IDAHOTB 2021: The face of LGBTQI exclusion in the COVID-19 pandemic

Bruno Carrasco is the Director General concurrently Chief Compliance Officer of the Sustainable Development and Climate Change Department at the Asian Development Bank. He leads ADB-wide knowledge and innovation work in all thematic and sector operation areas, establishes sector and thematic policies and strategies, and ensures compliance with environment and social safeguards policies. He also oversees the administration of trust funds and global funding initiatives. He provides advice to Management on various ADB-wide strategic and policy matters, annual and medium-term work plans, and major operational matters. He has worked at ADB for more than 23 years and has served in countries across all of its regional departments. An expert in public sector management, and applied economic policy, he was most recently Chief of ADB’s Governance Thematic Group, where he defined and sharpened ADB’s work on domestic resource mobilization, infrastructure governance, state-owned enterprise reforms, and fiscal decentralization. He was appointed Director General concurrently Chief Compliance Officer on 22 February 2021. He has also worked at the United Nations Office for Project Services, the United Nations Development Program, and the European Central Bank. Mr. Carrasco, a national of Spain, holds a doctorate degree in economics from the University of Essex, a master’s degree in economics from the University of British Columbia, and a bachelor’s degree in economics from the University of Montreal.

Bruce K. Dunn is the Director of Safeguards in ADB’s Sustainable Development and Climate Change Department, where he leads a team dedicated to ensuring the implementation of environmental and social safeguard policy principles and good practices in ADB operations. Bruce’s current role build on more than 20 years' experience in environment impact assessment, environmental policy, biodiversity conservation and natural resource management, working across Asia and the Pacific. At ADB, he has previously served as the Chief of ADB’s Environment Thematic Group, leading ADB’s proactive agenda on environment, including the implementation of ADB’s Healthy Oceans Action Plan, as well as focal point for the Global Environment Facility.

Kaushik Basu was Chief Economist of the World Bank from 2012 to 2016. He is the C. Marks Professor of International Studies and Professor of Economics at Cornell University, and academic advisory board member of Plaksha University. From 2009 to 2012, he served as the Chief Economic Adviser to the Government of India. Kaushik is a columnist for BBC News Online, the Hindustan Times, Business Standard and is the author of several books on economics. He is the editor of the Oxford Companion to Economics in India, published by Oxford University Press (February 2007), which is a compendium on the Indian economy.

Lee Badgett is an economist at the University of Massachusetts Amherst, best known for her research into economic issues relevant to lesbians, gay men, and their families. Her research has addressed the myth that gay and lesbian Americans are more affluent than heterosexual people. She has also documented the effects on taxation of government recognition of same-sex marriage, showing in 2007 that same-sex couples pay on average more than $1000 annually than similarly situated opposite-sex couples whose marriage is recognized. This research has been cited by numerous companies and institutions who have altered their employee compensation and benefits to try to remedy the disparity. Lee has testified as an expert witness before US Congress  state legislatures, and in various litigations regarding same-sex marriage. Her research has covered many other issues relating to SOGI both within and outside the US. 

Selvan Anthony of APCOM provides technical assistance support aimed at strengthening community-based organizations in Asia and the Pacific region for effective program management and its delivery. He is responsible for the #CoronaAPCOMpassion project, an initiative conceived by APCOM to provide support to LGBTQI communities who are affected by the COVID-19 pandemic and involved in gathering personal stories about the situation at the country level during times of crisis. Selvan holds Bachelor Degree in Commerce from Mumbai University and Post-graduate Diploma in Human Resource from Welingkar Institute of Management Development & Research Mumbai. 

Reyanne Librado is a young feminist, poet and public policy analyst. She sits as Philippine Board Chair of the Youth Voices Count (YVC) Asia-Pacific, the sole youth network of gender minorities in the Asia-Pacific Region. Librado currently works as Political Affairs Officer of the Office of the Chair of the Women and Gender Equality Committee, Rep. Malou Acosta-Alba and has formerly worked with the Office of the Deputy Minority Leader in the 18th Congress of the Philippine House of Representatives. She holds a degree in Political Science-Economics from the University of the Philippines Visayas. Librado is a graduate student of the Department of Women and Development Studies (DWDS) of the University of the Philippines Diliman, with research interests on body politics, Babaylanism and masculinity studies   

Raine Cortes is the Senior Project Manager of the Asia Pacific Transgender Network (APTN) based in Bangkok, Thailand, and manages and oversees several health and rights-related projects of the network. She has a Master’s Degree in Health Social Science and a Bachelor’s Degree in Behavioral Sciences Major in Organizational and Social Systems Development. She has more than eleven years of professional experience on monitoring and evaluation (M&E), program, financial and grant management of HIV and AIDS prevention and control, and community systems strengthening (CSS) grants, as well as specializes in transgender-specific and other key populations (KP) health and rights-focused interventions and researches.

Louise Cord is the Global Director for Social Sustainability and Inclusion in the World Bank’s Sustainable Development Practice Group. Prior to this, Ms. Cord was the Country Director for Senegal, Cabo Verde, The Gambia, Guinea Bissau, and Mauritania, based in Dakar, Senegal. Prior to her appointment as Country Director, she was Practice Manager in the Poverty Global Practice responsible for Latin America and the Caribbean. A U.S. national, she joined the Bank in 1991 as a Young Professional in the Bank’s Young Professional Program. She has since held various positions in the World Bank’s poverty reduction and sustainable development departments, working specifically on inclusive growth, poverty reduction, and rural development. She has worked in Africa, Latin America, and Eastern and Central Europe. Ms. Cord holds a Ph.D. in development economics from the Fletcher School of Law and Diplomacy at Tufts University. She has published on rural poverty, pro-poor growth, and inclusive growth challenges and strategies in Latin America and the Caribbean.