Resident Scholar and Adjunct Professor of the Practice, Brandeis University/ Visiting Faculty, Boston University/UNDP

Brenda Gael McSweeney served with the United Nations for thirty years in a range of executive positions. In Burkina Faso she oversaw UN Development Programme (UNDP) activities and carried out action research on women and development. Later Dr. McSweeney headed the United Nations in Jamaica and The Bahamas, and UNDP cooperation with the Turks and Caicos Islands, Cayman, and Bermuda. She led the United Nations Volunteers (UNV) program as Executive Coordinator with oversight of 4,000 UNV specialists from over 130 countries engaged in grassroots development, humanitarian activities and peace-building worldwide. She served as UN Resident Coordinator and UNDP Resident Representative until mid-2003 in India, where the Government designated gender equality as the UN focal theme.

Presently Dr. McSweeney, a Resident Scholar at the Women’s Studies Research Center and Adjunct Professor of the Practice at the Sustainable International Development Program, The Heller School for Social Policy and Management, both at Brandeis University, is leading an assessment of the legacy of UNESCO's "Project for Equal Access of Women and Girls to Education," set in three rural zones in Burkina Faso. She brings the findings into publications and into her classes at Brandeis University and Boston University's Women's Studies Program for analysis, debate, and interface with the Project's National Coordinator. Her earlier research initiative, a collaborative gender case study on Srihaswani or Creative Manual Skills for Self Reliant Development based in West Bengal, India, showcases women's priorities and empowerment. Students equally bring their research interests and experience into her seminars on gender and international development. Brenda serves on the Advisory Board for UNDP's Regional Programme for Africa. She is also teaching UNDP's courses on Gender Mainstreaming at the Virtual Development Academy. A Ph.D. holder from the Fletcher School of Law and Diplomacy, she was also a Fulbright grantee in Paris.

United Nations Population Fund (UNFPA)

Aminata Toure is Chief of the Gender, Culture and Human Rights branch of the United Nations Populations Fund (UNFPA). Since 1995, she has worked with UNFPA in various African countries directing gender and health programs. She previously led the Marketing and Communication Department of one of the biggest Senegalese Company- SOTRAC, a for profit organization.

International Labor Rights Forum (ILRF)

Bama Athreya is the Executive Director of the International Labor Rights Forum (ILRF). Dr. Athreya joined ILRF in early 1998, just after returning from a two-year assignment in Cambodia as the AFL-CIO's Country Representative. While in Cambodia she directed worker education and labor law training programs and conducted extensive research on the problems of women workers and on child labor. She is a cultural anthropologist, and received her Ph.D. from the University of Michigan. She spent three years in Indonesia, first as a State Department official and later as an independent researcher, and wrote her thesis on Indonesia's labor movement. She has also lived and worked in China, Taiwan and India. At the ILRF, one of the programs she works with is the Rights for Working Women Campaign, which seeks to bring together allies throughout the developing world to promote viable remedies for the problem of sexual harassment and violence in the workplace.

Service Employees International Union

Nidhi Mirani graduated from Kennedy School in 2003 and worked at the Self Employed Women's Association (SEWA) in Gujarat, India from 2003 to 2005. While at SEWA, Nidhi worked in SEWA Academy with grassroots researchers on two projects: Measuring "Growth from Below" and "The Struggle for Financial Security", a study with SEWA Bank. Nidhi also participated in running the Exposure Dialogue Program which brought together economists and SEWA members and staff. In addition, she assisted Professor Martha Chen of the Kennedy School on two booklets on the impact of SEWA and SEWA's membership profile. Nidhi is currently a Senior Researcher with the Service Employees International Union.

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