Robert Wrobel is a Senior Social Development Specialist with 20 years of field experience in the Europe and Central Asia (ECA), East Asia and Pacific (EAP), and South Asia regions leading the design and supervision of multi-sectoral community-driven operations, and associated analytics and policy advice, aimed at improving access to quality basic infrastructure and services, promoting inclusive and transparent local governance practices, and supporting women’s economic empowerment, with a focus on fragile and conflict-affected settings. He is currently based in India, where he oversees the $419 million Community Resilience and Livelihoods Project, the first operation in Afghanistan to receive IDA financing after the August 15, 2021 accession to power by the Interim Taliban Administration. Mr. Wrobel also leads the Khyber-Pakhtunkhwa Rural Investment and Institutional Support Project, which supports the formerly Federally Administered Tribal Areas. Prior to moving to India, Mr. Wrobel was based in the Bank's Tashkent Country Office, where he oversaw a portfolio of programs in Uzbekistan that utilize community-based approaches to improve access to basic infrastructure and services in rural communities, promote citizen and civil society participation in local development decision-making, and enhance economic opportunities for rural women. Mr. Wrobel also led the Regional Risk and Resilience Assessment of Central Asia and Afghanistan Border Areas and follow-up work to strengthen FCV sensitivity in the Bank’s Central Asia portfolio. Mr. Wrobel has lived and worked in fragile and conflict-affected parts of Afghanistan and Indonesia, and supported the Bank’s Myanmar National Community Drive Development Project (NCDDP) task team in strengthening conflict sensitivity in project design and implementation support. Mr. Wrobel possesses an advanced degree in development studies, a basic command of spoken Dari and Uzbek languages, and a functional command of Bahasa Indonesia and French.