Maria Hartl is the Senior Technical Specialist in Gender and Social Equity at the International Fund for Agricultural Development (IFAD). She is responsible for social targeting and integrating gender equality and rural women’s empowerment into operations supported by IFAD loans and grants with a focus on design, implementation and knowledge sharing.

Her priorities include women’s involvement in community development, agricultural production, livestock, climate change, nutrition, microfinance and value chain development, specifically in economic empowerment, skills development, capacity-building and training. She also supports global policy and advocacy processes on rural women.

Maria Hartl has 25 years of experience working for the United Nations (UN). Before joining the Fund, she worked on gender equality and social development at the UN Offices in Vienna and New York, servicing the UN Commission on the Status of Women and the Secretariat for the Fourth World Conference on Women. Before joining the United Nations, she worked with the Council of Europe and the European Commission on international youth exchanges.

She has an MA in Research Methodology from Brighton University, United Kingdom, and an MA in Social science from the University of Munich, Germany.