Julia Kercher
Acting Director, UNDP Global Policy Center on Governance
Julia has worked on the intersection of governance with other policy areas over the past 20 years. At the Centre, she conceived research on SDG 16 interlinkages (reflected in the ‘Connections That Matter’ publication series) and now leads the Research and Innovation Team overseeing the workstreams on information integrity, fair green transition and financial integrity. She started her career with NGOs such as Amnesty International, CARE International and Transparency International and then developed UNDP’s human rights-based approach to poverty reduction. When the SDGs were conceived, she co-designed the UN’s consultation guidelines used in over 80 countries and led the successful engagement of the UN High Commissioner for Human Rights in the negotiation process. She also worked for the German Institute for Human Rights supporting the integration of SDGs in national policy making and did freelance work on ocean governance. Julia is a fully trained lawyer and holds an MSc in Development Practice from Oxford Brookes University.