Ms. Ranu Sinha was born in Patna, Bihar but migrated to the US at the age of five. Twenty four years later, she began a journey back to India, specifically to Bihar, just so she could personally get involved in the work of development in India and South Asia. For more than seven years, Ms. Sinha has been working in the development sector in India and South Asia, focusing on helping the poorest segments of society address pressing water and natural resource management concerns. She is currently working as a water resources consultant with the International Financial Corporation (IFC) and with the World Bank in India on projects related to water sector reform in the irrigation, agriculture, and rural development sectors in the state of Rajasthan. Prior to working as a consultant for the IFC, she was the Deputy Director of the International Growth Centre (IGC), a global research and policy center, in Patna, Bihar. During her time at the IGC, she managed a portfolio of research projects in multiple sectors and also designed and led two studies; one on the institutional reform of the Government of Bihar Water Resources Department in flood management and the second which advised the Minor Irrigation Department of the Government of Bihar on the steps needed to reorganize and strengthen the Department, both of which have been published. Prior to the IGC, she worked full time for the World Bank in New Delhi, starting in 2007. During her time at the Bank, she travelled extensively throughout several states in India as well as to Afghanistan, Bangladesh, Nepal and Pakistan to engage on several multifaceted projects in the areas of irrigation, flood management, rural development and agriculture. Her interest in global development challenges began in 2004, when she attended the London School of Economics and Political Science (LSE) for a Masters in Public Administration in Public & Economic Policy. Her master’s thesis on Information Communication Technology: Reform of Organisational Crisis Management during Natural Disasters was published in the International Journal of Management Practice in 2008.
