Day 1 (Oct. 8) - Room MC13-121
9:00 - 9:30 Opening Session
Chair Welcome & Introduction by Samia Melhem Senior Operations Officer, GICT and
Chair e-Development Thematic Group
Opening Remarks by Saroj Kumar Jha, Program Manager, GFDRR; Philippe Dongier,
Sector Manager, GICT; Francis Ghesquiere, DRM team leader, LAC Region
9:30 - 10:50 – Session 1: Emerging Trends, Best Practices and Lessons Learned in ICT-Enabled Disaster Risk Management
Between 1980 and 2006, natural disasters killed more than 2 million people worldwide and reported damages totaled $1.2 trillion. For example, the 2005 Pakistan earthquake caused about $5 billion damages. There were 5,210 disasters worldwide between 1991 and 2005. The consequences of natural and man-made disasters and the vulnerabilities to which populations are exposed can be mitigated if they are targeted proactively. Though one must always remember that it is not always possible to completely eliminate a risk, extensive experience and practice in the past few decades have demonstrated that the damage caused by any disaster can be addressed effectively only through careful planning, mitigation, and prompt action. In this context ICTs can potentially play a pivotal role in disaster risk assessment, prevention, mitigation and management. This panel will provide a strategic overview of the role of ICT in disaster risk management in all its phases (risk assessment, mitigation, preparedness, response and recovery), including emerging trends and technologies, good practices and lessons learned. How to make ICT a transformational enabler of better disaster risk management? What are the critical success factors for effective application of ICT in this area? What is the role of open source, mobile and other Web 2.0 tools? What is the role of Public-Private Partnerships?
Session Chair: Francis Ghesquiere, DRM team leader, LAC Region
Panel Discussion:
• Chanuka Wattegama, Director, LIRNEasia (ex-UNDP) – keynote presentation
• Alta Haggarty, Deputy Chief, AIMB, UN OCHA – keynote presentation
• Charles Scawthorn, Professor (ret.), Kyoto University - comment
• Hemang Karelia, Information Analyst, GFDRR - comment
Open Discusion/Q&A
Break - 10 min
11:00 - 12:15 Session 2: Information Systems for Disaster Risk Management in World Bank Projects
The World Bank is scaling up disaster risk management in its operational portfolio and analytical work to help client countries assess, mitigate and manage disasters better. What has been done so far in terms of using ICT for disaster risk management in lending projects and AAA activities? What are the emerging good practices and lessons learned? The WB-hosted Global Facility for Disaster Reduction and Recovery (GFDRR) is a longterm partnership established to help developing countries enhance their capacity for disaster prevention, emergency preparedness, response, and recovery. What is the role of ICT in its projects? What is the role of the Global ICT Department and other players in this agenda?
Session Chair: Philippe Dongier, Sector Manager, GICT
Panel Discussion:
- Francis Ghesquiere, DRM team leader, LAC Region
- Uwe Deichmann, Sr. Environmental Spec, DEC/Chair, GIS Thematic Group
- Ramesh Siva, Lead ICT Policy Specialist, GICT
- Reza Firuzabadi, Senior Information Officer, SDNIS
Open Discussion/Q&A+++
Partner Event
12:30 -1:30 pm: BBL on CAPRA, organized by LCSUW in Room MC13-121
Chair: Laura Frigenti, Country Director, Central America, World Bank
Speakers: Francis Ghesquiere, DRM team leader, LAC Region
and Edward Anderson, DRM Specialist, LCSUW
CAPRA - The Central American Probabilistic Assessment
CAPRA is a pilot initiative to set a new standard in risk assessment, supporting a comprehensive approach to disaster risk management. CAPRA applies state-of-the-art probabilistic modeling techniques to the analysis of earthquakes, tsunamis, hurricanes, floods, landslides and volcanoes. Hazard information is combined with exposure and vulnerability data, allowing the user to have a holistic understanding of risk for multiple hazards. Combining innovative Web 2.0 technologies CAPRA embraces an open architecture; this enables mass collaboration, harnessing the knowledge and capabilities of communities once scattered. Its innovative architectural design allows applications to be tailored to a country’s specific needs creating an ever-evolving “living instrument,” which is application driven. This local, versatile, and advanced probabilistic risk evaluation and communication platform enables a common language to measure and compare risk among cities, regions or even countries. It has an exciting potential to grow and become replicated across the region and beyond.
