Bjørg Sandkjær

Ms. Bjørg Sandkjær has served as Assistant Secretary-General for Policy Coordination in the United Nations Department of Economic and Social Affairs (DESA) since March 2025.

Previously, Ms. Sandkjær served as Deputy Minister for International Development at the Norwegian Ministry of Foreign Affairs from 2021. In this role, she was responsible for developing Norway’s strategic vision and engagement in international development cooperation, and played a key role in negotiations on Norway’s budgetary allocations for official development assistance (ODA). She also led Norway’s engagement in multilateral processes and fora, including the High-level Political Forum on Sustainable Development.

Ms. Sandkjær began her career in civil society, holding advisory positions at the UK Stakeholder Forum for Our Common Future and the Church of Norway. Since then, she has held positions across civil society, the private sector, government and multilateral organisations. These include serving as deputy leader of the Standing Committee on Health and Welfare of the Oslo City Council (2019–2021), as well as positions at the Norwegian Agency for Development Cooperation (Norad), Gavi, the Vaccine Alliance, and the UN Economic Commission for Africa (UNECA).

She has published on rural and social development related to human security and HIV and AIDS, as well as on global health financing and human rights-based approaches to development.

Ms. Sandkjær holds a master’s degree in Demography from the London School of Economics and Political Science (LSE) and an undergraduate degree from the University of Oslo.