Luísa Dias Diogo (born 11 April 1958) is a Mozambican politician who served as Prime Minister of Mozambique from February 2004 to January 2010. She replaced

Pascoal Mocumbi Pascoal Manuel Mocumbi (born 10 April 1941) was the Prime Minister of Mozambique from 1994 until 2004. His traditional name was Mahykete. Education He is the son of Manuel Mocumbi Malume and Leta Alson Cuhle. He began his studies at the ''Miss� ...

, who had been Prime Minister for the previous nine years. Before becoming Prime Minister, she was Minister of Planning and Finance, and she continued to hold that post until February 2005. She was the first female Prime Minister of Mozambique. Diogo represents the party

FRELIMO FRELIMO (; from the Portuguese , ) is a democratic socialist political party in Mozambique. It is the dominant party in Mozambique and has won a majority of the seats in the Assembly of the Republic in every election since the country's firs ...

, which has ruled the country since independence in 1975.

Early life and education

Diogo studied economics at

Eduardo Mondlane University , image = , image_size = , former_names = , motto = , type = Public , established = 21 August 1962 , rector = Manuel Guilherme Júnior, PhD , students = 39,078 (2015) , undergrad = 35,809 , ...

Maputo Maputo (), formerly named Lourenço Marques until 1976, is the Capital city, capital, and largest city of Mozambique. Located near the southern end of the country, it is within of the borders with Eswatini and South Africa. The city has a popul ...

. She graduated with a bachelor's degree in 1983. She went on to obtain a master's degree in financial economics at the

School of Oriental and African Studies SOAS University of London (; the School of Oriental and African Studies) is a public research university in London, England, and a member institution of the federal University of London. Founded in 1916, SOAS is located in the Bloomsbury ar ...

University of London The University of London (UoL; abbreviated as Lond or more rarely Londin in post-nominals) is a federal public research university located in London, England, United Kingdom. The university was established by royal charter in 1836 as a degree ...

in 1992.

Career

Diogo began working in the Mozambique Finance Ministry in 1980 while she was still a college student. She became head of department in 1986 and national budget director in 1989. She then went to work for the

World Bank The World Bank is an international financial institution that provides loans and grants to the governments of low- and middle-income countries for the purpose of pursuing capital projects. The World Bank is the collective name for the Interna ...

, as the programme officer in Mozambique. In 1994 she joined the

government as Deputy Minister of Finance under Mozambican President

Joaquim Chissano Joaquim Alberto Chissano (born 22 October 1939) is a politician who served as the second President of Mozambique, from 1986 to 2005. He is credited with transforming the war-torn country of Mozambique into one of the most successful African demo ...

. In 2003,

United Nations Secretary-General The secretary-general of the United Nations (UNSG or SG) is the chief administrative officer of the United Nations and head of the United Nations Secretariat, one of the six principal organs of the United Nations. The role of the secretary-g ...

Kofi Annan Kofi Atta Annan (; 8 April 193818 August 2018) was a Ghanaian diplomat who served as the seventh secretary-general of the United Nations from 1997 to 2006. Annan and the UN were the co-recipients of the 2001 Nobel Peace Prize. He was the founde ...

appointed Diogo to the United Nations Commission on the Private Sector and Development, which was co-chaired by

Prime Minister A prime minister, premier or chief of cabinet is the head of the cabinet and the leader of the ministers in the executive branch of government, often in a parliamentary or semi-presidential system. Under those systems, a prime minister is not ...

Paul Martin Paul Edgar Philippe Martin (born August 28, 1938), also known as Paul Martin Jr., is a Canadian lawyer and politician who served as the 21st prime minister of Canada and the leader of the Liberal Party of Canada from 2003 to 2006. The son o ...

Canada Canada is a country in North America. Its ten provinces and three territories extend from the Atlantic Ocean to the Pacific Ocean and northward into the Arctic Ocean, covering over , making it the world's second-largest country by tot ...

and

President President most commonly refers to: *President (corporate title) *President (education), a leader of a college or university *President (government title) President may also refer to: Automobiles * Nissan President, a 1966–2010 Japanese ful ...

Ernesto Zedillo Ernesto Zedillo Ponce de León (; born 27 December 1951) is a Mexican economist and politician. He was 61st president of Mexico from 1 December 1994 to 30 November 2000, as the last of the uninterrupted 71-year line of Mexican presidents from t ...

Mexico Mexico (Spanish: México), officially the United Mexican States, is a country in the southern portion of North America. It is bordered to the north by the United States; to the south and west by the Pacific Ocean; to the southeast by Guatema ...

Prime Minister, 2004–2010

Diogo was appointed prime minister in February 2004, succeeding

. She continued to hold her post as finance minister until 2005. In September 2005, Diogo was the international guest speaker at the British

Labour Party Conference The Labour Party Conference is the annual conference of the British Labour Party. It is formally the supreme decision-making body of the party and is traditionally held in the final week of September, during the party conference season when the ...