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Partner Event
2- 6 pm: Workshop organized by GFDRR and others in Room MC13-121
The World Bank’s Expanding Role in Disaster Risk Reduction
Building on the momentum of the International Day for Disaster Reduction, this High Level Session will focus on new instruments introduced by the Bank to integrate risk reduction and climate change adaptation in national policies and poverty reduction strategies, and accelerate the transition from recovery to development in disaster stricken countries. A reception will be held immediately after the session.
Details: www.gfdrr.org
Day 2 (Oct. 9) – Room MC 4-800
9:00 - 10:30 Session 3: ICT, Disaster Risk Assessment, Mitigation, and Reduction
Disasters are uncertain as to their occurrence and their impacts; however, professionals now can draw upon a substantial body of experience on how best to react when faced with a crisis. While it is practically impossible to prevent most natural hazards (earthquakes, hurricanes, tsunamis etc) methodical planning and preparation can significantly minimize the risk of those hazards turning into disasters causing damages to human lives and property. Therefore, important steps towards reducing disaster impact are to correctly analyze the potential risk and identify measures that can prevent, mitigate or prepare for emergencies. ICT can play a critical role in highlighting risk areas, vulnerabilities and potentially affected populations by collecting statistical data or producing geographically reference analysis through geographical information systems (GIS), for example. Disaster assessment is thus critical to assess the country risk exposure to natural disasters, design mitigation strategies, and ultimately designing a catastrophe risk financing strategy. This session will discuss specific ICT tools and relevant case studies and analyze the technology options and solutions available in disaster risk assessment, mitigation and reduction. What are the emerging technologies, good practices and lessons learned? What is the role of Public-Private Partnerships?
Session Co-Chairs: Trond Vedeld, DRM Team Leader, Africa Region and David Gray
Knowledge and Learning Coordinator, LAC Region
Panel Discussion:
- Carmelle Terborgh (ESRI)
- Inderjit Claire (RMSI)
- Andrew Levy (IBM)
- Gisli Olafsson (Microsoft)
- Eric Rasmussen, InSTEDD
Open Discussion/Q&A
Break 10:30 - 10:40
10:40 – 12:20 Session 4: ICT, Disaster Preparedness, Response and Recovery
The role of ICTs is critical in case of ‘rapid onset’ natural disasters – where there is a time gap of ½ hour – 6 hours between the occurrence of hazard (e.g. earthquake creating a tsunami) and its impact on population (e.g. tsunami hit). ICTs are vital for communication within this short but extremely crucial period, where the population can be evacuated to safer areas. Another extremely difficult period of a disaster is the immediate aftermath. This period calls for prompt action within an exceptionally short period of time. Disaster recovery has to start as soon as the initial disaster cleanup has taken place. This is also a very complex endeavor, requiring a huge array of skill sets and thorough knowledge. For disaster preparedness, response and recovery there is an everincreasing variety of ICT tools and solutions available. The panelists will address the role of ICT in preparation, response and aftermath of a disaster as well as in the long-term recovery process and will present case studies that illustrate how ICT can be used effectively to address such problems. What are the emerging technologies, good practices, and lessons learned?
