BIO
Vicki Soanes is Secretary General of the New Zealand National Commission for UNESCO. Before returning to New Zealand in 2009, she had spent many years in the NGO sector overseas, including in Zambia, the UK, France and the USA.
Vicki was a member of International Movement ATD Fourth World’s Full Time Volunteer Corps from 2001 to 2008. ATD Fourth World (All Together in Dignity) is a human rights based movement of solidarity among and in collaboration with people living in extreme poverty and social exclusion. She was the Movement’s main representative to the United Nations between 2004 and 2008, working to make space for people living in extreme poverty to share their experience and expertise with UN decision makers.
Vicki completed a Master of International Relations (distinction) at Victoria University, her thesis ‘Rocking the Boat: The participation rhetoric exposed: why should people living in poverty have a voice and space at the United Nations?’ arguing that people living in poverty should have a formal mechanism to be heard at the United Nations, in line with other identity groups.
After a year as Advocacy Manager International for UNICEF NZ, she joined the Secretariat of the New Zealand National Commission for UNESCO in 2010. She has been Secretary General since 2016.
ARTEFACT
‘The greatest misfortune of all is to know that you count for nothing, to the point where even your suffering is ignored.’
– Joseph Wresinski