MNA Fellow

The World Bank's SME and Enterprise Development, Policy and Regulations unit (WKPTS), part of the Prosperity Vice Presidency, supports legal, regulatory, and institutional reforms through a mix of regional and global engagements aimed at strengthening SME and private sector development. The unit coordinates Bank Group work on business regulation, providing input and quality control on business environment and women’s access to economic opportunities as a cross-cutting topic. The Fellow will conduct legal, regulatory, comparative, and data analysis, help prepare diagnostics, reform options, and technical notes for country teams and government counterparts, and support coordination with operational teams and technical focal points across the Bank Group. The Fellow will gain hands-on experience in turning benchmarking, data, and analytical work into concrete reform implementation. The expected work program spans the following areas:

• Business Regulations including Registration and Licensing for SMEs: Research and assessment of relevant legal, regulatory, and institutional frameworks, including data analysis and international benchmarking.
• Women's Entrepreneurship: Assessment of legal, regulatory, policy, and institutional frameworks to identify opportunities for expanding women's entrepreneurship, including data analysis, international benchmarking, government dialogue, and identification and validation of reform priorities.
• Care Economy: Development and piloting of a framework for assessing the legal and institutional environment for the care sector in one to two countries, including legal research, data analysis, stakeholder engagement, and preparation of reform recommendations and knowledge products. Duties and Responsibilities
• Conduct legal and policy research, data analysis, and international benchmarking on relevant laws, regulations, policies, institutional mandates, procedures, and implementation instruments, drawing on global evidence, country examples, and World Bank indices, including B-READY and Women, Business and the Law, where applicable.
• Contribute to the legal and regulatory assessment of business registration, licenses and company law, including related procedural and institutional arrangements, and support development of the associated reform action plans.
• Support the development and piloting of a framework for assessing the legal and institutional environment for the care economy in one to two countries.
• Participate in and support government policy dialogue, stakeholder consultations, validation workshops, and technical discussions by preparing concise analytical and briefing materials, presentations, meeting summaries, and follow-up actions.
• Contribute to knowledge products, technical workshops, and peer-learning activities that translate international experience into practical reform considerations.
• Support the delivery of interventions on business and financial management skills development for SMEs, including coordination, participant engagement, and related follow-up activities.
• Coordinate with task teams, government counterparts, private-sector stakeholders, and World Bank Group experts, and provide related analytical and operational support as needed.