Yoko is a Senior Education Specialist in the Education Global Practice with over 20 years of experience. She has led policy dialogue, World Bank projects and analytical work which cover all levels of education from early childhood education to tertiary education in countries in East Asia and Pacific, South Asia, and in Africa regions. Most recently, she has been co-leading the education engagements in Ghana and led the preparation of Additional Financing for the Ghana Accountability for Learning Outcomes Project which focuses on Education Outcomes Fund and COVID-19 Education Response. Prior to that, she has led/co-led the education engagements in Southern Africa (South Africa, Eswatini, Botswana, Namibia, Zambia and Zimbabwe) which included the preparation of tertiary education sector analysis in South Africa and Zimbabwe, Public Expenditure Review in Botswana and preparation of Additional Financing for the Zambia Education Enhancement Project.
Before joining Africa region, her work in East Asia and South Asia focused on provision of quality of basic education in Vietnam, Cambodia, Malaysia and Bangladesh and various areas of skills development and tertiary education covering strategic planning, development of quality assurance mechanism, building innovation ecosystem and entrepreneurships for tertiary education, STEM education, and skills development for better employment in Bangladesh, Pakistan, India and Sri Lanka. Yoko has M.S. in International/Intercultural Education from Florida State University and M.A. in Education from Stanford University.