Senior Economist, Poverty and Equality Practice, World Bank

Professor and Co-chair Malaysian CSO SDG Alliance, Chair of Asian solidarity Economy Council (ASEC) and Board member of RIPESS

Executive Director, Federation of Uganda Employers

Mayor of The Hague, Co-President of UCLG

Professor and Researcher at State, University of São Paulo, Brazil - UNESP-Araraquara

Deputy Secretary-General, International Organization of Employers (IOE) (MGoS)

As Deputy Secretary-General, Matthias Thorns has a part in the overall responsibility for the management of the IOE Secretariat in its work to support the global business community in itsrepresentation vis-a-vis the UN institutions, as well as G20, G7 and other international initiatives.

His career began as Adviser for Social Affairs in the European Business Federation UNICE (now BUSINESSEUROPE), before moving to the Confederation of German Employers as Adviser and later Deputy Director of the International and European Affairs Department, looking after European and International Social Policy, CSR and Human Rights as well as OECD ELSA matters.

After leaving the Confederation of German Employers in 2012, Matthias joined the IOE as Senior Adviser, leading the work on Human Rights, G20 and G7, Global Supply Chains as well as SMEs.

In 2017 Matthias joined the Workplace Rights team of The Coca-Cola Company as Human Rights and Workplace Rights Manager, where he was among other things responsible for the planning, coordinating and drafting of the first stand-alone Human Rights Report of The Coca-Cola Company, the Human Rights training for bottling partners as well as the roll-out of the revised human rights policy of the Coca-Cola Company across the regions.

In 2018 he was appointed IOE Director of Stakeholder Engagement and a year later IOE Deputy Secretary-General. Matthias supervises the IOE’s work related to G20 and G7, human rights, agenda 2030, migration and programmes under an EU framework agreement, and is responsible for the IOE company networks: the Global Industrial Relations Network (GIRN), the Global Occupational Safety and Health Network (GOSH) as well as the Corporate Partner Initiative.

Matthias is a member of the Governance Committee of the Centre for Sports and Human Rights, the UN Global Compact Expert Network, Co-Chair of the ILO Child Labour Platform and member of the Global Coordination Group of the Alliance 8.7.

Matthias holds a Master of Arts in European Studies and a Magister Artium in History and Philosophy, both from the University of Hannover.

He participated in the CGF “Future Leaders Programme” in 2018 and in the International Visitor Leadership Program (IVLP) of the U.S. State Department in July 2012.

Former Deputy Director of the United Nations Research Institute for Social Development

Executive Director, Zambia Institute for Labour Research & Development (ZILARD) and Professor, University of Namibia

UN Special Rapporteur on the Rights of Persons with Disabilities

Senior Associate, World Resources Institute

Youth Employment Solutions Program Officer, Plan International Asia

Director of Program, Center for Economic and Social Rights

Secretary General, Global Social Economy Forum (GSEF)

Program Director, Public Policies and Budgets for Equality and Sustainable Development, Equidad de Género: Ciudadanía, Trabajo y Familia; also, Co-convenor, Women’s Working Group on Financing for Development

Research and Policy Coordinator, IBON International

Lecturer in Public Policy, Harvard Kennedy School and Co-Founder, Internationla Coordinator Emeritus and Senior Advisor, Globalizing and Organizing (WIEGO) Network

Martha (Marty) Chen is a Lecturer in Public Policy at the Harvard Kennedy School, an Affiliated Professor at the Harvard Graduate School of Design, and Senior Advisor of the global research-policy-action network Women in Informal Employment: Globalizing and Organizing (WIEGO). An experienced development practitioner and scholar, her areas of specialization are employment, gender and poverty with a focus on the working poor in the informal economy. Before joining Harvard in 1987, she had two decades of resident field experience in South Asia: in Bangladesh in the 1970s, working with BRAC, an NGO which has gained world-wide scope and reputation: and in India in the 1980s, where she served as field representative of Oxfam America. In both capacities, she worked closely with working poor women in both villages and urban settlements to promote their economic empowerment. She co-founded and led the WIEGO Network for twenty years. Today, WIEGO is well known worldwide for its work to improve the status of the working poor in the informal economy through stronger organizations, improved statistics and research and a more favorable policy environment. The networks of informal workers in the WIEGO Network have more than 1000 affiliates in 90 countries: www.wiego.org. Dr. Chen received a PhD in South Asia Regional Studies from the University of Pennsylvania. She was awarded a high civilian award, the Padma Shri, by the Government of India in April 2011; and a Friends of Bangladesh Liberation War award by the Government of Bangladesh in December 2012.

Deputy Director, Economic and Social Policy Department, International Trade Union Confederation (WTUMG), and Co-Chair of the MGoS Steering Group

Paola Simonetti is the Deputy Director of the Economic and Social Policy Department at the International Trade Union Confederation (ITUC). In that position she is in charge of the Sustainable Development Goals (SDGs), coordinating trade unions engagement and leading members in SDGs related policy processes with multilateral institutions such as the UN, ILO, OECD, EU, as well as, with Civil Society Organizations’ networks. Prior to that, Ms. Simonetti was policy advisor at the ITUC on development policy, and previously served as Head of the European Office of CISL trade union since 2003, in charge of advocacy and regional programs coordination.

Director, Oxford Human Rights Hub Rhodes; Professor of Law, Oxford University