Saraswathy Menon appointed to UN peacebuilding panel

United Nations: Secretary-General Ban Ki-moon has appointed Indian sociologist Saraswathi Menon to a panel that will review peacebuilding activities.

Saraswathi Menon, a former lecturer in sociology at Madras University in India, currently serving as the Director of UNDP’s Evaluation Office. She served as UN Resident Coordinator and UNDP Resident Representative in Mongolia, UNDP Deputy Resident Representative in Nepal and Deputy Chief of the Regional Programme and Policy Division in UNDP’s Regional Bureau for Asia and the Pacific. Before joining UNDP, She holds both an M.A. and M.Phil. degree in Sociology as well as a Ph.D. degree. She has been the director of the Policy Division of UN-Women, the UN body for Gender Equality and the Empowerment of Women, and the director of the UN Development Program’s Evaluation Office. Her other UNDP assignments included postings in Mongolia and Nepal. She has a doctorate in sociology from Jawaharlal Nehru University (JNU) in New Delhi.

Her comments on UN’s Implementation of equality strategies  “Our focus areas are ending violence against women and encouraging: political participation and leadership, women’s economic empowerment, peace  and  security. Most of these issues are global. That is why we have a universal focus on the status of women in developed and developing countries, where many of our programs are situated. We share our knowledge and advice, which is complemented by monitoring work we do in other countries as well.The announcement on 22nd January 2015 said, ‘Menon brings an extensive experience as a researcher and academician as well as in the United Nations system.’

 

The others on the seven-member panel, formally known as ‘advisory group on the review of the peacebuilding architecture’, include a retired Pakistani major general, Anis Bajwa and Charles Petrie of France, who headed an internal review panel on UN actions in Sri Lanka.

The UN Secretary General, formed the group at the request of the Presidents of the General Assembly and the Security Council.