CURRICULUM VITAE

Name: Brenda Gael McSweeney Nationalities:  USA, Ireland
  Languages:  English, French
  Website:  gaels.net

ACADEMIC EXPERIENCE:         

September 2006 - present:

  • Adjunct Professor of the Practice, The Heller School for Social Policy and Management, Sustainable International Development Program, Brandeis University, Waltham, Massachusetts; Academic Advisor

  • Resident Scholar, Women's Studies Research Center, Brandeis University

September 2004 - present:

  • Visiting Faculty, Women's Studies Program, Boston University, Boston, Massachusetts

September 2004 - August 2006:

  • Visiting Scholar, Women's Studies Research Center, Brandeis University

September 2003 - August 2004:

  • First Visiting Scholar, Boston University's Women's Studies Program; designed and teaching a Seminar on Gender and International Development

UNITED NATIONS CAREER AND PRIOR PROFESSIONAL EXPERIENCE:

1998-mid 2003:

United Nations Resident Coordinator and United Nations Development Programme (UNDP) Resident Representative, India. Led the development cooperation with India, UNDP's largest single partnership in the world.  Secured and managed several hundred million dollars in UNDP grant assistance for the Ninth and Tenth Plan periods to help the country address the vital concerns of technology and sustainable livelihoods; community-based pro-poor initiatives and policies; management of development/governance; energy and the environment; disaster prevention, humanitarian response and recovery; and promoting human development and gender equality.  Responsible for coordination of operations of UN organizations in India.

   
1988-97

Executive Coordinator of the United Nations Volunteers (UNV).  Led and managed the Geneva then Bonn-based UNV program with nearly 4,000 UNV specialists from over 130 countries serving worldwide. Oversaw programming and negotiations with Governments and donor partners for technical cooperation programs and projects in the economic and social fields, community-based initiatives for self-reliance, emergency relief and rehabilitation; and civilian components of UN peace-keeping and peace-building operations.

   
1982-88

UNDP Resident Representative and UN Resident Coordinator, Jamaica.  Refocused operational activities for development in Jamaica to support Government's economic reform - notably programs and resource mobilization for employment generation/pro-poor growth, environmental protection and public sector modernization.  Also responsible for UNDP cooperation with The Bahamas, Bermuda, Cayman and the Turks and Caicos Islands.
   
1979-82

UNDP Senior Policy Analysis Officer, Division for Policy Coordination and Procedures, Bureau for Programme Policy and Evaluation, New York. Developed new initiatives such as increased involvement of national personal within UN-supported programs and improved program/project design, including UN Agency consultations and presentation to UNDP's governing bodies.
   
1972-79

UNDP Assistant Resident Representative; Programme Officer, Burkina Faso. Responsible for country programming with focus on basic services; also action-research, area of women and development.
   
1971

Research Associate, Harvard University, Cambridge, Massachusetts; and                       Consultant, African-American Labour Centre, New York.
   
1970-71 Research Aide and Research Associate,
Fletcher School of Law and Diplomacy, Medford, Massachusetts.
  
1967

Economist, International Economics Division, Standard Oil Company of New Jersey (ESSO), New York.
  
1966-67 Teaching Assistant, Department of Economics, Tufts University Medford, Massachusetts; and Research Assistant, Fletcher School of Law and Diplomacy.
   
1966

Economic Analyst, Office of the Special Representative to the President for Trade Negotiations (The White House), Washington, D.C.; and                                                               Assistant, The Edward R. Murrow Centre, Medford Massachusetts.
  

