EPRI Directors
Dr. Michael Samson
Director of Research
Dr. Michael Samson is Director of Research of the Economic Policy Research Institute (EPRI). He holds a PhD in Economics from Stanford University. He has 31 years of experience working in social protection with a particular focus on designing, implementing, monitoring and evaluating the impact of social protection programmes. Dr. Samson has supported the design, implementation, and evaluation of social protection systems and programmes in over forty countries around the world, including South Africa, Uganda, Kenya, Ethiopia, Tanzania, Swaziland, Lesotho, Viet Nam, Bangladesh, India, Thailand, and Indonesia. He has been involved in the design and development of the social protection strategies and background papers in many of these countries, including India.
Michael convenes EPRI’s flagship training courses, Designing and Implementing Social Protection Programmes. These annual courses in Cape Town and Chiang Mai have attracted over 1,600 participants from diverse backgrounds including government, finance, business, development partners, non-governmental organizations and international affairs representing over 72 nationalities. Dr. Samson is also Visiting Associate Professor of Economics at the Williams College Center for Development Economics in the United States and teaches social protection courses at the Institute of Development Studies (IDS-Sussex), the Maastricht University, and the University of Mauritius. He has been an invited speaker at the third committee of the UN General Assembly and lectures regularly at high profile policy conferences and technical workshops around the world. Dr. Samson is the author and/or co-author of a large number of books, articles in academic journals, as well as OECD and UN publications on themes related to economic and social policies.
email Michael: msamson@epri.org.za
Ms. Ingrid van Niekerk
Executive Co-Director and Senior Researcher
Ms. Ingrid van Niekerk is an Executive Co-Director and Senior Researcher at EPRI, as well as the Chief Executive Officer. She has managed and carried out research projects for the Department of Social Development in South Africa as well as the inter-ministerial Committee of Enquiry for Comprehensive Social Security. She is responsible for EPRI’s capacity building programme for government departments, and her teaching has included courses for the Department of Social Development. She has extensive in-country experience in South Africa, Namibia, Lesotho, Nepal and Bolivia, amongst other countries. She lectures in the Parliamentary Capacity Building Programme in Economic Policy as well as at the University of the Western Cape. She has recently worked on projects for the 2005 Cabinet Lekgotla, the Department of Trade and Industry, the Inter-regional Inequality Facility, and civil society institutions. She is an Associate Member in the Department of Social Policy at Oxford University.
email Ingrid: ivanniekerk@epri.org.za
Staff
Ms. Preksha Golchha
Senior Research Fellow and the Research Team Leader
Ms. Preksha Golchha is a Senior Research Fellow and the Research Team Leader at the Economic Policy Research Institute (EPRI), with a specific focus on child-sensitive social protection, child protection, ECD, and nutrition and development.. During her tenure at EPRI, she has gained research and policy advisory experience in India, Cambodia, Viet Nam, Thailand, the Kyrgyz Republic, Nepal, Bangladesh, South Africa, Swaziland, Uganda, Ethiopia, and Ghana consulting for UNICEF, Save the Children, FAO, UNDP, WFP, ASPIRES and OECD, and the governments of South Africa and Nepal. She currently serves as the project coordinator and researcher for several of EPRI’s current projects, including evidence-building studies, impact assessments, the analysis of social protection systems (systems reviews), and political and fiscal space analyses. Preksha completed her Bachelors in Economics and International Development and Masters in Management with a specialisation in strategic management and finance. Before joining EPRI, Preksha has been a consultant with DFID For a project to improve governance in Nigeria’s financial sector and education in multiple African countries; a mergers and acquisitions analyst; and an entrepreneur in education and manufacturing sectors, gathering extensive managerial experience.
Mr. Nard Huijbregts
Lead Social Policy Advisor
Mr. Nard Huijbregts is the Lead Social Policy Advisor at the Economic Policy Research Institute (EPRI). He has research and policy advisory work experience in Thailand, Bangladesh, China, Uganda, Tanzania, Ethiopia, Nigeria, Sierra Leone, South Africa and other countries, consulting for UNICEF, UNDP, DFID, ILO, Save the Children and various government MDAs. Nard specialises in the design and implementation of social protection policies and programs, information systems and fiscal space analyses. Currently, Nard is leading the design and implementation of various cash transfer programs in Nigeria, Kenya and the Gambia in addition to leading impact assessments of cash transfers in a few countries. Nard has recently written Tanzania’s Social Protection Framework, provided inputs to India’s Social Protection Strategy development process and conducted numerous program reviews, including of programs in Cambodia, Bangladesh, South Africa and Uganda. Nard is also a visiting lecturer in Microsimulation Models for Policy Analysis at Maastricht University – UNU MERIT, the Netherlands, and Inclusive Economic Development to South African ministers, and members of parliament in the South African Parliamentary Capacity Building Program.
Katharina Bollig
Social Policy Advisor
Katharina Bollig is a Social Policy Advisor at the Economic Policy Research Institute (EPRI). She has conducted research and gained policy advisory work experience in various African and Asian countries, including India, Kenya, Lesotho, Nigeria, the Philippines and Sierra Leone, with consultancies for African Union, CRS, ILO, UNICEF, UNU-WIDER, USAID, WFP and the World Bank. She specialises in the design, review and evaluation of social protection policies and programmes, and has worked extensively on collecting and analysing programme-level and institutional data of social assistance programmes in lower- and middle-income countries. Katharina is currently leading an evaluation of Lesotho’s Conditional Cash Transfer pilot and a review of its Integrated Social Safety Net pilot, coordinated a World Bank-led recovery and peacebuilding assessment for the social protection sector and supported various impact assessments of CRS programmes and costing studies. Previously, Katharina acted as a technical advisor to the Government of the Philippines and consulted for the ILO Philippines. Additionally, Katharina supported the development a database on social assistance programmes, politics, and institutions for lower- and middle-income countries in Asia.
Roisin White
Social Policy Advisor
Roisin White is a Social Policy Advisor at the Economic Policy Research Institute (EPRI). She has conducted research and gained policy advisory experience in various States in Nigeria, including Adamawa, Kebbi, Niger and Sokoto consulting for UNICEF, and in The Netherlands working with the Dutch Government. Her expertise includes designing and implementing social protection policies and programmes. Roisin has recently assisted in the scaling of a Social Protection Cash Transfer Programme, and guided the transition from a donor financed programme to a fully state financed programme. She has also designed and implemented a Maternal Newborn Child Health Cash Transfer Programme in two States in Northern Nigeria, including the development of all technical documents and training of the programme staff. She provides ongoing support to UNICEF and the State to further optimise the programme components. Roisin has shared her expertise at various conferences and meetings on the Draft National Social Protection Policy of Nigeria and has participated in regional conferences in West Africa on child poverty.
Takudzwa Muyambo
Marketing & Courses Coordinator
Ms. Takudzwa Muyambo is the Marketing and Courses Coordinator at the Economic Policy Research Institute (EPRI). She competed a B. Sc. in Political Studies, Economics and Business French, from the University of Cape Town and obtained a Postgraduate Diploma in Business Management specialising in Marketing Management from the University of Cape Town. As a marketing and courses coordinator she has conceptualised and implemented Marketing and Communication strategies for EPRI in addition to managing, cooordinating and organizing EPRI’s courses, study tours, seminars, workshops and all other capacity building initiatives.