Mary Chinery-Hesse, , née Blay (born 29 October 1938) is an international civil servant and diplomat serving as the first woman Chancellor of the

University of Ghana The University of Ghana is a public university located in Accra, Ghana. It the oldest and largest of the thirteen Ghanaian national public universities. The university was founded in 1948 as the University College of the Gold Coast in the Br ...

, inducted on 1 August 2018. She was the first female Deputy Director-General of the

International Labour Organization The International Labour Organization (ILO) is a United Nations agency whose mandate is to advance social and economic justice by setting international labour standards. Founded in October 1919 under the League of Nations, it is the first and o ...

Early life and education

Mary Blay was born to

Robert Samuel Blay Robert Samuel Blay, was a Ghanaian barrister and judge. He was a Justice of the Supreme Court of Ghana during the First Republic. He is often referred to as the first Nzema people, Nzema lawyer. He was president of the Ghana Bar Association on t ...

, a barrister, jurist and a Justice of the

Supreme Court of Ghana The Supreme Court of Ghana is the highest judicial body in Ghana. Ghana's 1992 constitution guarantees the independence and separation of the Judiciary from the Legislative and the Executive arms of government.1992 Constitution Article 125( ...

during the First Republic. Her mother was Dinah Blay. She had her secondary education at the

Wesley Girls' Senior High School Wesley Girls' High School (WGHS) is an educational institution for girls in Cape Coast in the Central region of Ghana. It was founded in 1836 by Harriet Wrigley, the wife of a Methodist minister. The school is named after the founder of Methodis ...

Cape Coast Cape Coast is a city, fishing port, and the capital of Cape Coast Metropolitan District and Central Region of Ghana. It is one of the country's most historic cities, a World Heritage Site, home to the Cape Coast Castle, with the Gulf of Guinea ...

. She also holds a BA (Hons) in Sociology and Economics, and Doctor of Laws (honoris causa) from the

and did postgraduate training in Development Economics at the

University of Dublin The University of Dublin ( ga, Ollscoil Átha Cliath), corporately designated the Chancellor, Doctors and Masters of the University of Dublin, is a university located in Dublin, Ireland. It is the degree-awarding body for Trinity College Dubl ...

Career

In her early career, Mary Chinery-Hesse was a Principal Secretary at the Ministry of Finance and Economic Planning, and Secretary of the National Economic Planning Council. She joined the UN in 1981 where she held the appointment of the first African Woman Resident Coordinator of the United Nations System and Resident Representative of UNDP to many countries including,

Sierra Leone Sierra Leone,)]. officially the Republic of Sierra Leone, is a country on the southwest coast of West Africa. It is bordered by Liberia to the southeast and Guinea surrounds the northern half of the nation. Covering a total area of , Sierra ...

Tanzania Tanzania (; ), officially the United Republic of Tanzania ( sw, Jamhuri ya Muungano wa Tanzania), is a country in East Africa within the African Great Lakes region. It borders Uganda to the north; Kenya to the northeast; Comoro Islands and ...

, the

Seychelles Seychelles (, ; ), officially the Republic of Seychelles (french: link=no, République des Seychelles; Creole: ''La Repiblik Sesel''), is an archipelagic state consisting of 115 islands in the Indian Ocean. Its capital and largest city, V ...

, and

Uganda }), is a landlocked country in East Africa East Africa, Eastern Africa, or East of Africa, is the eastern subregion of the African continent. In the United Nations Statistics Division scheme of geographic regions, 10-11-(16*) territor ...

. She headed the Consultative Committee on Programme and Operational Questions (CCPOQ) of the United Nations from 1993 to 1998, the Commonwealth Expert Group of Eminent Persons on Structural Adjustment and Women and was instrumental in the published report, ''Engendering Adjustment.'' She belonged to the Council of African Advisers of the World Bank between 1992 and 1998. In the 1990s, she chaired the High-Level Panel of Eminent Persons on Review of Progress in the Implementation of the Programme for the Least Developed Countries. She was a member of the Eminent Persons’ Advisory Panel of the

African Union The African Union (AU) is a continental union consisting of 55 member states located on the continent of Africa. The AU was announced in the Sirte Declaration in Sirte, Libya, on 9 September 1999, calling for the establishment of the Africa ...

and served on the Zedillo Commission, more formally known as the Distinguished High-Level Panel of Eminent Persons on Financing for Development. In 1989, she was appointed as the first woman Deputy Director-General of the

Geneva Geneva ( ; french: Genève ) frp, Genèva ; german: link=no, Genf ; it, Ginevra ; rm, Genevra is the List of cities in Switzerland, second-most populous city in Switzerland (after Zürich) and the most populous city of Romandy, the French-speaki ...

Switzerland ). Swiss law does not designate a ''capital'' as such, but the federal parliament and government are installed in Bern, while other federal institutions, such as the federal courts, are in other cities (Bellinzona, Lausanne, Luzern, Neuchâtel ...

. She served as an advisor to

John Kufour John Kofi Agyekum Kufuor (born 8 December 1938) is a Ghanaian politician who served as the President of Ghana from 7 January 2001 to 7 January 2009. He was also Chairperson of the African Union from 2007 to 2008. Kufuor's career has been spe ...

