Cameroonian Vera Songwe becomes first woman to head ECA

History has been made at the United Nations Economic Commission for Africa (UNECA), with the appointment of Dr. Vera Songwe, a Cameroonian citizen, as the Executive Secretary of the Addis Ababa based Think Tank. Dr. Songwe becomes the first woman to head the very important UN organization in Africa. Dr. Songwe’s appointment by the UN Secretary-General, António Guterres, was announced Thursday April 13, 2017. Dr. Songwe is taking over the reins of the organisation at a very critical stage of the ECA, following the departure of the immediate past Executive-Secretary, Dr. Carlos Lopes who served from 2012 to 2016. Dr. Songwe’s professional journey began when she joined the World Bank Group in 1998 as a Young Professional. She worked in the Middle East and North Africa region covering Morocco and Tunisia in the Poverty Reduction and Economic Management (PREM) unit. She later joined the East Asia and Pacific region, PREM unit where she played several roles including Regional PRSP Coordinator, and Country Sector Coordinator and Senior Economist for the Philippines. She has also worked in Cambodia and in Mongolia as Country Economist managing different World Bank programmes and the economic and growth policy dialogue...More