Mariko Yamamoto, a Japanese national, is a social development specialist in Social Development Operations in the World Bank’s Eastern and Southern Africa Region, based in Nairobi, Kenya.
Mariko joined the World Bank’s social development global team in 2018. Mariko has more than a decade of experience in working on in-conflict and post-conflict settings as part of operations, analysis and strategy development at country and global levels. Mariko brings operational experience from South Asia, Europe and Central Asia, Latin America and the Caribbean, East Asia and Pacific and West Africa regions, working on community-led development projects responding to forced displacement/post-conflict recovery, as well as women empowerment and youth violence agenda. Currently she leads and supports social development operations in South Sudan, Ethiopia and Rwanda. She was previously based in Addis Ababa, Ethiopia and Washington D.C..
Prior to the World Bank, Mariko worked for the Japanese Ministry of Foreign Affairs, stationed in Sri Lanka, and the ILO, based in Thailand, covering transitional justice and labour migration respectively. She holds an MA in International Relations Peace and Conflict Specialization from the Australian National University/Peace Research Institute Oslo, and a BA in Politics and International Studies from the University of Warwick.