Gemma Adaba is the Representative of the International Confederation of Free Trade Unions (ICFTU) to the United Nations. Since 1980, she has been a staff member of the Brussels-based ICFTU, a Confederation of national trade union centers in 150 countries and territories on all five continents, with a total membership of 158 million workers of whom 40 per cent are women. A native of Trinidad & Tobago, Ms. Adaba's trade union work began in the teaching sector, where she was an active member of the Trinidad and Tobago Teachers' Association in the late 1960's. She joined the Economic and Social Policy Department of the ICFTU in 1980 as a research officer, and in that capacity was responsible for research and policy on a range of social and industrial relations issues during the period 1980 to 1994. These included: The social impact of change in developing countries and the trade union response; Environment, development, living standards, food security in Africa; The debt crisis and its consequences for workers in developing countries. She also serviced the ICFTU/International Trade Secretariats* (ITS) and coordinated strategies and advocacy in response to the negative impacts of multinational companies on basic workers' rights. From 1994-1999, she was Director of the ICFTU/ITS Washington Office. She supported the policy and advocacy work of the ICFTU and ITS on the social dimensions of globalization, structural adjustment and reform, maintaining a liaison function with the Washington-based International Financial Institutions (the World Bank, the International Monetary Fund, and the Inter-American Development Bank). Ms Gemma Adaba holds a Masters' Degree in Sociology from the University of Western Ontario, Canada.

Claude Kwaku Akpokavie is Senior Adviser in the ILO Bureau for Workers’ Activities. He coordinates the work of the Bureau in two main areas: Poverty Reduction Strategies and the ILO Declaration on Fundamental Principles and Rights at Work. Prior to his appointment in the ILO, he worked for some 12 years in the trade union movement, at both national and international levels. He was successively responsible for workers’ education, international labour standards and economic and social policy. He holds a PhD in Political Science (development studies option) from the Université Catholique de Louvain and comes from Ghana.

Sharon Altendorf is Executive Director of the NGO, International Presentation Association Sisters of the Presentation whose mission statement reads: “…The cry of those made poor and the cry of the Earth call us to continue the mission of Jesus to bring forth a sustainable society founded on respect for earth, universal human rights, economic justice and a culture of peace.” She has been Secretary for the NGO Committee on Social Development and is presently the Secretary for the NGO Committee on the Status of Women.  Also she is active in the NGO sub-committee on Poverty Eradication, the NGO Committee on Financing for Development, and the NGO Committee on the UN International Decade of the World’s Indigenous Peoples. Her professional experience includes: Executive Director and Main NGO Representative of the IPA from July 2000 – Present, Coordinator of Guadalupe Project with a 1000 member family Latino community receiving a Human Rights award, Leadership team - Fargo Presentation Sisters, Pastoral Ministry and Human Development Ministry in South America: 5 years in Tacna, Peru and 8 years in the Andes Mountains in Peru, and University and Newman ministry – Grand Forks, University of North Dakota. Sharon Altendorf has a Bachelor of Science in Education –Social studies with a concentration in Sociology from the University of North Dakota, Grand Forks, N.D. and a Masters in Religious Education from Seattle University, Seattle, WA.  She speaks Spanish and learned Quechua while working in Peru.

David Beckmann is President of Bread for the World, a faith-based grassroots advocacy movement in the United States. Bread for the World mobilizes more than a quarter of a million constituent contacts with Congress annually on issues that are important to hungry and poor people in the United States and worldwide. Bread for the World lobbying has helped to increase U.S. funding for poverty-focused development assistance from $4 billion in 1999 to $10.2 billion in 2006. At the same time, Bread for the World has helped to protect funding for nutrition programs that help struggling U.S. families. Beckmann is also the founder of the U.S. Alliance to End Hunger, which engages diverse institutions -- religious bodies, charities, corporations, universities and foundations -- in building the political will needed to overcome hunger.

Roberto Bissio is executive director of the Instituto del Tercer Mundo (Third World Institute), a non-profit research and advocacy organization based in Uruguay. He is head of the secretariat of Social Watch, an international network of citizen organizations from seventy countries that reports every year on how governments and international organizations implement their commitments on poverty eradication and gender equity. He is also a member of Third World Network's international committee and of the civil society advisory group to the UNDP administrator. He serves on the board of WEDO (Women’s Environment and Development Organization, based in NY) and of the Montreal International Forum. He is a journalist and editor working on development issues since 1973. He was the creator of “The World Guide”, a reference book with a Southern perspective, published in English by New Internationalist (Oxford).

Solveig Buhl is Senior Poverty Expert and Social Development Advisor with the GTZ. For the last 7 years Solveig Buhl has been working as a social development advisor for GTZ in Germany, Asia and the Middle Eastern Region. Currently she is responsible to advise the German Ministry for Economic Cooperation and Development in poverty monitoring and evaluation. In this function, she is also an active member of the OECD DAC Task Team on Poverty Impact Monitoring. Before, she worked for a Sino-German GTZ project advising the China Poverty Reduction Offices to set up a participatory Poverty Monitoring System for China’s 10-Year Rural Poverty Alleviation Plan. She has done extensive field work in Africa, mainly Burkina Faso. Solveig Buhl holds a PhD in Anthropology from University College London, UK.

