Ms. Magdalena Kouneva

Ms. Magdalena Kouneva photo

Director General, RENEWABLE ENERGY AND ENERGY EFFICIENCY PARTNERSHIP (REEEP)

Magdalena Kouneva, REEEP Director General Magdalena specialises in development finance and possesses a strong familiarity with the international architecture for sustainable development. She has significant experience designing and implementing a wide range of financing products and innovative financial instruments. Since 2020 Magdalena has been heading the International Secretariat of REEEP, a multilateral, multi-stakeholder international partnership, founded at the 2002 Johannesburg Sustainability Summit with the mission to advance market readiness for clean energy and energy access in developing and emerging markets. REEEP is accelerating and shifting public and private capital to sustainable finance, building impactful partnerships and alliances. Between 2009-2018 Magdalena was the UNDP’s advisor for development finance in the finance and planning ministries in Rwanda, Malawi and Papua New Guinea. In this position, she designed and managed UNDP’s support and strengthened capacities and systems for financing the SDGs. In 2019-2020 Magdalena supported the European Commission in introducing a new generation of EU guarantees for private sector operations in Africa and EU-neighbouring countries under the European Fund for Sustainable Development, implemented in partnership with European and international multilateral banks and development finance institutions.