Commonwealth announces four special envoys

Admin l Sunday, December 13, 2020

 

LONDON, England – The Commonwealth Secretary-General Patricia Scotland on Friday, 11, December announced the names of four special envoys and champions who will promote the Commonwealth’s values and principles around the world.

The four roles will be responsible for portfolio areas covering key issues designed to support and assist the Commonwealth’s 54 countries and 2.5 billion people. The four individuals taking on these new roles are:

Former director of The Prince of Wales’s International Sustainability Unit, Justin Munday, as the Special Envoy on Climate Change, Environment and Socio-Economic Affairs. He will support the Commonwealth’s climate strategy with a focus on preparing for next year’s COP 26 in Glasgow and mobilising resources to help achieve Paris Agreement ambitions and relevant Sustainable Development Goals (SDGs) in member states.

The Secretary-General’s Special Envoy for Health and Education is Rwandan medical doctor, diplomat and politician, Richard Sezibera. He will focus on the attainment of the Sustainable Development Goals (SDGs) relating to health and well-being (SDG3) and quality education (SDG4).

Prof Praja Trevedi, former economic adviser to the Government of India, has been named the Secretary-General’s Special Envoy for SDG Implementation. His focus will be on implementing the UN Agenda 2030 and its 17 Sustainable development goals; including combatting poverty and reducing inequalities.

Finally, the Secretary-General’s Champion for Equality in Sports is British Paralympic athlete, Anne Wafula Strike. Her role involves connecting sporting initiatives and supporting the implementation of SDGs relating to sport, peace and development and improving equality in sport.

Speaking on the announcements, the Secretary-General Patricia Scotland said: “I am deeply honoured that these Special Envoys and Champions of such exceptional talent, quality and experience have generously agreed to help us promote the values and principles of the Commonwealth so that we can better deliver the Sustainable Development Goals and assist the 2.5 billion people in the Commonwealth in need of our support.”

Justin Munday, Secretary-General’s Special Envoy on Climate Change, Environment and Socio-Economic Affairs:

Justin Mundy is Strategic Adviser to the Capital, Science & Policy Practice at Willis Towers Watson and Distinguished Fellow, World Resources Institute.

From 2007-2018, Justin was the Director of The Prince of Wales’s International Sustainability Unit. Prior to that, he worked as an Adviser to the UK Government on Russia, Energy and Climate Change and ran the World Bank’s forestry and biodiversity programmes in Russia and Central Asia.

He is Chairman of an agricultural fund management company SLM, was a Managing Director of Climate Change Capital, Senior Adviser to Deutsche Bank’s Global Markets Group, a Director of Aon Carbon and a founder of ForestRe.

Dr. Richard Sezibera, Secretary-General’s Special Envoy for Health and Education:

Richard Sezibera  is a Rwandan medical doctor, diplomat and politician, who served as the Minister of Foreign Affairs from 18 October 2018 until November 4, 2019.

Previously, he was the fourth Secretary-General of the East African Community. He was appointed to that position by the East African Community Heads of State on 19 April 2011 for a five-year term.

On a professional level, Sezibera is a member of the Rwanda Medical Association and a Fellow of the Institute for advanced studies in the humanities at the University of Edinburgh, Scotland.

He served as Vice President of the World Health General Assembly and chairperson of the World Health Organization regional committee on Africa. He served as a commissioner on the UN Secretary-General’s Commission on accountability for women and children’s health. He is a member of the GAVI (Global Alliance for Vaccine) board, first as minister of health in Rwanda, and then a second and third time as an individual. He serves as the chairperson of the board’s programme and policy committee.

Prof Praja Trevedi, Secretary-General’s Special Envoy for SDG Implementation:

Dr. Prajapati Trivedi  is a Visiting Fellow at the IBM Center for The Business of Government, Washington, DC, and visiting Economics Faculty at the Harvard Kennedy School of Government, Harvard University.

Until January 2018, he was the Senior Fellow (Governance) and Adjunct Professor of Public Policy and Faculty Chair for the Management Programme in Public Policy (MPPP) at the Indian School of Business.

He previously served as a Secretary to the Government of India. In January 2009, he was appointed as the first Secretary of Performance Management. Based in the Cabinet Secretariat with the responsibility of managing government performance, he reviewed and reported to the Cabinet Secretary/Prime Minister on the performance of all government departments. He also headed the National Authority for Chemical Weapons Convention as its chairman.

Dr. Trivedi worked for 14 years (1994-2009) as a Senior Economist for the World Bank in Washington, DC, before joining the Government of India in 2009. He was previously Economic Adviser to Government of India from 1992 to 1994.

In 2017 he became the first Indian to receive the International Public Administration Award given by the American Society for Public Administration for contributing significantly to the field of public administration as a scholar and practitioner.

On March 11, 2019, Prof. Trivedi was awarded the Harry Hatry Distinguished Performance Management Practice Award for 2019  in Washington, DC. This award is presented each year by the Center for Accountability and Performance (CAP), American Society for Public Administration (ASPA).  The Hatry Award is presented to an individual whose outstanding teaching, education, training, and consultation in performance management has made a significant contribution to the practice of public administration.

Anne Wafula Strike, Secretary-General’s Champion for Equality in Sports: Anne Wafula Strike MBE is a British Paralympic wheelchair racer.

Wafula Strike was born in Mihuu in Bungoma, Kenya, and contracted polio at the age of two, resulting in a later Royal National Orthopaedic Hospital diagnosis of below T7 paralysis. Arriving in the UK in April 2000, she was introduced to wheelchair racing in 2002 and in 2004 became the first Kenyan wheelchair racer to represent her country, competing in the T53 400m finals at the Paralympics in Athens. Following a successful application for British citizenship in 2006, she became a member of Team GB and, after reclassification, now competes in the T54 racing category as a British athlete.

A past winner of the BBC’s ‘My Story’ competition, her autobiography In my Dreams I Dance was published by HarperCollins in 2010.

In 2013, Wafula Strike was featured in Paul Stenning’s Success – By Those Who’ve Made It, alongside many celebrities and notable people. Her’s was the last personal biography featured in the book, which Stenning explained was because her story was the most powerful and the greatest example of success.

She was appointed Member of the Order of the British Empire (MBE) in the 2014 Birthday Honours for services to disability sport and charity.