Dr. Elbakri is a national of Sudan and 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 Program at the same university. Subsequently, she built a broad career at the African Development Bank where her last position was that of Vice President, Sector Operations between 2006-2009. In addition, between 1991-2005 she served in several positions at the African Development Bank spanning multiple regions of Africa focusing on portfolios of social development, gender, climate change, agriculture and governance/financial reforms and gained experience in both policy development and bank operations. In 2010, she was appointed Director Delivery Unit 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 HLP on Combating Illicit Financial Flows from Africa.
Between September 2012 and December 2017 she was a member of the World Bank Inspection Panel. At the panel, she has led and has been involved in numerous investigations relating to several issues including environmental and social impacts, gender-based violence and child labor. Since then, she has been appointed Senior Adviser to Savannas Enseades, a consulting firm which has helped establish a women and infrastructure network for the African Union and has carried out assignments for the European Bank for Reconstruction and Development, Fin Dev Canada and Oxfam on issues of accountability, gender and climate change among others.