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Assistant Secretary-General
of the United Nations,
Special Adviser on Post-2015

Development Planning

Amina J. Mohammed is a dynamic Nigerian woman,
who has been given the difficult task of preparing
for the post-Millennium Development Goals (MDGs).
She is a hard-working woman, highly educated, and
Q: First of all, could you tell said: "stop in addition to a very challenging position in the UN,
us a little about yourself? shouting she is also the mother of six children. We had the op-
about it and portunity of meeting her in the UN Secretariat in New
When I came back to Nigeria, after come and do York to learn more about the work that she and her
receiving some of my education something team are doing --the ideas. Now we leave the floor to
in the United Kingdom, I started from the Ms Mohammed
to work with architects and engi- inside!"
neers. For eleven years, we desig-
ned hospitals, schools and public So we took a decision in civil so- level and seen challenges where
buildings. It did not function very ciety and decided to get involved a set of goals were established, I
well and I thought: how in a deve- in the movement. We produced believe in the Member State pro-
loping country could we be provi- the first national education plan cess. In my opinion this is the only
ding all of this expertise and col- -- it took us a very long time! In process that can make progress,
lecting all these consultancy fees this way, Nigeria had negotiated but it does not mean that it's going
and then not delivering the end its release from debts and I had to be easy. It's a complex environ-
product? Then, I had the idea that been working on the MDGs with ment and there are other agendas:
we could do the work better by the United Nations for a while. we have a parallel challenge on
creating our own company. I set up Somebody was needed to ma- climate change; there are still the
a company with four colleagues, nage the relief which had been trade talks going on, although we
but ten years later it still did not earmarked for spending on the obtained a fairly good result in the
make much difference. Our pro- MDGs, amounting to US$1 bil- last round of talks; and there are a
grammes were well executed, but lion a year. That was really the number of issues on the political
the nation was getting poorer and beginning of seeing the possi- agenda that make peace and deve-
we were not even providing the bilities of what the country could lopment a challenge.
same education that I had received do; you could use resources to
when I was a child. This was the make a difference to people's lives. I have six children -- two boys and
situation at the turn of the millen- So, having done that for seven years four girls -- so they keep me busy.
nium concerning education, and I with three different presidents, I I think one of the biggest claims
thought that's it! I advocated with was given the privilege to be part that I can say about anything we
the government and moved into of shaping the next set of goals. have done successfully is that
civil society. Then the government Having worked at the country we have carried it out as a team.

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