Lelys Dinarte-Diaz is an Economist in the People Research Program of the World Bank's Development Research Group. Her research agenda explores three main questions: (1) Do investments in early childhood yield positive outcomes for both parents and children? (2) What interventions are effective in addressing violent behaviors and promoting the well-being of adolescents? (3) How can educational services be enhanced in settings that are fragile and affected by conflict? To investigate these questions, she conducts both experimental and non-experimental studies in various regions, including Latin America, Eastern Europe, South Asia, and South Saharan Africa. She obtained her PhD and master’s in economics from Pontificia Universidad Católica de Chile in 2018 and her B.A. in Economics from ESEN in El Salvador in 2010. She is research fellow at CESifo and research affiliate at the IZA, HiCN, and AMIE networks and at the DECRG's CRWJ and AI/DD research centers and a regular contributor to the Development Impact blog.

Jaime Saavedra is the Director of Human Development for Latin America and the Caribbean of the World Bank. Previously, he led the institution's Global Education Practice. Between 2013 and 2016 he served as Minister of Education of Peru. During his tenure, he promoted a teachers’ career reform, an expansion of full-time secondary, and a bold university reform. The performance of Peru’s education system improved substantially as measured by international learning assessments. Prior to assuming this role, he was Global Director for Poverty Reduction and Equity and Acting Vice-President of Poverty Reduction and Economic Management at the World Bank, where he co-led the establishment of the twin goals of Eliminating Extreme Poverty and pursuing Shared Prosperity, which continues guiding the work of the institution. He has held positions at the Inter-American Development Bank, the Economic Commission for Latin America and the Caribbean, the International Labor Organization, LACEA, and the National Council of Labor in Peru. He has been the Executive Director of Grupo de Análisis para el Desarrollo (GRADE), a leading think tank in Peru.

He has also held teaching positions and Universidad Católica of Peru, and the University of Toronto. He is currently a board member of Teach for All, the Global Education Evidence Advisory Panel, and the High-Level Council on Leadership & Management for Development of the Aspen Institute. Dr. Saavedra holds a Ph.D. in economics from Columbia University and a bachelor’s degree in economics from the Catholic University of Peru. 

Aaditya Mattoo is Director of the Development Research Group of the World Bank. He specializes in development, trade, and international cooperation, and provides policy advice to governments. Previously, he served as Chief Economist of the East Asia and Pacific Region. He was also Co-Director of the World Development Report 2020 on Global Value Chains and Research Manager, Trade and Integration. Before he joined the Bank, Mr. Mattoo was Economic Counsellor at the World Trade Organization and taught economics at the University of Sussex and Churchill College, Cambridge University. He holds a Ph.D. in Economics from the University of Cambridge, and an M.Phil in Economics from the University of Oxford. He has published on development, trade, trade in services, and international trade agreements in academic and other journals and his work has been cited in the Economist, Financial Times, New York Times, and Time Magazine.