Paloma Escudero to speak on: Topic: The "State of the World's Children Report 2021". The flagship publication of UNICEF reveals the impact of COVID-19 pandemic on the mental health of children and adolescents. Against a backdrop of rising awareness of mental health issues, there is now a unique opportunity to promote good mental health for those facing the greatest challenges, including by addressing stigma, promoting understanding, and taking seriously the experiences of children and young people. https://www.unicef.org/reports/state-worlds-children-2021
Paloma Escudero, Director of Global Communications and Advocacy at UNICEF since 2013.
Prior to her appointment, Ms. Escudero had already been well known among the UNICEF family as Executive Director of the Spanish National Committee for UNICEF. Under her management between 2007 and 2013, the Committee was transformed into a highly efficient organization ─ increasing its contribution to UNICEF programs in over 150 developing countries and contributing significantly to emergencies such as the Haiti earthquake in 2010.
Ms. Escudero started her professional career, which spans more than three decades, in 1989 at Procter & Gamble Spain, where she was the company’s Brand Manager.
After a sabbatical year spent travelling around the world with her husband, and working as an aid worker in Guatemala, Ms. Escudero joined Oxfam in 1997. In 2000, she became the Director of the Oxfam International Advocacy Office for the European Union. First based in Spain and later in Brussels, she worked on issues such as overseas development aid, external debt, humanitarian law, international agriculture and trade, and climate change.
Ms. Escudero holds a Bachelor of Arts in Economics and Business Sciences from ICADE – Universidad Pontificia Comillas in Madrid. She obtained an Erasmus grant to specialize in marketing at ESSEC Business School in Paris.