Events

ieConnect for Impact

December 3-6, 2019

Marrakesh, Morocco

OVERVIEW
AGENDA
Agenda (Français)
SPEAKERS
Results
About

This workshop, hosted by ieConnect for Impact Program, gathers together project teams, government officials, partners, and Impact Evaluation (IE) experts, with the following objectives:
Develop a high-quality IE design and implementation plan for each project through targeted sessions.
Enhance the technical capacity of workshop participants to design rigorous IEs through hands-on training in IE methods and management and use resulting evidence to make policy decisions.
Gather and strengthen the community of practice on transport impact evaluations with practitioners, country representatives, researchers, partners, and management around topics that are of strategic importance for the sector.
Bring participants up-to-date with the latest research and results through policy and ignite sessions on data systems, gender, urban mobility, rural roads, and energy and transport.
This workshop will mark the launch of Phase III of the ieConnect for Impact program.

Tuesday (December 3)
8:00 – 9:00AM	Registration and Pre-Workshop Knowledge Quiz
9:00 – 9:10AM	Message from the Director of the World Bank’s Transport Global Practice Guangzhe Chen, Transport, World Bank (via video)
9:10 – 10:30AM	Opening Remarks: ieConnect for Impact, Phase III Nancy Vandycke, Transport, World Bank \| Presentation Arianna Legovini, DIME, World Bank
10:30 – 10:45AM	Coffee Break
10:45 – 12:00PM	Data Systems Showcase Robert Marty, DIME, World Bank \| Presentation Théophile Bougna, DIME, World Bank \| Presentation Sveta Milusheva, DIME, World Bank \| Presentation Alice Duhaut, DIME, World Bank \| Presentation
12:00 – 1:30PM	Lunch
1:30 – 2:45PM (Language groups)	Measuring Impact I: Causal Inference & Quasi-Experimental Methods English: Arndt Reichert, DIME, World Bank \| Presentatioin French: Alice Duhaut, DIME, World Bank \| Présentation This session will introduce causality and quasi-experimental research methods. Topics covered include causal inference, difference-in-differences, propensity score matching, and discontinuity design.
2:45 – 3:00 PM	Coffee Break
3:00 – 4:15PM	Impact Opportunities 1: Gender Moderator: To Nam Toan, Ministry of Transport, Vietnam Ketki Sheth, University of California Merced \| Presentation Arndt Reichert, DIME, World Bank \| Presentation Aneesh Mannava, East Asia & Pacific Gender Innovation Lab, World Bank \| Presentation Arianna Legovini, DIME, World Bank \| Presentation
4:15 – 6:00PM (small groups)	Group Work: Session 1 Project teams work on their impact evaluation, facilitated by project team leaders and researchers. In this session, the group will establish a results chain and determine the research questions for their project.
7:30 – 9:30PM	Dinner and Reception
	Master of Ceremonies on December 3: Sveta Milusheva, DIME, World Bank
Wednesday (December 4)
9:00 – 10:30AM	Impact Opportunities 2: Urban Mobility Moderator: Umaru Katta, Ministry of Transport and Aviation, Sierra Leone Andrés Gómez-Lobo, Universidad de Chile \| Presentation William Violette, Federal Trade Commission \| Presentation Sveta Milusheva, DIME, World Bank Javier Morales Sarriera, Transport, World Bank Kenzo Asahi, Pontificia Universidad Católica de Chile \| Presentation
10:30 – 10:45AM	Coffee Break
10:45 – 12:15PM (Language groups)	Measuring Impact II: Experimental Methods and Practical Case Study English: Maria Jones, DIME, World Bank \| Presentation French: Théophile Bougna, DIME, World Bank \| Presentation This session will introduce experimental methods. Topics covered include impact evaluation, causal inference, and randomization.
12:15 – 1:45PM	Group Photo and Lunch
1:45 – 3:00 PM	Impact Opportunities 3: Rural Roads Moderator: Cecilia Briceño-Garmendia, Transport, World Bank Kevin McPherson, Transport Research Laboratory \| Presentation Elizaveta Perova, East Asia & Pacific Gender Innovation Lab, World Bank \| Presentation Heitor Pellegrina, New York University Abu Dhabi \| Presentation Serge Adjognon, DIME, World Bank Nino Pkhikidze, Transport, World Bank \| Presentation
3:00 – 3:15PM	Coffee Break
3:15 – 4:15PM	Impact Opportunities 4: Energy and Transport Moderator: Fan Zhang, Infrastructure, World Bank Aidan Coville, DIME, World Bank \| Presentation Bridget Hoffman, Inter-American Development Bank \| Presentation Arndt Reichert, DIME, World Bank \| Presentation Serge Adjognon, DIME, World Bank
4:15 – 6:30PM (Small groups)	Group Work: Session 2 In this session, the group will discuss the identification strategy, outcome indicators, and datasets that will be used to answer each research question.
	Master of Ceremonies on December 4: Théophile Bougna, DIME, World Bank
Thursday (December 5)
9:00 – 9:30AM	Improving Monitoring and Evaluation in Transport Projects Arturo Ardila-Gómez, Transport, World Bank \| Presentation
9:30 – 10:15PM	Lightning Talks with Transport Economists Moderator: Nancy Vandycke, Transport, World Bank Lightning Talks with cases and ideas about transport impact evaluation. Fan Zhang, Infrastructure, World Bank \| Presentation Javier Morales Sarriera, Transport, World Bank \| Presentation Kristin Panier, Transport, World Bank \| Presentation Mathilde Lebrand, Infrastructure, World Bank \| Presentation
10:15 – 10:45AM	Taking Stock of Progress So Far Nancy Vandycke, Transport, World Bank Arianna Legovini, DIME, World Bank Presentation
10:45 – 11:00AM	Coffee Break
11:00 – 12:15PM (Language groups)	Measuring Impact III: Sampling and Power Calculations English: Aidan Coville, DIME, World Bank \| Presentation French: Serge Adjognon, DIME, World Bank \| Presentation Introduction of the concepts of sampling, randomization, and power calculations
12:15 – 1:45PM	Lunch
1:45 – 2:45PM	Collaboration In-Depth: Rwanda Feeder Roads Moderator: Arturo Ardila-Gómez, Transport, World Bank The government officials, operational team, and researchers of the Rwanda Feeder Road Impact Evaluation discuss the ongoing research and experiences. Maria Jones, DIME, World Bank \| Presentation Emmanuel Taban, Transport, World Bank Jean Pierre Nzekabo, Rwanda Transport Development Agency Solange Mizero, Rwanda Transport Development Agency
2:45 – 4:15PM	Group Work: Session 3 In this session, the group will work on the practical implementation plan of the impact evaluation including budget, timeline, and staffing.
4:15 – 4:30PM	Coffee Break
4:30 – 6:30PM (Small groups)	Group Work: Session 4 In this session, the group will work on their presentations for the day after.
	Master of Ceremonies on December 5: Alice Duhaut, DIME, World Bank
Friday (December 6)
8:00 – 9:00 AM	Teams Finalize Presentations
9:00 – 9:15AM	Post-Workshop Knowledge Quiz
9:15 – 9:45AM	ieConnect Next Steps Sveta Milusheva, DIME, World Bank
9:45 – 10:45AM	Impact Evaluation Designs: Team Presentations Session I Teams present their evaluation design (5 minutes per team, 10 minutes discussion) Questions and comments are answered at the end Order of presentations to be provided prior to the panel Prsentations: Rwanda \| Morocco \| Tchad \| Cote D'Ivoire
10:45 – 11:00 AM	Coffee Break
11:00 – 12:30 PM	Impact Evaluation Designs: Team Presentations Session II Teams present their evaluation design (5 minutes per team, 10 minutes discussion) Questions and comments are answered at the end Order of presentations to be provided prior to the panel Presentations: Senegal \| Sierra Leone \| Nigeria \| Vietnam
12:30 – 1:00PM	Closing Remarks Nancy Vandycke, Transport, World Bank Arianna Legovini, DIME, World Bank
	Master of Ceremonies on December 6: Javier Morales Sarriera, Transport, World Bank

