Laura Romero Ayala

Laura Romero is a Senior Policy Associate at J-PAL North America where she supports the Environment, Energy & Climate Change initiative in generating evidence to identify and advance equitable, high-impact policy solutions to climate change in the United States. Additionally, she works on the Government Partnerships team, where she supports researchers, local governments, and nonprofit organizations to generate and use rigorous evidence in policy decision-making.

Prior to joining J-PAL North America, Laura was a Rural Finance Specialist at the United Nations Food and Agriculture Organization, providing technical support for financial mechanisms that benefit farmers globally. In the summer of 2023, she worked at Innovations for Poverty Action (IPA), evaluating the impact of audiovisual tools on perceptions of enforced disappearance victims in Mexico City. Laura also spent some years at a Colombian development bank, where she monitored and evaluated the Agricultural Guarantee Fund for small farmers. Laura holds a Master of Public Administration in International Development from Harvard Kennedy School and a Master’s in Economics of Public Policy from Universidad del Rosario.