Irene Baby

India

Economics for Development (MSc), 2014
St Antony's College, Oxford

Funding: Louis Dreyfus

Irene is an Overseas Development Institute (ODI) Fellow at the Department of Development and Good Governance, Prime Minister's Office in Albania.

She has been part of the technical secretariat leading Albania's governance reforms towards fighting corruption, and promoting transparency and accountability. Previously, she was an ODI Fellow at the Ministry of Education in Rwanda where she was part of planning and budgeting activities of the education sector. She has also worked in the field of financial inclusion in India. Irene's experiences in policy-making and development have grounded her understanding of the State and the diverse ways in which it is experienced by different stakeholders.

She aims to pursue further research towards better understanding state bureaucracy and its role in development. Prior to her studies at Oxford, Irene completed her Integrated Masters in Economics (with a minor in development policy) from the Indian Institute of Technology Madras.

“In all my professional postings, I have liaised extensively with various stakeholders- both public and private- to try and bring about institutionalised changes that improve outcomes at scale. These experiences have also reinforced my belief in the potential of the State as an agent for change.

My education at Oxford (which would have simply not possible without WHT) has been crucial to my development. The confidence I gained from being part of a truly ‘global’ experience such as Oxford has been central in enabling me to undertake, and better understand the challenges of working in different parts of the world.”