Lauren Kelly oversees the thematic evaluations for the Sustainable Development and Infrastructure Global Practices of the World Bank. With over twenty years of international evaluation experience, Ms. Kelly has led multiple influential evaluations and managed several Board level engagements that have deepened development impact and contributed to evidence based decision and policy making within the World Bank Group. She is currently leading IEG’s evaluations of the World Bank’s Engagement in Situations of Conflict and the Natural Resource Degradation and Human Vulnerability Nexus. With a background in conflict management, she has also made significant contributions in the field of natural resources, land use, and conflict and has worked extensively on pastoral and farmer relations in Africa.
Prior, Lauren worked with the United Nations Development Group (UNDG) where she helped to shape the One UN Policy through a Review of its Joint Programming across forty member countries. She has also held positions within an office of the European Parliament, the US Congress, and the American Civil Liberties Union. Ms. Kelly has a Masters in Economics and Conflict Management from the Johns Hopkins School of Advanced International Studies, and an Executive Certificate in International Cooperation and Development from the Hertie School of Governance. She lectures on participatory evaluation and rural development themes at various universities and has multiple related publications. She has lived, studied, and worked in Belgium, France, Italy, and Pakistan.
