Bj?rg Sandkj?r
Ms. Bj?rg Sandkj?r of Norway is the Assistant Secretary-General for Policy Coordination in the Department of Economic and Social Affairs, effective 24 March 2025.
Ms. Sandkj?r served as Deputy Minister for International Development at the Norwegian Ministry of Foreign Affairs (2021-2025). In that role, she was responsible for the development of Norway¡¯s strategic vision and engagement in international development cooperation issues and played a key role in the negotiations on Norway¡¯s budgetary allocations for official development assistance (ODA) while also leading her country¡¯s engagement in multilateral processes and fora, including the High-level Political Forum on Sustainable Development.
Ms. Sandkj?r began her career at the UK Stakeholder Forum for Our Common Future, organizing civil society's input into the 1999 European Ministerial Conference on Environment and Development. Since then, she has held positions in civil society, the private sector, government, and multilateral organizations, including serving as the deputy leader of the Standing Committee on Health and Welfare of the Oslo City Council (2019 ¨C 2021), and holding positions at the Norwegian Agency for Development Cooperation (Norad), Gavi, the Vaccine Alliance, the UN Economic Commission for Africa (UNECA), and the Church of Norway.
Ms. Sandkj?r holds a master¡¯s degree in Demography from the London School of Economics and Political Science (LSE) and an undergraduate degree from the University of Oslo. She is fluent in Norwegian and English.