Martha Chen is a Lecturer in Public Policy at the Kennedy School of Government, Harvard University and Coordinator of  the global research-policy network Women in Informal Employment: Globalizing and Organizing (WIEGO). .  An experienced development practitioner and scholar with a doctorate in South Asia Regional Studies from the University of Pennsylvania, her areas of specialization are gender, poverty, and the informal economy.  Before joining Harvard University in 1987, Dr. Chen had resident experience in Bangladesh working with one of the world's largest non-governmental organizations (BRAC), and in India where she served as field representative of Oxfam America for India and Bangladesh. Since joining Harvard University in 1987, Dr. Chen has undertaken four major field studies in India; spent three years as a Visiting Professor at the Radcliffe Institute for Advanced Study; and co-founded the global research-policy network WIEGO (see www.wiego.org). She is the author of numerous books including, most recently, Progress of the World’s Women 2005: Women, Work, and Poverty (which she co-authored with five colleagues from the WIEGO network), Mainstreaming Informal Employment and Gender in Poverty Reduction (which she co-authored with Joann Vanek and Marilyn Carr), Women and Men in the Informal Economy: A Statistical Picture (which she co-authored with Joann Vanek) and Perpetual Mourning: Widowhood in Rural India.

Anwarul Karim Chowdhury is the High Representative for the Least Developed Countries, Landlocked Developing Countries and Small Island Developing States.  Mr. Chowdhury was Permanent Representative of Bangladesh to the United Nations in New York (1996-2001), and also served as Bangladesh’s Ambassador to Chile, Nicaragua, Peru and Venezuela, as well as Bangladesh’s High Commissioner to the Bahamas and Guyana. During his tenure as Permanent Representative, Mr. Chowdhury served as President of the Security Council, President of the United Nations Children's Fund (UNICEF) Executive Board, and, for more than 10 years, as the Coordinator for the Least Developed Countries in New York.  In May 2001, he led the negotiations on behalf of the least developed countries at the Third United Nations Conference on Least Developed Countries, which adopted the comprehensive Brussels Programme of Action for the present decade.  Mr. Chowdhury also chaired the Fifth (Administrative and Budgetary) Committee of the General Assembly in 1998-2000.  He served as Vice-President of the Economic and Social Council in 1997 and 1998.  From 1990-1993, Mr. Chowdhury was the UNICEF Director in Japan, Australia and New Zealand.

Iftekhar Ahmed Chowdhury is Ambassador and Permanent Representative of Bangladesh to the United Nations. He earned the Ph.D. and MA degrees in International Relations at the Australian National University in Canberra, Australia. Earlier he had obtained a First Class first degree with B.A. Honors in Political Science from the Dhaka University, Bangladesh. In a diplomatic career that spanned across 36 year, he was, prior to his current appointment, Ambassador and Permanent Representative of Bangladesh to the United Nations in Geneva (1991-2000). Before that he was Bangladesh’s Ambassador to Qatar (1994-1996). He also served as the Special Adviser to the Secretary-General of the United Nations Conference on Trade and Development (UNCTAD), the Chairman of the WTO Committee on Trade and Development, the Chairman WTO Trade and Policy Review Body, the President of the Conference on Disarmament, and the Chairman of the Second Committee of the United Nations at 59th session of the UN General Assembly.

Augusto de la Torre has worked for The World Bank since October 1997. As Senior Regional Financial Sector Advisor for Latin America and the Caribbean, he provides technical and conceptual leadership to World Bank financial sector operations and research in the Region and is actively involved in the joint IMF-World Bank Financial Sector Assessment Program.  He also works closely with the Office of the Chief Economist for the Latin American and the Caribbean Region, focusing on macroeconomic and financial sector linkages and issues. He headed the Central Bank of Ecuador during 1993-96.  In November 1996, he was chosen by Euromoney Magazine as the year’s “Best Latin Central Banker.”  He is a member of the Carnegie Network of Economic Reformers. From 1986 to 1992 he was an Economist with the International Monetary Fund and during 1991-92 was the IMF’s Resident Representative in Venezuela. De la Torre earned his M.A. and Ph.D. degrees in Economics at the University of Notre Dame and holds a Licenciatura in Philosophy from the Catholic University of Ecuador.

Haoua Dia is a Member of Parliament from Senegal, where she also serves as the President of the Senegalese Women’s Council (COSEF) and the Association of Women for Development (AFD).  In addition, she is a member of the African Network of Working Women (RAFET) and several additional civil society groups that work to strengthen the role of gender in social and economic development.  Over her 25-year career in public service, Ms. Dia has participated extensively in regional and international conferences and summits, most recently in capacity-building workshops for the Network of Women Ministers and Parliamentarians in Africa (REFAMP) regarding leadership and resource mobilization.  She also participated in the 60th and 61st Sessions of the General Assembly of the United Nations. Ms. Dia received a Master’s Degree from the University of Dakar in human geography and has teaching experience at both the Collège Samba Guèye de Dakar and the Collège Moustapha Mbacké de Diourbel.