Mardi (3 Décembre)
8:00 – 9:00AM	Enregistrement et Test de Connaissance (Pre)
9:00 – 9:10AM	Message du directeur du département de transport de la Banque mondiale Guangzhe Chen, Transport, Banque mondiale (par vidéo)
9:10 – 10:30AM	Cérémonie d’Ouverture : ieConnect pour Impact, Phase III Nancy Vandycke, Transport, Banque mondiale Arianna Legovini, DIME, Banque mondiale
10:30 – 10:45AM	Pause-Café
10:45 – 12:00PM	Utilisation de systèmes de données innovantes Robert Marty, DIME, Banque mondiale Théophile Bougna, DIME, Banque mondiale Sveta Milusheva, DIME, Banque mondiale Alice Duhaut, DIME, Banque mondiale
12:00 – 1:30PM	Déjeuner
1:30 – 2:45PM (Langues des groupes)	Mesurer l’impact I: Inférence Causale et Méthodes Quasi-Expérimentales Anglais: Arndt Reichert, DIME, Banque mondiale Français: Alice Duhaut, DIME, Banque mondiale Cette session présentera des méthodes de recherche de causalité et quasi-expérimentales. Les sujets abordés comprennent l’inférence causale, les doubles différences, l'appariement des coefficients de propension et le modèle de discontinuité
2:45 – 3:00 PM	Pause-Café
3:00 – 4:15PM	Opportunités d’Impact 1: Genre Modérateur: To Nam Toan, Ministère du Transport du Vietnam Ketki Sheth, University of California Merced Arndt Reichert, DIME, Banque mondiale Aneesh Mannava, East Asia & Pacific Gender Innovation Lab, Banque mondiale Arianna Legovini, DIME, Banque mondiale
4:15 – 6:00PM	Groupe de Travail : Session 1 Les équipes de projet travaillent sur leur évaluation d’impact, avec le support des chefs d’équipes de projet et des chercheurs. Dans cette session, le groupe établira une chaîne de résultats et déterminera les questions de recherche pour leur projet.
7:30 – 9:30PM	Diner et Réception
	Maître des cérémonies le 3 Décembre: Sveta Milusheva, DIME, Banque mondiale
Mercredi (4 Décembre)
9:00 – 10:30AM	Opportunités d’Impact 2: Mobilité Urbaine Modérateur: Umaru Katta, Ministère du Transport et de l’Aviation, Sierra Leone Andrés Gómez-Lobo, Universidad de Chile William Violette, Federal Trade Commission Sveta Milusheva, DIME, Banque mondiale Javier Morales Sarriera, Transport, Banque mondiale Kenzo Asahi, Pontificia Universidad Católica de Chile
10:30 – 10:45AM	Pause-Café
10:45 – 12:15PM (Langue des groupes)	Mesurer l’impact II: Méthodes Expérimentales et Etude d’un Cas Pratique Anglais: Maria Jones, DIME, Banque mondiale Français: Théophile Bougna, DIME, Banque mondiale Cette session présentera les méthodes expérimentales. Les sujets abordés comprennent l’évaluation d’impact, l’inférence causale et la méthode du tirage au sort.
12:15 – 1:45PM	Photo de groupe et déjeuner
1:45 – 3:00 PM	Opportunités d’Impact 3: Routes rurales Modérateur: Cecilia Briceño-Garmendia, Transport, Banque mondiale Kevin McPherson, Transport Research Laboratory Elizaveta Perova, East Asia & Pacific Gender Innovation Lab, Banque mondiale Heitor Pellegrina, New York University Abu Dhabi Serge Adjognon, DIME, Banque mondiale Nino Pkhikidze, Transport, Banque mondiale
3:00 – 3:15PM	Pause-Café
3:15 – 4:15PM	Opportunités d’Impact 4: Energie et Transport Modérateur: Fan Zhang, Infrastructure, Banque mondiale Aidan Coville, DIME, Banque mondiale Bridget Hoffman, Banque interaméricaine de développement Arndt Reichert, DIME, Banque mondiale Serge Adjognon, DIME, Banque mondiale
4:15 – 6:30PM (Petits groupes)	Groupe de Travail: Session 2 Dans cette session, les groupe détermineront la stratégie d’identification, les indicateurs de résultats et les base de données qui seront utilisées pour répondre à chaque question de recherche.
	Maître des cérémonies le 4 Décembre: Théophile Bougna, DIME, World Bank
Jeudi (5 Décembre)
9:00 – 9:30AM	Améliorer le suivi et évaluation dans les projets de transport Arturo Ardila-Gómez, Transport, Banque mondiale
9:30 – 10:15PM	Petite Discussion avec les économistes du secteur du transport Modérateur: Nancy Vandycke, Transport, Banque mondiale Discussions avec des cas et des idées sur les évaluations d’impact dans le transport. Fan Zhang, Infrastructure, Banque mondiale Javier Morales Sarriera, Transport, Banque mondiale Kristin Panier, Transport, Banque mondiale Mathilde Lebrand, Infrastructure, Banque mondiale
10:15 – 10:45AM	Ce qui a été fait jusqu’à présent Nancy Vandycke, Transport, Banque mondiale Arianna Legovini, DIME, Banque mondiale
10:45 – 11:00AM	Pause-Café
11:00 – 12:15PM (Langues des groupes)	Mesurer l’impact III: Échantillonnage et Calculs de Puissance Anglais: Aidan Coville, DIME, Banque mondiale Français: Serge Adjognon, DIME, Banque mondiale Introduction des concepts d’échantillonnage, de randomisation et de calcul de puissance
12:15 – 1:45PM	Déjeuner
1:45 – 2:45PM	Details d’une collaboration : Rwanda - Projet de pistes rurales Modérateur: Arturo Ardila-Gómez, Transport, Banque mondiale Les représentants du gouvernement, des équipes opérationnelles et les chercheurs du projet de pistes rurales du Rwanda discuteront les recherches en cours d’implémentation et leur expérience. Maria Jones, DIME, Banque mondiale Emmanuel Taban, Transport, Banque mondiale Jean Pierre Nzekabo, Rwanda Transport Development Agency Solange Mizero, Rwanda Transport Development Agency
2:45 – 4:15PM (Petits groupes)	Groupe de travail: Session 3 Dans cette session, les groupes travailleront sur le plan de mise en oeuvre pratique de l’évaluation d’impact, y compris le budget, le calendrier et la dotation en personnel.
4:15 – 4:30PM	Pause-Café
4:30 – 6:30PM (Petits groupes)	Groupe de travail: Session 4 Dans cette session, les groupes travailleront sur leurs présentations du lendemain.
	Maître des cérémonies le 5 Décembre: Alice Duhaut, DIME, Banque mondiale.
Vendredi (6 Décembre)
8:00 – 9:00 AM	Les équipes finalisent leurs présentations
9:00 – 9:15AM	Test de Connaissance (Post)
9:15 – 9:45AM	ieConnect Prochaines étapes Sveta Milusheva, DIME, Banque mondiale
9:45 – 10:45AM	Méthodologie d’Evaluation d’Impact : Présentations des Equipes Session I Les équipes présentent leur méthodologie d’évaluation (5 minutes par équipe et 10 minutes de discussion) Les questions et commentaires seront adressés à la fin L’ordre des présentations sera indiqué avant le panel
10:45 – 11:00 AM	Pause-Café
11:00 – 12:30 PM	Méthodologie d’Evaluation d’Impact : Présentations des Equipes Session II Les équipes présentent leur méthodologie d’évaluation (5 minutes par équipe, 10 minutes de discussion) Les questions et commentaires seront adressés à la fin L’ordre des présentations sera indiqué avant le panel
12:30 – 1:00PM	Cérémonie de Clôture Nancy Vandycke, Transport, Banque mondiale Arianna Legovini, DIME, Banque mondiale
	Maitre de cérémonies le 6 Décembre: Javier Morales Sarriera, Transport, Banque mondiale

