In 1992 , Sirleaf was appointed as the Director of the United Nations Development Programme 's Regional Bureau for Africa at the rank of Assistant Administrator and Assistant Secretary General ( ASG ) . She resigned from this role in 1997 in order to run for the presidency of Liberia . During her time at the UN , she was one of the seven internationally eminent persons designated in 1999 by the Organization of African Unity to investigate the Rwandan genocide , one of the five Commission Chairs for the Inter-Congolese Dialogue , and one of the two international experts selected by UNIFEM to investigate and report on the effect of conflict on women and women 's roles in peace building . She was the initial Chairperson of the Open Society Initiative for West Africa ( OSIWA ) and a visiting Professor of Governance at the Ghana Institute of Management and Public Administration ( GIMPA )
Rwandan genocide
Rwandan genocide
Ellen Johnson Sirleaf