Bio

Lead Specialist and head of Social Accountability Cluster at the Governance Practice of the World Bank Institute

Details

Jeff Thindwa works in the Governance Practice of the World Bank Institute as Lead Specialist and head of the Social Accountability Cluster. A Malawi national, he joined the World Bank in 2000 as a Senior Social Development Specialist and later became Team Leader for the Participation and Civic Engagement Group. In these roles he helped to design and implement mechanisms to enhance participation of stakeholders in the Bank’s project cycle, social accountability to promote transparency and accountability, and policy dialogue with civil society organizations to improve the quality of World Bank’s policies. From 2007 to 2009 he served as co-Team Leader of the Bank’s Global Civil Society team in the Bank’s International Affairs department, where his work involved providing institutional guidance to broaden and deepen World Bank engagement with civil society organizations. He subsequently moved to the Bank’s South Asia department as Senior Social Development Specialist, where he was Task Team Leader for the Program for Accountability in Nepal, and supported operations teams in the region in integrating social accountability mechanisms in World Bank operations. He took up his current position in the World Bank institute in December 2011.

Prior to joining the World Bank Jeff worked for 17 years in the NGO community, which included leading the establishment of the Council for Non-Governmental Organizations in Malawi – CONGOMA, the NGO umbrella organization. His final position till 1999 was that of Director of International Programs for World Vision United Kingdom. Jeff began his career as a Legal Aid Attorney, and later studied political economy of development and European Union Law at the London School of Economics and Political Science and London’s King’s College respectively.

Jeff also serves on the Board of Directors of Air Serv International and the International Center for Not-for-Profit Law.