After 23 years with the World Bank, Ede Ijjasz retired in October, 2020. In his career, Mr. Ijjasz led work in a wide range of development topics including global environmental issues, sustainable development, green infrastructure, water resources, climate change, agriculture, blue economy, resilience, fragility and conflict, resettlement, PPPs, ESG, and urban development. He worked in more than 90 developing and emerging countries in all regions of the world – from fragile and conflict-affected countries to high middle-income countries. During his career he was for responsible for a portfolio of about $80 billion of investments and close to 800 policy and advisory reports.
In his last position with the World Bank, Ede Ijjasz was the Regional Director for Africa in the World Bank’s Sustainable Development Practice Group covering the agriculture, climate, disaster risk management, environment, land, social, urban, and water portfolios. As part of his portfolio, he oversaw the team that developed the updated Africa Climate Action Business Plan, and was part of the leadership team overseeing the initial response to the COVID-19 pandemic in the region.
Prior to this position, Mr. Ijjasz-Vasquez served as the Senior Director of the World Bank’s Social, Urban, Rural and Resilience Global Practice. From 2014 to 2019, he led a team of over 600 technical experts and more than 1,000 consultants deployed across the world, leveraging global knowledge and collaborating with partners in the areas of social inclusion and sustainability; mainstreaming resilience in all dimensions of development; territorial and rural development; and urban planning, services and institutions.
Before this, he was Director for Sustainable Development of the Latin America and Caribbean Region between 2011 and 2014, covering infrastructure, environment and climate change, social development, agriculture and rural development, disaster risk management, and urban development.
From 2007 to 2011, he was based in Beijing, where he managed the Sustainable Development Unit for China and Mongolia. Earlier in his career, he managed the global trust-funded programs ESMAP and WSP in energy and water and sanitation, respectively.
Mr. Ijjasz has a Ph.D. and a M.Sc. from the Massachusetts Institute of Technology (MIT) in civil and environmental engineering, with a specialization in hydrology and water resources. He has been a lecturer at the Environmental Science and Policy Program at Johns Hopkins University, and at Tsinghua University. He is a Colombian and Hungarian national.
Connect with Ede Ijjasz-Vasquez on Twitter (@Ede_WBG) and LinkedIn.