Early career Verburg began to work for Christian Rural Youth as general-secretary. In 1982 she began to work for the
National Federation of Christian Trade Unions in the Netherlands. Between 1982 and 1986 as youth worker of the construction trade union and between 1986 and 1990 as chair of the CNV youth labour union. Between 1990 and 1997 she was on the union's board and she represented the union in the
Social Economic Council and the
European Trade Union Confederation (ETUC). Between 1997 and 1998 Verburg worked as a businesswoman in communication and projects. She has also been a member of the
Social and Economic Council and the Labour Foundation. She has served on the executive committee of the European Trade Union Confederation, and on the boards of the Interchurch Organisation for Development Cooperation, the Royal Dutch Equestrian Sports Federation (KNHS) and
Stichting Geuzenverzet.
Political career In
Dutch general election of 1998, Verburg was elected as a
Member of the House of Representatives for the
Christian Democratic Appeal. She was one of the few
Christian Democratic Appeal members who voted in favour of the
legalisation of same-sex marriages. In 2003 Verburg was candidate for
President for the House of Representatives, but she was defeated by
People's Party for Freedom and Democracy candidate
Frans Weisglas. Verburg was from 2003 Vice-
Chair of the Parliamentary Party in
House of Representatives. She was the chair of the
Christian Democratic Appeal commission on
social affairs. From 22 February 2007 until 14 October 2010 Verburg was
Minister of Agriculture, Nature and Food Quality in the
Cabinet Balkenende IV, and the first
openly lesbian Minister of Christian Democratic signature in a
Dutch Cabinet. On 17 June 2010 she returned to the House of Representatives until 30 June 2011.
Roles in the United Nations From 1 July 2011, Verburg served as the Permanent Representative of the Kingdom of the Netherlands to the
United Nations organizations for Food and Agriculture in
Rome (
FAO,
IFAD and
WFP) succeeding former CDA politician
Agnes van Ardenne. In this capacity, she chaired the
United Nations Committee on World Food Security (CFS) between 2013 and 2015. In 2014, Verburg was appointed Chair of the Global Agenda Council for Food and Nutrition Security of the
World Economic Forum (WEF). In March 2016, Verburg was appointed by
United Nations Secretary-General Ban Ki-moon as Coordinator of the Scaling Up Nutrition (SUN) Movement, an office she held until 2022. Later that year, Ban also appointed her to serve as member of the Lead Group of the Scaling Up Nutrition Movement. In 2020, Verburg was appointed by
United Nations Secretary-General António Guterres to serve on the Advisory Committee for the 2021 Food Systems Summit, chaired by
Inger Andersen. == Personal life ==