Paula Donovan

Co-Director

Paula Donovan is the co-founder and co-director of AIDS-Free World and its Code Blue Campaign to end impunity for sexual exploitation and abuse by UN peacekeepers. Ms. Donovan has spent more than three decades working to advance women's and children's rights, both within the UN system — with UNICEF, UNIFEM and the UN Special Envoy on HIV/AIDS in Africa — and as an advocate pressing for change.

Ms. Donovan was the first to call for a UN agency devoted to women. Her 2006 position paper, Gender Equality: Now or Never, set out the need and the rationale for the agency; it became a key document in the advocacy effort to have an agency created. UN Women was ultimately established in 2011. 

An expert on HIV, infant feeding, sexual violence, and women’s rights, Ms. Donovan is a frequent commentator in the media. Her analyses have been featured in numerous outlets, including: Al Jazeera, AP, AFP, BBC, Buzzfeed, CNN, Foreign Policy, Fox News, The New York Times, Newsweek, NPR, RFI, Reuters, VICE and The Washington Post, among others.

She holds a Master’s degree in Corporate and Political Communication. 

Contact Paula: info@aidsfreeworld.org

For media inquiries, please contact media@aidsfreeworld.org or call +1-646-924-1710.