Director of the UNPFA Office in London, Monica Ferro joined UNFPA in April 2017, and she has worked to promote equality, development and human rights for the past 20 years. Prior to joining UNFPA, Ms. Ferro had a twenty-year career of public service in Portugal, during which she served as a Member of Parliament as Chair of the All-Party Parliamentarian Group on Population and Development and Vice-President of the European Parliamentary Forum for Population and Development, as Secretary of State for National Defense, as a university lecturer, a media personality and an activist. She is an Associate Researcher at the Interdisciplinary Center for Gender Studies, University of Lisbon and has been a columnist for several national newspapers and magazines, and author of more than a hundred articles, entries in encyclopedias, book chapters on the United Nations, Development Cooperation, Human Rights, Security Sector Reform and Gender equality.