Distinguished Development Economist and Diversity Champion
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María Caridad Araujo, an Ecuadorian economist, currently serves as Chief of the Gender and Diversity Division at the Inter-American Development Bank (IDB), where she spearheads initiatives to enhance quality service access and economic opportunities for underrepresented groups. Her extensive career includes significant roles as Lead Economist in the Social Protection and Health Division at IDB, focusing on early childhood development and poverty alleviation programs. She holds a Ph.D. and Master's in Agricultural and Resource Economics from UC Berkeley and completed her undergraduate studies in Economics at the Pontificia Universidad Católica del Ecuador. Her professional journey includes teaching at Georgetown University's Public Policy Institute and working at the World Bank, where she contributed to impact evaluation, poverty measurement, and social protection programs across East Asia, Central Asia, and Latin America. As a prolific researcher and policy expert, she has published extensively on social protection, early childhood development, and poverty reduction, while actively working to strengthen the voice and representation of women, indigenous peoples, Afro-descendants, persons with disabilities, and the LGBTIQ+ community.