Session Chair: Rosanna Nitti, DRM Regional Coordinator, Middle East and North Africa
Panel Discussion:
Gianluca Bruni, Chief, OMI Emergency Preparedness and Response Branch UN
World Food Program, via VC from Rome
- Paul Margie, Telecom Sans Frontiers
- Chanuka Wattegama, LIRNEasia, formerly with UNDP
- S. Rangarajan, World Space
- John C. Scott, Center for Public Service Communications
Resource points/discussants:
- Sanjaya Bhatia, GFDRR, on secondment from Government of India
- Ken Zita, Network Dynamics Associates
Open Discussion/Q&A
12:20 - 12:45 Closing Session
Roundtable: “How to Move Forward on the Operational and Analytical Agenda for Disaster Risk Management in the Information Age”
Panel Discussion:
- Saroj Kumar Jha, Program Manager, GFDRR
- Philippe Dongier, Sector Manager, GICT
- Francis Ghesquiere, DRM Team Leader, LAC Region
- Valerie D'Costa, Program Manger, infoDev
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Partner Event
1:00 - 2:30 pm - BBL organized by LCSUW, MC 4-800 (all participants are invited)
Chair: Francis Ghesquiere, DRM Regional Coordinator, LAC
Speaker: Bill Gail, Director of Strategic Development within the Public Sector Product
Group, Microsoft
Applying Microsoft's Geospatial Technologies to World Bank Initiatives
Abstract: "Over the last several years, technological advances in online mapping (such as Virtual Earth) have made mapping and geospatial technologies far easier to use and much more effective. Geospatial Information Systems (GIS) are no longer just the domain of specialists - the result is that governments can make far more effective use of their geospatial data for far less money. Microsoft has a variety of tools designed to leverage low-cost IT infrastructures within government agencies. Potential application of these tools to developing world needs will be the focus of the talk."
Alta Haggarty, Deputy Chief, Advocacy and Information Management Branch, UN OCHA
Alta Haggarty is the Deputy Chief of the Advocacy and Information Management Branch at the UN Office for the Coordination of Humanitarian Affairs (OCHA). She has oversight of ReliefWeb, the project that first brought her to the UN in 1998, as well as field information services (Humanitarian Information Centres, IM support to Clusters and to UNDAC). During this time Ms. Haggarty has had considerable influence in shaping OCHA’s information services which are renowned internationally for their innovation and global reach in informing the humanitarian community, UN member and donor states, and the public in affected countries. Pioneering the internet and ICT to support information exchange on disasters and emergencies, both ReliefWeb and “Humanitarian Information Centres” received the Secretary General’s Millennium Award for excellence in knowledge management.
In 2007, OCHA hosted the “Symposium Plus Five on Information for Humanitarian Action” to bring together a community of practice of information management and ICT professionals. Co-Chaired by Ms. Haggarty, the Symposium reaffirmed principles, standards and best practice in the provision of quality information support for humanitarian response. Alta is also currently the UN Co-Chair for the UN Geographic Working Group (UNGIWG), a UN community of Geospatial and GIS experts whose strategic goal is to build a UN Spatial Data Infrastructure to leverage geospatial technologies to support the UN system wide.
Andrew Levy, Strategist, IBM Federal Innovation Solution Center
Mr. Levy is a strategist with IBM's Federal Innovation Solution Center. He has a background in both global business management and computer science. Mr. Levy has a strong background in disaster and emergency preparedness. This past summer, he led a corporate volunteer initiative in the Philippines working with emergency management organizations. During this fellowship, Mr. Levy taught representatives across many emergency management agencies, including Fire, Police, EMS, Coast Guard, SWAT, Civil Defense, Universities, Army, Navy, elected officials, first responders, volunteers, etc. In addition, he evaluated several emergency exercises, including bomb, fire, earthquake, deep water rescue, seaport/airport, etc. Within one week of returning home, he received an email from the Office of Civil Defense (OCD) and Regional Disaster Coordinating Council (RDCC), along with the Davao City Disaster Coordinating Council, saying they put the training to use, when a military aircraft exploded just after takeoff and landed in the water in between the two islands.
