People

Ms Dominique Hempel Rodas is a Swiss lawyer with more than 25 years experience on issues related to international law, development, and private-public partnerships.

After several years in the private industry where she held different senior positions, including directing a consultancy services firm specialised in international legal and commercial fields, she joined the Swiss Ministry of Foreign Affairs. First as a legal counsel and programme and country officer for eastern countries, she then headed the Legal Division of the Swiss Agency for Development and Cooperation (SDC).

She was further seconded by the SDC to international organisations and projects (World Health Organization (WHO); The Global Fund to Fight AIDS, Tuberculosis and Malaria; UNDP The Global Alliance for Improved Nutrition (GAIN); and Interpeace) where she occupied diverse leading functions both at the legal level as a senior legal counsel, and the operational level as a senior programme advisor with a focus on Latin America. After that she returned to the SDC headquarters taking over charge of training programmes, and then became responsible for the topic of capacity development within the SDC and its partners. She is now acting as an independent senior advisor with participation in different institutions working in the development sector.

She is the author of various publications on development co-operation, notably on the right to development. In addition, she has conducted different face-to-face courses and seminars both in Switzerland and overseas on such subjects as democracy, human rights, and rule of law, as well as instruments of development co-operation. Dominique has supported Diplo’s activities since 2002, and participated in its creation as a foundation. She is pleased to join Diplo’s faculty as a lecturer on Sustainable Development Diplomacy and Humanitarian Development and Peace Nexus courses.