. In 2006, Annan appointed Diogo to co-chair – alongside Shaukat Aziz and

Jens Stoltenberg Jens Stoltenberg (born 16 March 1959) is a Norwegian politician who has been serving as the 13th secretary general of NATO since 2014. A member of the Norwegian Labour Party, he previously served as the 34th prime minister of Norway from 2000 to ...

– a

High-level Panel on United Nations Systemwide Coherence On 16 February 2006, the Secretary-General announced the formation of a new, high-level panel to explore how the United Nations system could work more coherently and effectively across the world in the areas of development, humanitarian assistanc ...

, which was set up to explore how the

United Nations The United Nations (UN) is an intergovernmental organization whose stated purposes are to maintain international peace and international security, security, develop friendly relations among nations, achieve international cooperation, and be ...

system could work more coherently and effectively across the world in the areas of development, humanitarian assistance and the environment. She was also a member of the Commission on Effective Development Cooperation with Africa which was set up by the

Anders Fogh Rasmussen Anders Fogh Rasmussen (; born 26 January 1953) is a Danish politician who was the 24th Prime Minister of Denmark from November 2001 to April 2009 and the 12th Secretary General of NATO from August 2009 to October 2014. He became CEO of polit ...

Denmark ) , song = ( en, "King Christian stood by the lofty mast") , song_type = National and royal anthem , image_map = EU-Denmark.svg , map_caption = , subdivision_type = Sovereign state , subdivision_name = Danish Realm, Kingdom of Denmark ...

and held meetings between April and October 2008. After reports that some farmers were refusing to leave their livestock in areas threatened by the 2007 Mozambican flood, Diogo ordered forcible evacuations of citizens in low-lying areas of the

Zambezi The Zambezi River (also spelled Zambeze and Zambesi) is the fourth-longest river in Africa, the longest east-flowing river in Africa and the largest flowing into the Indian Ocean from Africa. Its drainage basin covers , slightly less than hal ...

valley. During her time in office, Diogo urged the African health ministers to offer reproductive and sexual health services free of charge throughout the continent. These services could reduce infant mortality by two thirds, reduce

maternal mortality Maternal death or maternal mortality is defined in slightly different ways by several different health organizations. The World Health Organization (WHO) defines maternal death as the death of a pregnant mother due to complications related to pre ...

by three quarters, reverse the spread of

AIDS Human immunodeficiency virus infection and acquired immunodeficiency syndrome (HIV/AIDS) is a spectrum of conditions caused by infection with the human immunodeficiency virus (HIV), a retrovirus. Following initial infection an individual m ...

, and promote

gender equality Gender equality, also known as sexual equality or equality of the sexes, is the state of equal ease of access to resources and opportunities regardless of gender, including economic participation and decision-making; and the state of valuing d ...

and the empowerment of women. The target set by the UN was to achieve these goals by 2015."Mozambique; Diogo Calls for Free Reproductive Health Services"
''AllAfrica'', 21 September 2006. Diogo also focused on

and

women's empowerment Women's empowerment (or female empowerment) may be defined in several ways, including accepting women's viewpoints, making an effort to seek them and raising the status of women through education, awareness, literacy, and training.Kabeer, Naila ...

through a recently launched "Network of Women Ministers and Parliamentarians" (MUNIPA). The MUNIPA network aims to strengthen advocacy and lobbying activities so that policies and legislation are adopted favourable to gender equity and women's empowerment. Promoting equality between men and women is a central concern of the Mozambican government, which has been adopting instruments to promote women's empowerment at all levels f government"Mozambique; Network of Women Ministers And Parliamentarians." Africa News 6 May 2007 29 April 2008 .

Life after politics

In August 2010, UN Secretary-General

Ban Ki-moon Ban Ki-moon (; ; born 13 June 1944) is a South Korean politician and diplomat who served as the eighth secretary-general of the United Nations between 2007 and 2016. Prior to his appointment as secretary-general, Ban was his country's Minister ...

appointed Diogo to the High-Level Panel on Global Sustainability, which was co-chaired by presidents

Tarja Halonen Tarja Kaarina Halonen (; born 24 December 1943) is a Finnish politician who served as the 11th president of Finland, and the first woman to hold the position, from 2000 to 2012. She first rose to prominence as a lawyer with the Central Organisa ...

Finland Finland ( fi, Suomi ; sv, Finland ), officially the Republic of Finland (; ), is a Nordic country in Northern Europe. It shares land borders with Sweden to the northwest, Norway to the north, and Russia to the east, with the Gulf of B ...

and

Jacob Zuma Jacob Gedleyihlekisa Zuma (; born 12 April 1942) is a South African politician who served as the fourth president of South Africa from 2009 to 2018. He is also referred to by his initials JZ and clan name Msholozi, and was a former anti-aparth ...