Tracy Dolan has worked with children and youth, both domestically and internationally for over 10 years.  In her native Canada, she worked with indigenous youth, street youth, and youth in detention, teaching peer counseling, sex education and HIV prevention.  Ms. Dolan has worked primarily in Africa with vulnerable children and related child protection activities as a field based technical officer in Malawi with Save the Children US and as a headquarters based HIV specialist with Christian Children’s Fund (CCF). Recently, as CCF’s Child Participation Advisor, Ms. Dolan has begun leading CCF’s efforts to integrate child and youth agency into its programs worldwide. She is currently developing Standards of Practice and related training material for promoting the leading role of children in all aspects of CCF’s work.

Cheryl Doss is the Director of Yale University's Graduate Studies MA Program in International Relations and a Lecturer in the Department of Economics.   In addition, she serves as the University's Associate Chair of the International Affairs Council.  Professor Doss's research interests center around household decision-making in rural households in Africa, with a particular focus on how changes affect the dynamics of decision-making within households.   Currently, she is co-editing a special issue of Feminist Economics on Women and the Distribution of Wealth, entitled "The Gender-Asset-Asset Gap:   What Do We Know and Why Does it Matter," in which the authors specifically examine the causes and implications of the unequal distribution of wealth by gender.   She received a Ph.D. in Applied Economics from the University of Minnesota, an M.A. in International Relations from Yale University, and a B.A. in Political Science from the University of California, Riverside.

Chinwe A. Effiong is Africare’s Regional Director for East and Anglophone West Africa and is responsible for providing technical and administrative support to Africare programs in this region. Prior to this, she was Senior Program Manager in the Office of International Development at Africare, Washington, D.C. and served in Nigeria from 2000 to 2005 as Africare’s Country Representative. While in Nigeria, she initiated and implemented several groundbreaking projects to assist the most needy and vulnerable groups of Nigeria such as HIV orphans and their caregivers, rural populations of women and children under five years old affected by malaria and low income young urban women, who are most vulnerable to sexual exploitation and HIV/AIDS. She has designed and raised funds for the implementation of several innovative projects such as the Women’s Initiative for Sex Education and Economic Empowerment (WISE). Through her drive and commitment, the WISE project has received recognition by both President Obasanjo of Nigeria and President Johnson-Sirleaf of Liberia, who has requested a replication of the project in the city of Monrovia. Prior to joining Africare, Dr. Effiong was Acting Chair and Assistant Professor of Political Science at Lincoln University in Pennsylvania. She has a Masters and PhD in International Relations and African Political Economy from the University of Delaware, and a BA in Literature from the University of Calabar, Nigeria. Dr. Effiong has received numerous awards including, the CAM Award celebrating African motherhood; Who’s Who Among America’s Teachers (1998); Dorothy Danforth Compton Doctoral Fellowship (1994-95); and the Chinua Achebe Literary Award for highest graduating G.P.A., University of Calabar (1987). Outside of her professional work, she is a creative writer and a motivational speaker.

Elizabeth D. Gibbons is currently the Chief of Global Policy in UNICEF’s New York headquarters, responsible for the development and application of human rights approaches to poverty reduction as well as the development of analytical tools and advocacy strategies for placing children at the center of social, economic and juridical policies.   Her career in social development and humanitarian affairs has spanned close to 25 years,   during which she lived and worked in Togo, Kenya and Zimbabwe, and served as head of UNICEF’s offices in Haiti and in Guatemala.  A graduate of Smith College and Columbia University, Elizabeth D. Gibbons is the author of Sanctions in Haiti:  Human Rights and Democracy under Assault, and a contributing author to several other books.

David Gordon is currently the Director of the Townsend Centre for International Poverty Research.  Dave has combined his background in biology and geology with anti-poverty policy, while helping to find safe public water supplies in the South Pacific.  He has researched and published in the fields of the scientific measurement of poverty, crime and poverty, childhood disability, area-based anti-poverty measures, the casual effects of poverty on ill health, housing policy and rural poverty. The Townsend Centre for International Poverty Research is dedicated to multi-disciplinary research on poverty in both the industrialized and developing world.  The Centre has been established by the University of Bristol in response to the United Nations First International Decade for the Eradication of Poverty (1007-2006) and in recognition of the work of Professor Peter Townsend.  The University sector can support the goal eradicating poverty by providing high quality interdisciplinary research into effective anti-poverty policies. His latest books are Poverty and Social Exclusion in Britain: the Millennium Survey (with Christina Pantazia and others, 2006),   'Ascertaining the prevalence of childhood disability', Child: Care, Health and Development (with Hutchison and Townsend, 2004).

