Abdoulie Janneh

Abdoulie Janneh was from 2005 to 2012 Managing Director of the Economic Commission for Africa ( ECA) of the United Nations.

Life

Janneh studied engineering at the University of Sierra Leone, took a postgraduate degree in project planning at Bradford University in England and received a master's in city and regional planning at the University of Nottingham.

His professional career began in 1979 when the United Nations Development Programme (UNDP ) as a development planner in his home country Gambia. From June 2000 to October 2005 Janneh was Deputy Secretary-General and Regional Director of UNDP Africa. He led several development programs of the United Nations in 45 African countries.

In September 2005 he was appointed by former UN Secretary - General Kofi Annan appointed Managing Director of ECA and thus became the successor to Kingsley Amoako. In August 2012, he went into retirement.

Under his leadership, the UNDP Division for Africa relies heavily among other things for crisis prevention, poverty reduction and the fight against HIV and AIDS. Due to its development-policy objectives, he also strove for the partnership between the ECA and the governments.