Gabriele is a development economist. After a career with the United Nations spanning 27 years in a wide range of research and policy-related positions with UN-ESCAP, UNCTAD, UNDP and UNICEF, she is interested in three areas of research and policy thinking: the UN 2030 Agenda and the case for eco-eco-social state; the discourse around human rights, gender and climate justice complemented by the concept of human security; and the interface of social protection with broader social and economic policies, notably employment and decent work, international trade and investment policies, and advocacy for a binding treaty on business and human rights.
By training, Gabriele is a macroeconomist educated at the universities of Tübingen, Munich and Regensburg in Germany. She has been an ACUNS Senior Visiting Fellow at the University of Ottawa (1989/90), a Visiting Fellow at the IDS Sussex (2010/12) and a Visiting Fellow at UNRISD (2014). She was appointed an UNRISD Senior Research Associate in 2014.
Gabriele is a board member of
Women in Europe for a Common Future, and an elected member of the
UNICEF National Committee Germany. She is affiliated with the universities of Munich and Bonn-Rhein-Sieg as an interim lecturer on the SDGs and on international social protection policy.
Edited volumes:
Gabriele Koehler and Deepta Chopra, editors. 2014.
Development and Welfare Policy in South Asia. London: Routledge
With Alberto Cimadamore, Thomas Pogge, editors. 2016.
Poverty and the Millennium Development Goals: A critical look forward. London: ZED. (free download)
With Alberto Cimadamore, Fadia Kiwan and Pedro Monreal Gonzalez, editors. 2020.
The Politics of Social Inclusion. Bridging knowledge and policies towards social change. UNESCO/CROP. Stuttgart: Ibidem Publishers and
Columbia University Press. (free download)
Journal articles, papers and blogs:
Assessing the SDGs from the standpoint of eco-social policy: using the SDGs subversively. Journal of International and Comparative Social Policy. 2016
Tapping the Sustainable Development Goals for Progressive Gender Equity and Equality Policy?, Gender & Development, 2016
Myanmar. Ruptured Continuity. With Anirudha Bonnerjee. in: Himal Quarterly. Vol.29, issue no. 2. Myanmar: Troubled Transitions. 2016
The politics of rights-based, transformative social policy in South and Southeast Asia. in International Social Security Review, Vol. 70, 4/2017.
A tale of multiple disconnects: Why the 2030 Agenda does not (yet) contribute to moving German gender equality struggles forward. With Hannah Birkenkötter and Anke Stock. UN Women. 2019.
Creative Coalitions in a Fractured World. An Opportunity for Transformative Change?
Occasional Paper No. 4/2020.
Social Policy Development and Its Obstacles: An Analysis of the South Asian Welfare Geography During and After the ‘Social Turn’. With Stefan Kühner and Daniel Neff. Handbook of Development Policy, H. Zafarullah and A. S. Huque (Eds.) Elgar Publishers. Forthcoming 2021
Our Common Right to Health. UNRISD Covid-19 series. 8 April 2020.
Shake and Stir: Adding a Human Security Lens to the 2030 Agenda for Sustainable Development. with Des Gasper, Richard Jolly, Tamara A. Kool, Mara Simane. UNRISD Blogs and Think Pieces. 14 July 2020