Carmelle J. Terborgh, Global Affairs/Federal Account Manager, ESRI
Dr. Terborgh has over fifteen years of experience working with GIS in the areas of spatial analysis and GIS design, management, and implementation. Dr. Terborgh joined Environmental Systems Research Institute, Inc. (ESRI), in 1996, as a GIS consultant/project manager, trainer, and international liaison. Recently, she served as the Senior GeoInformation Consultant to the Information Solutions Group – Corporate Information (ISGCI) team at The World Bank Group in Washington, DC. Currently, she leads the Global Affairs team at ESRI and is a Federal Account Manager working in the ESRI-Washington, D.C. regional office.
Chanuka Wattegama, Director, LIRNEasia
Chanuka Wattegama works as a Director at LIRNEasia, an Asia Pacific telecom policy and regulation think tank. Previously he worked as Programme Specialist ICT4D at the United Nations Development Programme (UNDP) Asia-Pacific Development Information Programme (APDIP) outposted to Colombo Regional Center's Millennium Development Goals (MDG) Initiative. His focus was to use Information and Communication Technology (ICTs) for poverty reduction and achievement of the MDGs. In this capacity he has worked on various projects on different areas covering poverty reduction, Telecom Regulation, Gender and ICTs, Disaster Management and e-Government.
Chanuka has authored the UNDP publication 'ICT for Disaster Management' and also contributed chapters on different aspects of ICT use in Disaster Management to the books 'Communicating Disasters' (UNDP) and 'Asian Tsunami and Beyond' (AMIC, Singapore). Now he heads a project that intends to create the policy environment for introducing Cell Broadcasting for Early Disaster Warning in Maldives. He also has previous experience of a Community based early Warning System project in Sri Lanka which focused on the Last Mile, where he was involved in the design, implementation and training stages.
Charles Scawthorn, President SPA Risk LLC
Charles Scawthorn is a structural engineer and President of SPA Risk LLC. He retired in 2008 as a Professor in the Faculty of Engineering of Kyoto University, where he headed the Earthquake Disaster Prevention Systems Laboratory. For more than 30 years he has assessed the risk and developed integrated mitigation programs for natural and technological hazards, for FEMA and other government agencies, the World Bank and Fortune 1000 corporations and the insurance industry, in North America, Europe and Asia. He has investigated disasters in the United States, Mexico, Japan, Turkey, the former Soviet Union, Pakistan, Indonesia, Sri Lanka, Bangladesh and China. From 1998 to 2003 he led the technical team developing the HAZUS® MH US national Flood Loss Estimation Model, for FEMA, and recently served on a committee to develop the US NEHRP Plan to Coordinate Post-earthquake Investigations. He serves on the Editorial Boards of Earthquake Spectra, Engineering Structures and the Natural Hazards Review, coedited the Earthquake Engineering Handbook and Fire Safety in Tall Buildings, is a contributor to the McGraw-Hill Yearbook of Science and Technology.
Eric Rasmussen, President and CEO of InSTEDD
Dr. Eric Rasmussen is President and Chief Executive Officer of InSTEDD (Innovative Support to Emergencies, Diseases and Disasters), an international nonprofit organization founded by Google.org and dedicated to delivering innovative technological support to those who help the world stay safe. Dr. Rasmussen was both Chairman of the Department of Medicine within Naval Hospital Bremerton near Seattle, Washington, and an advisor in humanitarian informatics for the US Office of the Secretary of Defense. Dr. Rasmussen, with an additional European Master’s Degree in Disaster Medicine, served on the Afghanistan humanitarian support planning staff within US Central Command Headquarters (CENTCOM) in 2002, and later as a physician to the Iraq Disaster Assistance Response Team (DART) for the Iraq War in 2002-2003. As a member of the DART, he served within the International Humanitarian Operations Center in Kuwait and was later selected for the DARPA 2003 "Sustained Excellence in a Principal Investigator" award. Further work as Director of the Strong Angel series of international humanitarian support demonstrations led to work in Afghanistan in 2004 and 2007, and in Indonesia as head of a Civil-Military Coordination Team for the tsunami response in Banda Aceh in early 2005. Later in 2005, he deployed with Joint Task Force Katrina in New Orleans, coordinating a small portion of the relief response after Hurricane Katrina.