South Africa South Africa, officially the Republic of South Africa (RSA), is the southernmost country in Africa. It is bounded to the south by of coastline that stretch along the South Atlantic and Indian Oceans; to the north by the neighbouring countri ...

. In 2014, Diogo came second to

Filipe Nyusi Filipe Jacinto Nyusi (; born 12 February 1959) is a Mozambican politician serving as the fourth President of Mozambique since 2015. He is the current leader of FRELIMO, the party that has governed Mozambique since its independence from Portug ...

in FRELIMO’s elections for candidate in that year’s

general elections A general election is a political voting election where generally all or most members of a given political body are chosen. These are usually held for a nation, state, or territory's primary legislative body, and are different from by-elections ( ...

. At the time, she was backed by a party faction led by Chissano. In 2016, Diogo was appointed by

Erik Solheim Erik Solheim (born 18 January 1955) is a Norwegian diplomat and former politician. He served in the Norwegian government from 2005 to 2012 as Minister of International Development and Minister of the Environment, and as Under-Secretary-General of ...

, the Chairman of the

Development Assistance Committee The Organisation for Economic Co-operation and Development's (OECD) Development Assistance Committee (DAC) is a forum to discuss issues surrounding aid, development and poverty reduction in developing countries. It describes itself as being the ...

, to serve on the High Level Panel on the Future of the Development Assistance Committee under the leadership of

Mary Robinson Mary Therese Winifred Robinson ( ga, Máire Mhic Róibín; ; born 21 May 1944) is an Irish politician who was the 7th president of Ireland, serving from December 1990 to September 1997, the first woman to hold this office. Prior to her electi ...

Corporate boards

* Absa Bank Mozambique, Chairwoman of the Board (since 2012)

Non-profit organizations

* African Union Foundation, Member of the Council * Brenthurst Foundation, Member of the Advisory Board *

Club de Madrid Club de Madrid is an independent non-profit organization created to promote democracy and change in the international community. Composed of 121 regular members from 72 countries, including 7 Nobel Peace Prize laureates and 20 first female heads ...

, Member *

Council of Women World Leaders The Council of Women World Leaders, created in 1996, is a network of 83 current and former presidents and prime ministers. It is the only organization in the world dedicated to women heads of state and government. The council's Ministerial Initia ...

, Member * NOVAFRICA of the

Universidade Nova de Lisboa NOVA University Lisbon ( pt, Universidade NOVA de Lisboa, ), or just NOVA, is a Portuguese public university whose rectorate is located in Campolide, Lisbon. Founded in 1973, it is the newest of the public universities in the Portuguese capital c ...

, Member of the Advisory Board

Trivia

In a 2010 op-ed in ''

The New York Times ''The New York Times'' (''the Times'', ''NYT'', or the Gray Lady) is a daily newspaper based in New York City with a worldwide readership reported in 2020 to comprise a declining 840,000 paid print subscribers, and a growing 6 million paid ...

'', Irish musician and activist

Bono Paul David Hewson (born 10 May 1960), known by his stage name Bono (), is an Irish singer-songwriter, activist, and philanthropist. He is the lead vocalist and primary lyricist of the rock band U2. Born and raised in Dublin, he attended M ...

described Diogo as having "the lioness energy of an

Ellen Johnson Sirleaf Ellen Johnson Sirleaf (born Ellen Eugenia Johnson, 29 October 1938) is a Liberian politician who served as the 24th president of Liberia from 2006 to 2018. Sirleaf was the first elected female head of state in Africa. Sirleaf was born in Monro ...

, a

Ngozi Okonjo-Iweala Ngozi Okonjo-Iweala (; born 13 June 1954) is a Nigerian economist, who has been serving as the Director-General of the World Trade Organization since March 2021. Notably, she is the first woman and first African to lead the World Trade Organiza ...

or a

Graça Machel Graça Machel (; née Simbine; , born 17 October 1945) is a Mozambican politician and humanitarian. She is the widow of former President of Mozambique Samora Machel (1975–1986) and former President of South Africa Nelson Mandela (1998– ...

(18 April 2010)
"Africa Reboots"
''The New York Times''.

References

External links

Blazing a trail for Africa's women
BBC

''Encyclopedia of World Biography. {{DEFAULTSORT:Diogo, Luisa 1958 births Living people 21st-century Mozambican women politicians 21st-century Mozambican politicians Alumni of SOAS University of London Alumni of University of London Worldwide Alumni of the University of London Female heads of government Women rulers in Africa FRELIMO politicians Mozambican economists Prime Ministers of Mozambique Finance ministers of Mozambique Women prime ministers World Bank people Women government ministers of Mozambique People from Tete Province Mozambican officials of the United Nations Female finance ministers