NAI ASSOCIATE

Laura is based in Helsinki serving as Ambassador (Democracy, the Rule of Law, Good Governance) at the Ministry for Foreign Affairs of Finland. She has vast experience with development policy and development cooperation.

Laura Torvinen has wide-ranging work experience in the field of development policy and development cooperation, both in Finland and abroad. Her experience in Finland ranges from civil society organizations to the ministries for Foreign Affairs and of Finance. She has long-term field experience from Lesotho and Mozambique, and has made numerous short-term field missions to numerous other developing countries. She has also gained extensive experience from working with the international financing institutions, and with the European Union in Brussels.

From 2016 to 2020, she served as Finland’s ambassador to Mozambique, covering also Madagascar and Eswatini.

Before joining the Ministry she had worked for the UNDP in Lesotho (1981-1983), Finnchurchaid in Finland (1983-1987) and for the Ministry of Agriculture in Mozambique. During all of this period she has been an active member of several Finnish development related civil society organizations and has extensive experience from training and teaching in her field of expertise.

Laura Torvinen holds a Master’s Degree in Economics from the Helsinki School of Economics and Business Administration, a Master of Philosophy in Development Studies from the Institute of Development Studies, University of Sussex (UK), and a PhD from the University of Maastricht, Graduate School of Governance (NL).

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