In addition to his responsibilities at InSTEDD, he currently serves as Permanent Advisor to the United Nations Secretary-General's High-Level Forum on Water Disasters, and as a member of Kofi Annan's Global Humanitarian Forum.
Inderjit Claire, Vice President - Sales, RMSI
Backed by over 16 years of corporate experience, Inder heads the global sales team at RMSI. He has been instrumental in shaping sales and business strategies for exploring new markets and opportunities. In addition to leading the sales function, Inder is also responsible for building relationships and growing business with multilateral and bilateral funding agencies and governments where RMSI's skills and competencies can be useful in development projects. RMSI has successfully completed a variety of projects for agencies such as the World Bank, FAO and the UNDP in the areas of Natural Hazard and Risk Management and Natural Resource Management. Prior to joining RMSI, Inder has worked with Marconi Services as Country Manager, MSI India Pvt. Ltd. as Geodata Business Head - Asia Pacific and Indian Operations, and with Crompton Greaves as a Key Account Manager
Gianluca Bruni, Chief, OMI Emergency Preparedness and Response Branch UN World Food Programme
Gianluca Bruni joined the United Nations World Food Programme in 1992, and since then has been supporting humanitarian operations in different capacities. Starting his career in fundraising and donor relations, he then served in the 1995 Great Lakes operation in Rwanda and Uganda. After starting a commercial Internet Service Provider in Uganda, he then returned to the UN and led and supported ICT response teams during the emergencies in Kosovo, East Timor, Mozambique, Afghanistan, Iraq and more recently in the Tsunami operation in Indonesia and Lebanon. He currently heads the ICT Emergency Preparedness and Response Branch in WFP's headquarter in Rome, from where he spearheads initiatives aiming at building a network of private sector companies, government partners, universities, UN and relief agencies to jointly support humanitarian emergencies.
Gisli Olafsson, Disaster Management – Technical Advisor, Microsoft Corp.
Gisli Olafsson is a Disaster Management – Technical Advisor at Microsoft Corporation responsible for providing international organizations with advice on how to make use of technology to enhance their response to disasters. Through the combination of his years of experience in national and international disaster management with his deep knowledge of technology he has a unique insight into how technology can be applied to solve some of the most challenging collaboration issues arising within the field of disaster response.
Gisli worked at Microsoft‘s headquarters 1998-2001 as a Lead Program Manager in the SQL Server team. After moving back to his native country of Iceland in 2001, Gisli was part of the leadership team for the Icelandic subsidiary of Microsoft from its establishment in 2003, until he started in his current role in 2007. In addition to his work at Microsoft, he has held various technology related IT roles for the past 25 years with companies in Iceland, Sweden and the United Kingdom with companies such as Nervus Systems, Xerox, Medtronic Corp. Gisli has over 15 years of experience in the field of disaster managment and is an active member of the United Nations Disaster Assessment and Coordination (UNDAC) team, a team of experienced disaster managers which are on stand-by to deploy anywhere in the world on a 6 hour notice to coordinate the first response of the international community to disasters on behalf of the UN‘s Office for Coordination of Humanitarian Affairs (OCHA).
Gisli is also a team leader for Iceland‘s international Urban Search and Rescue team. Gisli has been a member of the International Association of Emergency Managers (IAEM) since 2007.
John C. Scott, Project Manager, Central American Disaster Health Information Network
John Scott is the Project Implementation Manager for Central American Disaster Health Information Network, a partnership of the Regional Disaster Information Center for Latin America and the Caribbean, the US National Library of Medicine, Pan American Health Organization/WHO and the Center for Public Service Communications. Mr. Scott is also engaged in support of disaster reduction, humanitarian assistance and health policy initiatives, focusing primarily on underserved communities in the developing world.