Charles G. Gore is Chief for Research and Policy Analysis, Division for Africa, Least Developed Countries and Special Programs of the United Nations Conference on Trade and Development (UNCTAD). He received his Ph.D. degree in Economic Geography from Pennsylvania State University, and M.A. and B.A. degrees in Geography from Cambridge University. He has held numerous important senior positions at UNCTAD including director for The Least Developed Countries Report, Technical Adviser for Macro-economic and Development Policies Branch, Division on Globalization and Development Strategies (UNCTAD), Research Adviser for International Institute for Labour Studies, and Economic Affairs Officer for Division of Least Developed, Landlocked and Island Developing Countries (UNCTAD). From 1976 to 1991 he was a Lecturer in Development Studies at the University of Wales. He has also been a member of academic institutions and professional organizations and participated in numerous programs and projects. He is the author and the editor of numerous publications, commissioned studies, and official reports.

Caren A. Grown is a Senior Scholar and Co-director (with Diane Elson) of the Gender Equality and the Economy program, The Levy Economics Institute of Bard College. Her current research focuses on gender equality, public finance, and international trade and investment. Previously, Dr. Grown directed the Poverty Reduction and Economic Governance team at the International Center for Research on Women (ICRW). During her term at ICRW, she served as Senior Associate of Task Force 3 of the UN Millennium Project on gender equality and women's empowerment. She has edited and authored several books and numerous articles on gender equality including Taking Action: Achieving Gender Equality and Empowering Women (Earthscan Press 2005) . She holds a PhD in economics from the New School for Social Research and a BA in Political Science from the University of California at Los Angeles (UCLA).

Wahu Kaara is a renowned Kenyan educationist and a Global Social Justice Activist of international repute. She taught History and Kiswahili in numerous High schools in Kenya, rising to the position of a Principal in a Girl’s High School before she retired to devote her time and energy to civic engagement. She is the Ecumenical Programme Coordinator for the Millennium Development Goals at the all Africa Conference of Churches, and has been involved in numerous processes around Debt, Trade, Aid, Human Rights and Sustainable Development. She has been a central figure in the formation of numerous civil society organizations and entities in Kenya related to Human Rights, Governance, Economic Policy, Democratization and Gender; she is founding Coordinator of the Kenya Debt Relief Network. She serves on the council of the Africa Social Forum and the Africa Women Economic Policy Network. She is also involved in the creation of the Africa Mother’s Foundation, a continental body that will serve to document the richness of women’s contribution in the development of Africa. Breaking the global mediatic silence usually visited on them. She has played a central role in bringing the World Social Forum to Nairobi in January 2007. With Brazilian President Lula da Silva, she launched the Global Call to Action against Poverty in Porto Allegre, Brazil in January 2005. Wahu is a Nobel Peace Prize nominee for the year 2005.

Jo Maher is a global health specialist and heterodox economist specialising in HIV. Her work in the NGO sector over the past 7 years has focused particularly on the impact of HIV on children and the economy in southern Africa. Jo has campaigned for and been active in local and international social justice issues for over a decade on issues including pluralist economic responses to economic inequality and gender disparity.  She has recently completed her postgraduate studies in Development Finance at the School of Oriental and African Studies in London.  Recent publications include an article on the impact of HIV on older women and men in AARP’s Global Ageing Magazine. Jo is based in London where she is currently the HIV & AIDS Coordinator at HelpAge International.

Stefania Marcone is Director of the International Relations Office of Legacoop. In this function Stefania Marcone works directly with the national Board and the sectoral associations of Legacoop. Her areas of activity include internationalisation, cooperation to development, and institutional representation. In 1997 she was elected as Board member of the International Cooperative Alliance, representing the three Italian Apex Cooperative organisations, ICA members (AGCI, Confcooperative e Legacoop). In this position she was involved in gender equality policy, in the establishment of a global network of young co-operators, cooperation to development projects, organisational and financial issues, relations with international institution and the UN agencies, and promotion of collaboration among cooperatives. In October 2001 she was re-elected for a second term on the ICA Board. In September 2005 she was elected chairperson fo the ICA Gender Equality Committee. Prior to joining Legacoop, she was External Relations officer at Cassa per il Credito alle Imprese Artigiane (ARTIGIANCASSA), and President of a cooperative society, located in Rome and active in the service sector.

Iulia Motoc is Professor of International Law at the University of Bucharest and Senior Fellow at Yale School of Law. She was the President of the UN Sub-Commission for the Promotion and Protection of Human Rights,( 2000-2001). Since 2001 she is Special Rapporteur of the UN Commision of Human Rights for the Democratic Republic of Congo. Since 2002 she is President of the Working Group on Administration of Justice UN Sub-Commission for the Promotion and Protection of Human Rights. She was member of the UN Working Group for Extreme Poverty. She was elected member of the Human Rights Committee. She published articles and books in area such as theory of international law, Teoria relatiilor internationale - sursele filosofiei morale si politice (Theory of International Relations: the moral and political philosophy traditions) (2001); theory of European Integration, Uniunea Europeana Dreptul si politica extinderii la Est (The European Union: the law and the politics of Eastwards Enlargement) (2001); use of the force, Interpreter la guerre: les exceptions de l’article 2&4 de la Charte ONU dans la pratique du Conseil de securite (1997). Professor Motoc received her law degree from the University of Bucharest, a DEA and a Doctorate in International Public Law from the University of Aix-Marseille III and a habilitation in law for University Paris XI. She also possesses a Doctorate in Moral Philosophy from the University of Bucharest.

