Fresh Leadership at IPS: Turning a New Leaf

By IPS Reprint | | Print | |En español

Farhana Haque Rahman

ROME, Aug 14 2015 (IPS) - The newly-elected Board of IPS-Inter Press Service, chaired by former Austrian ambassador Dr Walther Lichem, has appointed a new Director-General by acclamation.

At its meeting on Aug. 10, the Board unanimously selected and appointed Ms. Farhana Haque Rahman, a communications veteran and journalist, to head the organisation for the next three years.

Over a 30-year career, Ms Haque Rahman, a Bangladesh-born Canadian citizen, has served the United Nations in senior capacities, including as Chief of Media Relations and External Communications at the International Fund for Agricultural Development (IFAD) and as Senior Communications Advisor at the Food and Agriculture Organisation of the United Nations (FAO).

Ms. Haque Rahman, who takes over from Mr Ramesh Jaura, Director-General since April 2014, assumes her responsibilities on Sep. 1.

In welcoming Ms. Haque Rahman and thanking outgoing Director-General Mr Ramesh Jaura, Ambassador Lichem said that the shift in IPS leadership signals a change in approach, aligning the news organisation with global governance issues that affect developing countries and keeping the Sustainable Development Goals (SDGs) at its core.

With a mandate to raise awareness and highlight human, environmental, food security and malnutrition issues globally, the 50-year-old news organisation (the only one of its kind giving a voice to the South in collaboration with the richer countries), is looking at its new leadership to make it more effective and relevant with changing demographic trends by engaging the full potential of the digital era.