Child Poverty and Social Protection in Central and Western Africa

Gustave Nébié is currently the Economic Adviser for UNICEF in West and Central Africa. Before that, he was the Chief Social Policy in UNICEF Mali, Inter-Regional Adviser in the Department of Economic and Social Affairs for the United Nations Department of Economic and Social Affairs (UNDESA), and Senior Economist at the United Nations Development Programme (UNDP). Before joining the UN, he worked at the Central Bank of West African States and he was Director of Economic Studies and Planning (Ministry of Finance, Burkina Faso). He holds a PhD (Economics, Paris Dauphine) and MA (Public Administration, National School of Administration, ENA, Paris).

Enrique Delamonica is the Chief of Social Policy and Gender Equality at UNICEF Nigeria. He is an economist and political scientist educated at the University of Buenos Aires, the Institute for Economic and Social Development, Columbia University, and the New School for Social Research. He was a policy analyst at UNICEF’s Headquarters for over ten years and for five years the Social and Economic Policy Regional Advisor at UNICEF’s Office for Latin America and The Caribbean focusing on poverty reduction strategies, social protection, socioeconomic disparities, equity approaches, child poverty, financing social services, and the impact of macro-economic trends on child welfare. He has published and co-edited books and articles on issues of social policy and economic development, particularly as they affect children’s rights. He has also taught economics, international development, policy analysis, statistics and research methods at, among other places, New York University, Columbia University, the New School, and Saint Peter’s College (New Jersey). He is a Fellow of the Comparative Research Programme on Poverty (CROP).

Chinyere Emeka-Anuna is the Senior Programme Officer for International Labour Organisation (ILO). She has a first degree in Linguistics from the University of Calabar and three Master’s Degrees from the University of Lagos in Public Administration (MPA), International Law and Diplomacy (MILD), and Humanitarian and Refugee Studies (MHRS). She has extensive working experience in the public and private sectors. She worked for the International Red Cross Movement for nine years—six years with the Nigerian Red Cross and three years with the International Federation of Red Cross and Red Crescent Societies in different areas such as fundraising, finance and administration, and program management. In 2010, she moved over to the International Labour Organization as the National Programme Coordinator for a Human Trafficking/Forced Labour Project and in 2014, she became the Senior Programme Officer. Over the years, she has accumulated expertise in various fields like management and coordination with leadership skills; program management including operational planning and budgeting, reporting, monitoring and advocacy, organizational development and capacity building and the ability to manage change processes within an organizational setting. Her current role as the Programme Officer is to support ILO Tripartite Partners in Nigeria, Ghana, Liberia, and Sierra Leone in achieving the goal of the Decent Work Agenda

Felix Fofana N'Zue holds a Ph.D. in Agricultural Economics from Oklahoma State University (USA). He is currently the Head of the Economic Policy Analysis Unit of the ECOWAS Commission. Before joining ECOWAS he worked with the African Centre for Economic Transformation (ACET) based in Accra, Ghana, as a Senior Research Fellow. He also held the following successive positions: Manager of Collaborative Research with the African Economic Research Consortium (AERC) in Nairobi, Kenya; Director General of Employment with the Ministry of Public Service and Employment of Côte d’Ivoire; Senior Expert in Agricultural and Rural Employment, with ILO; Technical Adviser to the Prime Minister in charge of Employment and Professional Training. He taught undergraduate and graduate econometrics at the Felix Houphouet Boigny University and at the Ivorian Social and Economic Research Center (CIRES) in Abidjan.