Our Team
Who We Are / Our Team
Based at the World Bank Headquarters in Washington, DC, the GPSA Secretariat is a multidisciplinary team that works to implement the GPSA's mission.
Alina KoenigOperations & Strategic Planning
Alina Koenig
Alina Koenig is a Social Accountability Specialist with more than eight years of professional experience in the areas of transparency, civic participation, accountability, institutions-building, and political economy of reform. Alina joined the World Bank in 2014 as Junior Professional Associate at the Governance Practice, where she focused on providing assistance to governments from the Latin America and Caribbean region to address service delivery bottlenecks in the public administration. Since then, she has had several assignments including at the Citizen Engagement Secretariat and currently the Global Partnership for Social Accountability, supporting mainly the operational preparation of the Program’s development projects, grant-making, portfolio monitoring, and strategic planning. Prior to the Bank, Alina has worked in international organizations and bilateral donors both at the headquarters and in the field. Her stations include the civil society team at UNDP, GIZ, and BMZ. Alina holds a master's degree in Public Policy from Hertie School of Governance and a bachelor's degree in Political Science from University of Hamburg, Germany.
Aly Zulficar RahimProgram Manager
Aly Zulficar Rahim
Aly is the GPSA Program Manager leading its strategies for collaboration with civil society and governments to improve accountability; he also serves as the World Bank’s Global Lead for Social Accountability and Citizen Engagement. He most recently served as Practice Manager for Social Sustainability and Inclusion for West Africa, where he and his team managed social impacts under the Bank’s new Environmental and Social Framework and established a $1 billion platform of multi-country community recovery projects to help stabilize conflict-affected zones across the subregion. Aly previously served as Assistant to the President of the World Bank Group where he coordinated a portfolio including CSO/stakeholder engagement, sustainable development, climate and conflict/fragility. Aly started his career at the World Bank in 2004, and held social development roles in Africa, South Asia, Europe and Central Asia leading projects, and advisory/analytic work with a focus on participatory, community-driven and inclusive development programs. He has also served in the Canadian Department of Foreign Affairs, focusing on peacebuilding for Sudan and Afghanistan. Aly holds a Masters degree from the School of Foreign Service at Georgetown and an undergraduate degree from Dartmouth in International Relations.
Anne PillayAdministrative Support
Anne Pillay
More information on Anne coming soon
Ann-Sofie JespersenSr Social Development Specialist
Ann-Sofie Jespersen
Ann-Sofie joined the World Bank in 2014 in the Egypt Country Office, and brings more than 10 years of experience working on social accountability mechanisms and citizen engagement. She previously worked in Operations Policy and Country Services on citizen engagement and external accountability. She has operational experience in the MENA and Africa regions, where she worked on a range of Bank products including CPF, IPFs, and PforRs. Before joining the World Bank she worked on social accountability with ActionAid in the Middle East, West Africa, Europe and USA. She obtained her Bachelor and Master degree in International Development and Business Studies at Roskilde University, Denmark.
José Malbec LeightonGPSA/CIVIC Communications and Knowledge Management
José Malbec Leighton
José is a dedicated communications professional with international experience in sustainability and strategic partnerships. With a background in journalism from the University of Navarra, a MA in Digital Entrepreneurship from Viadrina University and Management Montpellier Business School, he brings a multidisciplinary approach to communications and stakeholder engagement. Throughout his career, José has played a pivotal role in driving impactful collaborations and media strategies.
At the World Climate Foundation in Copenhagen, Denmark, he spent three years leading large-scale partnerships with public and private sector entities from different regions, fostering meaningful dialogues on climate action. Most recently, at Verra, he spearheaded strategic communications and media relations in the carbon markets space, strengthening the organization's visibility and engagement with key stakeholders in different regions.
In 2024, José was selected as a Future Climate Leader with the Aspen Institute, where he contributed to high-level discussions on climate resilience. He also served as a NATO Youth Fellow, supporting strategic initiatives on geopolitical issues.
Florencia GuerzovichMonitoring and Evaluation
Florencia Guerzovich is an independent consultant and has worked for The World Bank, Open Society Foundations, Ford Foundation, among other organizations. She currently works as Senior Advisor Monitoring, Evaluation, Research and Learning at the Global Partnership for Social Accountability at the World Bank. She has been innovating, connecting, researching, and problem solving for big, complex governance problems since 2000, when she joined the Department of Transparency Policies of the Argentinean Anti-corruption Office. Florencia also served the Transparency and Accountability Initiative's Program Officer, Impact and Learning. Florencia earned her PhD in political science from Northwestern University. Florencia also has a Master’s degree in International Relations from FLACSO/Argentina and a Bachelor’s of Arts in International Studies from Universidad Torcuato di Tella in Argentina. @guerzovich.
Florencia Guerzovich
Florencia Guerzovich is an independent consultant and has worked for The World Bank, Open Society Foundations, Ford Foundation, among other organizations. She currently works as Senior Advisor Monitoring, Evaluation, Research and Learning at the Global Partnership for Social Accountability at the World Bank. She has been innovating, connecting, researching, and problem solving for big, complex governance problems since 2000, when she joined the Department of Transparency Policies of the Argentinean Anti-corruption Office. Florencia also served the Transparency and Accountability Initiative's Program Officer, Impact and Learning. Florencia earned her PhD in political science from Northwestern University. Florencia also has a Master’s degree in International Relations from FLACSO/Argentina and a Bachelor’s of Arts in International Studies from Universidad Torcuato di Tella in Argentina. @guerzovich.
