Never walk alone: co-impact philanthropy
Thursday 27 April 2023 18:00 to 19:00Speakers: |
Anne-Birgitte Albrectsen CEO, Lego Foundation (2021 to 2022); CEO, Plan International (2015 to 2021); former UN Assistant Secretary General |
Watch online
Read report of the lecture
Read report by Heather Jost (MBA, 2022)
About the lecture
In this lecture Anne-Birgitte Albrectsen will examine how funders can often talk about impact as if they own it. She will argue that impact is about the sustainable change generated through an activity, and attributing such things to a single actor is near impossible. Investment plays its part but can lead to philanthropists being treated as the smartest people in the room. However, wisdom relies on the crowd – the lived experience of stakeholders that often are from much less privileged backgrounds than the funder. The speaker will explore these and other dilemmas in philanthropy.
About the speaker
Anne-Birgitte Albrectsen, known to most as AB, has worked for over 30 years in diplomacy, international development, philanthropy, and executive leadership. Over the years, she has become known for her ability to design and execute implementable transformation agendas, her design of impactful strategies, and her people-centered and collaborative leadership style.
AB joined the Danish Foreign Service in 1991 after obtaining her law degree from Copenhagen University. Her first posting was to the Danish UN Mission in New York. Never satisfied with only theory and concepts, she sought a country office assignment with the United Nations Development Programme (UNDP) in Indonesia, where she, as Deputy Resident Representative, oversaw UNDP activities during the first free election in that country in 1999. Over the following years, she became Chief de Cabinet at UNDP, Resident Representative for the UN Population Fund (UNFPA) in Turkey before returning to the Danish MFA as Director of Humanitarian Affairs and later as Ambassador and Undersecretary for Management. Since 2012 AB has held three top executive roles covering women’s and children’s rights, education, and health at UNFPA as UN Assistant Secretary General, at Plan International as Global CEO, and at the LEGO Foundation as CEO. AB recently founded her own executive advisory company, ABA Global Action, which serves leaders in all sectors seeking to make an impactful difference in the world.
Green Templeton Lectures 2023
The Green Templeton Lectures 2023 will conclude on Monday 5 June when President, GiveDirectly; host, The Rest Is Politics; and former UK Secretary of State for International Development Rt Hon Rory Stewart will be the speaker. Read the report and watch the recording of the first lecture by Josh Yates on ‘Unlocking the benefits of venture philanthropy’.
Type: Lectures and Seminars
