Director Kevin P. Gallagher Appointed to the Committee for Development Policy at the United Nations
Kevin P. Gallagher, Director of the Global Development Policy Center and Professor of Global Development Policy at the Frederick S. Pardee School of Global Studies at Boston University, has been appointed as a member of the Committee for Development Policy (CDP), a subsidiary body of the Economic and Social Council (ECOSOC) at the United Nations. The CDP members reflect a diverse range of expertise to advise ECOSOC on critical matters of social, economic, and environmental development around the world. This distinguished honor is reserved for 24 members every three years who are nominated by the Secretary-General.
Dr. Gallagher will serve as the North American representative from 2019-2022 replacing Dr. Ann Harrison who is a research associate at the National Bureau of Economic Research (NBER) and Professor of Multinational Management at the Wharton School of the University of Pennsylvania. Since the CDP’s inception in 1965, there have been only 11 representatives from North America.
Official video about the CDP:
Members are expected to attend a plenary meeting in March every year at the UN Headquarters in New York City as well as publish policy briefs and contribute to sub-group meetings throughout the year. These subgroups help identify and give perspective to topics and issues highlighted for ECOSOC.
A major function of the CDP is to review the least developed countries (LDC) category for ECOSOC. The committee reviews the qualifications for this category and monitors the development and graduation of countries from the LDC category. Members may also be called upon to participate in other United Nations meetings including the High-Level Political Forum on Sustainable Development.
Boston University’s Frederick S. Pardee School of Global Studies Dean Adil Najam also held this honor as the Pakistani representative beginning in 2007. Among other notable members are the former US Secretary of Defense and head of the World Bank from 1968-1981 Robert MacNamara, former Pakistani Minister of Finance and founder of the UN Human Development Report Mahbuq ul Haq, founder of the World Economic Forum Klaus Schwab, Professor of Political Economy at MIT Alice Amsden, and the current chair of the CDP and co-chair of the Central Bank of Colombia Jose Antonio Ocampo.
Dr. Gallagher currently serves as co-chair of the T-20 Argentina task force on “An International Financial Architecture for Stability and Development” to advise the G-20 and its members on financial infrastructure and monetary policy globally. He also served on the U.S. Department of State’s Investment Subcommittee of the Advisory Committee on International Economic Policy and the International Investment Division of the United Nations Conference on Trade and Development. He has served as a visiting or adjunct professor at the Paul Nitze School for Advanced International Studies at Johns Hopkins University, the Fletcher School of Law and Diplomacy, Tufts University; El Colegio de Mexico in Mexico; Tsinghua University in China; and the Center for State and Society in Argentina.
You can follow him on Twitter @KevinPGallagher.
Banner image courtesy of Scavone Photography