The World Bank is the leading development institution rendering financial and technical assistance to developing countries. It recently financed the Niger Transport Sector Program Support project, which aims to increase road access by the rural population to markets and services, and strengthen the institutional framework, management and implementation of road maintenance in the country.
Anca Dumitrescu, World Bank’s Senior Transport Specialist for Africa, spearheaded the Transport Sector Project in Niger. “Together with my team and the Government’s counterparts, we have defined the project objectives and main components, its performance indicators and implementation arrangements, assessed the risks and clients’ capacity to overcome them, appraised the project and got it ready for the approval of the World Bank’s Board of Directors,” she said.
Her team is currently preparing for the implementation of the project. “My role during implementation will be to supervise the various stages of project execution and to make sure that its components are implemented in accordance with sound and transparent standards and procedures regarding procurement, contract execution, financial management, environment, etc.,” Dumitrescu continued.
As one of the of the few women task team leaders for the World Bank’s transport sector in Africa, Dumitrescu is responsible for a regional transport and transit facilitation project of five countries along the Abidjan-Lagos coastal corridor in West Africa. “My main role as task leader of several lending operations is to contribute to developing our business in the Africa region and to participate in the delivery of our substantial program of operations, timely and at high quality standards,” she explained.
Dumitrescu cited time management and travel schedule as the primary work challenges that she encounters. “In our business, you have to be available for your clients - inside and outside the Bank, and whether you are in Washington, D.C or in Abidjan - almost 24 hours a day, 7 days a week, with information, documents, advice, reviews, and feed-back.”
Dumitrescu joined the World Bank in 1994 as a consultant. She then served as a Transport Specialist for Europe and Central Asia in 1999 and in the African division in mid-2006.
Dumitrescu holds a Masters degree in Project Management from the George Washington School of Business and an Economics degree, specializing in international trade, from the Academy of Economic Studies in Bucharest, Romania.
In the near future, Ms. Dumitrescu hopes to work in other regions such as Latin America, the Caribbean, Middle East and Asia. “I love designing projects and building teams and partnerships with my clients all over the world. I will continue to work with the most challenged of them, whether in Africa or on another continent, in transport or as part of a country management team,” she said. “I am a ‘doer’ and I make things happen.”
