Chinery-Hesse gets international award

Dr. Mary Chinery-Hesse, Retired Deputy Director-General of the International Labour Organisation (ILO) and Former Under Secretary-General of the United Nations, who was also the Chief Advisor to the immediate past President of Ghana. J.A. Kufuor has been awarded the Gusi Peace Prize for International Diplomacy and Humanitarianism.

The Gusi Peace Prize is a Philippines based Award and honours distinguished individuals from the four corners of the globe who represent the most brilliant examples of those working towards the attainment of peace and respect for human life and dignity. It has been referred to as the Asian equivalent of the Nobel Peace Prize.

The Award presentation was held at a gala event in Manila, Philippines on 24th November 2010. The occasion was witnessed by several of her colleagues from all over the world, as well as representatives from the many international organizations and countries she has been associated with, and was beamed on CNN Asia.

The Gusi Peace Prize is given each year to about 15 distinguished individuals or groups worldwide with exemplary contributions to human rights, in Scientific Discoveries, Performing Arts, Medicine, Economics, and Internationalism, among others.

Dr. Mary Chinery-Hesse is the first African Woman to receive this prestigious Award.

The Citation accompanying the Award to Dr. Mary Chinery-Hesse read as follows:

Mary Chinery-Hesse has had distinguished careers in her Country's Civil Service and at the United Nations. In the UN and in numerous other Organizations, she continues to be an important voice on economic development issues, an ardent defender of human rights, particularly women's rights and gender equality, as well as an active advocate for African imperatives.

A Graduate of London University, she holds an Honor's Degree from the University of Ghana in Sociology and Economics, and was awarded a Doctorate of Law (honoris causa) by her Alma Mater the University of Ghana, the first female product of the University of Ghana to be so honoured. At the University of Dublin she undertook Post-Graduate Programs in Development Economics, and also at the World Bank Institute in Washington D.C. where she was inscribed as a Fellow of the Institute.

Mary Chinery-Hesse's first post at the UN was that of Resident Coordinator of the UN System and Resident Representative of the United Nations Development Programme, serving in New York, Sierra Leone, Tanzania, the Seychelles and Uganda. She was the first ever African woman to be appointed to that position.

She was then appointed as the first ever woman Deputy Director-General of the International Labour Organization (ILO), after seventy years of the founding of that UN Agency, a position with the rank of Under Secretary-General of the UN. Again this gave her the distinction of being the first African woman to attain a position of USG in the history of the United Nations. She also served as Chairperson of the UN's Consultative Committee on Programme and Operational Questions for several years, and was as well the Chairman of the Commonwealth Expert Group of Eminent Persons on Structural Adjustment and Women.

Mary Chinery-Heese's studies and experiences led logically to her appointment to the high office of the Chief Advisor to the President of the Republic of Ghana. She also was Vice-Chairperson of the National Development Planning Commission, and a Member of the Board of the Centre for Policy Analysis. She as well serves on the Board of the foremost African Think Tank, Centre for Conflict Resolution in Cape Town, South Africa.

In her younger days, Mary Chinery-Hesse was the Permanent Secretary of the Ministry of Finance and Economic Planning of Ghana. Among her myriad high-level posts was membership on the Council of African Advisors of the World Bank, and on the Eminent Persons' Advisory Panel of the African Union. Her activities took her to the Chairmanship of a High-Level Panel to Review Progress in Implementing the Programme for Least Developed Countries. She has as well served as a Member of the Council of the University of Ghana.

Other significant appointments have included Membership of the Zedillo Commission of eminent persons on Financing for Development, and the UN Blue Ribbon Panel of sixteen wise world leaders on Threats, Challenges and Change, tasked to rewrite the global security architecture and reform of the United Nations, especially the Security Council. She as well was a Member, with several Nobel Prize Laureates, on the Board of the prestigious Global Humanitarian Forum in Geneva, Switzerland. For many years, she was a Member of the Board of Trustees of the Voluntary Fund for Technical Cooperation of the UN High Commissioner for Human Rights in Geneva, which she also chaired.

Her advice continues to be actively sought and valued by many Governments and International Organisations on a variety of themes. She is as a result very busy in retirement.

Mary Chinery-Hesse, who is the current Chairman of Zenith Bank Ghana, has received several prestigious awards and decorations both nationally and internationally, including the highest National Award, the Order of the Star of Ghana.