Michael Trucano

Mike Trucano is the World Bank's Senior ICT and Education Policy Specialist, serving as the Bank's focal point on the topic within the education sector.  In this role he provides support to World Bank education projects with ICT-related 'components', and is involved in a variety of research activities.  Current areas of focus include policy development, the use of mobile phones in education, ICT and education indicators, 'new economy skills for Africa', and evaluations of low-cost devices.  He is also a principal contributor to the World Bank's EduTech blog and oversees the organization's internal knowledgebase wiki on ICT/education topics.

He previously served as the ICT and Education Specialist at infoDev, the multi-donor 'ICT knowledge shop' housed within the World Bank's Global ICT Department (GICT), where he coordinated activities related to information and communication technologies and the Millennium Development Goals ("ICTs for MDGs"), especially as they related to education.  He also led infoDev's work exploring the use of various low-cost ICT devices to meet developmental objectives in the social sectors, an initiative he continues to help lead from within the World Bank education sector.  Highlights during his time at infoDev include Knowledge Maps: ICT and Education (what we know, and what we don't, about ICT use in education in developing countries), over 75 country-level surveys of ICT and education in Africa and the Caribbean, a handbook on Monitoring and Evaluation of ICT in Education Projects, and the ICT in Education Toolkit for Policymakers, Planners & Practitioners (with UNESCO, used in over 25 countries to date).

Mike brings experience working in a variety of capacities with on-the-ground ICT/education initiatives in several regions of the world, including feasibility studies, evaluation and assessment, teacher training and professional development, appropriate technologies and targeted policy advice, especially related to uses of ICTs in education and community telecentres. He joined the World Bank Group in 1997, first with the IFC, and then serving on the Education and ICT for education teams at the World Bank Institute, where he was a core member of the team that developed the World Links for Development Program.  You can follow him on Twitter @trucano.