Jan Pronk Advisor
Professor Pronk was born in Scheveningen, The Netherlands. He has garnered repute as one of the most influential persons in Development Cooperation in The Netherlands, both through his distinguished career as a politician and a prominent United Nations Official.
Mr Pronk studied Economics at the Erasmus University in Rotterdam where he worked in research, and made extensive scholarly contributions to the field of development.
In 1971, he took up politics and has since served as the Minister of Development Cooperation (1973-1977, 1989-1994, 1994-1998) and as Minister of Housing and Environment (1998-2002). In the meantime, he was a Professor of Theory and Practice of Policy Making at the University of Amsterdam (1988-1989).
Among other positions, Mr Pronk served as Deputy Governor of the World Bank (1973-1977, 1989-1998), as Member of the Development Committee of the same institution (1974-1977, 1989-1998), as Deputy Secretary General of the United Nations Conference for Trade and Development (UNCTAD) (1980-1986), as Co-Chairman of the Global Coalition for Africa (1991-1998) and as Chairman of the 6th Conference of Parties of the UN Convention on Climate Change (2000-2001).
He was Special Envoy of the Secretary General of UN for the World Summit on Sustainable Development (2001-2003), Chairman of the Board of the International Institute for Environment and Development (IIED) (2002-2004), Chairman of the Water Supply and Sanitation Collaborative Council (WSSCC) (2003-2004), Chairman of the Federation of Refugee Organisations in the Netherlands (VON), (2003-2004) and Special Representative of the Secretary General of the United Nations in Sudan, Khartoum, were he led the UN peacekeeping operation (UNMIS) (2004-2006).
He is currently a Professor in Theory and Practice of International Development at the Institute of Social Studies (ISS) in The Hague, President of the Society for International Development (SID), and Chairman of the Interchurch Peace Council in the Netherlands (Interkerkelijk Vredesberaad, IKV).
Among his publications: De Kritische Grens. Beschouwingen over Tweespalt en Orde[The Critical Frontier. Essays on Conflict and Order],(Amsterdam, Prometheus, 2004);Catalysing Development? A Debate on Aid (Malden/Oxford, Blackwell, 2004); Willens en Wetens. Gedachten over Globalisering en Politiek [Calculated Default. Essays on Globalisation and Politics], (Amsterdam, Bert Bakker, 2005); Het pantser afleggen. Ideeën voor een open politiek [Laying Down the Armour. Towards an Open Policy],(Amsterdam, Bert Bakker, 2008).
Mr Pronk has been the recipient of several national and international awards and honours.