Tehmina Akhtar

Senior Strategic Advisor Regional Bureau, Arab States United Nations Development Programme


Tehmina Akhtar has worked in international development for over 25 years and served in management and policy roles at global and regional levels. Her expertise includes economic development, governance, environment, climate change, natural resource management, gender equality and social inclusion. Most recently Tehmina has been the Deputy Director of the Local Development Finance Practice at UNCDF since 2018, responsible for the development and management of transformative local economic development programmes providing financing and technical support to subnational governments, and engaging public and private sector actors to increase investment capital for achievement of the SDGs in the world’s 46 least developed countries.

Tehmina holds a Master of Environmental Management from Yale University specializing in Law, Policy and Economics, an MA in Middle Eastern Studies from New York University focusing on Gender in Development, and a BA in International Relations from Mount Holyoke College with a concentration in Development Studies. Tehmina is