Malena Acuña is a Consultant at the World Bank’s Poverty and Equity Practice for Latin America and the Caribbean. She is a graduate of the Master in Public Administration in International Development (MPA/ID) at Harvard Kennedy School, and has her Bachelor's degree in Economics from the Universidad de San Andrés, Argentina. Malena worked as Research Analyst at the Argentine think tank CIPPEC, interned at the Sri Lankan Ministry of National Policies and Economic Affairs, she was Research Assistant, and Teaching Assistant in courses on public sector and advanced econometrics. Her work mainly focuses on the intersection of poverty reduction and inclusive growth, covering social policy topics including social protection, education, cash transfers, gender equality, labor markets, early childhood, migration, and crime. Malena has experience elaborating evidence-based policy recommendations and estimating their cost, processing and analyzing data, writing articles and reports, and designing projects.