Kasumi Shirahata

Kasumi is an international development professional with 15 years of cross-sectoral experience across Asia Pacific, the Middle East, and Africa, specializing in urban development, climate resilience, disaster risk management (DRM), social inclusion, youth, and gender development. Currently supporting the climate change and resilient infrastructure agenda at the World Bank, through donor engagement, communications, and multilingual coordination. Her work contributes to inclusive development and knowledge dissemination across global teams, focusing on sustainable Urban planning and social inclusion. Kasumi holds an MSc from UCL’s Bartlett School — a leading institution in built environment studies — and completed the "Leadership, Organizing, and Change" Executive Education program at Harvard Kennedy School under Professor Marshall Ganz, further enhancing her leadership and community-driven development capabilities. Her experience includes diplomatic service at the Ministry of Foreign Affairs of Japan, humanitarian work At with UNHCR, ESG and corporate advisory with PwC and Earth Heir Collective (a B-Corp Certified Social enterprise). She consistently bridges humanitarian and development needs through innovative, locally-rooted solutions. Passionate about building resilient, inclusive cities and empowering underrepresented communities, she founded INCANDI, R-School, which designs creative educational programs for youth on sustainability, peacebuilding, inclusiveness, and urban resilience. In 2019, the Obama Foundation selected her as an Asia-Pacific Leader, a Young Leader at the ASEAN+3 Singapore International Conference, and a Japan Foundation Fellow. Kasumi combines strategic thinking, cross-cultural diplomacy, and a client-oriented approach to drive sustainable, risk-informed development outcomes at policy and community levels.