Spike Millington, Chief Executive of EAAFP
The EAAFP Finance Committee established at MOP8 in Japan has been discussing how to increase and diversify funding sources to put EAAFP on a more stable and sustainable footing, notably for the functioning of the Secretariat. At MOP9 in Singapore earlier this year, Partners agreed to the recruitment of a Fundraising Manager at the Secretariat, funds permitting.
We are very pleased to announce that Ms. Yoon Kyung Lee will join the Secretariat as Fundraising Manager in late November. Most recently, Ms. Lee worked for the United Nations Development Programme in Rwanda in charge of project management and inter-agency coordination. As a monitoring and evaluation specialist of the Poverty Reduction & Environment Unit, she supported 14 development projects mainly in environment, climate change and disaster risk management. She was also the principal UN focal point on the joint UN programme on the green economy, working with the Rwanda Ministry of Natural Resources and several government agencies.
Prior to her work for UNDP, Ms. Lee worked in Seoul from 2007 to 2010 with the top ranked Korean law firm, Kim & Chang. Working with the intellectual property practice of the firm, she provided billing related advisory services to Fortune 500 clients and Korean firms, so she has a big picture of the private sector and understanding of major industries in Korea. She was also in charge of managing the Korea-UNDP MDG Trust Fund programme in Rwanda for 3 years, working closely with the Korean Ministry of Foreign Affairs and Korea International Cooperation Agency (KOICA) through annual planning, monitoring and reporting.
Ms. Lee has a double Master’s degree from Syracuse University in US, in International Relations and Public Administration and a Bachelor of Political Science from Ewha Women’s University in Seoul.
We are very lucky to have Yoon join us: she impressed us all in her interviews and has a very outgoing, though professional attitude. She admits that she looks forward to learning more about migratory waterbirds and their habitats in our Flyway, and we also look forward to learning from her professional experience.
I hope all Partners and collaborators will have the chance to meet Ms. Lee as she undertakes her work on behalf of the Partnership.