Ravi Kumar specializes in human capital development and creating data-driven and user-centered solutions to improve lives.
At the World Bank, Ravi serves as Team Leader for the Data Use and Literacy Program housed in the Development Data Group in Washington, DC.
In this role, he conceptualizes and manages the delivery of a range of activities to build capacity for data literacy and data use, enable data-driven decision-making, improve public services, and democratize participation in the data revolution across low- and middle-income countries. He joined the World Bank in 2012 and most recently led data use initiatives at the World Bank Nepal Office.
His experience includes program and team management, digital and data strategy, research, publications, partnerships, advocacy, risk and stakeholder management across Africa, East Asia and Pacific, Europe and Central Asia, Middle East and North Africa, and South Asia.
A champion of diversity, equity, and inclusion, he has served as a Diversity and Inclusion Advocate at the World Bank advising senior management on initiatives, monitoring trends, and sharing information on best practices.
He is a member of the Society for Policy Sciences and was named one of the Asia Society’s “Asia 21 Young Leaders” in 2018. He has served on Buena Vista University’s President’s Advisory Council and was an inaugural Penn Kemble Fellow at the National Endowment for Democracy.
As a social entrepreneur, Ravi has founded and led two non-profits, including Code for Nepal. In these ventures, he has helped make data accessible, increased digital and data literacy among thousands of youths, and rebuilt dozens of schools in Nepal. He holds a master’s degree from Columbia University in New York and a bachelor’s degree with honors from Buena Vista University in Iowa.
