Brief Information

Martin holds Honours and Master’s degrees in Development Studies from the University of Auckland, and a Bachelor’s degree with a double major in Political Studies and Asian Studies. He specialises in post-conflict development, human rights and peacebuilding. From 2005, Martin worked for several development and human rights NGOs, including Amnesty International, Engineers Without Borders, Trade Aid, the Wellington Somali Council and Generation Zero. His roles at these organisations were focused around activity design, advocacy and government relations. In 2012 he joined the New Zealand Department of Internal Affairs where he was a Ministerial Advisor, providing advice to Cabinet under the Foreign Affairs, Internal Affairs, Finance, and Community and Ethnic Affairs portfolios. In 2014, Martin was posted to the UN Women Pacific Multi-Country Office in Suva, where he was the human rights focal point implementing programme activities in 14 countries. This work included preparing State and civil society delegations to participate in treaty-based dialogues in Geneva, reviewing State reports and implementation plans, and providing technical advice to achieve treaty compliance. He also trained candidates to contest national elections as part of UN Women’s programme on increasing women’s political participation. Martin joined SPC HRSD in 2017 and is a New Zealand National. He is team leader for Outcome Area 3: Enabling Environments.