Janet Kabeberi Macharia is the Head of the Gender and Social Safeguards Unit and is the Senior Gender Adviser in the United Nations Environment Programme (UNEP). She has a career spanning 30 years in academia, non-governmental organizations and international development organizations whose primary focus has been the promotion of gender equality and women’s empowerment and children's rights.
For the past 20 years, Janet has held national, regional and global positions with the United Nations (UN) across 3 agencies: the United Nations Development Fund for Women (UNIFEM), the United Nations Development Programme (UNDP) and UNEP. At UNEP, she coordinates a dynamic team composed of 5 full-time staff and a global network of over 70 gender focal points spread throughout the organization. This team focuses on systematic integration of gender in UNEP's Programme of Work, alongside strengthening institutional recognition of operational responsibilities and greater accountability for gender work by management and staff.
Janet holds a PhD in Law from the University of Warwick, a Master of Laws from Columbia University, a Bachelor of Laws from the University of Nairobi and a Diploma in Women’s Law. She has extensively published books and articles in refereed journals in various areas with a particular focus on gender issues, children's rights, women's human rights, law and development, and environmental law.
She is 55 years old, from Kenya, and a mother of two.
