Africa region.
“Bangladesh has tremendous develop-ment experience to share with the world: it has cut extreme poverty in half in record time and is among the few developing countries to achieve gender parity in school enrollment,” said Tembon, who will start office today.
“I have been following the country’s remarkable progress over the years and I look forward to working closely with the government and people of Bangladesh to address remaining challenges.”
“The World Bank remains a committed partner to support Bangladesh attain its vision of upper middle-income country status,” said Tembon, who holds a PhD in economics of education from the University of London, England.
Prior to joining the WB, she was a research officer at the Institute of Development Studies at the University of Sussex in the United Kingdom.
She has authored several publications on education, gender and economic growth issues.
