UN Women National Goodwill Ambassador Eun Mee Kim
Professor Kim is the 17th President of Ewha Womans University and has been a trailblazer in the field of international development studies, dedicating her research efforts to advancing gender equality and the empowerment of women and girls.
Eminent academic, distinguished scientist and Advisor, Professor Eun Mee Kim was appointed as National Goodwill Ambassador for the Republic of Korea in January 2024.
Inside Korea, Kim has played a crucial role in laying the foundation for Korea's Official Development Assistance (ODA) system as a senior policy advisor to the Ministry of Foreign Affairs for 10 years and the President of the Korea Association of International Development and Cooperation in 2011 and 2012.
As a member of the Committee for International Development Cooperation under the Prime Minister’s Office, the Policy Advisory Committee for the Ministry of Foreign Affairs, and the Ministry of Gender Equality and Family, she also advocated for the integration of gender perspectives into ODA programmes and promoted efforts to enhance Korea’s contribution to women and girls through international development cooperation.
She was appointed as the Vice-Chairperson of the Korean National Commission for UNESCO in May 2021, and the Chairperson of the 5th Science and Technology Basic Plan (2023-2027) Committee in December 2021.
She has also contributed to the global sustainable development agenda, having been appointed by the UN Secretary-General in 2016 to serve as one of the fifteen members of the Independent Group of Scientists to work on the Global Sustainable Development Report 2019. This report was presented to the UN Secretary-General and heads of member states at the UN General Assembly in September 2019, emphasizing the urgency of addressing inequalities, especially gender inequality, in achieving the SDGs.
In 2022, she co-authored a research paper on the member states’ Voluntary National Reviews (VNRs) and advocated for the need to push for the entirety of the holistic gender equality agenda to realize gender equality and women’s empowerment in practice.