Prior to joining IRENA, Ms. Singh worked within India’s federal government and at the apex level within provincial government. Federally, she was responsible for leading the development of the National Solar Mission of India policy in 2010, an early policy framework designed to drive solar power development across the country.

At the Madhya Pradesh provincial Government, Ms. Singh steered rural development providing strategic planning and implementation guidance across the state for large initiatives. Her work involved poverty reduction and sustainable development within rural communities. She was also responsible for spearheading initiatives aimed at improving livelihoods for nearly two million poor women across the state.

In Madhya Pradesh, Ms. Singh led livelihood projects based on decentralised renewable energy solutions to support rural artisans and ran an ambitious intervention to restore the flow of 40 rivers across the state, based on the use of remote sensing maps. She also played a key role in drafting the framework for the state Right to Water Act.

Prior to that, Ms. Singh was Director, Country support and Partnerships at IRENA where she was responsible for regional and country level initiatives and for spearheading partnerships with regional energy and economic organisations.

She worked in both public and private sectors, including with governments in the Middle-East and North Africa, energy companies in the Mediterranean region and the GCC, and international institutions. Dr. Ferroukhi holds a Master in Applied Economics and a Ph.D. in Economics from the American University in Washington DC.

Before joining IRENA, Mr. Gielen was Chief of the Energy Efficiency and Policy Unit at the United Nations Industrial Development Organization (UNIDO), Vienna. In that capacity, he managed a number of large projects involving energy efficiency and renewable energy (including those in Sri Lanka, Ukraine and India). Previously, he was a Senior Energy Analyst in the Energy Technology Policy Division of the International Energy Agency, Paris.

Mr. Gielen has a PhD in Energy and Materials Modelling from the Technical University of Delft. He graduated with an MA in Environmental Sciences at the University of Utrecht, the Netherlands.

Mr. Gonul joined IRENA in 2014 as Head of Regions Unit. Formerly, he worked as Senior Energy Economist of the Islamic Development Bank between 2010 and 2014, where he led the work for the development of an Energy Sector Policy for the Bank as well as the processing of complex loan and technical assistance projects in Africa and Asia. Between 2004 and 2010, Mr. Gonul served as Senior Expert at the Energy Charter Secretariat in Brussels, where he spearheaded policy analysis, sectoral in-depth reviews, regional / country reviews concerning energy investments, trade and transportation. He also held positions in the EU Commission’s Delegation in Ankara and Turkey’s Ministry of Energy since 1993.

Mr. Gonul holds Master of Science and Bachelor of Science degrees in Oil and Gas Engineering from the Middle East Technical University in Ankara.

Ms. Press joined IRENA in November 2010 and was a member of the team that led the transition from the Preparatory Commission to becoming a full-fledged Agency in April 2011. Prior to joining IRENA, Ms. Press had some 18 years of international experience, mainly with the United Nations, in the field of development, humanitarian assistance, rule of law and political affairs. She has served in HQ duty stations in New York and Geneva, as well as in different field locations, including Rwanda, Kenya, Burundi, DRC, Cambodia, and Kosovo. Ms. Press holds an MA in Public Administration.

Before joining IRENA, Ms. Secada was Director-General of Climate Change and Desertification under the Ministry of Environment in Peru, where she led the design and implementation of the country´s public policies on climate change. Under her lead the high-level permanent Commission on Climate Change of Peru was established, and as Technical Secretary she guided the process to update the country´s Nationally Determined Contribution (NDC). Prior to that, as the Director for Green House Gas Mitigation, Ms Secada was responsible for developing and coordinating low-carbon public policies and sustainable development in Peru. She is also engaged in UNFCCC Climate Change International Negotiations and led Peru’s COP24 and COP25 delegations in Katowice and Madrid, respectively.

Ms. Secada has fostered international cooperation to implement climate change projects with UNDP, SECO Swiss Cooperation, FAO, UNEP- DTU, NDC Partnership, Global Environmental Facility (GEF), International Development Bank, and World Bank, and served as country focal point for Germany´s International Climate Initiative (IKI) and Euroclima+ programme financed by the EU.

Ms. Secada holds a Bachelor’s in Science and Philosophy from Universidad Peruana Cayetano Heredia, Peru, a Master’s in Conservation Science from Universidad Nacional Agraria La Molina, Peru, and has studied Environmental Change and Management at School of Geography and the Environment at Oxford University.

Prior to joining IRENA, Mr Touré spent more than 20 years at UNDP serving as Director of Operations and Deputy Country Director of UNDP in the Cameroon, Chad, Haiti, Mali and Senegal. He also worked with the Executive Office of UNDP and the Bureau of Management Services of UNDP in New York, and most recently as Senior Operations Advisor for UNDP Regional bureau for Africa, covering 46 Africa Countries in Operations Management.

Aboubacar Touré is a national of Côte d’Ivoire and holds a Master’s degree from Paris1 Panthéon-Sorbonne University in France, a Global Executive MBA from Institut Français de Gestion in France, an Advanced University Diploma in Computer Science and Communication from the University of Lorraine in France and completed the program of General Management with Georgetown University in the USA as well as the Program of Digital Mindset from IESE Business School in New York.