Ghanaian appointed UN Millennium Campaign's new Deputy Director for Africa
Nairobi, November 30th 2009: The United Nations Millennium Campaign, Africa is delighted to announce the recent appointment of Charles Abugre as its new deputy director for Africa. Charles's appointment comes six months after the sudden death of Dr Tajudeen Abdul Raheem who passed away in a road accident in Kenya on May 24th, this year.
At an awards ceremony in recognition of campaign partners who helped set a new world record of the largest human mobilization in history, the Director of the UN Millennium Campaign, unveiled Charles to partners including Civil Society Organization, Media, Faith Based Organization and the Government.
“On behalf of the UN Millennium Campaign and the development partners in Africa allow me extend my warm welcome to Charles Abugre, as the new UN Millennium campaign deputy Director for Africa,” Salil Shetty said.
“There is no better person to lead Africa at a time of the current economic crisis than Charles-a top Africa economist and policy expert with over twenty years experience in international development,” he added
A Ghanaian development economist, Charles comes to the campaign most recently from Christian Aid, where he was the Head of the Global Policy and Advocacy Division, based in the UK.
He has also been a lecturer at the University of Wales, Swansea, an NGO activist and development professional, working in several parts of the world. He is a co-founder of several development organizations around the world, including the Third World Network, ISODEC and the Centre for Public Interest Law in Ghana. He is also writes on various aspects of Africa's political economy.
In his inaugural speech, Charles said he was glad to be joining a team working for the realization of the Millennium Development Goals.
“I am pleased to be joining the campaign that drums support for a noble cause. Unlike other development interventions before, the MDGs are universal development aspirations. They encompass universally accepted human values and rights” Charles added “Our challenge as campaigners is to exert unrelenting pressure on governments to fulfill their promises”
Charles holds a Masters degree in development economics from the Institute of Social Studies in The Hague, Netherlands, a Bachelors degree in economics and geography from the University of Ghana in Accra, and is a Doctoral Candidate at the University of Wales, Swansea, UK.
In his long history in development work, Charles has been very vocal on the importance of making African states more responsive to the needs of its citizens and the disaster free market policies pause to African development.
The UN Millennium Campaign was established by UN Secretary General Kofi Annan in 2002. The Campaign supports citizens' efforts to hold their governments to account for the achievement of the Millennium Development Goals. The Millennium Development Goals were adopted by 189 world leaders from the north and south, as part of the Millennium Declaration which was signed in 2000. These leaders agreed to achieve the Goals by 2015. Our premise is simple: we are the first generation that can end poverty and we refuse to miss this opportunity. For more information, visit www.endpoverty2015.org.