Dan Owen is a Lead Social Development Specialist in the World Bank’s Social Development Global Practice, Africa Social Development Operations Unit. He is the operations lead for social development operations in the Africa region, based in Kinshasa, Democratic Republic of Congo and is the Task Team Leader for the World Bank Stabilization and Recovery in Eastern DRC Project (STAR-Est). He leads the World Bank community of practice on security and violence prevention, including disarmament, demobilization and reintegration.
He was the program manager for the closing years of the Transitional Demobilization and Reintegration Program multi-donor trust fund, supporting post-conflict stabilization, disarmament, demobilization and reintegration efforts in the Greater Great Lakes region and has been the Team Leader for the World Bank African Union Capacity Support Program.
Previously, he worked in the World Bank’s Environment and Social Framework implementation support team, leading on the World Bank’s Safeguard Policy on Labor and Working Conditions, and on addressing child labor risks in World Bank investment lending. He has previously worked in the Africa, Europe, and Central Asia regions, team leading investment operations and has served as coordinator of the Bank's anchor unit for Community-Driven Development, as a Social Development Specialist at the International Finance Corporation, and as a participation and poverty specialist based in the Mozambique Country Office. His academic background is in anthropology and he has attended the universities of Cambridge, Harvard, and the London School of Economics.