Kathleen Cravero

Adjunct Professor, CUNY School of Public Health
Former Assistant Secretary General for Conflict Prevention and Recovery, UNDP

Kathleen Cravero is a Distinguised Scholar at the CUNY Graduate School of Public Health and Health Policy and a co-Director of CUNY’s Center for Immigrant, Refugee and Global Health Policy.  Dr. Cravero is also a Professor of the Practice at the University of Bridgeport School of Public and International Policy. In addition, she serves as an independent consultant on ending violence against children. Earlier in her career, Dr. Cravero worked for many years in international development and philanthropy.  She served as President of Oak Foundation for ten years, stepping down in February 2019. In this capacity she supported the Trustees of Oak Foundation to address issues of global, social and environmental concern, particularly those that have a major impact on the lives of the disadvantaged. She also provided leadership and guidance to Oak staff in each of the Oak’s six substantive programmes, including the Environment, Child Abuse, Housing & Homelessness, International Human Rights, Issues Affecting Women and Learning Differences.

Prior to her tenure at Oak Foundation, Dr. Cravero worked for over two decades on a range of international development issues, from newly emerging democracies to conflict and emergency situations. Dr. Cravero also worked in several posts of increasing responsibility with UNAIDS, UNICEF, UNDP and WHO. Her lastthree assignments with the United Nations included Director of the Bureau for Crisis Prevention and Recovery with the United Nations Development Programme (Feb 2005 – Jan 2009), Deputy Executive Director of the Joint United Nations Programme on HIV/AIDS (from March 2000 to March 2005) and Resident and Humanitarian Coordinator in Burundi (from September 1997 to January 2000).

Advancing gender equality and ending violence against children are long-standing concerns for Dr. Cravero. At UNDP, she chaired the Steering Committee of UN Action: Ending Sexual Violence against Women in Crisis and Recovery Settings, which united the work of 12 UN entities with the goal of ending sexual violence in conflict. From 2005 to 2008, she chaired the Leadership Council of the Global Coalition on Women and AIDS, a group of prominent personalities who raised visibility of the impact of HIV/AIDS on women and girls. Dr. Cravero was also the founding Chair of the Executive Committee of the Global Partnership to End Violence Against Children from 2016 to 2018. She now serves as a consultant and adviser on strategies to end violence against children.

Earlier in her career, Ms Cravero served as UN Resident Coordinator/Humanitarian Coordinator and UNDP Resident Representative in Burundi (1998-2000); UNICEF Representative in Uganda (1994-1998); External Relations Officer of the World Health Organization Global Programme on AIDS (1992-1994); UNICEF Senior Health Advisor (1988-1992); and UNICEF Programme Coordinator in Chad (1985-1988).

Dr Cravero holds a Ph.D. in Political Science (Fordham University), and a Masters in Public Health (Columbia University). She is currently a Professor of Practice at the University of Bridgeport in Connecticut (USA) and an independent consultant on global development and philanthropy.