Bénédicte de la Brière is a Lead Economist in the Gender Cross Cutting and Solutions Area group of the World Bank.  She was previously in the Human Development group of the Africa Region, as well as focal point for Governance and Service Delivery in the Office of the Chief Economist for Human Development. At the World Bank, she has worked on social assistance in MENA, LAC and SSA. She has previously served at FAO, leading research about the productive impacts of social cash transfers in Africa, and was DFID adviser to the Ministry of Social Development in Brazil during the first Lula government . She holds a Ph.D from UC Berkeley in Agriculture and Resource Economics and undertook post-doctoral research at IFPRI on intra-household impacts of rural development and social interventions.