Shawn Powers is an Economist in the Education Global Practice at the World Bank. As a member of the Early Learning Partnership (ELP) team, he leads a multi-country research program on strengthening early learning systems. He also supports the Sierra Leone and Liberia country teams and the Africa Higher Education Centers of Excellence (ACE) project. Prior to joining the World Bank, Shawn was a Senior Policy Manager at the Abdul Latif Jameel Poverty Action Lab (J-PAL), where he managed the education sector program. He also spent three years working on domestic anti-poverty and food security policy in the U.S. and was a Fulbright scholar in the Philippines. Shawn holds a BA in Economics from Williams College; an MPhil in Development Studies from the University of Cambridge, where he was a Gates scholar; and an MPA in Economics and Public Policy from the Woodrow Wilson School at Princeton University.