Speaker and Moderator Biographies
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UNDP Civil Society Advisory Committee Tenth Annual Meeting, New York, 24-25 April 2013 Speaker and moderator biographies Helen Clark, Administrator United Nations Development Programme Helen Clark became the Administrator of the United Nations Development Programme on 17 April 2009, and was re-appointed for a second term on 12 April 2013. She is the first woman to lead the organization. She also chairs the United Nations Development Group, comprising the heads of all UN funds, programmes and departments working on development issues. Prior to her appointment with UNDP, Ms. Clark served for three successive terms as Prime Minister of New Zealand (1999-2008). Throughout her tenure, Ms. Clark engaged widely in policy development and advocacy in international, economic, social and cultural spheres. Under her leadership, New Zealand achieved significant economic growth, low levels of unemployment, high levels of investment in education and health, and the well-being of families and older citizens. She and her Government prioritized reconciliation and settlement of historical grievances with indigenous peoples and the development of an inclusive multi-cultural and multi-faith society. Prior to entering parliament, Ms. Clark taught in the Political Studies Department of the University of Auckland. She graduated with a BA in 1971 and an MA with First Class Honours in 1974. Rebeca Grynspan, Associate Administrator United Nations Development Programme Rebeca Grynspan was appointed to the position of UN Under-Secretary-General and UNDP Associate Administrator effective 1 February, 2010. Prior to this, she served for four years as Assistant Administrator and Director of UNDP’s Regional Bureau for Latin America and the Caribbean, where she was a strong advocate for the Millennium Development Goals, system-wide coherence, and for an organization more responsive to the needs of developing countries. Prior to her service with UNDP, she was director of the sub-regional headquarters in Mexico of the United Nations Economic Commission for Latin America and the Caribbean (2001-2006). Before joining the United Nations system, Ms. Grynspan served in several ministerial-level positions with the Costa Rican Government (1986-1994), before becoming Vice-President (1994-1998). In addition to her experience as an adviser, lecturer and author, Ms. Grynspan has contributed to key United Nations initiatives such as the Millennium Project’s Task Force on Poverty and Economic Development and the High-Level Panel on Financing for Development. UNDP Civil Society Advisory Committee | Tenth Meeting, New York, 24-25 April 2013 | Speaker and moderator biographies Sigrid Kaag, Assistant Secretary-General and Director UNDP Bureau for External Relations and Advocacy Sigrid Kaag joined UNDP in August 2010, after serving at UNICEF as Regional Director for Middle East and North Africa, as Chief of Staff in the Office of the UNICEF Executive Director, and as Deputy Director (Regional and Inter-Agency Affairs), Programme Division. Prior to UNICEF, Ms. Kaag was senior UN adviser to the United Nations/World Bank Joint Assessment Mission for Sudan in the Office of the Deputy Special Representative of the Secretary- General in Khartoum during the period 2004-2005. Previous assignments in the United Nations include Deputy Director of Programmes and Chief, Donor Relations, at the International Organization for Migration in Geneva, serving with the United Nations Relief and Works Agency for Palestine Refugees in the Middle East at its headquarters location. Ms. Kaag has also worked with the Netherlands Ministry of Foreign Affairs and at the Shell International headquarters in London. She holds a first degree in Middle East Studies from the American University in Cairo, a Master’s in Philosophy in international relations from St. Antony’s College, Oxford University, and a second Master’s degree in politics and economics of the Middle East from the University of Exeter. Amina J. Mohammed Special Adviser to the Secretary-General on Post-2015 Development Planning Amina J. Mohammed was appointed Special Adviser to the Secretary-General on Post-2015 Development Planning in June 2012. She is also CEO and Founder of the Center for Development Policy Solutions (Nigeria) and an Adjunct Professor in the Master’s Programme for Development Practice at Columbia University, New York. Prior to this, Ms. Mohammed served as Senior Special Assistant to the President of Nigeria on the Millennium Development Goals after serving three presidents over a period of six years. In 2005 she was in charge of coordinating debt relief funds ($1 billion per annum) towards the achievement of the MDGs in Nigeria. Her mandate included designing a Virtual