Policymaking specially for the social sector in distressed lands, as I know from my own experience, is never easy. The author has done a commendable job in putting together her experiences in some of the most impoverished lands in Asia and Africa where she worked as a UN official. The book makes fascinating reading. It is all the more relevant today as the poor are still forced to suffer for want of any kind of social protection. Yashwant Sinha Former Foreign Minister of India