Avinash Ramessur

Avinash is a climate and disaster risk finance professional with over 20 years of experience in leading and coordinating projects involving green finance, natural disaster risk management and reduction, and climate change adaptation and mitigation. He has supported international organisations – including multilaterals, bilateral financing organisations, UN agencies, and other donor-led organisations – and has an established reputation for delivering turnaround development projects in international and multicultural environments, particularly across the African continent.

Avinash has led and advised on various projects aimed at saving lives and protecting livelihoods in the areas of disaster risk finance and management. He has led the integration of disaster risk finance instruments and practices into state-level planning to improve resilience against catastrophes, strengthened capacity for cascading state-level strategies down to community-level planning, and established strategic partnerships with key thematic organisations. He also served as the first interim Executive Director of the UN Global Compact Indian Ocean, overseeing the recruitment of 30 companies across relevant countries in preparation for the launch of activities within one year. He has provided technical, administrative, and financial assistance across his roles, facilitating exchanges through diplomacy and leadership.

An engineer by training, having studied at Supélec in France, he holds an MBA in Finance from Paris Sorbonne/Dauphine, an LLM in International Business Law from Paris-Assas, and expert certifications in Climate Adaptation and Climate Risk Management from the Frankfurt School of Finance & Management.