Saskia Schellekens
Rapporteur
Special Adviser to the UN Secretary-General’s Envoy on Youth, United Nations
As Special Adviser to the United Nations Secretary-General’s Envoy on Youth, Ms. Schellekens provides strategic guidance and policy advice to the Envoy in support of her mandate to strengthen the UN’s programmes on youth at all levels. In this capacity, Ms. Schellekens in particular leads, directs and coordinates the efforts of the Office of the Secretary-General’s Envoy on Youth to ensure youth issues and priorities are duly reflected in the outcomes of UN intergovernmental processes and their follow up and review, including the 2030 Agenda on Sustainable Development. She provides overall strategic and programmatic advice to the Envoy in support of the roll-out and implementation of the UN Youth Strategy, Youth 2030 and acts as the Envoy’s chief of staff, representing her in key interagency partnerships as well as in different fora and events with external stakeholders. Prior to joining the Office of the Secretary-General’s Envoy on Youth, Ms. Schellekens held several positions at UNFPA, the United Nations Population Fund. She was a member of the lead author team that led the 20-year global review of the implementation of the Programme of Action of the ICPD (International Conference on Population and Development) since its adoption by the UN Member States in 1994. Prior to that, she was the Special Assistant to the Director, Technical Division, as well as acting Special Assistant to the Assistant Secretary-General/Deputy Executive Director (Programme) at UNFPA. Saskia started out in 2003 at UNFPA working on Adolescent and Youth issues, in particular coordinating the various global youth participation initiatives at the Fund. Before joining UNFPA, Saskia worked as a programme officer with the Humanist Institute for Development Cooperation (HIVOS) in her native country, the Netherlands. She started her professional career as an assistant lecturer on International Development Issues at the Free University in Amsterdam and was involved in a multi-year research project on Civil Society Development in the post-Soviet era in Georgia. Ms. Schellekens holds a Master of Science in Advanced Development Studies from the Radboud University in Nijmegen and a Master of Arts in Organisational Anthropology from the Free University, Amsterdam, both in the Netherlands.