Introducing the new WGEA Secretariat team

15.03.2022

Since the beginning of 2022, the WGEA Secretariat has had a significant change in staff. In January 2022, Project Advisor Sari Aroalho joined Secretary General, Vivi Niemenmaa, in the WGEA Secretariat. Sari graduated with a master’s degree in geography from the University of Helsinki, and she is a part of a young professional’s programme at the National Audit Office of Finland, where she is currently working on an audit on work-based immigration.

February 2022 also brought along two new trainees to the Secretariat, Aleksi Heikkinen and Kira Kolesnik. Aleksi is a recent masters graduate specialized in international environmental policy and law. He was previously interning at the Permanent Mission of Finland to the United Nations in New York, where he was working with themes related to sustainable development and human rights. Similarly, Kira recently graduated with a master’s degree in international human rights law from the University of Edinburgh. She has previously been working with NGOs in Scotland and Finland, where she was studying the relationship between international human rights law and the environment.

In March 2022, India Roland temporarily left her post at the Secretariat to go on an eight-month study leave. Simultaneously, the Secretariat welcomed back Deputy Secretary General, Tiina Väänänen, from her parental leave in March 2022. Tiina has her background in economics, and she is currently researching green fiscal policy and green transition.

The whole team is excited to continue working on the various projects of INTOSAI WGEA!