Patrick Mulvany is senior policy adviser to Practical Action on agriculture, biodiversity and technology issues. From 1980 to 1996, he developed and managed the organisation's work on agriculture, livestock and fisheries across the world and subsequently its work on policy and institutional relations. Since then he has focused on the governance of food and agriculture as well as agricultural biodiversity. This involves him in policy, advocacy and project work in all continents. He chairs the UK Food Group, the principal UK network of civil society organisations concerned with global food, farming and food sovereignty policies. He has been a trustee of Oxfam, Action Aid and CIIR and adviser to many other international NGOs. He was a founder editorial board member of Development in Practice journal. He is an active participant in the civil society lobbies at the Food and Agriculture Organisation and the Convention on Biological Diversity with special interest in the implementation of the International Seed Treaty (IT PGRFA). He writes occasional articles on topical food and agriculture issues, most recently concerning the 10th anniversary of the World Food Summit. He holds a Masters degree from Oxford University and is a chartered member of the Institute of Biology.

Patrick Mutuo is the on-site coordinator of the Millennium Villages Project and is based in Kisumu, Kenya, 27 miles from Sauri, the first Millennium Village. Dr. Mutuo received a bachelor's degree in forestry and master's degree from in environmental sciences from Moi University in Kenya. He went on to receive a Ph.D. in soil science from Imperial College, University of London in the United Kingdom. Additionally, he holds an honorary diploma from Imperial College and postgraduate certificates in environmental impact assessment and data management and analysis for agroforestry experiments. Dr. Mutuo's has experience in integrated soil fertility management, management of natural resources, biodiversity conservation, ecological monitoring (including GIS), research methods, biotechnology, environmental services of agroforestry systems (especially carbon sequestration and greenhouse gases), and modeling of nutrient cycling. Dr. Mutuo's professional experience includes working as a research assistant for UNESCO's Tropical Soil Biology and Fertility (TSBF) Programme. There he assisted in coordination of network experiments in Southern and East African regions, managed and analyzed data for various projects, managed field experimental trials for soil fertility management, and supervised laboratory analyses of soil and vegetation samples. He recently worked as a consultant at the World Agroforestry Centre (ICRAF) to develop a training material on measurements of carbon sequestration in sub-humid agroecosystems. He has 8 years of experience conducting research in western Kenya, including experimental sites in Sauri. Dr. Mutuo is the author of a number of articles in refereed journals, book chapters and proceedings.

Nicholas Negroponte is founder and chairman of the One Laptop per Child non-profit association. He is currently on leave from MIT, where he was co-founder and director of the MIT Media Laboratory, and the Jerome B. Wiesner Professor of Media Technology. A graduate of MIT, Nicholas was a pioneer in the field of computer-aided design, and has been a member of the MIT faculty since 1966. Conceived in 1980, the Media Laboratory opened its doors in 1985. He is also author of the 1995 best seller, Being Digital, which has been translated into more than 40 languages. In the private sector, Nicholas serves on the board of directors for Motorola, Inc. and as general partner in a venture capital firm specializing in digital technologies for information and entertainment. He has provided start-up funds for more than 40 companies, including Wired magazine.

José Antonio Ocampo has a BA degree in Economics and Sociology from the University of Notre Dame, and a Ph.D. in Economics from Yale University. Former Executive Secretary of the UN Economic Commission for Latin America and the Caribbean (ECLAC), he became the United Nations Under-Secretary-General for Economic and Social Affairs on 1 September, 2003. As such, he heads the UN Department of Economic and Social Affairs (DESA), which is responsible for the follow-up to the major United Nations Summits and Conferences, and services the UN Economic and Social Council (ECOSOC) and the Second and Third Committees of the General Assembly. He also chairs the UN Executive Committee on Economic and Social Affairs. Prior to assuming his present position in the United Nations, he held a number of posts in the Government of Colombia, including those of Minister of Finance and Public Credit, Director (Minister) of the National Planning Department, and Minister of Agriculture. As an academic, he has been Director of the Foundation for Higher Education and Development (FEDESARROLLO), Professor of Economics at Universidad de los Andes and Universidad Nacional de Colombia, and Visiting Professor at Cambridge, Yale and Oxford Universities. He is the author or editor of a number of books and monographs, and has written several scholarly articles on subjects such as macroeconomic theory and policy, international financial and monetary issues, economic development, international trade, and Colombian and Latin American economic history. Mr. Ocampo has received a number of personal honours and distinctions, including the Alejandro Angel Escobar National Science Award.

