Feature Team Members

Alena Sakhonchik is a Private Sector Specialist in the World Bank’s Policy Indicators Group, where she currently leads global analytical work on early childhood education and care services under the flagship Women, Business and the Law project. Her work focuses on measuring and advancing regulatory and policy frameworks that shape access to, public financing of, and the quality of services that support women’s economic participation, child development, and broader human development outcomes. A key contributor to the development and evolution of the Women, Business and the Law framework, Alena has helped shape globally recognized indicators and diagnostics used by governments, World Bank country teams, development partners, and the private sector to inform policy reforms and operational engagements. She has also led innovative analytical initiatives on taxation, gender-responsive budgeting, and subnational assessments of legal and policy barriers to women's economic participation, including pioneering work in Nigeria and Bosnia and Herzegovina. Since joining the World Bank in 2014, Alena has supported and advised country teams and government counterparts across Central Asia, Eastern Europe, and other regions on private sector development, productivity growth, investment climate reforms, business regulation, competition policy, and economic inclusion. Her work combines rigorous analytical assessments with operational engagement to support evidence-based reforms and sustainable, inclusive economic development. Alena has authored, contributed to, and peer-reviewed numerous World Bank flagship country diagnostics, policy notes, reports, blogs, working papers, and journal publications on private sector development, gender equality, labor markets, and economic policy.