Ambassador Mac Donald was born in Suriname and received his legal education at the LawFaculty of the Anton de Kom University in Paramaribo, (1994) and at the American Universityin Washington DC, where he obtained an additional Master of Laws Degree in “Law and Government” at the Washington College of Law (2004). He graduated suma cumlaude at American University with an average grade A for the courses “ Oil and Gas Law”, as well as “ Regulation of Energy”. He also acquired Post-Doctoral honors from the United Nations Institute for Training and Research (UNITAR), the International Labor Organization (ILO), the Universities of Utrecht and Amsterdam in the Netherlands, and the Catholic University of Leuven in Belgium.
Dr. Henry Mac Donald received an Honorary Degree in Doctorate for Philosophy inHumanities and the Golden Rule International Award from the College of Christian EducationDepartment, for his international work on gender equality and women’s empowerment at theUnited Nations, in the R. Ford Presidential Museum in Grand Rapids, Michigan. He is also a“Romulo Gallegos Fellow” of the Inter American Commission on Human Rights at theOrganization of American States.
Before Ambassador Mac Donald joined the Foreign Service of the Republic of Suriname in1998, as the Deputy Chief of Mission at the Permanent Mission of his country to theOrganization of American States and as the Charge d’ Affairs a.i. at the Embassy inWashington DC, he served at the Ministry of Justice and Police as Coordinator of the Unit forInternational Affairs and Human Rights.
He worked as a senior lecturer at the University of Suriname and participated widely inacademic seminars at various universities and law schools in the United States of America, theCaribbean and Europe. He was the initiator of “the Moot Court Competition on the InterAmerican Human Rights Protection System” at the Anton de Komi University of Suriname(1998).
Ambassador Mac Donald has been a guest Professor at various Universities and Colleges inthe United States and is one of the few scholars who publishes frequently in English in theSurinamese Law Journal.
The World Development Foundation WDF, brings together and supports Governments, theUnited Nations, Civil Society, Corporations, Media, Academics and ordinary people all over theworld, in order to be educated and informed about clean, transparent and corruption freePublic Private Partnerships and the global sustainable development efforts.
By doing so WDF focuses on the ultimate achievement of all SDGs, within the time frame setby the UN Member States, by aiming strongly on SGD 17 (Partnerships), 16 (Peace, Justiceand Strong Institutions), 13 (Climate Action), 11 (Sustainable Cities and Communities), 8(Decent Work and Economic Growth), 5 (Gender Equality) and 4 (Quality Education).
Dr. Mac Donald returned from New York to Suriname in 2019, after completing a yearlong diplomatic and academic sabbatical in Guyana. At his return he became the Dean of the Suriname Diplomatic Institute within the Ministry of Foreign Affairs. Since July 2020 he serves as a Senior Advisor to the Ministry of Foreign Affairs International Business and International Cooperation and to the President of the Republic of Suriname.
Dr. Henry Mac Donald was a Board Member of the Suriname Olympic Committee, and iscurrently a Member of the Appeals Board of the Surinamese Football League, as well as aPHD Candidate at the University of Utrecht in the Netherlands.