14 Facts About Eveline Herfkens

Eva Leonie Herfkens was born on 9 January 1952 in The Hague in the Netherlands.

Eveline Herfkens went to public primary schools in Venezuela and The Hague.

Eveline Herfkens went to a public secondary school in The Hague, where she followed the gymnasium program in sciences.

Eveline Herfkens studied Dutch law at Leiden University in Leiden from 1969 to 1975.

Eveline Herfkens subsequently became a member of the House of Commons of the Dutch Parliament from 1981 to 1990.

Eveline Herfkens served on the Council of the Labour Party, and has been chair of the Evert Vermeer Foundation, chair of the Dutch Fair Trade Organization, and a member of the Development Committee of the Netherlands Council of Churches.

From 1990 to 1996, Eveline Herfkens represented the Netherlands and a number of other countries at the Board of Executive Directors of the World Bank Group in Washington, DC In 1993, she became co-Dean and in 1995, Dean of the Board, a leadership position that involved coordination of board member views and representation of the Board vis-a-vis the Bank's president and management.

From 1996 to 1998, Eveline Herfkens served as Ambassador, Permanent Representative of the Netherlands, in Geneva, Switzerland, a position whose responsibilities involved the representation of the Netherlands in all of the international organizations headquartered in Geneva.

Eveline Herfkens widened the influence of Dutch assistance policies by helping establish in 1999 the Utstein Group consisting of the Ministers for Development Cooperation of Germany, the United Kingdom, Norway and the Netherlands.

Eveline Herfkens's work as Minister and member of the Utstein Grouphas received wide international acclaim, including, in 2003, through the award of the first annual Commitment to Development Award by the Center for Global Development in Washington DC The OECD acknowledged that the "Utstein Group" of which she was a member contributed to international development receiving attention beyond the "development community" and making the MDG's the dominant framework for discussing development.

On 1 October 2002, Eveline Herfkens was appointed by UN Secretary General Kofi Annan as his Executive Coordinator for the Millennium Campaign, with the rank of an Assistant Secretary General, for a period of 4 years, later prolonged with an additional year by a decision of the UNDP Executive Office.

Eveline Herfkens continued to be involved in the Campaign as its Founder and Special Advisor to the UNDP Director on a volunteer basis until 2009.

Eveline Herfkens is currently living in Maryland with her partner Costas Michalopoulos.

Eveline Herfkens was in conformity with the policy at the time to promote the appointment of Dutch nationals to international organizations; was in agreement with the relevant regulations; and was applied in other cases"; and, further, that regarding Eveline Herfkens "there is no question of violation of the Ministry's regulations.