Ian Bannon is currently the Acting Country Director for Sudan at the World Bank. Prior to this, Bannon was Sector Manager of the Post Conflict and Social Development Unit in the Africa Region of the World Bank and manager of the Conflict Prevention and Reconstruction Unit. He is an economist with an extensive career in the World Bank, having worked in Africa, Latin America and the Caribbean, and South Asia. He has researched and written on gender, education, private investment, child health, natural resources, mental health and the links between conflict and development. His publications include Natural Resources and Violent Conflict: Options and Actions (co-edited with Paul Collier, World Bank 2003), Gender, Conflict, and Development (co-written with Tsjeard Bouta and Georg Frerks, World Bank 2005), and The Other Half of Gender: Men’s Issues in Development (co-edited with Maria C. Correia, World Bank 2006).