Dr. Sajitha Bashir is Education Sector Manager for Eastern and Southern Africa region of the World Bank. She has over 15 years of operational and research experience with the World Bank, national and state governments in India and other donor agencies.  Within the World Bank, she has worked in Africa, South Asia and Latin America, where her priorities have been leading policy dialogue, strategy development and designing and guiding education sector reform programs within the broader framework of fiscal and governance reforms.  She has extensive experience in preparing and implementing projects at all levels of education.  Prior to joining the World Bank, she worked as Chief Consultant for Research and Evaluation with the Government of India’s national primary education program. She has a Ph.D. in economics from the London School of Economics and has published extensively.