7 – 14 March 2007, Birchwood Conference Centre,
Boksburg, SOUTH AFRICA

                        

PARTNERS

Sheila Sisulu

Sheila Sisulu (Co-Chair) was appointed deputy executive director of Policy and External Affairs at the World Food Programme (WFP) in February 2003. She is responsible for overseeing strategy, policy and program support for the organization's food security, safety nets, emergency relief, HIV/AIDS, school feeding, gender, and nutrition work. She is also responsible for the secretariat of the WFP executive board and relations with other United Nations agencies and non-governmental organizations.

Ms. Sisulu started her career as a high school teacher in Soweto. With the end of apartheid and the advent of black-majority rule, she became a special advisor to the national minister of education and a member of the team assigned the task of drawing up new legislation. She was responsible for policy on gender equality, youth development, and early childhood care and education. Her diplomatic career began in 1997 as consul general in New York. Two years later, she was appointed South Africa's ambassador to the United States.

As an African ambassador in Washington, DC, much of Ms. Sisulu's work involved raising awareness and seeking clarity on the US government's role in alleviating the poverty and suffering in southern Africa. She holds a Bachelor of Education degree from the University of Witwatersrand, as well as honorary doctorates from the University of Maryland and the City University of New York, USA.