Stephen Browne

Stephen Browne "is the Deputy Executive Director of the International Trade Centre in Geneva, the technical assistance trade organisation of the United Nations Conference on Trade and Development (UNCTAD) and the World Trade Organisation (WTO). With 29 years’ experience in the United Nations system, Mr. Browne directs operations at ITC with a mix of policy and field work skills.

"Trained as an international economist at the Universities of Cambridge and Paris, Mr Browne began his career as a consultant in London with the Economist Intelligence Unit. In 1976, he joined the United Nations as a researcher at the UN Economic and Social Commission for Asia and the Pacific. He then spent 21 years with the United Nations Development Programme (UNDP), with assignments at headquarters in New York and in the field.

"He was posted to Thailand, Somalia, Ukraine and Rwanda, where he was Assistant, Deputy and then UNDP Resident Representative and UN Resident Coordinator. He was the first UN Representative in Ukraine, heading an office that served the UN system as a whole. During his appointment in Rwanda, four years after the genocide, he was mainly concerned with organising UN assistance in the post-conflict transition from a humanitarian to a development phase. At the time of his assignment, it was UNDP’s largest country office (160 people) in a country with 1,500 UN staff from various agencies.

"At headquarters in New York, he served in various capacities, including leader of the Management Development Group and the Information and Communication Technology for Development Group. He has been responsible for UNDP’s trade portfolio and for collaboration with ITC and UNCTAD. For his third stint at headquarters, he was in charge of economic and social policy, including trade and globalization issues.

"Mr. Browne has published five books on aid and development and about 100 articles on development topics. His most recent book, Aid & Influence – Do Donors Help or Hinder? was published in July 2006. He is a regular participant in international conferences on globalisation and other issues."


 * Advisory Panel, Conflict Analysis Research Centre