Guangzhe Chen
Keynote Speaker, World Bank Group
Guangzhe Chen is the Global Director for Transport and Regional Director for Infrastructure in South Asia at the World Bank. Mr. Chen oversees the formulation and implementation of World Bank strategy and programs for sustainable road, urban, rail, logistics, water and air transport, and as well as key cross-cutting agendas such as road safety, climate adaptation/mitigation, gender, human capital development, disruptive technologies and financing. He leads a team of some 300 specialists from over 80 nationalities, based in more than 40 countries, and manages a portfolio of roughly US$38 billion in over 200 projects in more than 100 countries. As of July 1, 2019, Mr. Chen is also the World Bank’s Regional Director for infrastructure in South Asia Infrastructure. This includes the formulation and implementation of both the Transport and Energy programs in the region. Prior to his current positions, Mr. Chen was the Senior Director for the World Bank’s Water Global Practice, from October 2016 to October 2018. Before that he served as World Bank Country Director for Ethiopia, in Addis Ababa, and subsequently for Southern Africa, covering Botswana, Lesotho, Namibia, South Africa, Swaziland, Zambia and Zimbabwe, based in Pretoria.
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Arianna Legovini
Keynote Speaker, World Bank Group
Arianna Legovini built and leads the Development Impact Evaluation (DIME) group of the World Bank. The purpose of this unit is to use research to improve development practice and policy outcomes. Since joining the Bank in 2004, she has worked to understand and develop the institutions (incentives and processes) required to engage researchers, operational staff and policymakers in improving the quality in the design and implementation of development projects. The idea was, first, to use problem-based research to generate useful data and evidence that would guide policy decisions and improve outcomes. Second, it was to leverage the billions of dollars in international assistance to test out solutions to development problems in specific contexts and help countries learn for themselves how to reach and expand their production frontiers. In 2004-2008, working with like-minded partners, the ideas were put in action with the creation of the Africa Impact Evaluation initiative and its programs in education, HIV, malaria, community development, agriculture and private sector. In 2009, she imported Africa-grown lessons, processes and programs into the global impact evaluation program. By 2013, with core funding from UK Aid, she designed i2i (impact evaluation to development impact) to support the expansion of the approach across many institutional partners and across under-evaluated sectors representing the majority of development aid, including infrastructure, fragility and conflict, public sector governance, and natural resource management sectors. i2i was critical in developing Bank-wide governance structures for this work and formalizing working relationships through an improved system of incentives. Arianna is currently responsible for a $145 million dollar research program, leveraging about $3billion in WB, DFID and other partners lending, in 60 countries across the globe.
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Nancy Vandycke
Keynote Speaker, World Bank Group
Nancy Vandycke is Economic Advisor of the Transport Global Practice in the World Bank. Currently, Nancy leads the Sustainable Mobility for All (SuM4All) initiative, which is a global coalition that unites 55 international organizations worldwide to transform the future of mobility. She also leads the strategic and global analytical portfolio of the World Bank in transport, including impact evaluation, global tracking framework and the Knowledge Note series. In recognition of her thought leadership on the topic of the transport-energy nexus, Nancy was invited to serve as a member of the World Economic Forum’s Global Council on Advanced Energy Technologies. Prior to joining the World Bank, she worked at the International Monetary Fund and at the Center for Economic Policy. She was Adjunct Professor of Economics at Georgetown University and the London School of Economics, where she obtained her doctorate in economics. Furthermore, she was one of the top global influencers selected by the German-led Transforming Urban Mobility initiative (TUMI) for a new flagship project showcasing remarkable women in Transport.

