Bella Bird, a British and Australian national, became the Country Director for Tanzania, Burundi, Malawi and Somalia in July 2015. She is based in Dar es Salaam, Tanzania.
Prior to taking up this role, Bella was the World Bank Country Director for Sudan, South Sudan and Somalia, based in Nairobi, Kenya from 2011 to 2015. Before joining the Bank in 2011, Bella served in various leadership positions in the UK Department for International Development (DFID). From 2009 - 2011, she was Head of Governance Policy in DFID. She provided leadership to a number of international policy processes at the OECD, as well as leading policy development on governance and fragile states policy within DFID.
Bella also previously served in the roles of Head of DFID Nepal and of DFID Vietnam. Prior to these positions, she spent seven years with DFID as an adviser on poverty and social issues in Kenya, Tanzania and Uganda. She played a leadership role for the UK government and internationally on policies to promote state-building and peace building, championing aid effectiveness and south-south collaboration.