Rebecca Reichmann Tavares

Rebecca Reichmann Tavares, from Southern California, USA, has worked in the field of development, race relations, and women’s rights. Ms. Tavares joined the Brazil Foundation as President and CEO in August 2019, in New York City. From September 2018 to August 2019, she was Interim Coordinator of the Every Woman Every Child (EWEC) Initiative of the United Nations Secretary-General, in NYC. She was the representative of UN Women’s Office located in New Delhi, from July 2013 to December 2017, covering four countries of India, Bhutan, the Maldives, and Sri Lanka. In 2017, she was also Interim Representative of UN Women in Afghanistan, based in Kabul. Earlier, from 2009 to 2013, she was the UN representative for Brazil and Regional Programme Director of UN Women’s Brazil & Southern Cone Office.

Tavares has written many books, monographs and papers related to the sociology of race relations in Brazil, rights, and entitlements of women, and microfinance in Latin America.

Rebecca Reichmann Tavares is from Southern California. She graduated from the Yale University. She has a doctoral degree (Ed.D) from the Harvard Graduate School of Education. Following her education, she worked at micro-finance organization Accion International for six years as Director of Training, Research, and Evaluation, focusing on access to financing for low-income entrepreneurs in Latin America. After Accion, Rebecca spent six years in Rio de Janeiro, Brazil, as Program Officer at the Ford Foundation.In Brazil, she made an enormous difference by funding emerging African Brazilian and women's rights organizations during the country's transition from a military regime to democracy, helping them flourish.Back in California, USA she was Founder Vice President of the New Americans Immigration Museum and Learning Center, in San Diego, designed to celebrate the contributions of immigrants to the United States.

From 2009 to 2013, she worked as the UN representative for Brazil and Regional Programme Director of UN Women’s Brazil & Southern Cone Office, and particularly engaged in issues related to race relations and woman's rights. From 2013 to 2017, she was heading the UN Women's New Delhi Office representing the four countries of India, Bhutan, Maldives and Sri Lanka. In this capacity she observed: "I hope gender violence becomes an election issue. It would be good if candidates and incumbents standing for elections are made to ensure that they will guarantee safety for women in their area. Civil society should make this an issue, and that’s where the media also has a role to play". Since then, violence against has indeed become an electoral issue in India

Tavares said: "When women are in positions of decision making, they make decisions differently, more attuned to safety, sanitation, water resources and health of families. They also have a different style of dialogue... things do change because of them and they also manage to change attitudes."

In December 2015, representing UN Women, Tavares signed a Memorandum of Understanding (MoU) in New Delhi withDr. Jyotsna Suri, President of the Federation of Indian Chambers of Commerce and Industry (FICCI) to promote gender equality and Women’s empowerment in the corporate sector.

In 2017 in Afghanistan as head of UN Women, Rebecca visited most of the country and implemented the National Action Plan on Women, Peace, and Security, in collaboration with the Foreign Ministry. She also engaged with mullahs on the education of men on prevention of violence against women, helped draft legislation on Ending Violence Against Women in collaboration with the national Ministry of Women’s Affairs, and trained Ministry of Finance officials in gender budgeting.

Tavares has published, as editor, a booktitled Race in Contemporary Brazil: From Indifference to Inequality (1999), pertaining to racial inequality in Braziland on issues of "black women’s status and roles." She has coauthored with Sonia Correa, a book titled Population and Reproductive Rights.