Mariona Tres Vilanova

Mariona Tres Vilanova is a PhD Student in Development Economics.

At SOAS, Mariona is interested in understanding the reasons why the implementation of social policies often fail to deliver their intended outcomes despite good policy intentions, resources, and efforts and how can we ensure that eligible people take-up the services and benefits they are entitled to and thus improve the effectiveness of public service delivery in developing countries.

Before joining SOAS as a PhD Student in Development Economics, Mariona was a Senior Research Associate at Innovations for Poverty Action (IPA) in Colombia where she oversaw the implementation of randomized controlled trials to evaluate the impact of migration and early childhood development programmes. As part of this role, Mariona has implemented quantitative and qualitative field data collection, including survey design and programming, field team recruitment, training and supervision, data quality monitoring and analysis.

Previously, Mariona worked at Instiglio, a consulting non-profit organisation that designs and implements incentive mechanisms to improve the effectiveness of social programmes through performance contracts and performance management. Specifically, Mariona advised the Colombian and Moroccan governments as well as international donors on the design and implementation of incentive mechanisms to improve the delivery of youth employment, health and migration programmes.

Mariona holds a BSc in Economics and Geography from University College London and an MSc in Applied Development Economics from the Barcelona Graduate School of Economics.

• Public service delivery
• Social protection and welfare
• State capacity
• Take-up of social benefits
• Migration
• Latin America