Gilbert Fossoun Houngbo (born 4 February 1961) is a

Togo Togo, officially the Togolese Republic, is a country in West Africa. It is bordered by Ghana to Ghana–Togo border, the west, Benin to Benin–Togo border, the east and Burkina Faso to Burkina Faso–Togo border, the north. It is one of the le ...

lese politician and diplomat who was

Prime Minister of Togo The president of the Council of Ministers of the Togolese Republic (, formerly known as the prime minister of Togo (), is the head of government of the Togo, Togolese Republic. Most of the governing authority and executive powers lie in the pre ...

from September 2008 to July 2012."Reprise de la coopération et gestion de crise"
République Togolaise website, 8 September 2008 . He has also held various positions within the

United Nations System The United Nations System consists of the United Nations' six principal bodies (the General Assembly, Security Council, Economic and Social Council (ECOSOC), Trusteeship Council, International Court of Justice (ICJ), and the United Nations ...

, including the

United Nations Development Programme The United Nations Development Programme (UNDP) is a United Nations agency tasked with helping countries eliminate poverty and achieve sustainable economic growth and human development. The UNDP emphasizes on developing local capacity towar ...

(UNDP), the International Labour Office and the

International Fund for Agricultural Development The International Fund for Agricultural Development (IFAD) is an international financial institution and a specialised agency of the United Nations that works to address poverty and hunger in rural areas of developing countries. It is the on ...

(IFAD). In 2022 he was elected as the 11th Director-General of the

International Labour Organization The International Labour Organization (ILO) is a United Nations agency whose mandate is to advance social and economic justice by setting international labour standards. Founded in October 1919 under the League of Nations, it is one of the firs ...

(ILO).

Education and early career

Houngbo was born in rural Togo, the eleventh of eighteen children, and holds an advanced degree in business management from the University of Lomé in Togo. He moved to

Canada Canada is a country in North America. Its Provinces and territories of Canada, ten provinces and three territories extend from the Atlantic Ocean to the Pacific Ocean and northward into the Arctic Ocean, making it the world's List of coun ...

in 1983 on a graduate scholarship and earned a degree in accounting and finance from the . Houngbo stated in an interview in 2017 that this period deeply affected him and gave him a "sense of isplace in the world". He obtained Canadian citizenship and worked at

Price Waterhouse PricewaterhouseCoopers, also known as PwC, is a multinational professional services network based in London, United Kingdom. It is the second-largest professional services network in the world and is one of the Big Four accounting firms, along ...

Canada, and is a member of the

Canadian Institute of Chartered Accountants The Canadian Institute of Chartered Accountants (CICA) was incorporated by an Act of the Parliament of Canada in 1902, which later became known as the ''Canadian Institute of Chartered Accountants Act''. The CICA developed and supported account ...

Prime Minister of Togo

On 7 September 2008, President

Faure Gnassingbé Faure Essozimna Gnassingbé (; born 6 June 1966)"Biographie de nouveau pré ...

appointed Houngbo as Prime Minister of Togo; he replaced Komlan Mally, who had resigned two days earlier. His appointment as prime minister was read out in a decree by Kouessan Yovodevi, the Director of National Television. Houngbo took office on 8 September. Houngbo was a relatively obscure figure in Togo before his appointment, which was regarded as surprising. The government said that he was a "man of consensus" who would facilitate national reconciliation. Some observers attributed his appointment to a desire to improve the image of the government; there were suggestions that Mally had appeared ineffectual. Houngbo travelled to the UN Headquarters in New York on 11 September for a visit to mark his departure from the UN. The same day, he met with UN Secretary-General

Ban Ki-moon Ban Ki-moon (born 13 June 1944) is a South Korean politician and diplomat who served as the eighth secretary-general of the United Nations between 2007 and 2016. Prior to his appointment as secretary-general, Ban was the South Korean minister ...

