Newswise — New York University’s Center on International Cooperation (CIC) has named Liv Tørres of the Nobel Peace Center as director of the Pathfinders for Peaceful, Just, and Inclusive Societies.
CIC director Sarah Cliffe said, “Liv brings 20 years of leadership experience on the links between peace and development—her passion for expanding access to justice and promoting equality and inclusion will be an enormous asset to the initiative and to the governments, multilateral organizations, and civil society partners it serves.”
The Pathfinders, a global partnership hosted by CIC, works to accelerate delivery of the United Nations’ Sustainable Development Goals and their commitment to provide justice for all by 2030.
In addition to her four years at the helm of the Nobel Peace Center, Tørres previously served as secretary-general of Norwegian People’s Aid. In that role, she managed 2,500 staff working worldwide to bring humanitarian assistance to some 40 countries and a sense of hope and justice to the most marginalized communities in war-torn areas. She is also a well-known analyst on peace, justice, equality, and inclusion, and the many research programs she has led have played a central role in helping to build the evidence base for accelerated action on these targets for the sustainable development goals.
“I’m excited to take up this opportunity,” said Tørres. “The Pathfinders have been paving the way for new thinking around policy development and the link between knowledge production, policy, and delivery. I am keen to take that forward with the amazing Pathfinders team. Having worked in academia, politics, the humanitarian sector, and peacebuilding, I am acutely aware of the critical need to inform policy development and supply decision-makers with facts and rigorous knowledge in order to move the world in the right direction.”
Tørres also has extensive experience in academic and applied research, having previously served as the research director of Norway’s Fafo Institute for Applied Social Sciences and director of Fafo South Africa. She has taught at the University of Oslo and has been a visiting professor at the University of Witswatersrand since 2016. She holds a Ph.D. in Political Science from the University of Oslo and is a Norwegian citizen.
David Steven, who has led the Pathfinders initiative since its inception in 2016, will remain a senior advisor.
“As the Pathfinders respond to secretary-general António Guterres’s call for a decade of action to deliver the Sustainable Development Goals by 2030, Liv brings the exact mixture of field and policy experience that we need to achieve increased peace, justice, and inclusion,” Steven said.
“I would like to thank David for his passion, creativity, and dedication to the acceleration of SDG16+. He has built the Pathfinders from scratch into an extensive global network of governments, multilateral organizations, and civil society partners,” Cliffe added. “The events at the UN General Assembly last week are testimony to what David has achieved. The Pathfinders facilitated more than 50 accelerated commitments to SDG16+, worked with Oxfam to support a joint statement spearheaded by five heads of state and government and endorsed by 10 countries committing to action on inequality and exclusion, and led a detailed discussion with justice partners on accelerating progress on access to justice. CIC is immensely grateful to David for his round-the-clock efforts during the last four years, and we look forward to continuing to work closely with him.”
Note:
The Pathfinders for Peaceful, Just and Inclusive Societies are a group of UN member states, international organizations, global partnerships, civil society, and the private sector. It works to accelerate the delivery of the SDG targets for peace, justice, and inclusion (SDG16+). The Pathfinders are hosted by the Center on International Cooperation at New York University.
Alternate media contact:
Paige Arthur, Deputy Director, Center on International Cooperation
212.998.3680, [email protected]
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