Girija Borker
ieConnect Team, World Bank Group
Girija Borker is an Economist in the Development Impact Evaluation (DIME) group at the World Bank. She works primarily in the areas of development economics, with a focus on gender, violence, education, and transport. Her ongoing projects study the economic consequences of sexual harassment in public spaces, assess how the structure of the marriage market in India contributes to sex selection, and examine the effects of teacher identity on student performance along with the underlying mechanisms. Her work has been featured by Quartz, The Hindustan Times, Le Monde, The World Bank, BBC Radio and The New Statesman.
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Théophile Bougna
World Bank Group
Théophile Bougna is an Economist in the Development Impact Evaluation Department of the World Bank. His current research focuses on transport, urban and spatial economics with a particular interest in estimating the impact of transport infrastructure on local economic development, measuring and explaining changes in the spatial distribution of economic activity. His research has been published in refereed journals such as The Review of Economics and Statistics, Regional Sciences and Urban Economics, The Journal of Regional Science, and featured in VoxEU. Prior to joining the World Bank, he worked as Consultant at Statistics Canada, Analyst and Statistician at the Cameroon National Office of Statistics (INS), and Consultant for the Cameroon National Association for Family Welfare (CAMNAFAW-IPPF). Theophile received his Ph.D. degree in Economics from Université du Quebec a Montreal (UQAM), where he taught several economics courses and was a research assistant for the Canada Research Chair in Regional Impacts of Globalization. He also holds a Masters degree in Economics from the Centre d’Etudes et de Recherche sur le Développement International (CERDI - France), an Engineering Degree in Statistics from E.N.S.E.A (Côte d'Ivoire), and a Bachelor Degree in Economics and Management from Université de Dschang (Cameroon).
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Kayleigh Campbell
World Bank Group
Kayleigh Campbell is an Operations Officer at the World Bank in the Development Impact Evaluation (DIME) group. She manages operations for the ieConnect for Impact program—a portfolio of over 30 impact evaluations in 19 different countries across the themes of urban mobility, road safety, and transport corridors. The goal of the ieConnect program is to generate data and evidence on the effect of transport policies and investments, including indirect benefits, at a sufficient scale to substantially improve the evidence-base for policy making. Kayleigh's research explores how transport shapes cities and the lives of people in cities. She received a Ph.D. and M.A. in Sustainable Development and a B.A. in Economics-Mathematics from Columbia University.

