WBG Pioneer - Regulatory Efficiency and Subnational Business Environment Assessments

Description

WBG Pioneers, the World Bank Group’s Internship Program, offers undergraduate and postgraduate students a high impact learning experience at the heart of global development. Participants gain hands on experience in a diverse and dynamic environment, contribute fresh perspectives and innovative ideas, and connect with international professionals working to end poverty on a livable planet.

WBG Pioneers, the World Bank Group’s Internship Program, offers undergraduate and postgraduate students a high impact learning experience at the heart of global development. Participants gain hands on experience in a diverse and dynamic environment, contribute fresh perspectives and innovative ideas, and connect with international professionals working to end poverty on a livable planet.

Background/Organizational Context 

The Regulatory Efficiency Unit (DECRE) in the Development Economics Vice Presidency supports data-driven diagnostics of business regulatory environments and public service delivery. The unit’s subnational business environment work adapts the Business Ready (B-READY) methodology to city, regional, and country-specific contexts to identify regulatory implementation gaps, benchmark good practices, and generate actionable evidence for policy reform, private sector development, job creation, and inclusive growth. This internship will support DECRE’s core pipeline of Subnational B-READY and related business environment assessments, including legal and regulatory research, expert-based data collection, data validation, and preparation of analytical outputs for client-facing and knowledge products. 

Duties and Responsibilities

•  Conduct desk research and legal/regulatory analysis on selected business environment topics, including business entry, business location, utility services, international trade, taxation, dispute resolution, market competition, and business insolvency. 

•  Support preparation, customization, administration, tracking, and quality checks of expert questionnaires and data collection instruments for subnational assessments. 
Assist with identifying relevant private sector experts, public sector counterparts, and institutional sources, and maintain organized trackers for outreach, responses, and follow-up. 

•  Help code, clean, compare, and validate questionnaire responses against laws, regulations, public websites, administrative data, and other secondary evidence. 
Support process mapping and preparation of short analytical notes, tables, charts, presentations, and background inputs for reports, briefings, blogs, and dissemination materials. 

•  Provide operational and research support to task teams, including meeting notes, source organization, document management, and other project needs under tight deadlines. 

Selection Criteria

•  Currently enrolled in a postgraduate program (master’s or PhD) in law, economics, public policy, international development, public administration, urban/regional development, data analytics, or a related field; strong final-year undergraduate candidates may be considered if operationally appropriate. 

•  0–6 years of relevant professional experience and demonstrated interest in development work, private sector development, regulatory reform, and the World Bank Group’s mission.

•  Strong analytical, legal research, writing, and problem-solving skills, with attention to detail and ability to synthesize complex regulatory information clearly.

•  Excellent command of Microsoft Word, Excel, and PowerPoint. Experience with Stata, R, Python, data visualization, survey tools, or structured data cleaning is an advantage. 

•  Proficiency in English is required. Professional fluency in one or more additional languages, including Arabic, French, Portuguese, Russian, Spanish, Chinese, German, Serbian, or other project-relevant languages, is an asset.

•  Ability to work effectively in diverse teams, manage multiple priorities, maintain confidentiality, and deliver high-quality work within agreed deadlines.

No-Fee Internship Eligibility
This position is offered under the WBG Pioneers No-Fee Internship Track. Students may be offered a no-fee STT appointment provided that they either: (a) are enrolled in a Master's, PhD, or similar graduate program during the entire internship (or are in the fifth year or higher of a degree program in countries where higher education is not divided into undergraduate and graduate stages) and provide an official letter from their university confirming that the internship fulfills academic requirements for at least one term of study; or (b) are enrolled in undergraduate or graduate studies and receive a stipend from their university at least equivalent to the minimum STT T1 fee level in effect at the start of the assignment, as confirmed by an official university letter.

Note: Please limit your applications to a maximum of three positions. Applications exceeding this limit will not be considered.

WBG Culture Attributes:
1. Sense of urgency: Anticipate and quickly respond to the needs of internal and external stakeholders.
2. Thoughtful risk-taking: Challenge the status quo and push boundaries to achieve greater impact.
3. Empowerment and accountability: Empower yourself and others to act and hold each other accountable for results.

The World Bank Group values diversity and encourages all qualified candidates who are nationals of World Bank Group member countries to apply, regardless of gender, gender identity, religion, race, ethnicity, sexual orientation, or disability.  Sub-Saharan African nationals, Caribbean nationals, and female candidates are strongly encouraged to apply.