Virginia Dawson is the Director Policy at the Pacific Islands Forum. She has championed gender equity through policy and programme development during her international career. Her prior roles include Counsellor at the New Zealand High Commission to Fiji (2020-2024) and First Secretary at the New Zealand Embassy in Myanmar (2017-2019). As a development practitioner, Ms Dawson has worked for United Nations Agencies, non-governmental and civil society organisations across the Pacific, Asia, Africa and the Caribbean.  Ms Dawson holds a Masters Degree in Development Studies and Graduate Diploma in Human Resource Management.