Thematic Solution Forum 4

Ms. Xiaojun Grace Wang is the Deputy Director for Programmes and Operations at the United Nations Office for South-South Cooperation (UNOSSC). Ms. Wang brings to the position extensive senior leadership experience in brokering knowledge exchange, facilitating partnerships, and strengthening the capacities of countries to engage in South-South and triangular cooperation.

Ms. Wang has most recently served as the Lead Advisor on South-South and Triangular Cooperation at the United Nations Development Programme’s Bureau for Policy and Programme Support. In that capacity, she initiated and spearheaded the establishment of the Global Coalition of Think Tank Networks for South- South Cooperation – the South-South Global Thinkers Initiative, jointly supported by UNOSSC and UNDP.

Prior to that Ms. Wang worked as UNDP’s Poverty Practice Manager for five years, overseeing integrated workplans, knowledge management, communications, global programmes and trust funds, as well as office administration and operations. Between 2002 and 2009, Ms. Wang served in the UNDP Country Office in China where she was Team Leader for Democratic Governance and HIV and AIDS, and managed poverty alleviation programmes. Before joining UNDP in 2002, Ms. Wang worked with governments, international non-governmental organizations, academic institutions and media outlets.

She is a Chinese national and holds a PhD in Education and International Development from the University of London.

Ms. Jayathma Wickramanayake was appointed as the UN Secretary-General’s Envoy on Youth in June 2017 at the age of 26. She is the youngest senior official in the UN and the first woman to hold this position. In this role, Jayathma works to expand the UN’s youth engagement and advocacy efforts across all four pillars of work – sustainable development, human rights, peace and security and humanitarian action – and serves as a representative of and advisor to the Secretary-General.

Originally from Sri Lanka, Ms. Wickramanayake has worked extensively on youth development and participation, and has played a key role in transforming the youth development sector in her home country.

Prior to taking up her post, Ms. Wickramanayake was instrumental in creating the movement for civic and political engagement of young people, especially young women in Sri Lanka named “Hashtag Generation”. Previously, she advocated for global youth development on an international level including as the first ever Sri Lankan Youth Delegate to the United Nations and as the youth lead negotiator and member of the International Youth Task Force of the World Conference on Youth 2014 where she played a critical role in mainstreaming youth in the Post-2015 Process and in the establishment of World Youth Skills Day.

H.E. SEREI CHUMNEAS he worked for National Committee for Disaster Management/NCDM from 2004-2005 and the Ministry of Rural Development 2006-2007 as adviser to the Deputy Prime Minister of Rural Development. He served as a Minister Cabinet‘s Officer, and the adviser to the Ministry of Education, Youth and Sport from 2004-2014. From 2014 to presently, he is the Under Secretary of State, The Ministry of Education, Youth and Sport, of Cambodia.

Madam Yang Baohuaholds a Master’s degree in Economics. She is a senior accountant, certified public accountant, and national leading expert in the fields of accounting and finance. She has worked at China Energy Resources Investment Corporation, China Energy Conservation Investment Corporation, and China Development Bank (CDB) successively. Her previous positions in CDB include Director General of Operations Department and Director General of Finance & Accounting Department. She studied at Boston University as a senior visiting fellow from 2003 to 2004, completing the Hubert H. Humphrey Fellowship Program sponsored by the government of the United States. She was given the Special Government Allowance of the State Council in 2011.

Alexandra Solovieva leads external relations and communications at the United Nations Volunteers (UNV), that deploys over 6,500 UN volunteers and a further 17,000 online UN volunteers each year in support of peace and development worldwide. She promotes volunteerism and innovative volunteer solutions as means of achievement of the Sustainable Development Goals (SDGs). Through her work, she strengthens new and emerging partnerships and South-South cooperation.

Alexandra Solovieva held several appointments in the UN system starting in the 1990s including Deputy Country Director in India, Programme Specialist in Asia and the Pacific region, Management Specialist in headquarters, and Head of the Resident Coordinator’s Office in the Lao PDR. She has initiated key policy initiatives and projects ranging from women’s empowerment and skilling, to accelerated governance and livelihoods, climate and energy efficiency, development of youth, private sector, results-based management and UN reform.
Alexandra Solovieva holds Master’s Degrees in Oriental Studies and in Public Administration

Previously: Research Teacher, member of the Group of Political Studies and Defense at the Research in Human and Social Science Institute (IRSH – CENAREST), Lecturer at the National Institute of Management (INSG), Libreville; Legal Advisor to the General Commissioner of the National Center for Scientific and Technological Research (CENAREST).

Clare Stark joined UNESCO in 2005. She has 15 years of experience in strategic planning, developing strategic partnerships, international development cooperation and conducting research on sustainable development issues. She is a Strategic Planning Specialist in the Bureau of Strategic Planning and UNESCO’s South-South Cooperation and LDC focal point. She is responsible for developing strategic partnership agreements with UN partners and coordinating UNESCO’s work to promote South-South Cooperation to support countries in achieving the 2030 Agenda, and UNESCO’s implementation of the Istanbul Programme of Action for the LDCs. She is also responsible for developing strategic position papers, reports and publications on a range of sustainable development issues, including biotechnology/converging technologies, the green economy, LDCs, sustainable management of the ocean, globalization, and UNESCO’s contribution to the 2030 Agenda and the Financing for Development Report.

Her main responsibilities involve managing the daily operations; international affairs coordination of the two organizations; and bridging the gap between the private sector, the public sector and the international organizations and institutions. Ms Zhang has a background in finance and law and previously she worked in the investment space in Hong Kong and in Public-Private Partnership in Beijing, China.

Ms. Zhang graduated with LLB from the London School of Economics and Political Sciences in the United Kingdom. She is also a qualified solicitor of England and Wales.

– Being an OSH influencer for young people under the ILO
SafeYouth@Work Project to become an agent of change for making young people aware of safety and health issue at work in Indonesia.

– Act as representatives of young people worldwide—sharing ideas and priorities with other 125 youth delegates as well as the broader participants on an Action Plan for Safer Working Conditions for Youth and present it to a global audience.

– Design, create and showcase solutions and initiatives for promoting safety and health in the workplace, while interacting with other participants and international OSH experts.

He possesses twelve-year experience with the UN in both global headquarters and country offices. He served as a resource person for the Global and Regional South-South Development Expos, consecutively, in Nairobi, Kenya (2013), Doha, Qatar (2014) and Washington D.C, the U.S (2014). He served in the area of South-South and Trilateral Cooperation for multiple UN agencies, including IFAD, UNICEF and UNV. Currently, he is the a, which is one of the largest youth employability initiatives in country, supported by the India Brazil and South Africa Fund for Poverty and Hunger Alleviation (IBSA Fund). Together with the government partner, private sector and civil society organizations in Cambodia, Clark has led a number of endeavors promoting youth empowerment and participation through volunteerism. He led the community entrepreneurship development initiative, which provided 5000 Cambodian youth all over the country with the concept and skills on developing social entrepreneurship through volunteerism. He also coordinated policy dialogue and research, mainstreaming youth volunteerism as part of community development solutions in the policy infrastructure of Cambodia, including the National Youth Development Policy and its implementation strategy. He is now leading a youth exchange programme between Cambodia and India, which aims to strengthen policy infrastructure of youth volunteering through exchanges of young people and policymakers from Cambodia and India. Clark holds a PhD of Environmental Sciences and firmly believes the value of South-South and Trilateral Cooperation in tackling development topics, such as youth development.