Leanne Bayer

Leanne Bayer has over 20 years of extensive leadership experience in environmental and social safeguards policy and programs. As a Senior Social Development Specialist at the World Bank, Leanne served as the World Bank’s Global Coordinator for the Citizen Engagement Community of Practice, driving advisory services to Bank teams across all sectors (transport, urban infrastructure, water, agriculture, and more) to better engage with civil society organizations (CSOs). In this capacity, she and her team provided training on CSO and citizen engagement to bolster Bank operations. She has been the Team Leader for multiple Bank projects, ranging from operations (infrastructure and social programming) to analytical products (a Nordic Trust Fund case study on human rights and citizen engagement) and to a multi-donor trust fund in East Africa (infrastructure and ex-combatant reintegration program). She has a proven track record in strategic planning, policy development, and managing complex, large-scale projects in fragile contexts. She excels in providing technical leadership, administrative oversight, and strategic direction for operations and teams aiming to strengthen collaboration with CSOs. Leanne is highly skilled in building collaborative relationships and consulting with diverse stakeholders, including government counterparts, bilateral donors, CSOs, and regional / multilateral organizations. She holds an MSc in NGO Management (Department of Social Policy) from the London School of Economics and an MBA from McGill University. As a native English speaker who’s fluent in French, Leanne is adept at engaging with global teams and stakeholders across various continents and diverse settings.