Alice Duhaut
World Bank Group
Alice Duhaut is an Economist in the Development Impact Evaluation department (DIME) at the World Bank where her work focuses on impact evaluations of transport and trade interventions. Her research interests include trade, urban and regional economics and social networks. She received her PhD and MA in Economics from Université libre de Bruxelles and hold a MA in Philosophy from the same university.
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Aram Gassama

World Bank Group
Aram Gassama is a Research Analyst for the Development Impact Evaluation (DIME) unit at the World Bank. She supports the ieConnect team in the implementation of multiple impact evaluations through their different stages and in the supervision of field and research activities. She has also been working as a field coordinator with DIME in Senegal for two years. She holds a master’s degree in Public Policies and Development Economics and a bachelor’s degree in Economics and Law, both degrees obtained from Toulouse School of Economics. Her research interests focus on transport, gender and agriculture.

Judith Indalecio
World Bank Group
Judith Indalecio is an Assistant Program Coordinator at The World Bank in the Development and Impact Evaluation (DIME) unit. At DIME, she supports ieConnect, a program of transport impact evaluations, and DIME Analytics, an initiative that helps DIME research teams improve their impact evaluations. For ieConnect, she supports the research process, program operations, fundraising, and dissemination of research and public good services. For Analytics, she manages the World Bank’s SurveyCTO platform and DIME wiki and plays a key role in supporting the onboarding of new hires at DIME. She graduated from The George Washington University in 2019 with a B.A. in International Affairs and Latin American Studies and a minor in French. She also studied abroad at "Sciences Po” in Paris.
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Robert Marty
World Bank Group
Robert Marty is a Research Analyst in the Development Impact Evaluation unit at the World Bank where his work focuses on impact evaluations of transport corridors and road safety. In particular, his work focuses on leveraging innovative data sources for impact evaluations, such as satellite imagery, crowdsourced data and private sector data sources. Prior to joining the World Bank he worked at the AidData Center for Development Policy. He holds an MS in Computational Operations Research and a Master of Public Policy from the College of William and Mary.
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Sveta Milusheva
World Bank Group
Sveta Milusheva is an Economist in the Development Impact Evaluation (DIME) unit at the World Bank. She coordinates the ieConnect program of impact evaluations focused on transport investments and within this program leads the work on urban mobility. Her research interests include infrastructure and information & communication technologies, population mobility, health and gender. In particular, her work focuses on the application of new big data sources, such as mobile phone data and crowdsourced data, to study questions in development and evaluate the impact of development interventions. She received her PhD and MA in Economics from Brown University and her BA in Economics and International Studies from Emory University.
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Javier Morales Sarriera
World Bank Group
Javier Morales Sarriera is an Economist in the World Bank’s Transport Global Practice interested in urban transport in the topics of policy analysis, impact evaluation, and pricing. Javier works on research in the Sustainable Mobility for All initiative and on the implementation and coordination of a transport impact evaluation program in the World Bank. Prior to joining the World Bank, Javier worked at Cambridge Systematics, a transport consulting firm at the Inter-American Development Bank, and at the MIT Transit Lab. Javier received his Master of Science degree in Transportation from the Massachusetts Institute of Technology and a Master of Science degree in Economics from Centro de Estudios Monetarios y Financieros (Spain).
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Guigonan Serge Adjognon
World Bank Group
Guigonan Serge Adjognon is an Agricultural Economist in the Development Impact Evaluation (DIME) Team of the World Bank. His research interests lie at the intersection of agriculture, climate change, and food security. He is involved in several DIME-led IE projects investigating topics related to smallholders' market access in the context of a transforming agri-food system; agricultural technology adoption in the face of climate change; food security impacts of climate change interventions. Serge holds a Ph.D. degree from Michigan State University, and an MSc degree from McGill University, both in Agricultural economics. Prior to joining the World Bank, Serge was a Graduate Research Assistant with the Food Security Group at Michigan State University.
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Arturo Ardila-Gomez

World Bank Group
Arturo Ardila-Gomez, a Colombian national, Global Lead for Urban Mobility and Lead Transport Economist, oversees a portfolio of projects in the Middle East and Northern Africa Region of the World Bank, primarily in Egypt. Until recently he worked in the East Asia transport unit where he was team leader for several projects, including the Wuhan Integrated Transport Development Project and the new City Cluster initiative. He leads the Urban Mobility Global Solutions Group at the Bank. He provides overall technical support to projects for all regions in the Bank on issues such as financing, fare collection, political economy of public transport reform, and the role of disruptive technologies. He is the author of several peer-reviewed articles and two books, examples are Sustainable Urban Transport Financing from the Sidewalk to the Subway and Achieving Energy Savings by Intelligent Transport Systems in the Context of Smart Cities. His research currently focuses on sustainable urban transport asset management, public transport reform, and on improving the quality of monitoring and evaluation, including indicators, for transport projects. He holds a doctorate degree in urban transportation planning and a master's degree in city planning from the Massachusetts Institute of Technology (MIT). He is also a civil engineer and holds a master's degree in economics, both from Los Andes University in Bogota.

Kenzo Asahi

Universidad Católica de Chile
Kenzo Asahi’s research interests lie in the intersection of urban economics, labour economics, and program evaluation. His most recent research explores the impacts of investments in urban transport networks on human and economic development. He has previous work experience in local governments and non-profits in Chile. He holds a PhD from the London School of Economics, a Master in Public Administration in International Development from Harvard Kennedy School, a Master in Research in Economics from University College London and a bachelor's degree in Engineering from Chile's Catholic University.

