As a strong advocate on promoting social justice for the working poor, in particular for women in developing countries, Naoko Otobe has over 26 years of professional analytical and operational experience in the UN system, in the areas of development, employment, poverty and gender. Currently working as Senior Employment Specialist in the Employment Sector of the ILO, Geneva, Otobe has also previously worked for the United Nations Environment Programme in Kenya, and the United Nations Development Programme in the Philippines. Otobe has substantial professional experience in a large number of developing and transition countries from Africa, Asia and Europe. Otobe’s involvement in research and publications encompasses such countries as Indonesia, Bangladesh, the Philippines, Viet Nam, Mauritius, Kenya, Tanzania, Zimbabwe, and Estonia.
Otobe’s Recent publications include: The impact of globalization and macroeconomic change on employment in Mauritius: What next in the post-MFA era? (2008, ILO, Geneva)
(see: http://www.ilo.org/public/english/employment/download/wpaper/wp9.pdf;. The dynamics of the labour market and employment in Bangladesh: A focus on gender dimensions (2005,ILO, Geneva,) (see: http://www.ilo.org/public/english/employment/strat/download/esp2005-13.pdf). Otobe was also responsible for a series of ILO studies on the gender-differentiated impact of Asian financial and economic crisis on employment in both formal and informal sectors in Indonesia and the Philippines in the late nineties, while she worked as Economist and Gender Technical Specialist in the ILO, Manila. Originally from Japan, she holds a masters’ degree in international development studies from the University of Tsukuba, Ibaraki, Japan.