Azita Berar Awad

Chair, UNRISD BOARD;
Director POLICY, GLO;
Former ILO Senior Director;

Azita Berar Awad was appointed by the UN Secretary-General to serve as Chairperson of the UNRISD Board from 1 July 2021 through 30 June 2025. Ms. Berar Awad is an international advisor specialized in employment policy, development and global governance. She is engaged in work on inequalities, social justice, social policy and social contracts through a number of academic and think tank initiatives, including the Global Network of Policy Research on Youth Transitions, which she co-created in 2020 with 27 universities and policy partners; the Global Labour Organization (GLO), a network of academics and policy think-tanks on labour market issues of which she is the Policy Director; and in her role as a Senior Fellow at the Graduate Institute of International and Development Studies, where she is building a programme on Globalization and Social Policy. Ms. Berar Awad also serves on the Board of Trustees of the OHCHR's Voluntary Fund for Technical Cooperation in the Field of Human Rights and Voluntary Fund for Financial and Technical Assistance in the Implementation of the Universal Periodic Review. Previously she was Director of the ILO Employment Policy Department (2006-2017), Director of the National Policy Group in the ILO Policy Integration Department (2002-2006), and Deputy Director of the ILO Regional Office for Arab States (1999-2002) and Director of its Multidisciplinary Advisory Team.