Marie Françoise Marie-Nelly has been appointed to succeed Paul Noumba Um as the World Bank's country director for South Africa, Namibia, Lesotho, Botswana and eSwatini.
She has joined the World Bank's Pretoria office, effective September 16.
Marie-Nelly has extensive experience working in the Middle East, North Africa and sub-Saharan regions in countries with diverse set of contexts and different development needs and trajectories.
Prior to taking up this post, she was the World Bank's country director for the Maghreb and Malta.
“I am excited by the move to the Southern Africa region. I look forward to deepening the World Bank engagement, working with government counterparts, key stakeholders including the youth and development partners to support countries’ efforts to achieve their development priorities in line with the World Bank’s goals of ending poverty and boosting shared prosperity,” she says.
Marie-Nelly will focus on overseeing the World Bank's policy dialogue and strategic engagements with the governments and key partners and will lead the World Bank teams to identify innovative development solutions for all clients.