Mercy Miyang Tembon starts tomorrow as the World Bank’s new Country Director for Bangladesh and Bhutan.
Tembon brings to her new role deep knowledge 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. She also brings 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.
A Cameroonian national, 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 Country Manager for Burundi as well as for Burkina Faso in the Africa region.
“Bangladesh has tremendous development 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. 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,” said Tembon. “The World Bank remains a committed partner to support Bangladesh attain its vision of upper middle-income country status.”
Tembon holds a PhD in Economics of Education from the University of London, England. Prior to joining the World Bank, 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.
In her role as the World Bank Country Director for Bangladesh and Bhutan, Tembon will lead the implementation of the World Bank 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.
The World Bank was among the first development partners to support Bangladesh following its independence. Since then the World Bank has committed over $30 billion, mostly in grants and interest-free credits to Bangladesh. Currently, Bangladesh has the largest IDA program of World Bank totaling $12.6 billion.