The World Bank Regional Vice President for Western and Central Africa, Ousmane Diagana, is scheduled to visit Sierra Leone this week, media reports state.
A media advisory received from the Bank’s Country Office says Mr. Diagana will arrive in Freetown on Thursday, February 10 and depart on Friday, February 11. The visit, according to the statement, is part of an official tour of West Africa.
It is Mr. Diagana’s first trip to Sierra Leone since he assumed the position in 2020. While in the country, he is scheduled to hold high level talks on a wide range of development issues with President Julius Maada Bio and other senior government officials, as well as development partners, the Bank says. It adds that he will also meet with representatives of the civil society and private sector.
Mr Diagana will also join President Bio to formally commission the World Bank’s new Country Office in Freetown on Friday. They will later visit project sites related to the World Bank’s activities in the country, including a primary school in Freetown, as well as the site of the 2017 mudslide disaster at Motormeh in Regent.
This high profile visit is sure to boost relations between Sierra Leone and the Bank, after it was recently strained by a disagreement over the conduct of the 2021 Mid-Term Population and Housing Census.
Sierra Leone joined the World Bank Group on September 10, 1962 and since then the Bank has been the country’s leading development partner, supporting major investments in many sectors including health, education, energy, agriculture, fisheries, ICT, transport, and mining.
The Bank’s affiliate, IFC, has also been a key supporter of various private sector activities. Total current World Bank Group portfolio for Sierra Leone stands at $1.1 billion, covering 17 national projects.
He became Regional Vice President for Western and Central Africa in July 1, 2020. In this position he leads relations with 22 countries, and oversees a portfolio of projects, technical assistance and financial resources worth more than $40 billion.
Prior to this appointment, Diagana was the Vice President of the World Bank Group Human Resources, in which role he provided overall strategic leadership on human resource matters to the entire World Bank Group and oversaw the development and implementation of the World Bank Group People Strategy, and Human Resources policies, programs and services.
From October 2015 to January 2018, Diagana was the Vice President for Ethics and Business Conduct (EBC) and Chief Ethics Officer for the Bank.
He previous served in various other capacities in the Bank, including as Country Director for Côte d’Ivoire, Burkina Faso, Benin, Guinea, and Togo, based in Abidjan, and before that Country Director for Mali, Niger, Chad, and Guinea, based in Bamako.
Diagana has also served in Niger as Country Manager and in Morocco as Program Leader. With degrees in economics, finance, and planning and a certificate in education policies and analysis, he speaks French, English, Arabic, Soninke, Fulani, and Wolof.
