Deputy Director for Europe, UN Millennium Campaign

Marina Ponti can speak with authority on development assistance, including aid effectiveness; trade and in particular the issue of subsidies; human rights; issues related to children such as child labor and children’s rights; corporate social responsibility; reform of international financial institutions; and the eighth Millennium Development Goal of creating a global partnership for development.

Ponti has been the Deputy Director for Europe at the UN Millennium Campaign since February 2003.

Before joining the Campaign, Ponti was Head Campaigner at Mani Tese, an Italian development NGO based in Milan, where she lead advocacy campaigns from 1997-2002 on development issues such as trade, debt and the Tobin tax.

Ponti has written several publications, including articles on development, and has contributed to numerous high-level conferences and commissions, including the World Social Summit + 5 in Geneva (2000) and various UN commissions for social development and human rights.

Trained in Political Science at the University of Milan, she wrote her thesis on the Economic and Social Council of the United Nations as an instrument for international development.