A UN-REDD Programme Officer based in Oslo to work on participatory assessments for forest governance

 

Tina Hageberg joined the UNDP-UN-REDD team as Programme Officer based in the UNDP Oslo Governance Center, where she is part of the Governance Assessments team since November 2010. She will lead the UN-REDD Programme activities on participatory governance assessments, thus further strengthening the collaboration between the Democratic Governance Group and the UN-REDD team of UNDP, as well as the role of governance assessments within UN-REDD as a whole – see our story on “Participatory Governance Assessments for REDD+” in this issue of the GAP Newsletter.  

 

Tina was previously project manager in the Civil Society Department at NORAD, where she was responsible for the civil society portfolio within the Norwegian Government’s Forest and Climate Initiative, with a particular focus on Indonesia. Prior to this post, she worked as Higher Executive Officer for the Ministry of Culture and at Friendship North/South. Tina holds a Masters of Science in Development Studies from the London School of Economics, a degree in Political Science from the University of Oslo and a Bachelor of Arts in Anthropology from the University of Dakota. She is trained in results-based management and complex emergencies and gender dimensions in development.

A new Special Adviser to OGC on donor-coordination, emerging areas and governance assessments for fragile states

 

Bo Jensen joined the Oslo Governance Centre as a Special Advisor, on secondment from the Danish Government, since September 2010. Bo works with the Governance Assessment Unit on issues related to post-conflict and fragile states, and supports OGC in general on emerging democratic governance areas as well as issues related to the OECD-DAC agenda and other donor coordination matters.  

 

Before joining OGC, his most recent assignment (2005-2010) has been as Danish Ambassador to Kenya and Somalia. He played a crucial role as head of the donor coordination group during the crisis following the Kenyan elections in December 2007, organizing a constructive donor response. Over the last year he worked closely with the UNDP-Kenya office to organize the support of the international community to the new electoral commission. In parallel with this he has been involved in responding to the difficult situation in Somalia dealing with humanitarian, development, political and security challenges.

 

Otherwise Bo has a long career in the Danish Foreign Service including several postings in Africa. He has on few occasions also taken leave to work for international organizations such as the World Bank, and in 1980 as a JPO for UNDP in Zimbabwe. From 2001-2003 he was the head of department for UN Operational Activities in the Danish Ministry of Foreign Affairs, also representing Denmark in the UNDP Board. He has a broad exposure to development-related issues, having worked on macro-economic, environmental, business and democratic governance issues, among others.

 

Contact: bo.jensen@undp.org

 

 

The first regional post on governance assessments (in Dakar)

 

As part of its regionalization strategy to better respond to growing demand from the ground on governance assessments, the Global Programme on Democratic Governance Assessments has created the first of a series of regional posts, at the Regional Service Centre for West- and Central Africa in Dakar.

 

As of January 2011, Marie Laberge is the Programme Specialist on Governance Assessments at the Dakar Regional Centre. She is responsible for supporting UNDP Country Offices, country stakeholders and other partners in West and Central Africa to catalyze and carry out country-led governance assessment initiatives. Through this regional presence, the Global Programme hopes to provide more contextualized support to governance assessments responsive to regional priorities, such as the African Peer Review Mechanism (APRM), and to facilitate the sharing and cross-fertilization of African assessment experiences.  

 

Marie spent the past three years at the Oslo Governance Centre, working closely with country stakeholders and UNDP colleagues globally to implement nationally owned governance assessments supported by the Global Programme. Drawing from her hands-on experience in supporting assessment initiatives in more than 16 countries, she developed several training programmes and methodological tools for national stakeholders, and she edited the series of “Users’ Guides” produced by the Global Programme in various thematic areas of governance. Previously, Marie worked at the Colombo Regional Centre to support the roll-out of the MDG Initiative for Asia and the Pacific, a regional project aimed at building the capacity of Asian countries to formulate and implement MDG-based national development plans. Jointly with the Oslo Governance Centre, Marie documented country experience and conducted research on the integration of governance in MDG-based needs assesments and costing analyses. Prior to that, Marie was at the UNESCAP office in Bangkok where she helped to devise and implement a regional advocacy strategy for achieving the MDGs in Asia and the Pacific. She also worked as a researcher with the regional Human Development Team at the Regional Centre in Colombo, on the production of an MDG report for the Least Developed Countries of Asia and the Pacific. Prior to joining UNDP, Marie worked with Forum-Asia, a regional human rights NGO based in Bangkok, in conjunction with the Canadian Human Rights Foundation. She holds a Master’s in Human Security Policies (with a focus on Asia and the Pacific) and an undergraduate degree in Economics and International Business.

 

Contact: marie.laberge@undp.org