His international working experience includes South East Asia, Africa, the Caribbean, Central and South America, China, Western Europe, the Pacific and the former Soviet Union. CPSC is recognized as a world leader in the field of communications, information technology, information policy and programs for disaster management, humanitarian assistance and health and has worked regularly with international organizations including the World Health Organization/Pan American Health Organization, United Nations International Strategy for Disaster Reduction/ International Decade for Natural Disaster Reduction, the Office for the Coordination of Humanitarian Affairs, United Nations Development Programme, Office of Outer Space Affairs, and International Telecommunication Union.
KEN ZITA, Managing Partner, Network Dynamics Associates
KEN ZITA is Managing Partner of Network Dynamics Associates, an advisory firm in telecommunications and related sectors he founded in 1992 (www.ndaventures.com). Mr. Zita is a specialist in corporate strategy, service design, and formulation and redefinition of complex business models and has worked in 42 countries worldwide. In the emergency communications and disaster management arena, Mr. Zita specified U.S. Congressional technical assistance to the countries impacted by the Asian Tsunami where he designed national strategies for disaster management command, control and emergency notification in Indonesia, Sri Lanka and Thailand. He has additionally worked on decision support and incident management systems related to natural and man-made disasters in Jordan, Poland, Serbia and Vietnam. Mr. Zita advises the Emergency Communications Leadership & Innovation Center (eCLIC) of the Wireless Communications Alliance (WCA), and is the cochair of the Emergency Communications and Disaster Management Workshop held annually at the PTC telecom strategy conference in Hawaii (www.ptc.org).
S. Rangarajan, VP, WorldSpace
S. Rangarajan was directly responsible for the development of the technology and architecture for Distance Education, Data Delivery and Alert Delivery solutions that are targeted particularly for the developing world. One of these is for the synchronous, instructor-led virtual classroom, called Combined Live Audio & Slide Show (CLASS). Another is an asynchronous, IP-based Multicasting directly to the user’s PC that can be used for the download of any pre-selected Internet contents or any other relevant data to the computer without using a telephone connection. More recently, he has developed an Addressable Radio for Emergency Alert (AREA) that can receive an alert message, display its contents, automatically turn on an audio channel to carry special announcements, trigger a siren and run as an unattended platform.
William B. Gail, Director of Strategic Development, Microsoft Corp.
William Gail is Director of Strategic Development within the Public Sector Product Group at Microsoft Corporation, with responsibility for creating new software products to serve governments and related organizations. He was previously Vice President of the mapping products division at Vexcel Corporation, where he led a global organization responsible for Earth information systems and services, resulting in Vexcel’s 2006 acquisition by Microsoft’s Virtual Earth group. For nearly a decade prior to that, he was Director of Earth science programs at Ball Aerospace, developing spaceborne instruments and missions for geospatial science and meteorology. Dr. Gail received his undergraduate degree in Physics and his PhD in Electrical Engineering from Stanford University, where his research focused on plasma physics in the Earth's magnetosphere. During this period, he spent a year as cosmic ray field scientist at South Pole Station.
Saroj Kumar Jha, Program Manager, Global Facility for Disaster Reduction and Recovery/Hazard Risk Management
Saroj Kumar Jha is the Program Manager for the Global Facility for Disaster Reduction and Recovery in the Sustainable Development Network. In his position, he provides strategic guidance and policy advice for the Bank’s disaster prevention and preparedness programs. As the head of the GFDRR Secretariat, he is also responsible for managing the operations of World Bank’s partnership with UN and donors for mainstreaming disaster risk reduction in development plans of the natural disaster hotspot countries.
