Dr. Suneeta Mukherjee
Life Coach & Former IAS and UNFPA RepresentativeI am a professional in the field of Health, Youth, Gender, Population Issues, and Advocacy with nearly forty years of experience at ascending Administrative levels in the Indian Administrative Service (1972-1994) and International Civil Services (1994-2010, UNFPA) after which I have done some soft consultancies. I have worked in multi-cultural environments and led culturally diverse teams in several countries in the Asian Region. When I retired from UNFPA in 2010, I was the Country Representative in the Philippines.
Lecturer, Government College for Girls, Chandigarh
Immediately on finishing my masters, I got a job which I dreamt of: that is lecturer in the
government college for girls. I was delighted to be able to teach girls who were just slightly
younger than me. I would delve in the world of literature with them and we would get lost in the
dream worlds we created. I enjoyed looking after extracurricular activities such as sports,
dramatics and debates. I enjoyed addressing the issues young girls had with their parents and
boyfriends. I found that outlet in sports and other activities often minimize these. Also patient
listening often brought the students to some kind of a resolution themselves. I felt valued when
they listened to my advice or found solutions themselves.
IAS (Indian Administrative Service): 1972 – 1994
In the Indian Administrative Service we moved post to post every 2 or 3 years. To begin with we
go through our tenures as Sub Divisional Magistrate, Deputy / Joint Secretary in Secretariat and
Deputy Commissioner. In my assignments, I always excelled and was empathic to the deprived
in general and looked after the interests of youth and women in particular. I was the first woman
deputy commissioner in the state and then followed a specialization in health. I worked as Deputy
Director PGI Chandigarh, Deputy Director AIIMS New Delhi and joint secretary Health and
Family Welfare, Govt. of India. In between I also did a tenure in the state government as
managing director of the state electronics development corporation, where I was instrumental in
setting up some electronics industries in the state for the first time.
In the IAS, you look after other services and their service conditions which sometimes creates a lot of heart burning and resentment As Deputy and joint Secretary Personnel, I looked after service conditions of heads of all departments e.g. PWD, Agriculture, Education and Health etc. A lot of conflict resolution was involved here. At that time sexual harassment was not talked of openly but did handle a few cases including some problem I personally faced.
ICS (International Civil Services): 1994 – 2010
I was head of UNFPA in different countries: Sri Lanka and Maldives from 1994 – 2000,
Bangladesh 2000-2006, The Philippines 2006-2010. Here I looked after population issues,
maternal and other reproductive health issues, HIV AIDS, youth and adolescents, gender and the
elderly. After ICPD our focus shifted from family planning to reproductive health and hence the
compass and coverage was much wider. With the common goal of achieving MDGs between
2000 and 2010 and after that shifting SDGs our area of operation widened as we planned not to
leave anybody behind and to cover everyone. There was also a standup campaign in MDGs
which was primarily and advocacy tool. I headed the UN team in Philippines for the standup
campaign and we broke the Guinness book of records for two consecutive years.
In my whole career, I focus on achievement of results and often used innovative methods to achieve them. However without full participation of the entire staff, this was not possible if their real or imagined grievances / conflicts are not addressed. Conflict resolution and helping my staff to perform their best contributed to our all-around success
After retirement, I am now a certified Life Coach and have about a dozen clients and they include
matrimonial disharmony and conflicts, and relationships in office. I am also taking public
assignments in schools and universities, and am branching into public speaking as I want to
share my knowledge with larger audiences. I am passionate about making a difference for the
coming generations. I specially work with schools universities and public and private sector and
talk on issues such as happiness, dream fulfillment, relationships, gender equality and youth. I
have recently given a ted talk on “our burgeoning young population: is it a demographic asset or
a demographic liability
This is recent and yet to be released.
PS any income generated goes to education of children after class 12 who are likely to drop out. I
have 15 such children who we are financing for studies after class 12.
Personal Information
Born: June 4, 1948 E-mail: suneeta.mukherjee@gmail.com Mobile: +91 9958171948
Languages: English, Hindi, Urdu, Punjabi, Bengali, French
