Institution: International Labour Organization (ILO)

Christina Behrendt is Head of the Social Policy Unit in the International Labour Office (ILO)’s Social Protection Department in Geneva (Switzerland). Her earlier work experience in the ILO includes an assignment as Regional Social Security Specialist at the ILO Regional Office for Arab States in Beirut (Lebanon). Prior to joining the ILO in 2002, she worked as a consultant for the International Social Security Association (ISSA), and as lecturer and research fellow at the University of Konstanz. Having studied in Konstanz and Edinburgh, she holds a Master degree in Politics and Public Administration and a PhD in Social Policy from the University of Konstanz (Germany). She has worked and published on various aspects of social protection and related topics in both developed and developing country contexts

Céline Peyron Bista is the Chief Technical Advisor of an EU-funded Programme on improving linkages between social protection and public finance management for the International Labour Organization (ILO). She has nearly 25 years of professional experience in the field of social security and social protection, mainly with the ILO which she first joined in 2001, but also the Asian Development Bank and NGOs.

Céline is a graduate in Economic Development and holds a master’s degree on Social Policy for Developing Countries from the University Paris I – Sorbonne. Among other topics, she has a specialization on the extension of social protection to all forms of employment and unemployment protection. She has worked and lived in Latin America, Asia and Africa.

Valérie Schmitt is the Deputy Director of the Social Protection Department at the International Labour Organization (ILO). She is also leading ILO’s Global Flagship Programme on Building Social Protection Floors for All.

Ms. Schmitt joined the ILO in 2003. She has 23 years of progressively responsible professional experience in the field of social protection, combining both headquarters and field experience in various types of organizations: the ILO at HQ, in Africa and Asia, the corporate sector in France, and a NGO in Africa.

Ms. Schmitt holds a Master of Advanced Studies (first year of doctoral studies programme) in quantitative economics from Paris Sciences Economiques (Laboratoire du Delta) and a Master of Business Administration with honours from HEC Paris. She also holds a bachelor’s degree in Philosophy from the University of Paris IV – La Sorbonne.

Gilbert F. Houngbo is the Director-General of the International Labour Organization (ILO). He began his mandate in October 2022.

Gilbert F. Houngbo was born in Togo in 1961 and has spent more than 35 years working to improve the lives of the world’s most vulnerable people, using his extensive experience in political affairs, international development, diplomacy and financial management.

He obtained an advanced degree in business management from the University of Lomé, Togo, and a degree in accounting and finance from the Université du Québec à Trois-Rivières (Canada). He is a member of the Canadian Institute of Chartered Professional Accountants.

Gilbert F. Houngbo joined Price Waterhouse in Canada in 1986 and worked with them until 1993.

Between 1994 and 1996 he served as Director of Finance at the International Bank of Mali, before moving to the United Nations Development Programme (UNDP), where he held several posts, including as Head of Financial Reporting and Trust Fund Management, Comptroller and Director of Finance and Administration, Chief of Staff, and Assistant Secretary-General and Regional Director for Africa.

In 2008, Gilbert F. Houngbo was asked to serve as Prime Minister of Togo, a position he held until 2012.

He returned to the United Nations System in 2013 as Deputy Director-General for Field Operations and Partnerships at the International Labour Office.

In 2017 he was appointed as the sixth President of the International Fund for Agricultural Development (IFAD), based in Rome, Italy. He was re-elected to the post in 2021. He also chaired UN-Water, which coordinates the efforts of more than 30 UN entities and international organizations working on water and sanitation issues.

In 2021, he was invited to become a board member of the International Center for Biosaline Agriculture (ICBA), and to chair the Board of the Natural Resource Governance Institute.

Shahra Razavi is the Director of the Social Protection Department at the International Labour Organization (ILO).

Prior to joining the ILO, she was Chief of the Research and Data Section at UN Women, where she directed the research for the entity’s major flagship reports, oversaw the gender statistics programme and provided technical support to intergovernmental negotiations. She was Senior Researcher at the United Nations Research Institute for Social Development (UNRISD), where she coordinated cross-country comparative research programmes at the interface of social policy, social protection, labour markets and the care economy.

Ms. Razavi obtained a Bsc. from the London School of Economics and Political Science, and a Msc. and a Ph.D. from Oxford University.

She has published extensively on social policy, social protection, gender and work in a development context.