Rajul Pandya-Lorch is head of IFPRI's 2020 Vision for Food, Agriculture, and the Environment Initiative, a global initiative that seeks to identify solutions for meeting world food needs while reducing poverty and protecting the environment. She concurrently serves as Chief of Staff in the Director General's Office. Before taking her current position, Ms. Pandya-Lorch was special assistant to IFPRI's former director general, Per Pinstrup-Andersen. An IFPRI staff member since 1987, she has focused her research on trends in and prospects for global food security and on policies to alleviate and prevent food insecurity, poverty, and environmental degradation, with particular emphasis on sustainable development in Sub-Saharan Africa. She has facilitated two major international conferences on (1) "Sustainable Food Security for All by 2020", in Bonn, Germany on September 4-6, 2001; and (2) "Assuring Food and Nutrition Security in Africa by 2020", in Kampala, Uganda on April 1-3, 2004. In recognition of her achievements, the American Agricultural Economics Association presented Ms. Pandya-Lorch, along with Per Pinstrup-Andersen and Mark Rosegrant, with its 2002 award for Distinguished Policy Contribution. Pandya-Lorch, a Kenyan citizen of Indian origin, earned a master's degree in public and international affairs from Princeton University.

Joe Robert Pemagbi is Ambassador and Permanent Representative of Sierra Leone to the United Nations. He received his master’s degree in linguistics from the University of Leeds and his bachelor’s degree in education from the University of Sierra Leone. Later he served as the Dean of Njala University, Sierra Leone. From 1994 until his current appointment, Mr. Pemagbi was a member and, from 1999, the Chairman of the National Commission for Democracy and Human Rights in Sierra Leone. From 1997 to 1998, he was the Volunteer Project Manager for the Campaign for Good Governance in Guinea. His wide-ranging experience with international organizations included his work in the Literacy and Conflict Resolution Project in the Kaliah Refugee Camp in Guinea. During the 1990s and 1980s, he participated in numerous in-ternational programs and projects.

Jan Peterson is founder and Chair of the Secretariat of the Huairou Commission, a global coalition that forges strategic partnerships to advance the capacity of grassroots women worldwide to strengthen and create sustainable communities. She also currently serves as a member of the Advisory Committee of the High-Level Commission on the Legal Empowerment of the Poor, which aims to make the link between poverty and the inability of the poor to access acceptable, legal structures to protect economic assets and support economic activities. Ms. Peterson has over 30 years of community development experience, working as a groundbreaking leader in producing innovative community structures led by grassroots women and has pursued the empowerment of women both locally in New York and also on a global scale. Ms. Peterson has taught in the faculty of Adelphi University School of Social Work, the Pratt Institute, LaGuardia Community College and more recently at the New School Graduate Program in International Affairs program. Under the Carter administration, she worked as the Associate Director in the office of public liaison in the White House, as well as the Office of Policy and Planning and Action, with Peace Corps and Vista.

Jacques Petidorhas worked for the past ten years at the Ministry of Education for Literacy in Haiti where he is the head of the department for central coordination. He is a trained Social worker, and his specialised studies were based on the “Comparative Analyses of the industrial relationships” in French-speaking African countries, Haiti, Belgium, in the International training center in France, and in Turin, Italy. He is the former coordinator of the World Christian Workers’ Movement for the Caribbean and central American region, former national secretary of the Catholic Worker Action (ACO) in Haïti and founding member of the Collective for Education and Alternative Development (CEDAL.). For the last three years he has been a member of the advisory committee of friends of the International Movement ATD Fourth World.

Prabhu Pingali is the Director of the Agricultural and Development Economics Division of the Food and Agriculture Organization of the United Nations. Pingali is also the President of the International Association of Agricultural Economists (IAAE) for the 2003-06 time period. He was the Vice-President of the IAAE from 1997-2000 and chairman of the program committee for the 24th International Conference of Agricultural Economists. He co-chairs the Millennium Ecosystem Assessment Panel’s working group on Future Scenarios. He is also the editor of the newly established e-Journal of Agricultural and Development Economics (e-JADE). Pingali has over twenty five years of experience in assessing the extent and impact of technical change in developing country agriculture in Asia, Africa and Latin America. An Indian national he earned a Ph.D. in Economics from North Carolina State University in 1982. He was Director of the Economics Program at CIMMYT, Mexico from 1996-2002. Prior to joining CIMMYT, he worked at the International Rice Research Institute at Los Baños, Philippines from 1987 to 1996 as an Agricultural Economist, and prior to that at the World Bank’s Agriculture and Rural Development Department from 1982-1987 as an economist. He was a visiting scholar at Stanford University, Food Research Institute, and an Affiliate professor at the University of the Philippines at Los Baños. Prabhu Pingali has authored six books and over ninety referred journal articles and book chapters on technological change, productivity growth and resource management issues in Asia, Africa and Latin America. He has received several international awards for his work, including two from the American Agricultural Economics Association: Quality of Research Discovery Award in 1988 and Outstanding Journal Article of the Year (Honorable Mention) in 1995.

