Published on October 17, 2025 – Updated on October 24, 2025

Habibou Ibrahim Kassoum is back to Clermont after a prolonged stay in the US. We asked him a few questions about his journey.

Why did you travel to Washington?    

I first went to the US to join The Africa Gender Innovation Lab (GIL), a research department of the World Bank, for a research stay. The GIL conducts impact evaluations of development interventions with the aim of generating evidence on how to close gender gaps in income, productivity, and job creation. I contributed to an assessment of the impact of a cash transfer program targeting women on domestic violence in Mauritania. This work will be included as one of the chapters of my PhD thesis.

What happened next? 

Before travelling, I had applied for the Bank internship program. I learned that I was selected for the program while I was in Washington.  

I joined the Poverty & Equity Global Practice team for the Eastern and Southern Africa region (AFE/EAEPV) to assist Lina Cardona Rosa, the senior poverty economist for Malawi. In this position, we worked together to apply the Commitment to Equity (CEQ), an assessment framework, and analyze how taxes and spending affect poor and rich people in Malawi. I also helped build a web application where policymakers can plug in numbers and see how different tax and spending policies would affect the income of poor and rich households. I am currently updating Malawi's poverty line using the latest household survey data of 2024-2025 to provide policymakers with current poverty estimate that inform equitable fiscal, social protection and job creation policies. 

Did you travel to Malawi during your internship, or did you just work from Washington?  


Yes, I traveled to Blantyre, a town in southern Malawi, in August. The purpose of this mission was to provide technical assistance and capacity-building to the Malawi National Statistical Office (NSO). I co-facilitated a week-long workshop with World Bank colleagues, training NSO staff on data management. The mission aimed to strengthen national capacity to analyze household survey data and to equip the NSO with tools for evaluating the distributional effects of fiscal policies, ensuring sustainability and local ownership of the methods and procedure we used.    

What did you get out of the experience?  

This role strengthened my technical skills in poverty measurement, inequality, and redistribution analysis. Working directly with the Malawi team, I learned how to translate complex data into clear policy advice that helps policymakers make better decisions and create real impact. Training government staff and implementing analytical tools taught me how to build local expertise and communicate knowledge effectively. 

What's next? What are your plans? 

My next step is completing my PhD to strengthen my analytical foundation. After that, I want to continue the work I started in Malawi using data and analytical tools to support evidence-based poverty reduction policies and help governments and policymakers make informed decisions. 

More information on the Bank Internship Program