ADRA President Speaks at United Nations Roundtable Forum

By Hearly Mayr 
Photo by Julio Muñoz/ADRA International

Adventist Development and Relief Agency (ADRA) president Charles Sandefur, a member of Chesapeake Conference’s Spencerville church in Silver Spring, Md., was a participant at the recent Ministerial Roundtable, a forum hosted by the U.N. Industrial Development Organization. The roundtable was held in conjunction with the U.N. Innovation Fair and the High-Level Segment meetings of the U.N. Economic and Social Council (ECOSOC) held recently at the organization’s headquarters in New York.

The theme for this year’s roundtable was sustainable development, a concept of resource management that aims to meet the human needs of present and future generations while preserving the environment. During the meetings, attendees, including leaders of international financial and trade institutions, member state ministers and ambassadors, development experts, members of academia, and NGO representatives, discussed the progress of developing nations, solutions to the current global food crisis, and ways in which development cooperation can be streamlined to be more effective.
“ADRA’s active participation at the United Nations provides not only a way for us to highlight successful ideas and engage the global community at its highest levels, but also serves to give an important voice to the millions of vulnerable people ADRA serves around the world every year,” said Sandefur (pictured, right with Donatus St. Aimee, permanent representative of Saint Lucia to the United Nations, during the U.N. Innovation Fair in New York).
During the Innovation Fair, ADRA representatives showcased a success story about sustainable development. The fair, sponsored by ECOSOC, an international body in which ADRA has held general consultative status since 1997, aimed to share examples of innovative development successes that various U.N. agencies and member non-government organizations, such as ADRA, have had recently. 

For more information, visit adra.org.