Dr. Elbakri is a national of Sudan/Canada with over thirty years of development experience. She began in academia as a senior lecturer in Sociology/Anthropology at the University of Khartoum, in addition to managing the Women and Development Programme at the same university. Subsequently she built a broad career at the African Development Bank between 1991-2009, where she occupied the posts of Division Manager, Director for Social Development, her last post was that of Vice-President, Sector Operations, where she covered the areas of Social Development, Agriculture and Governance.
In 2010, she was appointed Director Delivery Unit in the Office of His Highness the Prime Minister of Kuwait responsible for delivering key reform initiatives in improving the business environment, education and procurement.
She was also a member of the High-Level Panel to Review the Global Fund for AIDS, TB and Malaria and a member of the Economic Commission for Africa High Level Panel on Combatting Illicit Financial Flows from Africa.
Between September 2012-December 2017 she was a member of the World Bank Inspection Panel, where she has led and been involved in numerous investigations relating to issues including environmental and social impacts, gender-based violence and child labour. In 2018 she was appointed Senior Adviser to Savannas E Enseadas, a consulting firm which has helped establish a Women and Infrastructure network for the African Union and has carried out assignments for Fin Dev Canada, Collaborative Africa Budget Reform Initiative and Oxfam on issues of accountability, gender and climate change among others.
She has recently undertaken the external assessments/reviews of the Independent Accountability Mechanisms of the European Bank for Reconstruction and Development and the Asian Infrastructure Investment Bank and a Review of the African Development Bank’s Accountability Mechanisms.