Samuel Asare
Georgia State University
Samuel Asare is a fifth-year Ph.D. candidate in Economics at the Andrew Young School of Policy Studies, Georgia State University. He holds an M.A. in Economics from the University of Akron, Ohio (2014), and a B.A. in Economics and Mathematics from the University of Ghana (2012). His broad research interests are in impact evaluations, especially in developing regions such as Africa and Asia, in the fields of Development Economics, Transportation Economics, Health Economics, and Economics of Education. He is also interested in studying critical issues in developed countries in the areas listed above. Sam's job market paper estimates the impacts of health insurance on women’s healthcare utilization, and infants’ health outcomes in Ghana using the Demographic Health Survey data, and quasi-experimental methods. Additionally, he has other ongoing projects. In a study (with Pierre Nguimkeu), they develop a structural framework for optimal taxation of road quality through gasoline pricing. In another study, he evaluates the long-term impacts of charter school exposure on students’ educational and health outcomes.
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Cecilia Briceño-Garmendia

World Bank Group
Cecilia Briceño-Garmendia is a Lead Economist at the World Bank. For more than 20 years, Cecilia has dedicated her professional career to work and research on economic and policy issues pertaining to service provision and optimal functioning of infrastructure sectors. She has worked extensively on issues in the area of public financing of infrastructure, particularly on links between institutions and regulatory frameworks, and the efficiency of spending. She has spearheaded the use of spatial tools to help policymakers with infrastructure investment prioritization and with coordination of interventions across sectors and stakeholders. Her work at the World Bank involves both analytical and advisory services and economic input into the design and supervision of projects, with a focus on the financing of public infrastructure. Before joining the World Bank, she worked in software engineering and the design of information and organizational systems for both private and public sector enterprises in Venezuela. She holds a PhD in economics from Georgetown University and an MBA from the Instituto de Estudios Superiores en Administración.

Aidan Coville

World Bank Group
Aidan Coville leads the Infrastructure and Climate Change pillar as a Senior Economist in the Development Impact Evaluation Team (DIME) at the World Bank. After completing his MSc in Statistics at University College London and MSc in Economics for Development at the University of Oxford, he joined DIME in South Africa, exploring the effects of a large-scale slum upgrading project implemented across the country. Since then his work has focused on identifying sustainable, equitable and efficient ways to expand water, sanitation, electricity and broadband services with the aim of reducing poverty and spurring climate-compatible economic growth.
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Andrés Gómez-Lobo

Universidad de Chile
Andrés Gómez-Lobo holds a B.A. degree in Economics from Catholic University of Chile, a Master of Arts in Environmental and Resource Economics and a PhD in Economics from University College London. He is currently Associate Professor of Economics at the University of Chile. He has been Director of the Santiago Metro (2008-2010), Chief Advisor to the Minister of Transport and Telecommunications (2008-2010), and Minister of Transport and Telecommunications of Chile (2014-2017). Besides his academic work, Dr. Gómez-Lobo is a national and international consultant in natural monopoly regulation, competition and transport policies.

Bridget Hoffmann
Inter-American Development Bank
Bridget Hoffmann is an economist in the Research Department of the Inter-American Development Bank. Her research interests are applied microeconomics, environmental economics and development economics. Her research agenda is currently focused on the effect temperature on economic outcomes, the impact of air quality on economic outcomes, and the impact of air quality information on household behavior, attitudes, and policy demand. She received her Ph.D. in Economics from Northwestern University in 2015. She holds a bachelor’s degree in Financial Economics and Mathematics from the University of Rochester.
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Maria Jones
World Bank Group
Maria Jones is a Survey Specialist in the Impact Evaluation (DIME) unit at the World Bank. At DIME, she coordinates DIME Analytics, an initiative to increase quality and reproducibility of research and support data innovations, and works on impact evaluations in agriculture and transport. Current research projects include impact evaluations in agriculture and transport, with a focus on building integrated data systems to enable policy research. She created and runs DIME’s annual Manage Successful Impact Evaluations course and the DIME Wiki. Maria joined the World Bank in 2009, and has been based in Washington DC since 2012. From 2009-11, she was based in Malawi, working with the Ministry of Agriculture and Food Security on a program of impact evaluations. Maria has an MA in International Relations / Development Economics from the Johns Hopkins School of Advanced International Studies, and a BA in Economics and Spanish from Amherst College.
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Umaru Katta

Ministry of Transport and Aviation, Sierra Leone
Umaru Katta has, for over a decade, developed a career in research, consulting and economics. Through individual consultancies and full-time assignments, he has provided technical support to both public and private sector institutions at home and abroad. His experience spans from teaching to providing technical as well as operational support to post-war rehabilitation, reconstruction and resettlement projects in Sierra Leone. Mr. Katta joined the Ministry of Transport and Aviation (MTA) of Sierra Leone in October 2018 as a Director. In this role, he assists the Director of Transport Infrastructure and Development Unit (TIDU) to provide technical as well as management support to the Minister, Deputy Minister and Permanent Secretary. Mr. Katta is a 1999/2000 graduate of Economics and Education from the University of Sierra Leone. He also holds a Post Graduate Certificate in Social Research from the Centre for Social Science and Research (CSSR) in the University of Cape Town (UCT) – South Africa. Mr. Katta also holds a Post Graduate Diploma in Transport Planning, Development and Management from the Galilee International Management Institute (GIMI) in Israel.

Mathilde Lebrand

World Bank Group
Mathilde Lebrand is an Economist in the World Bank’s Chief Economist Office of the Infrastructure Vice Presidency. She has been working on assessing the economic benefits from transport investments such as the Belt and Road Initiative, on economic corridor development, and trade connectivity. Previously she worked for the transport GP, and the Europe and Central Asia Chief Economist office and contributed to several upcoming regional studies. Her research focuses on economic geography, transport, urban international trade, networks, and political economy. She has taught at the University of Montreal and has worked at the World Trade Organization in Geneva. She is a Research Fellow at the Center for Economic Studies ifo Institute (CESifo). She holds a PhD in economics from the European University Institute.

