Region: Austria
Gernot Laganda
Gernot Laganda is leading the Climate and Disaster Risk Reduction Programs at the United Nations' World Food Program (WFP). He supports WFP Country Offices and the governments they serve to understand the effects of climate change on food security, develop strategic measures to reduce climate risks in country programs, and make innovative climate finance instruments work for vulnerable communities. Gernot joined WFP from the International Fund for Agricultural Development (IFAD), where he managed the world’s largest climate change adaptation program for smallholder farmers. A geoscientist by training, he spent the past 20 years working at the nexus between disasters and development – holding posts with NGOs supporting disaster relief and…
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Verena Knaus
Verena Knaus is the Global Lead on Migration and Displacement at UNICEF in Switzerland. She previously held a position of senior policy advisor at UNICEF in Brussels. Before this, Verena co-founded the European Stability Initiative (ESI), a policy-oriented think tank active in the Balkans, Turkey, and the Caucasus. There, she spearheaded empirical research and policy campaigns on issues ranging from women’s rights to visa liberalization, political Islam and post-war recovery. She helped develop ESI's unique methodology, combining labor-intensive data collection with real-time, policy-oriented advocacy. From 2008-2009 Verena advised the former prime minister and mayor of the divided city of Mitrovica, and in summer 2010 she joined Kosovo's Ministry for European…
More InformationEpisode 6: 2016 World Fellow Gernot Laganda
Gernot Laganda reflects on how international organizations address aid, development, and climate change.
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