EDUCATION:

1979

Fletcher School of Law and Diplomacy, Medford, Massachusetts, Ph.D.  (Development Economics)
   
1970

Fletcher School of Law and Diplomacy, Medford, Massachusetts, M.A.L.D. - Master of Arts in Law and Diplomacy
   
1967-69

University of Paris, Institute d'Etudes Politiques, Fulbright Scholar;                                            Study and Country-level Research in Africa on International Development Assistance
   
1965-66

Fletcher School of Law and Diplomacy, Medford, Massachusetts - Master of Arts
   
1963-64

University of Geneva - Faculty of Economics and Social Sciences; Graduate Institute of International Studies and the Institute of European Studies
   
1961-65 Smith College, Northampton, Massachusetts
B.A. - History.

MAIN HONORS AND AWARDS         

  • Doctor of Humane Letters Honoris Causa, Lackawanna College, Commonwealth of Pennsylvania, May 2007; Commencement Speaker

  • Appointed to the Advisory Board for the UN Development Programme's Third Regional Cooperation Framework for Africa (2007)

  • Elected Founding Convener, Gender and International Development Initiatives (GaIDI), Women's Studies Research Center, Brandeis University, 2005  (gaidi.blogspot.com)

  • Founding Member, UNESCO Chairs/UNITWIN (University Twinning) Network in Women's Studies and Gender Research, Paris, 2005 

  • Elected to the Board of the Brighton-Allston Historical Society (BAHS) and as Founding Chairperson, Women's History Group, 2004

  • Selected as first-ever Visiting Scholar, Boston University's Women's Studies Program, 2003-2004

  • Elected Academician of the International Informatization Academy, 2002

  • Awarded in 1997 the Medal of the "Chevalier de l'Ordre National" from the Government of Burkina Faso, in tribute to the leadership and work of the UN Volunteers

  • Doctorate of Humane Letters Honoris Causa, Monterey Institute of International Studies, Monterey, California; Commencement Speaker and Board of Directors (1994)  

  • Prime Minister of Jamaica's Medal of Appreciation,1988

  • Fulbright Grantee, Institute d'Etudes Politiques, University of Paris (1967-1969).

PUBLICATIONS

  • Publisher, UNDP News, India, 1998-2003

  • Publisher, UNV News, 1989-1997

  • "Jamaica: Adjustment Lessons" published by UNDP Kingston in 1988

  • Journal articles in the areas of gender and development, non-formal education, appropriate technology and time-budgeting published by:

  • UNESCO, Gender History (forthcoming)

  • UNESCO, Social and Human Sciences Portal (2007)

  • UNESCO, Literacy Portal (2006)

  • Boston Women's Heritage Trail (2006)

  • The Population Council, Studies in Family Planning

  • UNICEF, Assignment Children

  • The Comparative and International Education Society, The Comparative Education Review

  • International Technology Development Group, appropriate technology journal

  • Numerous press articles, organization reports and speeches.

CURRENT ACTION-RESEARCH:         

  • Ongoing Women's Studies Research Center initiative:  a collaborative Gender Case Study on Srihaswani or Creative Manual Skills for Self-Reliant Development based in Shantiniketan, West Bengal, India, showcasing women's priorities and empowerment, and the boosting of community self-reliance

  • 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; bringing the findings into publications and into classes for analysis, debate, and interface with the Project's National Coordinator; see papers at www.gaels.net, also UNESCO's Social and Human Sciences Portal/Gender Equality and Development at: http://portal.unesco.org/shs/en/ev.php-URL_ID=10766&URL_DO=DO_TOPIC&URL_SECTION=201.html and UNESCO's Literacy Portal at:                                                               http://portal.unesco.org/education/en/ev.php-URL_ID=46136&URL_DO=DO_TOPIC&URL_SECTION=201.html

  • Under UNESCO's UNITWIN, compiling a volume of essays on Gender, Culture and People-Centered Development in India with scholars and activists from Boston University, three prestigious Indian Universities and several Non-Governmental Organizations

  • Brighton-Allston Women's Heritage Trail, launched as the flagship event during the Annual Meeting of the Brighton-Allston Historical Society, May 2007; Women's Heritage Trail Guide is forthcoming as part of the town's Bicentennial Celebrations.

 

July 2007