Eveline Herfkens is a Visiting Scholar at the Paul H. Nitze School of Advanced International Studies and a Senior Fellow at the Center for Transatlantic relations. Since her retirement in 2008 she has been a consultant for several international organizations (the World Bank, the OECD/DAC, the ILO, the African Development Bank), a Member of the Board of international NGO?s and a lecturer on economic and social development. Before that Ms Herfkens was the Founder and Executive Coordinator for the United Nations Millennium Development Goals Campaign, appointed by UN Secretary General Kofi Annan in 2002.
Between 1998 to 2002 Ms Herfkens was Minister for Development Cooperation of the Netherlands. She widened the influence of Dutch assistance policies by helping establish in 1999 the Utstein Group consisting of the Ministers for Development Cooperation of Germany, the United Kingdom, Norway and the Netherlands. The four Utstein countries collaborated in their policies and influenced global efforts to combat poverty. Her work as Minister and member of the Utstein Group has received wide international acclaim, including, in 2003, through the award of the first annual Commitment to Development Award by the Center for Global Development in Washington D.C.
Before becoming a Minister, Ms. Herfkens served as Ambassador, Permanent Representative of the Netherlands, United Organizations and the WTO in Geneva (1996-1998). In this role she helped establish the Integrated Framework for Trade Related Assistance, a coordinating mechanism for trade related assistance to poor countries that, to this day, continues to be the focus of international efforts. Between 1990 to 1996 Ms Herfkens was a member of the Board of Executive Directors of the World Bank Group in Washington, D.C. (1990-1996). Ms Herfkens was a Member of Parliament in the Netherlands from 1981 to1990.
Over her long career, Ms Herfkens has been a member of various international advisory and coordinating groups focused on development such as the ILO World Commission on the Social Dimension of Globalization; the UN Commission on HIV/AIDS and Governance in Africa, and the ILO/WHO Social Protection Floor Advisory Group. Ms Herfkens has also authored many articles and op-eds on aid, trade and development.