Saroj K. Jha has been a World Bank hazard management specialist since 2005, undertaking a wide range of research, policy and operational assignments. Prior to joining the Bank, he was a member of the Indian Administrative Service for more than fifteen years. In addition to coordinating a large number of post-disaster humanitarian relief and long-term recovery and reconstruction projects, he has worked extensively on multi-hazard risk and vulnerability assessments, design of end-to-end early warning systems, design and implementation of public training and capacity building programs, policy and institution building initiatives, public-private-people partnerships for disaster prevention and mitigation in different countries. He also worked with the United Nations Development Programme (UNDP) in India and Iran for more than five years coordinating the implementation of disaster recovery and mitigation programs. He has been closely associated with development of national disaster management systems in several countries. He holds degree in civil engineering from Indian Institute of Technology(IIT) Kanpur and has authored several publication on disaster risk reduction.
Francis Ghesquiere, Lead Disaster Risk Management Specialist – LCSUW
Francis Ghesquiere is the Regional Coordinator for Disaster Risk Management in the Latin America and Caribbean Region. He is currently coordinating a portfolio of more than 30 projects (loans, credits and grants) dealing with vulnerability reduction, risk financing and emergency reconstruction. Francis Ghesquiere was the lead manager in the establishment of the Caribbean Catastrophe Risk Insurance Facility (CCRIF), which provides CARICOM governments with financial coverage against hurricane and earthquake losses. He currently leads a number of innovative initiatives, including the Central America Catastrophe Probabilistic Risk Assessment (CAPRA) and the development of risk models in the Caribbean. Before joining the Bank in 2000, Mr. Ghesquiere worked for eight years as a management consultant for Fortune 500 companies and governments in Europe, Asia and the Americas. Mr. Ghesquiere holds a Master Degree in Public Policy from Harvard University, a Master in Finance and Economics from ESADE Barcelona and HEC Paris and an Engineering Degree from the University of Louvain, Belgium. He also studied Finance at New York University.
Philippe Dongier, Sector Manager, CITPO, GICT
Philippe Dongier is Sector Manager for ICT in the Global ICT Department. Philippe joined the World Bank Group in 1998 and has worked in the infrastructure and sustainable development sectors, in the anchors and in Asia, Africa and Latin America. He was manager for Afghanistan reconstruction (2001-2004), and recently authored a World Bank report entitled ‘Infrastructure: Lessons from the Last Two Decades of World Bank Engagement’. Prior to joining the Bank, Philippe was with McKinsey & Company (1993-1998), advising companies and governments on issues of strategy and organizational restructuring. From 1986 to 1992, he worked in Nepal and Vietnam on decentralized and community-based infrastructure. Philippe holds an MBA from INSEAD and a BA in economics from McGill University.
Valerie D’Costa, Program Manager,
infoDev
Ms. D'Costa is infoDev's Program Manager. She most recently served as Director of the International Division at the Info-Communication Development Authority of Singapore - the government agency charged with the development, promotion and regulation of Singapore's ICT sector. Ms. D'Costa has had a distinguished career in private legal practice and in government service. She holds a Bachelor of Laws degree from the National University of Singapore and a Master of Laws degree from University College, University of London. In her previous position, Ms. D'Costa was responsible for the formulation of the Singapore Government's policies on international ICT issues and oversees bilateral relations with other countries on ICT issues. She has a deep understanding of the challenges and opportunities related to the ICT4D agenda and leads infoDev's efforts to advance the role that ICTs can play in fighting poverty and empowering people.
