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I am a Senior Economist at the Development Impact (DIME) Department, in the World Bank Research Group. I received a Masters in Public Affairs and Economics from Princeton University and a PhD in Social Intervention from Oxford University. My main research interests are in development economics, AI applications, behavioral economics, and mass media and behavior change.
I founded and lead the World Bank’s research program on Entertainment-Education, the use of media entertainment with development objectives. I run this program in close collaboration with researchers and practitioners from governments, the World Bank, development partners and global entertainment media and technology firms. This fun job entails working with celebrities, including Golden Globe, International Emmy and Nobel Prize winners.
I am currently running experiments in the fields of economic empowerment, sexual health, malaria, gender norms, gender-based violence, girl education, hate-speech, social cohesion, foundational learning, and youth addictions; with entertainment-education producers and distributors MTV, Impact(Ed) International, Curious Learning, IN2, Cinepolis, Population Foundation of India, X and Meta. With the University of Southern California and the University of Pennsylvania, we are using AI tools to map how gender norms are explicitly (and implicitly) portrayed in traditional and digital entertainment media in developing countries.
How did I end up with an International Emmy award in my hands? Our impact evaluation of the edutainment program 'My Better World' revealed its remarkable cost-effectiveness in transforming gender norms, fostering higher aspirations, and reducing the number of out-of-school children in northern Nigeria. MBW won the 2022 International Emmy award in the Kids: Factual & Entertainment category. We invited the masterminds behind MBW to the World Bank to train project teams interested in edutainment and edtech. And well, they brought the bling!
Publications
Curriculum Vitae
Blogs and Media
WB Forums on Edutainment & Social Media
FAQ about Development, Edutainment Research, and Examples of High-Impact Edutainment
Ms. Sharon Stone discussing how entertainment media can be better used for global impact at a recent forum co-organized by the World Bank and the Hollywood Foreign Press Association.
Short edutainment clips produced by Population Foundation of India that were distributed through Facebook reshaped gender attitudes of social media users in India.
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