Dr. Irene Bain

Biography

Irene Bain has extensive experience in the fields of environmental and social project management, particularly focusing on rural poverty reduction and community-based natural resource management. Beginning her career in China in 1990, she worked on various NGO projects aimed at addressing rural poverty through micro-credit initiatives. From 1995 to 2004, she served as a field-based consultant for bilateral and multilateral agencies, designing and implementing environmental and social projects across China and Southeast Asia. Irene's role as Program Officer for Environment and Development at the Ford Foundation’s Beijing Office between 2004 and 2012 involved managing over 160 grants supporting numerous organizations in rural resource management. She then became a Social Sector Specialist at the Asian Development Bank from 2012 to 2016, focusing on policy analysis and technical assistance projects. In March 2017, she joined the Asian Infrastructure Investment Bank, where she developed and headed the independent Learning Evaluation function and served as an Editing Adviser for the Corporate Secretariat. Irene is set to retire from AIIB in early 2025. She holds a Bachelor's degree in East Asian Studies and Human Geography, along with an Honours degree and a PhD in Human Geography from the Australian National University. Her research interests include community-based natural resource management, climate change strategies, and rural-urban inequality.

Research Interests

Experience