Aneesh Mannava

World Bank Group
Aneesh Mannava is a Research Analyst at the East Asia and Pacific Gender Innovation Lab (EAPGIL). His current research focus is on gender gaps in economic opportunities in South East Asia - understanding where the gaps exist and how to design development programs to work for men and women. In the past he has also carried out research on the topics of firm competitiveness, enterprise development and the benefits of infrastructure. He worked previously at the World Bank’s Competitiveness Policy Evaluation Lab, at the National Institute of Public Finance and Policy and Small Enterprise Finance Center at IFMR LEAD. He has undergraduate and master’s degrees in economics from the Indian Institute of Technology, Madras and the London School of Economics.

Kevin McPherson

Transport Research Laboratory
Kevin McPherson has more than 25 years experience in design and implementation of highway asset management systems, covering all aspects of planning, design, operations, monitoring and evaluation. He has particular experience in GIS and Open Data, and in the design and development of transport indicators at national and regional levels. He currently works for Transport Research Laboratory in UK, and is busy finalising updates to the guidelines for the Rural Access Index (RAI) / SDG 9.1.1. He is excited by the possibilities of using Big Data and Open Source tools to improve the production of international statistics and indicators.

Solange Mizero

Rwanda Transport Development Agency
Solange Mizero is the Coordinator of the Single Project Implementation Unit (SPIU) in the Rwanda Transport Development Agency, where she oversees all transport development projects specifically those externally funded. She holds a master’s degree in Transportation Engineering & Economics and a Bachelor’s degree in Civil Engineering. With 9 years’ experience in transport projects, the current portfolio under her responsibilities covers urban transport projects, feeder roads projects linking agriculture zones to market centers and regional integration projects meant to facilitate trade and transport with the neighboring countries.

Jean Pierre Nkezabo

Rwanda Transport Development Agency
Jean Pierre Nkezabo is the Feeder Roads Program Manager for Rwanda Feeder Roads Development Project implemented by Rwanda Transport Development Agency (RTDA). He has been working for the project since 2015 being part of the project implementation team to monitor and oversee technical studies and construction activities for feeder roads rehabilitation and participated in the project baseline survey and preparation for project impact evaluation in various districts of Rwanda. He has 9 years experience in infrastructure construction projects. Mr. Jean Pierre holds a Bachelor's degree in Civil Engineering and he is currently studying a Masters in Project Management.

Kristin Panier

World Bank Group
Kristin Panier is a Transport Economist in the Middle East, North Africa, Pakistan and Afghanistan. Her work focuses on economic corridors, employment and accessibility analyses, decarbonization and digitalization of transport. She is a core member of a forthcoming flagship report on emobility. Prior to joining the Transport GP in Washington DC, she worked with DIME in Rwanda on the impact evaluation of the Rural Feeder Roads Development Project and in Mali on a geography of poverty. She was a core member of the impact evaluation team for the Gender and Social Safety Net systematic review published by the Independent Evaluation Group.

Heitor Pellegrina

New York University Abu Dhabi
Heitor Pellegrina is an Assistant Professor in the Social Science Division of New York University Abu Dhabi. Pellegrina’ research is in trade and development economics, with a topical focus on agricultural trade, migration and environment. His research combines data with theory to measure the regional and aggregate effects of economic shocks in the agricultural sector. Pellegrina holds a Ph.D. in economics from Brown University. His pre-doctoral studies were at University of São Paulo where he earned a B.A. and M.A.

Elizaveta Perova

World Bank Group
Elizaveta Perova is a Senior Economist at East Asia and Pacific Chief Economist Office. She leads East Asia and Pacific Gender Innovation Lab. She is a micro-economist by training, and has worked on poverty measurement, labor and gender. She has MPP and Ph.D. from UC Berkeley

Nino Pkhikidze

World Bank Group
Nino Pkhikidze is a Young Professional at the Transport GP in ECA region. She is a development economist and has been studying roads and connectivity, human capital, jobs, poverty, agriculture, and gender issues. Before joining the World Bank, she was working at the Center for Development Research, University of Bonn in Germany on her PhD, where she studied the impacts of road quality and connectivity improvements on household economic outcomes. She has been working on remote sensing data, settlement and household surveys, administrative data, and historical maps to study the links. Before the PhD she worked at CPB - the Ministry of Economic Affairs and Climate Policy of the Netherlands on labor and education economics, and GeoWel Research in Georgia on various development issues.

Roland Pongou
World Bank Group
Roland Pongou is an Associate Professor of Economics at the University of Ottawa and a Visiting Scientist at Harvard University. His research interests lie at the intersection of political economy, health human capital, and economic development. His methodological approach is multidisciplinary, combining economic theory, game theory, social network theory, and quantitative methods.
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Arndt Reichert
World Bank Group
Arndt Reichert is an Economist in Development Impact Evaluation team at the World Bank and coordinator of impact evaluations on energy. He is an applied (micro-) econometrician with interests in energy, environment, health, and labor economics. Arndt’s current research investigates the economic impacts of investments in improved electricity supply to the industrial sector in Nepal and semi-urban as well as rural electrification in Argentina, Kenya, and Senegal. His recent articles have appeared in the Journal of Human Resources, Health Economics, and Social Science & Medicine. Before joining the World Bank, Arndt worked at the Rhine-Westphalia Institute for Economic Research (RWI) and as a lecturer at the Ruhr University of Bochum (RUB) in Germany. He holds a PhD in economics from the Ruhr University of Bochum.
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Ivan Macedo de Salles Fonseca

Toulouse School of Economics
Ivan Macedo de Salles Fonseca is a PhD candidate in Economics at the Toulouse School of Economics (TSE) under the supervision of Prof. Stéphane Straub. His primary field of research is development economics, with a particular interest in infrastructure. He completed his Economic Theory and Econometrics Masters at TSE, having done a research assistantship with Prof. Jean-Paul Azam where they investigated the effect of oil prices on productivity in France, as well as a teaching assistantship in Macroeconomics at the undergraduate level. Before the masters, he completed a Bachelor in Economics in the Federal University of Rio de Janeiro, where he also did one year of studies in the Bachelor of Computer Science. He did a two year internship at ANBIMA, the Brazilian Association of Financial and Capital Markets, where he helped set benchmark prices for fixed rate bonds in Brazil.

