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Tara Vishwanath

(China Daily)
Updated: 2008-06-13 08:53

Tara Vishwanath is a lead economist in the South Asia Region of the World Bank Group.

Prior to joining South Asia region, Ms Vishwanath was one of the core authors of the World Development Report "Knowledge for Development". (1998-99). And prior to joining the World Bank, she was a professor of economics at Northweastern University and has served as visiting faculty at the economic department of Johns Hopkin's University and Princeton University.

Currently in the South Asia region of the World Bank, Ms Vishwanath oversees the poverty work program for all countries in the region. She has led many major analytical reports on poverty, education and social protection. Her recent accomplishments include assisting governments of Sri Lanka and Pakistan in the design of the cash grants program in the wake of the Tsunami and Earthquake. She is also a co-founder of RISEPAK (Relief Information System for Earthquake in Pakistan), which is a public portal that acts as an earthquake relief coordination and accountability tool for collecting, collating and displaying information about damage, access and relief for Pakistani citizens affected by the 2005 earthquake. This RISEPAK portal received the prestigious Stockholm Challenge Award in 2006, for its innovative use of web-based communication for coordinating and monitoring relief activities.