President
Juha I. Uitto is a Finnish national and a renowned thought-leader in international development and evaluation with decades of experience. He earned an MSc in Geography from the University of Helsinki and a PhD in Social and Economic Geography from Lund University. His career began in the mid-1980s as an Associate Expert at the International Fund for Agricultural Development (IFAD), which introduced him to monitoring and evaluation (M\&E). He subsequently worked as a Research Fellow at the Nordic Africa Institute and as a consultant for various Nordic aid agencies.
From 1990 to 1999, Dr. Uitto managed environment and sustainable development research at the United Nations University in Tokyo. This role led to his appointment at the Global Environment Facility (GEF) M&E Unit in 1999. In 2002, he joined the United Nations Development Programme (UNDP), where he served as Senior M&E Coordinator, Evaluation Advisor, and eventually Deputy Director of the Independent Evaluation Office (IEO). During his time at the UNDP, he led global evaluations on poverty, environment, and energy linkages. In 2014, he returned to the GEF to serve as the Director of its IEO, a position he held for ten years.
Beyond these leadership roles, Dr. Uitto has held visiting academic positions at Rutgers University, the University of Montana, and Kyoto University. He is a prolific author on sustainable development and evaluation and remains active as an independent advisor and Visiting Scholar at the Environmental Law Institute. He has also held significant leadership positions within the UN Evaluation Group (UNEG) and is an active member of various international evaluation associations.
First Term of Office expires: 31 March 2029
