Laura B. Rawlings is a Lead Social Protection Specialist at the World Bank currently working primarily in Africa on strengthening social protection and labor systems. She was previously the Strategy and Results team leader in the World Bank’s Social Protection and Labor unit and manager of the Strategic Impact Evaluation Fund (SIEF). She worked in the Latin American and Caribbean region where she led numerous project and research initiatives in the areas of conditional cash transfers, social funds and social protection systems; and worked as Sector Leader for Human Development in Central America where she was responsible for coordinating the World Bank’s health, education and social protection portfolio. She began her career at the World Bank in the Development Research Group where she worked on the evaluation of social programs. Prior to joining the World Bank she worked for the Overseas Development Council. An economist by training, she has published books and articles in the fields of evaluation and human development.