, who congratulated Houngbo on his achievements at the UNDP. In Togo, Houngbo's government was named on 15 September 2008. It included 27 ministers, aside from Houngbo himself: 3 ministers of state (one of whom was Houngbo's predecessor, Komlan Mally), 20 ministers, 2 minister-delegates, and 2 secretaries of state. Houngbo presented his general policy programme to the

National Assembly In politics, a national assembly is either a unicameral legislature, the lower house of a bicameral legislature, or both houses of a bicameral legislature together. In the English language it generally means "an assembly composed of the repr ...

on 16 September. Of the 80 deputies who participated in the vote on Houngbo's programme, 50 (representing the ruling Rally of the Togolese People) voted in favor of it; the opposition

Union of Forces for Change The Union of Forces for Change () is an opposition political party in Togo. The President of the UFC was Gilchrist Olympio Action Committee for Renewal The Action Committee for Renewal (, CAR) is an opposition political party in Togo. Dodji Apévon has led the party since 2008; previously it was led by Yawovi Agboyibo from 1991 to 2008. History Inception The Front of Associations for Renewal ...

abstained. Gnassingbé was re-elected in the March 2010 presidential election and sworn in on 3 May 2010. Houngbo accordingly resigned as Prime Minister on 5 May, and Gnassingbé re-appointed him as Prime Minister on 7 May. His new coalition government was announced on 28 May, which included seven members from the UFC, Togo's main opposition party. Houngbo resigned on 11 July 2012, and was succeeded in office by Kwesi Ahoomey-Zunu on 23 July.

Career within the United Nations System

Houngbo was a member of the

(UNDP) Strategic Management Team and was its Director of Finance and Administration before being appointed UNDP Chief of Staff in 2003. He was subsequently appointed

United Nations The United Nations (UN) is the Earth, global intergovernmental organization established by the signing of the Charter of the United Nations, UN Charter on 26 June 1945 with the stated purpose of maintaining international peace and internationa ...

Assistant Secretary-General, Assistant Administrator of the UNDP and Director of the UNDP's Regional Bureau for Africa by UN Secretary-General

Kofi Annan Kofi Atta Annan (8 April 193818 August 2018) was a Ghanaian diplomat who served as the seventh secretary-general of the United Nations from 1997 to 2006. Annan and the UN were the co-recipients of the 2001 Nobel Peace Prize. He was the founder a ...

on 29 December 2005. Following his term as Prime Minister of Togo, Houngbo returned to the

in 2013 as Deputy Director-General for Field Operations and Partnership at the International Labour Office.

IFAD, 2017–2022

In 2017 Houngbo was appointed President of the

(IFAD). In 2020 he was also appointed by UN Secretary-General

António Guterres António Manuel de Oliveira Guterres (born 30 April 1949) is a Portuguese politician and diplomat who is serving as the ninth and current secretary-general of the United Nations since 2017. A member of the Socialist Party (Portugal), ...

to serve on the Advisory Committee for the 2021 Food Systems Summit, chaired by Inger Andersen.

International Labour Organization, 2022–present

On 25 March 2022 Houngbo was elected to succeed Guy Ryder as Director-General of the

(ILO), becoming the first African selected for the position. His term began on 1 October 2022. Since 2023, he has been an ex-officio member of the United Nations High-level Panel on the Teaching Profession, co-chaired by

Kersti Kaljulaid Kersti Kaljulaid (; born 30 December 1969) is an Estonia, Estonian politician who served as the fifth president of Estonia between 2016 and 2021, and was its first and only female head of state since the country declared independence in 1918. S ...

and

Paula-Mae Weekes Paula-Mae Weekes (born 23 December 1958) is a Trinidad and Tobago politician and jurist who was the sixth president of Trinidad and Tobago from 2018 to 2023. She is the first female President of Trinidad and Tobago, as well as the second female ...

.United Nations Establishes Teaching Profession High-Level Panel to Build on Outcomes of Transforming Education Summit

, press release of 19 June 2023.

Personal life

Houngbo is married and has three children. The two eldest children live in Canada.