Namita Datta

Namita Datta is the Head of Global Thought Leadership for Gender and Economic Inclusion for the IFC, World Bank Group. She leads a team that promotes thought leadership through cutting edge research, data and partnerships to mobilize private sector led action to promote gender and economic inclusion. Before joining IFC, she was Program Head of Solutions for Youth Employment (S4YE) at the World Bank, where she led a massive scale up of the S4YE program forging partnerships with several leading private companies, foundations, and CSOs. Namita brings significant experience on development issues, including jobs, youth employment, private sector development, and gender. She has led several research publications on frontier topics including the role of digital technology, changing nature of work, gender inclusion, new job opportunities in the creative and circular economies, and their impact on youth employment. She led the recent global report Working across Borders: The Promise and Peril of Online Gig Work. Before joining the World Bank Group, Namita worked with the Government of India, as an IAS officer (India’s high-level policy making body) where she worked as Delhi’s Zonal Municipal Commissioner heading a large complex municipal corporation responsible for delivering key urban services to the city of Delhi. She also worked as Secretary (Head) of the Departments of Urban Development, Power and Environment in Goa, India. She holds a PhD from Cornell University, an MIA from Colombia University, New York, and an MBA from the Indian Institute of Management, Ahmedabad.