The United Nations Development Programme (UNDP) is a United Nations agency tasked with helping countries eliminate poverty and achieve sustainable economic growth and human development. Headquartered in New York City, it is the largest UN development aid agency, with offices in 170 countries.
Mahbub ul Haq was a Pakistani economist, international development theorist, and politician who served as the Minister of Finance of Pakistan from 10 April 1985 to 28 January 1986, and again from June to December 1988 as a caretaker. Widely regarded as one of the greatest economists of his time, Haq devised the popular human development index, widely used to gauge the development of nations.
A. K. Shiva Kumar, is a development economist, policy advisor, and evaluator, who has over the past 40 years, taught economics, undertaken evaluations, conducted research and policy analysis, worked closely with governments, international agencies, and civil society organisations to advocate for changes in public policy and legislation. He teaches various courses at Harvard University, Indian School of Business, Young India Fellowship, S. P. Jain Institute of Management and Research and Ashoka University. He is a Board Member of the Global Partnership to End Violence against Children, Co-Chair of Know in Violence in Childhood, and a member of the Leadership Councils of both the International Center for Research on Women (ICRW) and Global Women's Institute, The George Washington University, Washington DC. In addition to serving as a senior policy adviser UNICEF – India (1992-2017), he was a member of India's National Advisory Council to the Prime Minister of India, constituted by the Chairperson Sonia Gandhi. The council was set up in June 2004 to oversee the implementation of India's National Common Minimum Programme.
Devaki Jain is an Indian economist and writer, who has worked mainly in the field of feminist economics. In 2006 she was awarded the Padma Bhushan, the third-highest civilian award from Government of India, for her contribution to social justice and the empowerment of women.
The Institute for Social and Economic Change (ISEC) is a social science research institute in Bangalore, India. Founded in 1972, it is the largest among the 27 institutions supported by Indian Council of Social Science Research (ICSSR).
Jayati Ghosh is an Indian development economist. She is the Chairperson of the Centre for Economic Studies and Planning at the Jawaharlal Nehru University, New Delhi and her core areas of study include international economics, employment patterns in developing countries, macroeconomic policy, and issues related to gender and development.
Njuguna S. Ndung'u is a Kenyan economist who has been as Minister of Finance in the cabinet of President William Samoei Ruto since October 2022.
Prem Shankar Jha is an Indian economist, journalist and writer. He has served in the United Nations Development Programme, the World Bank and as the information advisor to the Prime Minister of India. As a journalist, he held editorial positions at Hindustan Times, The Times of India, The Economic Times and The Financial Express. He is currently the managing editor of Financial World, the business daily from Tehelka and a senior journalist. Jha is the author of a dozen books including Kashmir 1947: Rival Versions of History and Crouching Dragon, Hidden Tiger: Can China and India Dominate the West?.
Martha Chen is an American academic, scholar and social worker, who is presently a lecturer in public policy at the Harvard Kennedy School and senior advisor of the global research-policy-action network WIEGO and a member of the Advisory Board of the United Nations University World Institute for Development Economics Research (UNU-WIDER). Martha is a development practitioner and scholar who has worked with the working poor in India, South Asia, and around the world. Her areas of specialization are employment, poverty alleviation, informal economy, and gender. She lived in Bangladesh working with BRAC, one of the world's largest non-governmental organizations, and in India, as field representative of Oxfam America for India and Bangladesh for 15 years.
Mahendra P. Lama is an Indian professor and a development economist who was the pro-vice chancellor of IGNOU and the founding vice chancellor of Sikkim University in India. At the age of 45, he became the youngest vice chancellor of a National Central University in India. He is presently a senior Professor in the School of International Studies, Jawaharlal Nehru University, New Delhi; Chief Economic Adviser in the Government of Sikkim and Member of the Eminent Persons Group on Nepal-India Relations appointed by the Prime Ministers of India and Nepal.
Santosh Mehrotra is a human development economist, whose research and writings have had most influence in the areas of labour, employment, skill development, child poverty, and the economics of education. He was an economic adviser in the United Nations system in New York City, Italy, and Thailand (1991–2006), and technocrat in the government of India (2006–2014), apart from making contributions to academic research since the mid-1980s. He has also in recent years established a reputation as an institution-builder in the field of research in India, despite facing difficult odds. He brings a combination of professional experience: with the Indian government as a policy maker and adviser, with international organisations as a technical expert, having lived on three continents and travelled to 63 countries providing technical advice to governments; and as an academic whose research work has been translated into French, Spanish, Portuguese, Italian and German.
Swarnim Wagle is the Chief Economic Advisor at the UNDP Regional Bureau for Asia and the Pacific in New York. He is a former Vice-Chair and Member of the National Planning Commission of Nepal, headed by the Prime Minister. He served as Vice-Chair from August 2017 to February 2018, and as Member of the National Planning Commission of Nepal for two terms.
Dr. Sailendra Narain is a development finance specialist born in Nawadah, Bihar Province, India. For over 40 years, Narain has been a pioneer in developing the global SME sector. His specialities include: designing policy frameworks for SME Growth, establishing SME financing programs in banking and development financial institutions, and capacity building for SMEs with a focus on Entrepreneurship.
V. R. Panchamukhi, is an Indian Economist and Sanskrit scholar. He was born on September 17, 1936, in Dharwad, Karnataka. He is the eldest son of Vidyaratna Shri R. S. Panchamukhi, an archaeologist and indologist and Sanskrit Scholar.
Ajay Bisaria is a former career diplomat in the Indian Foreign Service. He served as the High Commissioner of India to Canada from March 2020 to June 2022. Earlier, he served as High Commissioner of India to Pakistan from December 2017 to February 2020. Prior to joining the diplomatic service, Bisaria worked briefly with the American Express Bank and Bharat Heavy Electricals Limited in Delhi.
Abdul Razzaq Kemal was a Pakistani economist, considered "an authority on the Pakistani economy and on economic policy making". He was the director of the Pakistan Institute of Development Economics (1999–2006).
Shombi Sharp is an American diplomat with the United Nations, UN Resident Coordinator in India․
Praveensingh Pratapsingh Pardeshi is an Indian Administrative Service (IAS) officer with over 29 years of experience in the services, and former Municipal Commissioner of Mumbai. Pardeshi has held various senior leadership positions within the United Nations as the Chief of Transition Recovery unit, UNDP Geneva and Senior Coordinator of United Nations International Strategy for Disaster Reduction (UNISDR). He has subsequently headed the regional offices Support and Co-ordination Unit of UNISDR. Pardeshi has been a key player in post-disaster and conflict recovery programs of UNDP and the public administration, governance reform, wildlife conservation and public health effort against COVID-19 in Maharashtra, India. Pardeshi was the Global Programme Coordinator for the Defeat-NCD Partnership within United Nations Institute of Training and Research (UNITAR). He was appointed as Secretary in the Ministry of Marathi Language in June 2021.
Kamta Prasad, is an Indian economist, author, and professor with a career spanning over 60 years. He has published over 20 research books and has contributed to over 150 research papers.
Usha Rao-Monari is an Indian investment, development policy, and water resources specialist. Since February 2021, she has served as Under-Secretary-General and Associate Administrator of the United Nations Development Programme (UNDP).