Iqbal Z. Quadir is Founder Director of the Program in Developmental Entrepreneurship at MIT. During 2001-2005, Quadir has been a fellow and lecturer at the John F. Kennedy School of Government at Harvard University, teaching graduate classes on how technologies can effect change in developing countries. Quadir develops economically sustainable ways for common people to adopt technologies so that they can produce, distribute and consume the benefits of such technologies. Such technological empowerment scales up organically, and contributes to strengthening democratic forces and making economies more equitable and progressive. Quadir is currently involved in projects of this nature with regard to electricity, potable water, and market information. During 1993-1999, Quadir conceived, designed and organized GrameenPhone which has provided virtually universal access to telephony in his native Bangladesh and self-employment opportunities for its rural poor. After developing a vision for universal access to mobile phones in Bangladesh while working in Wall Street, Quadir persuaded Grameen Bank and the Norwegian telephone company, Telenor, to create GrameenPhone and remained actively involved in the board and management of the company through 1999. Today, GrameenPhone is a profitable venture with more than six million subscribers, the largest telephone company in Bangladesh. At the same time, it has created self-employment opportunities to more than 200,000 Grameen Bank borrowers, giving telephone access to more than 80 million people. Quadir’s work has been recognized as a successful development model by leaders and organizations around the world. He appeared on CNN and PBS and was profiled in feature articles in The Economist, Harvard Business Review, Financial Times, and The New York Times, and in several books. The World Economic Forum, based in Geneva, Switzerland, selected him as a Global Leader for Tomorrow in 1999. He received an MBA (1987) and an MA (1983) from the Wharton School at the University of Pennsylvania and a BS with Honors (1981) from Swarthmore College.

Michael Samson is the Director of Research at the Economic Policy Research Institute (EPRI), South Africa, and is also an Associate Professor of economics at the Williams College Center for Development Economics in the United States. He serves on the Board of Directors of EPRI and directs all research projects. He provides capacity-building support for parliamentarians, provincial and national governments, NEDLAC, church and non-governmental organisations, and academic institutions. He specialises in financial and macroeconomic aspects of economic development.

Pedro Sanchez is Director of Tropical Agriculture and Senior Research Scholar at the Earth Institute of Columbia University in New York City. He serves as Co-Chair of the Hunger Task Force of the Millennium Project, an advisory body to the United Nations. Sanchez served as Director General of the World Agroforestry Center (ICRAF) headquartered in Nairobi, Kenya from 1991-2001. He is also Professor Emeritus of Soil Science and Forestry at North Carolina State University, and was a visiting professor at the University of California, Berkeley. In April 2006 he was elected a Fellow of the American Association for the Advancement of Science. He was named a MacArthur Foundation Fellow in 2003, and received the World Food Prize in 2002. A native of Cuba, Sanchez received his BS, MS and PhD degrees from Cornell University, and joined the faculty of North Carolina State University in 1968. Sanchez is author of Properties and Management of Soils of the Tropics (rated among the top 10 best-selling books in soil science worldwide), and author of over 200 scientific publications. He is currently writing the second edition of this book. He is a Fellow of the American Society of Agronomy and the Soil Science Society of America. He has received decorations from the governments of Colombia and Peru and was awarded the International Soil Science Award and the International Service in Agronomy Award. In February 2001 the Catholic University of Leuven, Belgium awarded him a Doctor Honoris Causa degree for his work on tropical soils in Africa. In August 2001 Sanchez was anointed a Luo Elder with the name of Odera Kang’o by the Luo community of Western Kenya, in recognition for his assistance in eliminating hunger from many villages in the region.

Stephen C. Smith is Professor of Economics and International Affairs at George Washington University. He received his Ph.D. in economics from Cornell University and has been a Fulbright Research Scholar and a Jean Monnet Research Fellow. Smith is the author of Ending Global Poverty: A Guide to What Works (Palgrave Macmillan 2005), and the co-author with Michael Todaro of a leading textbook, Economic Development (9th Ed., Addison-Wesley, 2005). In addition, Smith is co-editor with Jennifer Brinkerhoff and Hildy Teegen of a forthcoming volume, NGOs and the Millennium Development Goals: Citizen Action to Reduce Poverty (Palgrave Macmillan). Smith is also author or coauthor of over three dozen journal articles and many other publications. Smith organized and served as first director of GWU’s International Development Studies Program. He has done on site research and program work in developing countries on four continents including Bangladesh, China, Ecuador, India, Peru, Uganda, and Former Yugoslavia. Smith has been a consultant for the World Bank, the International Labour Office (ILO, Geneva), and the World Institute for Development Economics Research (UN-WIDER, Helsinki), among other agencies.

Jomo Kwame Sundaram is Assistant Secretary-General for Economic Development in the Department of Economic and Social Affairs of the United Nations. He was visiting senior research fellow at the Asia Research Institute, National University of Singapore, founding chair of International Development Economics Associates, and professor in the applied economics department, University of Malaya, until 2004. He was born in Penang, Malaysia and studied at the Penang Free School, Royal Military College, Yale University and Harvard University. He has taught at Science University of Malaysia, Harvard University, Yale University, National University of Malaysia, University of Malaya, and Cornell University. He has also been a visiting fellow at Cambridge University. Jomo has authored more than 35 monographs, edited more than 50 books, and translated 11 volumes, in addition to writing many academic papers and articles for the media. He is also on the editorial boards of several journals.

