Developing The Global Economy With Behavioral Science: Zeina Afif - a podcast by The Decision Lab

Zeina Afif is a Senior Social Scientist with the World Bank’s Mind, Behavior & Development Unit (eMBeD), within the Poverty and Equity Global Practice at the World Bank. Zeina is currently working on applying behavioral insights to improve women’s access to finance and jobs, reduce youth unemployment, reduce gender-based violence, promote social cohesion, and improve access to public services and programs in the Middle East and North Africa, as well as Latin America & Caribbean region. Prior to joining the team, Zeina provided operational communication and behavioral insights support to World Bank projects and has worked in countries such as Egypt, Indonesia, Iraq, Kuwait, Oman, and Yemen in the areas of taxes, social protection, social accountability, and citizen engagement. Zeina holds a MBA from George Washington University, and a M.Sc. in Behavioral Science from London School of Economics.

In this episode, we discuss:

• Zeina’s work at the eMBeD unit at the Bank.


• How the behavioral science approach of eMBed changed the way the Bank approaches problems


• Challenges of differentiating the value of behavioral science compared to other social sciences


• Evolution of behavioral science at The Bank


• Why an RCT is not always the most appropriate approach in a development project


• Why empathy is a key skill in working in applied behavioral science


• Zeina’s take on the private sector applying behavioral science

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