Tigist Mekonnen Melesse is a development economist with the World Bank working on poverty analysis, regional integration, trade, and agriculture-industry linkages. Tigist holds a PhD in Economics from Maastricht University, Netherlands and an MSc in Agricultural Economics and BA in Economics from Haramaya University, Ethiopia. Tigist was a Visiting Research Fellow at the Center for Effective Global Action (CEGA-EASST), University of California Berkeley. Tigist has experience in teaching at Maastricht University, Netherlands and Jimma University, Ethiopia. Currently, Tigist is extensively engaged in Evidence-based decision making.