Mark LaPrairie is World Bank representative to Bhutan. In this position, he has overall responsibility for the Bank’s in-country operations and led the establishment of the World Bank’s first country office in Bhutan. Before assuming the position of representative to Bhutan, LaPrairie served as the World Bank’s local representative in the Maldives and as education specialist in the South Asia Region. In addition to his responsibility as task team leader for Bank-financed education projects in Bhutan, Pakistan, and Bangladesh, he worked as a member of several Bank teams supporting governments’ efforts to improve education system development in the South Asia Region.

Prior to joining the World Bank in 1998, LaPrairie served as the United Nations Children’s Fund (UNICEF) education project officer in Burundi and Bhutan. He has also served the United Nations High Commissioner for Refugees (UNHCR) in the former Zaire and Burundi. LaPrairie has worked in the NGO sector with CARE (Canada) in the former Zaire, Canadian Crossroads International in Cameroon, and the World University Service of Canada in Bhutan.

A Canadian national, LaPrairie holds a bachelor of arts degree in psychology and a master of arts degree in linguistics and applied language studies from Carleton University, Ottawa, Canada. He is pursuing a doctorate of education at the Institute of Education, University of London.