Gwi-Yeop Son, Regional Director for Europe and Central Asia with the United Nations Development Coordination Office, will discuss how today’s polarized geopolitical landscape requires the youth to be the torchbearer for shaping the future we want. She will examine this through the lens of Sudan, studying how the people’s revolution with the youth at the center toppled the 30-year Bashir dictatorship in 2019; explore the root causes of today’s catastrophic crisis; and discuss Sudan’s future and what can be done. How does the interconnectedness of the world mean that what happens in Sudan (and other countries around the world) is in fact our collective affair? Ultimately, it is up to the youth and to all the generations to bring about peace, justice, equality and solidarity.
Gwi-Yeop Son began her career in Haiti, assisting HIV/AIDS patients with the non-governmental organization. She then worked with the Country Women’s Association of Nigeria, focusing on microfinance schemes.
In 1994, Ms. Son was posted to Somalia as a Programme Officer with the United Nations Development Programme (UNDP). After two years in Somalia, she worked in various other locations including Lao PDR, Timor-Leste during the pre-independence period, Indonesia during the first democratic elections and Tsunami 2004 period as well as Thailand. She was also posted in New York to serve as a Programme Adviser on Afghanistan and as the UN Office for the Coordination of Humanitarian Affairs (OCHA)'s Director of Corporate Programmes. In OCHA, she was responsible for organizing the World Humanitarian Summit and provided direct oversight over work on communications, information services, policy development and humanitarian financing including the CERF and the country based pooled funds. Ms. Son took up her assignment in Sudan as the United Nations Resident and Humanitarian Coordinator in August 2018 until August 2020. Currently, she is working as the Regional Director for Europe and Central Asia with the United Nations Development Coordination Office, supporting 18 countries and territories from Western Balkans, South Caucasus, Eastern Europe and Central Asia.
Ms. Son's talk is co-sponsored by the Keck Center for International and Strategic Studies and Mgrublian Center for Human Rights at CMC.