Operations
Francisco Lazzaro
Development professional with 8+ years of experience in International Organizations, with expertise in the fields of Public Sector Management, Open Government and Transparency & Accountability. Practical experience in World Bank Group operations across four regions and 20 countries.
Ben BakalovicFellow
Ben Bakalovic
Ben is a lawyer by training and focuses on the intersection of law, politics and civil society. He currently assists the GPSA as a Carlo Schmid Fellow during which he works on digital social accountability, communications and operational management. His main interests are civil society interactions with state institutions and governance.
Ben completed the state bar exam in law and holds a B.S. in Political Science from Heidelberg University. His previous job postings included stints as a legal researcher at Humboldt University in Berlin as well as a legislative aide in the German parliament, the Bundestag.
Kathleen OtooAdministrative Support
Kathleen Otoo
More information on Kathleen coming soon
Linnea MillsMonitoring, Evaluation, Research and Learning
Linnea Mills
Linnea Mills works on the monitoring, evaluation, research and learning (MERL) aspects of the GPSA. She joined the team in 2019 when she conducted an evaluation of one of the GPSA’s grants and has since then provided research-and related support to the GPSA Secretariat and to other evaluators of GPSA projects. Linnea has worked as an independent research consultant for the past 15 years for a range of organizations and on a variety of subjects under the umbrella of good governance, including on anti-corruption, transparency and accountability, public financial management, and development cooperation effectiveness. She holds an M.Sc. in development studies and a Ph.D. on the subject of political corruption, both from the London School of Economics, UK and a B.Sc. and an M.Sc. in international economics and politics from Jönkoping International Business School, Sweden.
Maria CavatoreCapacity Building/Implementation Support
Maria Cavatore
Maria currently works as Senior Social Accountability Specialist with the GPSA that she joined in 2016 after working with civil society organizations worldwide. As an independent consultant, Maria has been collaborating with several INGOs (Oxfam, CARE, Plan, Save the children) for the last 15 years managing, researching and co-designing governance and social accountability projects in multiple sectors and with different citizens groups. She is an inspiring workshop facilitator and led many capacity-building sessions for diverse audiences. She has worked in South Asia, the Pacific region, Latin America, in Northern and Sub-saharan Africa. Maria has a postgraduate in international development from the University of London. She speaks French, Spanish and English.
Rosemary RopCapacity Building/Implementation Support
Rosemary Rop
Rosemary Rop works on pro poor reforms with regulatory agencies, utilities and non governmental organizations to extend water and sanitation services to marginalized communities. She has been involved in designing the Nyalenda delegated management model, and strengthening citizen voice in the sector through participatory approaches and ICT solutions like MajiVoice, a system wide feedback mechanisms for water and sanitation services in urban areas. She led stakeholder support in the development of the African Ministers Council on Water (AMCOW) Policy and Strategy for Mainstreaming Gender in Africa’s Water Sector to promote women's voice and economic opportunities in sector management. Rosemary joined the WBG in 2005 and has worked in South Asia, East and West Africa regions. Prior to this Rosemary worked with a bilateral program extending integrated WASH services to rural areas, and later as founder of a local NGO to communities living in urban informal settlements. She holds a BA and MA in social anthropology from Nairobi university and post graduate training in water and electricity utility regulation.
Saad Filali MeknassiCapacity Building/Implementation Support
Saad currently serves as Senior Social Accountability Specialist with the GPSA that he joined in 2013 after working with the Access to Information program of the World Bank. As an independent international consultant, Saad has been collaborating with several international organizations and INGOs (OECD, World Resources Institute, Open Society Foundations, Article 19, UNESCO, UNODC, ILO…) for the last 15 years at headquarters and in the field managing, researching and co-designing research and collaborative projects on governance, freedom of information, anti-corruption and sustainability. Saad is a PhD in Economics from the University Mohamed V of Rabat, Morocco and holds a Masters on International Financial Macrodynamics from the University of Nice Sophia Antipolis, France. Saad speaks Arabic, French, English and Spanish what enhances his networking and partnering abilities.
Saad Filali Meknassi
Saad currently serves as Senior Social Accountability Specialist with the GPSA that he joined in 2013 after working with the Access to Information program of the World Bank. As an independent international consultant, Saad has been collaborating with several international organizations and INGOs (OECD, World Resources Institute, Open Society Foundations, Article 19, UNESCO, UNODC, ILO…) for the last 15 years at headquarters and in the field managing, researching and co-designing research and collaborative projects on governance, freedom of information, anti-corruption and sustainability. Saad is a PhD in Economics from the University Mohamed V of Rabat, Morocco and holds a Masters on International Financial Macrodynamics from the University of Nice Sophia Antipolis, France. Saad speaks Arabic, French, English and Spanish what enhances his networking and partnering abilities.
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