Kul Gautam

Kul Chandra Gautam at a workshop organized by the Nepal Institute of Policy Studies (NIPS) Kathmandu, 9 November 2011

Kul Chandra Gautam is a distinguished diplomat, development professional, and a former senior official of the United Nations. Currently, he serves on the boards of several international and national organizations, charitable foundations and public private partnerships. Previously, he served in senior managerial and leadership positions with the UN in several countries and continents in a career spanning over three decades. As a former Deputy Executive Director of UNICEF and Assistant Secretary-General of the United Nations, he has extensive experience in international diplomacy, development cooperation and humanitarian assistance.

A citizen of Nepal, Mr. Gautam writes, speaks about and informally advises his country’s senior political and civil society leadership as well as the international community on Nepal’s peace process, consolidation of democracy, human rights, and socio-economic development. He served as Special Adviser to the Prime Minister of Nepal on International Affairs and the Peace Process during 2010-2011.

Lost in Transition

He is the author of the book: Lost in Transition: Rebuilding Nepal from the Maoist mayhem and mega earthquake (2015).

Current positions and activities

• Chair, RESULTS Inc and RESULTS Education Fund (USA)
• Chair, Arigatou International Council of Prayer and Action for Children (Japan/USA)
• Chair, Programme Committee, OXFAM GB Council (UK)
• Co-Chair, Independent Accountability Panel for Every Woman, Child and Adolescent (UN/WHO)
• Vice-Chair, GoodWeave International (USA)
• Vice Chair, Aarogya (Health) Foundation (Nepal)
• International Trustee, Religions for Peace (USA)
• Member, Steering Committee of the Fund to End Violence against Children
• Champion, Global Partnership for Education
• Advisor, Non-Resident Nepalese Association
• Advisor, Nepal Public Health Foundation (Nepal)
• Advisor, Rato Bangla Educational Foundation (Nepal)
• Advisor, Retired UN Staff Association, Nepal
• Board Member, Madan Pustakalaya Foundation (Nepal)
• Patron, Hima Gautam Memorial Trust, Amarpur-Gulmi (Nepal)
• Past President, Rotary Club of Kathmandu Mid-town (Nepal)
• Arigatou, Council Members

Previous positions and activities

• Special Advisor to Prime Minister of Nepal on International Affairs and Peace Process (2010-11)
• Nepal’s candidate for President of 66 th  session of UN General Assembly (2010-11)
• Chair, Gautam Buddha International Peace Award Committee, Nepal (2010-11)
• Chair of the Board, Citizens Bank International, Nepal (2010-11)
• Patron, Rollback Violence Campaign (Himsa Antya Abhiyan), Nepal (2009-2011)
• Global Leaders for education, Global Partnership for Education (GPE)
• Chair/Member, Micronutrient Initiative, Canada (2001-2009)
• Chair, Audrey Hepburn Children’s Fund (USA 2008-09)
• Chair, Partnership for Maternal, Newborn and Child Health, Geneva, (2005-2007)
• Member, Global Alliance for Vaccines and Immunization (GAVI) Board (2004-2007)
• Member, Global Alliance for Improved Nutrition (GAIN) Board (2005-07)
• Member, Inter-faith Council for Ethics Education (2003-10)
• Member, Board of Governors of University of the World (USA), 2013-15
• Patron, Chance for Change: Inspiring Young Futures (Nepal/UK)
• Advisor, South Asia Food and Nutrition Security Initiative (World Bank

Positions held at UNICEF / United Nations

• Assistant Secretary-General of the United Nations,Deputy Executive Director of UNICEF (2000-2007)
• Regional Director, UNICEF, for East Asia and the Pacific (1998-2000)
• Special Representative, UNICEF, India (1997)
• Director, UNICEF Programme Division, New York (1993-1996)
• Director, Planning and Coordination, UNICEF, New York (1989-1992)
• Chief, Latin America and the Caribbean, UNICEF, New York (1986-88)
• UNICEF Representative, Haiti (1983-86), and Laos (1979-82)
• UNICEF Programme Officer, Indonesia (1975-79), and Cambodia (1973-75)

In his long and distinguished career with the United Nations, from 1973 to 2007, Mr. Gautam visited nearly

100 countries on official missions involving field visits as well as dealings with local and national leaders

in Africa, Asia, Latin America, CEE/CIS and the OECD countries. He had extensive dealings with leaders

of governments, donor agencies, multi-lateral organizations, NGOs and the corporate sector in policy

dialogue, advocacy and resource mobilization.

Declaration and Plan of Action of the 1990 World Summit for Children

Mr. Gautam was the key senior UNICEF officer responsible for drafting the Declaration and Plan of Action

of the 1990 World Summit for Children, the largest gathering of world leaders in history until that time.

The Summit for Children gave a major boost to the near universal ratification of the Convention on the

Rights of the Child. The ambitious goals and targets initially formulated by the Summit eventually evolved

into the Millennium Development Goals.

In 2001-2002 Gautam led the organization of another major United Nations conference – the Special

Session of the UN General Assembly on Children – attended by 70 world leaders and thousands of child

rights activists and civil society leaders, including many celebrities and Nobel Prize Laureates.

Audrey Hepburn Humanitarian Award in 2008

Mr. Gautam is the winner of several awards, including the Audrey Hepburn Humanitarian Award in 2008 and Martin Luther King, Jr. Social Justice Award for Lifetime Achievement given by Dartmouth College, USA in 2009.

Education and upbringing

Kul Gautam was born on 1 December 1949 in a small village Amarpur in a remote part of Nepal, where until

recently there was no road, no electricity, no telephone, and no school. His father was semi-literate and

mother illiterate. He acquired his early education in Nepal and India, and went on to receive his higher

education at Dartmouth College and Princeton University in USA, majoring in international relations and

development economics. He was also a Senior Visiting Fellow on sabbatical at Harvard University’s Centre

for Population and Development. Besides his mother tongue Nepali, he is fluent in English and has a

working knowledge of French, Spanish, Hindi and Bahasa Indonesia.

Through hard work, dedication and commitment, Gautam progressed through the ranks of the United

Nations to become the highest-ranking Nepali in the UN system for sometime. During the decade-long civil

war in Nepal, he worked hard informally to secure the support of the UN and other key players to promote

peace and reconciliation in his homeland. He spoke forcefully against violence, impunity and violation of

human rights by all parties in the conflict. He continues to speak out and write extensively on the peace

process, democracy, human rights and post-conflict reconstruction and development in Nepal.

Mr. Gautam is currently involved in a variety of local, national and global development activities, and

advocacy of poverty reduction, socio-economic development, and the well being and empowerment of

women, children, and other vulnerable groups. Commenting on his evolution from his humble beginnings

in the hills of Nepal to the halls of high-level policy making at the United Nations and beyond, his friends

and colleagues regard Mr. Gautam as a high achiever with solid managerial, diplomatic and leadership

skills.