Ms Samira Nikaein Towfighian

Ms Samira Nikaein Towfighian is an Education Specialist at the World Bank, where she works on lending operations and education studies in the Middle East and North Africa (MENA) Region. She is the Early Childhood Education Focal Point for MENA, and leads several regional and country-level projects in the subsector. Her work also focuses on strengthening the evidence base for education policymaking in MENA. In partnership with J-Pal and SIEF, Samira has developed an impact evaluation incubator to promote rigorous evaluations in the region. She is also co-leading a field experiment on gender discrimination in the labor market in Tunisia. Prior to joining the World Bank, Samira worked on a range of education and development policy issues including early childhood development in Central Asia (UNICEF), refugee education in the Middle East (UNHCR), and skills development in Latin America and Sub-Saharan Africa (UNESCO).

Samira holds a Master’s Degree in International Education Policy from Harvard University.