Ko Takeuchi joined the World Bank in 2013 and currently works as a Senior Specialist on Urban Development and Disaster Risk Management for the Africa region. Prior to his assignment in Africa, he was leading disaster risk management engagements in Central Asia and also has experience working in other countries, such as Bosnia and Herzegovina, Armenia, Albania, Serbia, and Georgia. Topics covered in his disaster risk management engagement include seismic risk reduction and safer schools, flood risk management, resilient transport, emergency preparedness and response, disaster risk financing and insurance, landslide risk management, hydromet, urban resilience, and post-disaster recovery and reconstruction.
Prior to joining the World Bank, he worked on urban risk reduction and city resilience programs at UN-Habitat. He also has experience in various schemes of disaster risk management and urban development as a JICA Expert and international engineering consultant including, for example, project identification, master plan formulation, feasibility studies, and project management consultancy for project implementation units. He holds a master’s degree from the University of British Columbia on urban and regional planning. He is a Japanese national and holds a certificate as an Associate Professional Engineer in the field of construction and other certificates on disaster risk management and architecture/housing in Japan.