Peter Townsend is Professor of International Social Policy at the London School of Economics, where he continues to teach postgraduate students about human rights, development and social policy. He is AcSS and FBA and has 9 overseas and UK honorary doctorates. In 1963 he was appointed Professor of Sociology at the University of Essex upon its foundation and in 1982 moved to the University of Bristol, where he is now also Emeritus Professor. He has worked lately with UNICEF, DFID and the ILO and was consultant to the UN at the time of the World Summit for Social Development at Copenhagen in 1995. In the UK he helped to found the Child Poverty Action Group in 1965 and the Disability Alliance in 1973, was Chair of each of these organisations for 20 years and continues to be President of both. He is Vice-President of the Fabian Society. His latest books are Poverty and Social Exclusion in Britain (with David Gordon and others, 2000); Breadline Europe: The Measurement of Poverty (co-editor, 2001); Targeting Poor Health (2001); World Poverty: New Policies to Defeat an Old Enemy (co-editor with David Gordon, 2002); Child Poverty in the Developing World (with others, 2003);  Inequalities of Health: The Welsh Dimension (2005); and Social Security: Building Decent Societies (ed., forthcoming, ILO, 2007).

Bharat Wakhlu is the President of Tata Incorporated., New York. Tata Inc., a company set up in New York in 1945, has been engaged in trade and commerce with the Americas, on behalf of the Tata Group, ever since. Mr. Wakhlu has worked extensively with companies in the Tata Group in India. Before moving to the US, in 2003, he was with Tata Steel, where he headed the company’s vast Supply Chain. He also has extensive experience, as a leader, in the areas of Manufacturing, Total Quality and Performance Improvement, Human Resources, Corporate and Community Relations, and E-commerce. In each of these areas he has demonstrated exemplary leadership capability, and excellent results. In his current role, he has developed new and profitable lines of business for Tata Inc., and has assisted in focusing on new opportunities for investment by the Tatas, in North and South America. Bharat has had his education in India, France and the US. He is the author of a best-selling book, “Total Quality – Excellence through Organization-wide Transformation” published first by Wheeler in 1994, and being reprinted in 2006. He also has over forty published papers and articles to his credit, covering topics in Leadership, Quality and Performance improvement, Corporate Social responsibility and Public Administration, among others. He is a regular speaker and seminar leader, and has coached over ten thousand senior executives from some of India’s leading blue-chip corporations. He is a Senior Member of the American Society for Quality, and assists the U.N. Global Compact’s Committee for the 10th Principle. Bharat speaks extensively on issues related to enhancing corporate Competitiveness, Sustainable Business, Globalization ,Poverty Alleviation, and the role of the Private sector in the management of HIV/AIDS. His speeches and writings suggest ways in which corporations, NGO’s and people around the world stand to benefit from economic activity and trade, when amalgamated with visionary leadership, good planning, coupled with flawless execution and when conducted in a spirit of collaborative partnership. He is fluent in six languages, including German and Kashmiri. He is an avid squash player, and a golfer, and is happily married to Savita, a well-known trainer and HR consultant, and the Managing Director of her firm, Jagriti Communications.

Kadmiel Wekwete has worked for more than 20 years in various areas of governance, including development policy, planning, management and administration. After receiving his PhD in Regional and Urban Planning from the University of London in the United Kingdom, Dr. Wekwete worked for four years as a planning officer for the government of Zimbabwe, nine years as a Professor and Dean of Social Sciences at the University of Zimbabwe and since 1993 as an international United Nations Technical Advisor. A Zimbabwe national, Dr. Wekwete also holds a Master of Arts in Development and Environment Planning from the University of Nottingham and a Bachelors in Geography and Economics from the University of Leeds. He currently is the Director of the Local Governance Unit at the United Nations Capital Development Fund, where he is responsible for ensuring high quality technical programme and management services. In this capacity, Dr. Wekwete also provides strategic guidance in project preparation, project monitoring and project appraisal to ten senior technical advisors at UNCDF, six programme managers and more than 60 field staff in 30 Least Developed Countries.

Rabeya Yasmin has been working with BRAC in Bangladesh since 1995.  She currently serves as Program Coordinator of an integrated Poverty Reduction Program for the poorest of the poor called “Challenging the Frontiers of Poverty Reduction: Targeting the Ultra Poor; Targeting Social Constraints” (CFPR) with a budget of US$ 75 million for five years. 1,725,000 ultra poor families are being reached over the five year period between 2002 and 2006.  Rabeya holds expertise in the design and implementation of comprehensive livelihoods development programs for the destitute, social protection for the poorest, food aid and development, human resource development, project monitoring and evaluation, and fund management.