Sylvia Borren (1950) is Dutch-born, and migrated with her family to New Zealand (MA in Education and Religious Studies at the University of Canterbury 1975).
Back in the Netherlands from 1976 she worked in Health Education, as an organisational consultant with De Beuk (1985-1994), and as Director of Oxfam Novib (1994-2008).  She was active in (inter)national lesbian, Gay and Women’s movements, and on the board of a large Mental Health Institute. In 2006 she wrote the ‘Poverty Requiem’ with composer/conductor Peter Maissan. Since leaving Oxfam Novib Sylvia was a member of the Advisory Council on International Affairs of the Dutch Government, and chair of Quality Educators for All, a programme to develop training for non-formal teachers in developing countries (with the Global Trade Union Education International and Oxfam Novib). She was part of the International Women’s Commission for a just and sustainable peace in Palestine and Israel. She was also co-chair of the Worldconnectors, a diverse Dutch thinktank of concerned citizens.

Until 2013 Sylvia Borren was co-chair of the Global Call for Action against Poverty (GCAP) and its Dutch chapter EEN. (In October 2009 173 million citizens joined to Stand Up and Take Action against Poverty) and she’s a member of the board of BRAC International, Bangladesh.

Since februari 2011 Sylvia Borren is Executive Director of Greenpeace Netherlands.

Her hobbies are recreational horse riding and swimming.