Isabell Kempf

Biography

Ms Isabell Kempf is the current Director of the UNESCO Institute for Lifelong Learning (UIL) in Hamburg, Germany. She has 30 years of experience working with the United Nations, bringing her expertise in the areas of capacity-building and policy advice, as well as the application of a human rights- and gender-based approach to education, development and peace-building, to the Organization. Prior to joining UIL, Ms Kempf held positions including Head of the United Nations Research Institute for Social Development (UNRISD) Bonn Office, where she co-created a global research and action network comprising researchers, decision-makers and social activists to advance a just and green transformation of society, and Co-director of the Poverty-Environment Initiative (PEI) of the United Nations Development Programme (UNDP) and the United Nations Environment Programme (UNEP) in Nairobi, where she led a global programme on integrated policies in over 28 countries. She has held further roles at UNESCO, UNEP, the United Nations Economic Commission for Latin America and the Caribbean (ECLAC), the Office of the United Nations High Commissioner for Human Rights (OHCHR) and the International Conference on the Great Lakes Region (ICGLR). Ms Kempf has published widely on the right to education and development, and social and environmental justice. She holds an MA in Politics, Philosophy and Economics from the University of Oxford and a PhD in International Economics and Development from Complutense University of Madrid.