Ketki Sheth

University of California Merced
Ketki Sheth is a development economist whose research focuses on improving gender equality and the delivery of basic services. The majority of her projects are field experiments that are collaborations with development practitioners, such as government ministries and international NGOs. She has been the primary investigator on randomized controlled trials in India, Sri Lanka, Rwanda, Tanzania, Ethiopia, and Madagascar. She is currently working on research projects that uncover different factors that contribute to gender gaps, such as gender discrimination, language preferences, and policies that reduce barriers for girls’ educational achievement. Dr. Sheth is a faculty affiliate of the Center for Effective Global Action and an active contributor to the East Africa Social Science Translation Collaborative, a research network seeking to build social science scholarship in East Africa. She is currently a professor at the University of California, Merced, and earned her PhD in Economics from the University of California, San Diego. NIVEDHITHA SUBRAMANIAN Duke University

Emmanuel Taban

World Bank Group
Emmanuel Taban is a Highway Engineer working at the World Bank, based at the country office in Kigali, Rwanda. He has over 15 years of experience in road transport infrastructure development, majorly in Eastern Africa. He holds a master’s degree in Construction Management and Bachelor’s degree in civil engineering and currently studying a masters’ degree in Transport Planning and Engineering. Core area of operation includes Transport and Highway Engineering with specific focus on regional integration and rural access.

To Nam Toan

Directorate for Roads of Vietnam, Ministry of Transport
To Nam Toan is Director of Science Technology, Environment and International Cooperation Department of Directorate for Roads of Vietnam. Dr Toan was born in 1976. He received the B.E. and the M. Engineering degrees in Road Engineering from the University of Transport, Hanoi, Vietnam in 2000 and 2005, respectively, and the Ph.D. degree in Construction Management from the University of Tokyo, Japan in 2008. Before moving to DRVN in 2012, he was lecturer of Civil Engineering Department, University of Transport and Communications, Hanoi, Vietnam. His roles currently are drafting highway standards for DRVN and MoT, establishing the road assets management system and bridge management system, applying new technology in highway operation and maintenance, operating and maintaining long span bridges.

Will Violette
Federal Trade Commission
Will Violette is an economist in the Consumer Protection Division at the Federal Trade Commission. His research combines administrative data and structural methods to answer policy questions particularly in developing cities. His recent work focuses on setting prices for public utilities when households share connections and understanding the impacts of public housing on urban development. He received his PhD in Economics from Brown University.
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Fan Zhang

World Bank Group
Fan Zhang is a Senior Economist in the Chief Economist’s Office of Infrastructure Vice-Presidency at World Bank. Prior to that, she worked in the Chief Economist’s Office of South Asia, the Chief Economist’s Office of Europe and Central Asia Region, and as a Senior Energy Economist in the Energy and Extractives Global Practice of World Bank. She has led both lending and advisory programs and published in the areas of energy and environmental economics, economic growth, and climate change. Prior to joining the World Bank Group, she was an Assistant Professor of Energy Economics and Policy at the Pennsylvania State University. She has a Ph.D. from Harvard University.
In December 2019, ieConnect for Impact and the World Bank Transport Global Practice (GP) held the fourth impact evaluation (IE) workshop of ieConnect in Marrakech, Morocco. The workshop brought together 69 participants from 28 organizations. The workshop consisted of training sessions on IE measurements, targeted project group work “clinics”, and panel discussions. Each project was assigned a research team to develop the IE designs. This process served to enhance the capacity of the GP staff and client counterparts to design rigorous IEs and of clients to generate data on the impact of transport interventions. The teams incorporated road safety, green transport, climate, and gender considerations in the designs, which are key priorities for the GP. Presentations and training materials from the course were made publicly available in the workshop agenda.
Most participants were World Bank staff (29%), government officials from 8 different countries (29%), and DIME team members (23.3%). The remaining participants came from universities or research institutes (e.g., Duke University, Inter-American Development Bank, Toulouse School of Economics) (18.8%).
Trained participants took a knowledge test at the beginning and end of the course, to measure learning outcomes. The test had 7 questions on technical topics addressed in the training, such as designing sampling frames and impact evaluation methods. We see substantial knowledge gains: 81% improved their score, showing a greater knowledge of IEs design.
The ieConnect for Impact program is a research program of transport impact evaluations (IEs) across 19 different countries (program brief). The program aims to generate evidence through the development of data systems and experimental and quasi-experimental evaluations that can transform the way we think of mobility as an economic force and at a scale that will substantially improve the evidence-base for policy making in transportation. The program currently has over 30 ongoing impact evaluations, across the thematic areas of urban mobility, transport corridors, road safety, gender, and rural roads.
The program is led by the World Bank’s Development Impact Evaluation (DIME) group and the Transport Global Practice, with research collaborations on World Bank projects and across Multilateral Development Banks and bilateral organizations. The program is funded with UK aid from the UK government. For a general introduction to DIME, see our brochure.