Ms. Amat Al Alim Alsoswa became Assistant Secretary-General, Assistant Administrator of UNDP and Director of its Regional Bureau for Arab States on March 1, 2006. She oversees the work of more than 500 UNDP staff working in 17 country offices in the Arab region, with an 18th office located in the Occupied Palestinian Territory and supervises a comprehensive regional program conceptualized around achieving the Millennium Development Goals, promoting democratic governance and building a knowledge society.
Prior to joining UNDP, Ms. Alsoswa served as the Minister of Human Rights in Yemen from 2003-2006. During her tenure, she established and oversaw Yemen’s first Human Rights Ministry, initiated the country’s first national human rights report, and established a public human rights resource center. During 2000-2003, Ms. Alsoswa served as Yemen’s ambassador to Sweden, Denmark and the Netherlands, where she was Yemen’s Permanent Representative to the Organization of Prohibition of Chemical Weapons, based in The Hague. From 1997 to 1999, she was Undersecretary at Yemen’s Ministry of Information and Chairperson of the National Women’s Committee. A longtime proponent of broadening political participation, from 1989 – 1991, Ms. Alsoswa led the Yemeni Women’s Union before Yemen’s reunification.
The intersection of democracy and women’s empowerment in the information age has been a focus of Ms. Alsoswa’s career, and between 1984 -1986, she was the Deputy TV Programs Director at Sana’a TV – the most senior position in Yemen television to be held by a women at that time. Subsequently, Ms. Alsoswa was Chief Editor of Mutaba’at I’elamiah Journal, (a monthly magazine specializing in communications and media affairs).
In the international arena, Ms. Alsoswa has worked as a consultant to UNDP and its sister agencies, and has published and lectured extensively. She has received numerous awards and distinctions, including the Officier dans l’Ordre National de la Légion d'Honneur (France) and the Medal of the Egyptian Committee for Afro Asian Solidarity (Egypt). Ms. Alsoswa holds a B.A. in Mass Communications from Cairo University and an M.A. in International Communications from the American University in Washington, D.C.
This event is co-sponsored with the Women and Public Policy Program.
