Saku Akmeemana is a Senior Governance Specialist, who has worked both in the field and at headquarters. She has worked extensively in South Asia and East Asia, focusing particularly on the political economy of institutional change; understanding the incentives and conditions under which local elites invest in broadly developmental institutions and processes (particularly in countries emerging from conflict); service delivery and the state-citizen interface; and justice and drivers of conflict (including empirical approaches to issues of disputation, crime and security from a citizen's perspective). Prior to joining the Bank, Saku worked for the United Nations in a number of fields: political affairs, post-conflict institutional development, refugee and humanitarian assistance. Early in her career, she worked on indigenous land issues, and served in legal and policy advisor roles in the Australian Government.