Mike Thibert

About Mike Thibert

Multilingual development professional and licensed civil engineer with a Princeton MPA and over 18 years of experience in rural and urban water and sanitation; water resources management; public health; disaster risk reduction; project planning, management, and evaluation; and community mobilization in Africa, Asia-Pacific, and the US.• Experienced Task Team Leader (TTL) for World Bank lending operations in fragile, conflict, and violence-affected countries (FCV). Demonstrated problem solving, creativity, and resourcefulness in planning, designing, managing, and evaluating projects and providing technical assistance.• Experienced author of operational project documents, including detailed project design and procurement documents, proposals, lending packages, and aide memoires, as well as analytical studies, guidance notes, and technical reports.• Proven ability to lead and work effectively within multicultural and interdisciplinary teams.• Skilled verbal communicator, including client relations, public speaking, and staff supervision in diverse settings.

Experience

1. Senior Water Specialist, West Africa Region

   The World Bank Group

   Nov 2024 — Present · Washington, DC, US

   Task team leader and core team member of lending operations in Central African Republic (CAR), Gabon, Niger, and Nigeria, leading and contributing to project preparation/design, project supervision and technical support to government and implementing agency teams.• Leads water portfolio in CAR and Gabon, including ongoing projects, pipeline development, sector dialogue, and technical assistance to sector institutions.• Leads multi-sectoral task teams including specialists in financial management, legal, procurement, economic analysis, environmental and social (E&S), gender, climate change, and technical disciplines.• Lead author of implementation completion report for nine-year $160m Niger Urban Water and Sanitation Project and contributing author of additional ICRs in CAR and Gabon.• Contributes to Water GP advisory services and analytics (ASAs), including co-authoring flagship studies “Doing More with Less: Smarter Subsidies for WSS” and “Troubled Tariffs: Revisiting Water Pricing for Affordable and Sustainable Water Services.”• Prepared WSS Global Solutions Group (GSG) guidance note to assist TTLs in fostering the sustainability of rural water supply services and in selecting and designing service delivery management models.• Supports Water GP West Africa Unit programming, including through co-leading Africa West Water Strategy development task force.• Drafts proposals for grants of up to $400k to support technical assistance to client countries and subsequently leads implementation and donor reporting.

Education

• Princeton University

  Master's Degree, Master in Public Affairs (MPA) in International Development

  2014 — 2016

• Syracuse University

  B.S, Civil Engineering

  2001 — 2005

Skills

• Community Development
• Situational Leadership
• Cultural Integration
• Fundraising
• Community Organizing
• Communication Skills
• International Relations
• Microsoft Office
• Organizational Development
• Non-Governmental Organizations (Ngos)
• Erosion Control
• Cultural Awareness
• Adaptability
• Writing
• Sustainability
• Surveying
• Project Planning
• Ngos
• Project Management
• Resourcefulness
• Grant Writing
• International Development
• Proposal Writing
• Problem Solving
• Disaster Risk Reduction
• Nonprofits
• Project Design
• Disaster Response
• Capacity Building
• Interpersonal Leadership
• Autocad
• Water Resources