Biography

Mrs. Mary Chinery-Hesse has had distinguished careers in Ghana’s Civil Service and at the United Nations.  She is an important voice on economic development issues, an ardent defender of human and women’s rights, and an advocate for African imperatives, conflict resolution and mediation. 

She holds an Honours Degree from the University of Ghana in Sociology and Economics. She pursued Post-Graduate programmes in Development Economics at the University of Dublin and at the World Bank Institute in Washington D.C. where she was inscribed as a Fellow of the Institute. She is an Old Girl of Wesley Girls' High School and Mfantsipim School. 

Mrs. Mary Chinery-Hesse has chalked a number of firsts, she was the first African woman to be appointed Resident Coordinator of the UN Systems and Resident Representative of the United Nations Development Programme, the first woman Deputy Director-General of the International Labour Organization (ILO), a position with the rank of Under Secretary-General of the UN. This gave her the distinction of being the first African woman to attain the position of Under Secretary-General in the history of the United Nations.  

She was subsequently appointed as the Deputy Director-General of the International Labour Organization (ILO). She also served as Chairperson of the UN's Consultative Committee on Programme and Operational Questions for several years and was the Chairperson of the Commonwealth Expert Gro-up of Eminent Persons on Structural Adjustment and Women, which produced the landmark Report, “Engendering Adjustment”. 

She was the first African woman to receive the prestigious Gusi Peace Prize for International Diplomacy and Humanitarianism, usually referred to as the Asian equivalent of the Nobel Peace Prize. 

She has served on numerous high-profile boards, committees and commissions, including the following -the Council of African Advisors of the World Bank and the Eminent Persons' Advisory Panel of the Organization of African Unity which crafted the strategy to convert the OAU to the African Union. She was a Member of the Council of the University of Ghana from 2006-2009. She was a member of the Zedillo Commission of Eminent Persons on Financing for Development, and the UN Blue Ribbon Panel of sixteen wise world leaders on Threats, Challenges and Change, tasked to rewrite the global security architecture and reform of the United Nations, especially the Security Council. She was a Board Member of the prestigious Global Humanitarian Forum in Geneva, Switzerland. For many years, she served as Chair and Member of the Board of Trustees of the Voluntary Fund for Technical Cooperation of the UN High Commissioner for Human Rights in Geneva, Switzerland. 

After her retirement from the United Nations, Mrs. Chinery-Hesse was appointed Chief Advisor to the President of the Republic of Ghana, His Excellency John Agyekum Kufuor. She was Vice-Chairperson of the National Development Planning Commission, and a Member of the Board of the Centre for Policy Analysis. 

She has served among others as Chair of the Goodwill Ambassadors of the Kofi Annan International Peace Keeping Training Centre; Chair of the Board of the Centre for Regional Integration in Africa; Board Member of the foremost African Think Tank, the Centre for Conflict Resolution in Cape Town, South Africa; and as Friend on the African Union Panel of the Wise and on the Pan-African Network of the Wise (Panwise). Mrs. Mary Chinery-Hesse has received several prestigious awards and decorations, both nationally and internationally. This includes the highest National Award in Ghana, the Order of the Star of Ghana. 

Mrs. Chinery-Hesse was awarded an Honorary Doctor of Laws degree by the University of Ghana, her Alma Mater, in 1991, the first female product of the University of Ghana to be so honoured.  In November 2021, she was awarded an honorary Doctor of Science Degree in Economics by the University of London. 

She has also distinguished herself in various capacities in the national and international spheres.  

Mrs. Chinery Hesse was appointed as the first female Chancellor of the University of Ghana in August 2018. In August 2023, she was reappointed by the University of Ghana Governing Council to serve a second five-year term in office as Chancellor.