Country Coverage: USA
Regional Coverage: USA - East Coast
Field of Expertise: International Relations and Comparative Politics
Language: English, German, Romanian, Spanish, French, Serbo-Croatian
Email: Alexander.mirescu@gmail
Before completing my doctoral work, I worked at UNDP in the Development Operations Coordination Office (UNDOCO), where I worked on UNDP’s primary development topics and the Resident Coordination system. While working at UNDP, I began to see an increase in the links between sustainable development and disaster risk reduction, especially after the Haitian earthquake. After teaching development studies and DRR at NYU, I accepted a full-time position in the Department of Political Science at Saint Peter’s University. In 2014, we established the SPU-UNDRR Joint Training Initiative, the only one of its kind at the undergraduate level. With support from UNDRR at UNHQ, I train students on becoming volunteer advocates for the Making Cities Resilient Campaign in Hurricane Sandy-affected areas. In 2015, I was selected to be UNDRR’s DRR Promoter for the East Coast of the United States.
Campaign Activities-
Through the SPU-UNDRR Joint Training Initiative, we have supported the campaign by conducting the LGSAT for the City of Hoboken and formulating its nomination to Role Model City status. Moreover, the Initiative has placed students in local government internships in Hoboken, as well as support SRSG Wahlstrom’s visit to Hoboken in Spring 2015. More importantly, in the two years of the initiative, we have added to the number of signatories to the campaign in the United States and France. Currently, I am working with other Sandy-affected municipalities in New Jersey on integrating DRR principles.