Naila Kabeer is Professor of Development Studies at the School of Oriental and African Studies, London University. She has over 25 years experienced carrying out research, teaching and advisory work in the field of poverty, gender, social exclusion, labour markets and livelihoods, citizenship and social protection. She co-directed a three year research program on Social Protection in Asia (www.socialprotectionasia.org ) which has generated a number of publications, including a synthesis report 'Social Protection in Asia: Research findings and policy lessons' . She has worked as a Senior Research Fellow for the Department for International Development, UK during which time she authored a number of reports on Social Protection and carried out a systematic review of the evidence on economic impacts of conditional cash transfers. She is also the author of 'Gender, social protection and the informal economy' (Commonwealth Secretariat, London/ Routledge, New Dehli), co-author of 'Social protection in Asia' and co-editor of 'Social protection as development policy: Asian perspectives' (Routledge, New Dehli).