Ramesh Siva, Lead ICT Policy Specialist, GICT
Mr Siva is the lead person for the East Asia and Pacific region from the ISG nformatics Program. In the EAP Region, his focus has been on Bank projects with major ICT components in the public sector. His expertise includes integrated financial management systems, business systems, capacity planning and design and development of IT strategies. He has been involved in designing, developing and operating Information Technology solutions for over 20 years. He was heavily involved in the Information Architecture function for Bank, formulating strategic approaches for integrating information and knowledge to increase utility to internal and external clients. He has developed the ICT components of a number of projects participating in all aspects of the project cycle, key member of the teams that delivered projects in Malaysia, Indonesia and Argentina. As a Task Manager, he supervised investment projects in Malaysia and Argentina, infoDev grants in Ethiopia and Eritrea and restructured projects in Indonesia during the Asian Financial Crisis. As Unit Chief of the Information Delivery Unit, ISG, his areas of responsibility covered the World Bank’s Intranet and the Institution’s external Web on the Internet. In this capacity, he also coauthored the first World Bank Internet strategy, which positioned the Bank strategically at the intersection of development knowledge exchange.
Reza Firuzabadi, Senior Information Officer, World Bank
Reza has been with the World Bank since 1985, working on IT and ICT projects large and small, in several departments. He has worked to develop internet based systems since the early 1990's, and pioneered applications such as portals for development purposes. Some of his areas of responsibility have included system design and information architecture for statistical modeling, GIS, and web-enabled financial systems and databases, as well as IP based systems.
Samia Melhem, Senior Operations Officer, CITPO, GICT & Chair, e-Development Thematic Group, World Bank
Samia Melhem is a member of the e-Government practice group in the Global ICT department at the World Bank. Her current responsibilities include technical assistance and advisory services on ICT Policies. She is focused on ICT4D in a wide variety of sectors from telecoms policy and regulation to public sector reform, taxes, customs, trade, education, knowledge Economy and private sector development. In her last 20 years in the World Bank Group, Samia has held several positions in Africa, Middle East and Europe and Central Asia regions, Information Solutions Group and infoDev. Her expertise is mostly in planning, developing and implementing large scale information systems for governments, and on using ICT as a tool to support public administration reform. Samia also manages GICT's learning and training program and chairs the e-development Thematic Group. She holds degrees in Electrical Engineering (BS), Computer Sciences (MS)and Finance (MBA).
Sanjay Bhatia, Focal Point for Disaster Resilient Schools and Hospitals, GFDRR
Sanjay Bhatia has recently joined the Global Facility for Disaster Reduction and Recovery as Focal Point Disaster Resilient Schools and Hospitals. He has worked with the Government of India, the UNDP and theAsian Disaster Preparedness Center. Bangkok in the field of disaster risk reduction for over 18 years. He has experience manging projects focusing on mainstreaming ofdisaster risk reduction, specifically in the education and health sectors of India, Sri Lanka, Lao PDR, Cambodia and the Philippines. He was instrumental in the construction of seismically safe 6,500 primary school buildings.
Uwe Deichmann, Senior Environment Specialist, DEC
Uwe Deichmann is a Senior Environmental Specialist in the World Bank’s Development Research Group and coordinator of its Spatial Analysis Team. He was one of the principal authors of the Bank’s Global Natural Disasters Hotspots study in 2005 and collaborates with GFDRR on a number of analytical studies. Prior to joining the World Bank he worked for the UN Environment Program and the UN Statistics Division.
Trond Vedeld, Senior Social Development Specialist, Africa Region
Trond Vedeld, Senior Social Development Specialist, Disaster Risk Management Team Leader, Africa Region, Fragile States, Conflict & Social Development Unit (AFTCS) Trond Vedeld, PhD in development studies and institutional economics, Norwegian University of Life Sciences (1997), MSc in natural resources management and agricultural economics. 26 years of international experiences in research and development from Africa, India and Saudi Arabia. He has worked extensively as researcher and development practitioners on social and environmental issues, including poverty assessments, local governance, property rights, watershed development and more recently on disaster risk reduction. Presently Trond is team leader for disaster risk management coordination in the Africa Region of the World Bank. He has previously worked with the World Bank's India office, AfDB, IFAD, and NORAD. He has served on the Board of various international organizations including European Association of Development Research and Training Institutions (EADI).