Gbenga Shadare

Social Protection Specialist, Social Development

Completed my doctorate degree (PhD) in Sociology and Social Policy at the University of Sheffield. My research focused on Nigeria's social protection. I have been involved with social protection for close to two decades. Prior to this, I worked in financial services industry, where for over two and a half decades, I worked and lived in and out of Africa. I left the career to pursue a lifetime passion in social justice advocacy. I returned to the university in the UK and completed a Masters degree in Public Policy at the University of Nottingham before ending up at University of Sheffield for my PhD. Since relocating to the UK in 2007, I worked briefly in International Development consulting, specifically focusing on Africa and the Caribbean. Over the course of my work in social policy development, I have done a variety of consulting assignments on social protection for a number of countries in Africa. I have also engaged with the promotion of learning and educational support for informal social workers in Nigeria as well as policymakers involved in the implementation of Nigeria's social protection policy. I co-founded the Centre for Social Protection and Policy Studies (CSPPS) at the University of Lagos, Nigeria. CSPPS is becoming an invaluable knowledge platform for the diffusion and promotion of social protection and all its facets to policymakers and practitioners. CSPPS will also help to deepen knowledge and understanding of the myriad aspects of social protection systems as well as serve as a resource centre to help promote and diffuse knowledge of social protection systems in different countries.