Contributors

Monica Ferro

Director UNFPA Geneva Office

Monica Ferro, Director of the UNPFA Office in Geneva since April 2017, has worked to promote equality, development and human rights for the past 20 years.

Prior to joining UNFPA, Ms. Ferro had a twenty-year career of public service in Portugal, during which she served as the Secretary of State for National Defense, as a university lecturer, a media personality and an activist.

She was a Member of Parliament and Vice-President of the Parliamentary Group of the Social Democrat Party; Chair of the All Party Parliamentarian Group on Population and Development; and Vice-President of the European Forum of Parliamentarians for Population and Development. Ms. Ferro is a founding partner of the 2015 Objective Association – United Nations Millennium Campaign, Portuguese United Nations Association, and Founding Member of P&D Factor Association for Cooperation in Population and Development. A National Defense and Civil Crisis Management Auditor, Ms. Ferro has also been a lecturer and researcher at the University of Lisbon, guest lecturer at the National Defense Institute, Air Force Academy and University of Military Studies. Furthermore, she is an Associate Researcher at the Centre for Gender Studies, University of Lisbon and has been a columnist for several national newspapers and magazines, and author several articles, books and book chapters on the United Nations, Development Cooperation, Human Rights, Security Sector Reform and Gender equality.