Poverty Fund with innovative approaches to poverty reduction, budget coordination and monitoring, as well as providing advice on pertinent issues regarding poverty, public sector reform and sustainable development. Ms. Mohammed’s previous positions include Coordinator of the Task Force on Gender and Education for the United Nations Millennium Project (2002-2005) and Founder and Executive Director of Afri-Projects Consortium, a multidisciplinary firm of engineers and quantity surveyors (1991-2001). She also worked with Archcon Nigeria, an architectural engineering firm, in association with Norman and Dawbarn UK (1981-1991). In alphabetical order: Walid Badawi, Team Leader, Emerging Partnerships UNDP Bureau for External Relations and Advocacy Since 2009 Walid Badawi has led UNDP’s efforts to scale up south-south cooperation and to engage emerging economies in new strategic partnerships with UNDP to contribute more effectively to achieving internationally agreed development goals, including the MDGs. His previous assignments include Deputy Resident Representative (Programme) of UNDP in Iraq and Senior Policy Advisor to the Director of the UNDP Regional Bureau for Arab States. Mr. Badawi concurrently oversaw a number of regional programmes in the areas of HIV/AIDS and the environment and was Deputy Director of the Programme of Assistance to the Palestinian People, based in New York. Prior to that, he served for eight years in the field working in UNDP Country Offices in Indonesia and Egypt. Mr. Badawi holds a Masters in International Management from the American Graduate School of International Management, Arizona, and a Bachelor of Arts in Economics from Fordham University in New York. UNDP Civil Society Advisory Committee | Tenth Meeting, New York, 24-25 April 2013 | Speaker and moderator biographies Marion Barthélémy, Chief, Intergovernmental Support and Interagency Branch United Nations Division for Sustainable Development Marion Barthélémy is Chief, Intergovernmental Support and Interagency Branch, in the United Nations Division for Sustainable Development (UN-DESA). Prior to June 2012, she served as Chief of the Development Cooperation Policy Branch, in the Office for ECOSOC Support in UN-DESA where she supported the ECOSOC Development Cooperation Forum and the General Assembly Review of UN system activities at country level. Ms. Barthélémy also served in the Office of the Secretary-General and in the front offices of two UN Under-Secretaries-General for Economic and Social Affairs. She has also worked with the United Nations Drug Control Programme and the United Nations Division for the Advancement of Women. Pedro Conceição, Chief Economist and Head, Strategic Advisory Unit UNDP Regional Bureau for Africa Pedro Conceição has been Chief Economist and Head of the Strategic Advisory Unit in the UNDP Regional Bureau for Africa since December 2009. Prior to this, he served in the UNDP Office of Development Studies as Director (March 2007- November 2009) and Deputy Director (October 2001-February 2007). His work on financing for development and on global public goods was published by Oxford University Press in books he co-edited: The New Public Finance: Responding to Global Challenges, 2006; Providing Global Public Goods: Managing Globalization, 2003. His writings have appeared in a number of journals, including the African Development Review, Review of Development Economics, Eastern Economic Journal, Ecological Economics, Environmental Economics and Policy Studies, and Technological Forecasting and Social Change. Prior to joining UNDP, Mr. Conceição was an assistant professor at the Technical University of Lisbon, Portugal. He has degrees in physics and economics from the Technical University of Lisbon and a PhD in public policy from the LBJ School of Public Affairs, the University of Texas at Austin, where he studied with a Fulbright scholarship. Geraldine J. Fraser-Moleketi, Director, UNDP Democratic Governance Practice UNDP Bureau of Development Policy Geraldine J. Fraser-Moleketi joined UNDP in December 2008 as head of the Democratic Governance Practice in the UNDP Bureau of Development Policy. Prior to this, she served in the Government of the Republic of South Africa as Minister for Public Service and Administration for two consecutive terms (1999-2008) and as Minister for Welfare and Population Development (1996-1999). In that capacity, Ms. Fraser-Moleketi was Deputy Chair of the UN Committee of Experts on Public Administration (2006-2007) and a member of the UNDP Africa Group on Capacity Development. She has written on a range of topics including administration, governance and public policy and is the author of Democratic Governance at Times of Mega-Crises, Rebuilding our Communities and Building our Citizens (2011). She was honoured by the University