Profiles

Maria Klara, PhD, is an interdisciplinary researcher whose work sits at the intersection of politics, development sociology, and social anthropology. Her research and consulting expertise focuses on Political Economy, Social Protection, Social & Gender norms. She completed her PhD in Public Policy & Policy Analysis at the United Nations University (UNU-MERIT) - Maastricht University, examining the de facto negotiations of Zambia’s welfare regime and the transformative implications of Social Cash Transfers for women and girls. Her research interest evolved from her earlier work as a Research Officer at the Institute of Development Studies (IDS) - University of Sussex (UK) and her practical experience in developing countries, gained through her engagement with UN Women and her work as a gender advisor for the GIZ. At the UNICEF Office of Research – Innocenti, she co-leads two studies on the policy processes of gender-responsive social protection in Ethiopia, undertaken under the Gender-Responsive and Age-Sensitive Social Protection (GRASSP) research programme.