Varalakshmi Vemuru

Varalakshmi Vemuru is a Lead Social Development Specialist in the Global Practice on Urban, Social, Rural and Resilience. Currently she is leading the World Bank’s development response to address impacts of forced displacement in the Horn of Africa, operations on Women’s Economic Empowerment in Nigeria and India. She has worked extensively in the South Asia and Africa regions on broad ranging social development aspects including inclusion, conflict sensitive development and social accountability.
Vara is currently leading the regional operation on "Development Response to Displacement Impacts Project" in the Horn of Africa covering Djibouti, Ethiopia, Uganda, Kenya and IGAD. She is also leading analytical work and her reports include Forced Displacement and Mixed Migration in the Horn of Africa, Assessment of Uganda’s Progressive Approach to Refugee Management, “YES” IN MY BACKYARD? The Economics of Refugees and their Social Dynamics in Kakuma, Kenya, and Refugee Impacts on Turkana Hosts - A Social Impact Analysis for Kakuma, Turkana County, Kenya.
Vara has designed and supported a number of Community Driven Development Approach based poverty reduction and service delivery projects in South Asia and the Africa region of the Bank and is an institutional resource person on community mobilization in FCV and Forced Displacement contexts. She has been with the World Bank since 2000.
- Operationalizing gender based violence risk prevention and mitigation under Kenya DRDIP
- Why community contribution is important in projects and how it is facilitated – the DRDIP Ethiopia Story
- Working to make children’s dreams of quality education come true: Insights from Ethiopia
- Removing the stigma of mental illness in India
- Is technology the way forward for addressing mental health among youth?
- The unheard voices of women caregivers for people with mental illness
- Camp de réfugiés de Kakuma : un impact social nuancé sur les communautés d’accueil Turkana
- Understanding the nuanced social impact of Kakuma refugees on their Turkana hosts
- Women Masons in Tamil Nadu: Lessons from a unique experiment
- For the differently abled by a differently abled – an inspiration from Tamil Nadu, India
- Dawa-Dua: How medical treatment complements prayer for people with mental illness in India
- Mental illness is curable, treatable, and preventable: a story of hope from India
- Perspectives from the Horn of Africa: Improving livelihoods for communities hosting refugees
- Djibouti, point de convergence entre déplacements forcés et migrations
- Djibouti: el lugar donde confluyen el desplazamiento forzado y la migración
- Djibouti: Where forced displacement and migration meet
- جيبوتي: حيث يلتقي النزوح القسري بالهجرة
- Engendering hope: Uganda’s progressive policies on refugee management
- Déplacement forcé : Comment les acteurs du développement peuvent-ils venir en aide aux personnes déplacées et aux communautés d’accueil ?
- Desplazamiento forzado: ¿Qué puede aportar la comunidad del desarrollo para ayudar a los desplazados y a las comunidades de acogida?
- Experience from the Horn of Africa: Using area-based and inclusive planning to coordinate the humanitarian-development response to forced displacement
- Forced displacement: What can the development community contribute to supporting displaced persons and host communities?
- النزوح القسري: ما الذي يمكن أن يسهم به مجتمع التنمية لدعم النازحين قسرا والمجتمعات المضيفة؟