, the former

President of Ghana The president of the Republic of Ghana is the elected head of state and head of government of Ghana, as well as commander-in-chief of the Ghana Armed Forces. The current president of Ghana is Nana Akufo-Addo, who won the 2020 presidential elec ...

. She was the Vice-Chairman of the National Development Planning Commission. She has served on several boards including those at the Centre for Policy Analysis and the Voluntary Fund for Technical Cooperation-

UN High Commissioner for Human Rights The Office of the United Nations High Commissioner for Human Rights, commonly known as the Office of the High Commissioner for Human Rights (OHCHR) or the United Nations Human Rights Office, is a department of the Secretariat of the United Nati ...

. She was also a Commissioner at the Public Utilities Regulatory Commission and at the

Commission on HIV/AIDS and Governance in Africa The Commission on HIV/AIDS and Governance in Africa (CHGA) was convened in 2003 by then UN Secretary General Kofi Annan under the leadership of Wilson Center Senior African Policy Scholar K. Y. Amoako, then the Executive Secretary of the United Nat ...

. She was appointed as the

Chancellor Chancellor ( la, cancellarius) is a title of various official positions in the governments of many nations. The original chancellors were the of Roman courts of justice—ushers, who sat at the or lattice work screens of a basilica or law cou ...

of the

. She assumed this position on 1 August 2018, and succeeded

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 founder ...

, former

UN 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-ge ...

Chinery-Hesse Committee

She was commissioned by the erstwhile government of former President

to determine the end of service benefits/emoluments of ''Article 71'' officer holders.

Personal life

She was married to

Lebrecht James Chinery-Hesse Lebrecht James Nii Tettey Chinery-Hesse, (19 October 1930 – 30 August 2018) was a Ghanaian lawyer, civil servant and diplomat. He served as a specialist in legislative drafting in the service of Uganda, Ghana, Zambia and Sierra Leone. He is a ...

(1930-2018), a Ghanaian lawyer and a former principal state attorney who had done international stints in

Zambia Zambia (), officially the Republic of Zambia, is a landlocked country at the crossroads of Central Africa, Central, Southern Africa, Southern and East Africa, although it is typically referred to as being in Southern Africa at its most cent ...

and

, and was awarded the

Grand Medal There are four orders in Ghana: Order of the Star of Ghana, Order of the Volta, Medal for Gallantry and Grand Medal. These were instituted in 1960 as a replacement for the British honours system that was conferred under the Gold Coast and the Do ...

by the Ghanaian government. Their son,

Herman Chinery-Hesse Herman Kojo Chinery-Hesse (born 1963) is a Ghanaian technology entrepreneur and the founder of theSOFTtribe, the oldest and largest software company in Ghana. He is popularly known as the Bill Gates of Africa. Chinery-Hesse also made the list of ...

is a software entrepreneur.

Works

* Chinnery-Hesse, Mary et al. (1989) "''Engendering adjustment for the 1990s : report of a Commonwealth expert group on women and structural adjustment''" London: Commonwealth Secretariat

Legacy

From 2010 to 2013, she was a member of the

Panel of the Wise The Panel of the Wise (PoW) is a consultative body of the African Union, composed of five appointed members who each serve three year terms. Its mandate is to provide opinions to the Peace and Security Council on issues relevant to conflict preven ...

, a consultative body of the

for West Africa and the Board Chairman for

Zenith Bank Zenith Bank Plc is a large financial service provider in Nigeria and Anglophone West Africa. It is licensed as a commercial bank by the Central Bank of Nigeria, the national banking regulator. As of 31 December 2019, it holds $16.1bn in total as ...

Ghana Ghana (; tw, Gaana, ee, Gana), officially the Republic of Ghana, is a country in West Africa. It abuts the Gulf of Guinea and the Atlantic Ocean to the south, sharing borders with Ivory Coast in the west, Burkina Faso in the north, and To ...

Awards and recognition

Chinery-Hesse received the highest national award of

the

Order of the Star of Ghana The Order of the Star of Ghana is the highest award given by the Government of Ghana to any individual who had helped the cause of the country in one way or the other. Recipients of this award are decorated at a state function, chaired by the Pr ...

under the

's administration. She was also awarded the ''

Gusi Peace Prize The Gusi Peace Prize is a private award given by the Gusi Peace Prize Foundation, based in Manila, Philippines. The Gusi Peace Prize is given to recognize individuals and organizations who contribute to global peace and progress through a wide var ...

'' for International Diplomacy and Humanitarianism in

Manila Manila ( , ; fil, Maynila, ), officially the City of Manila ( fil, Lungsod ng Maynila, ), is the capital of the Philippines, and its second-most populous city. It is highly urbanized and, as of 2019, was the world's most densely populate ...

, Philippines, on 24 November 2010. In November 2021, she was awarded an honorary doctorate by the

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 ...

for her contributions to public service.

References

{{DEFAULTSORT:Chinery-Hesse, Mary Living people Akan people Ghanaian civil servants Ghanaian Protestants People from Accra University of Ghana alumni Alumni of Trinity College Dublin People educated at Wesley Girls' Senior High School Ghanaian Methodists 1938 births Ghanaian presidential advisors International Labour Organization people Fellows of the African Academy of Sciences Honorary Fellows of the African Academy of Sciences