Hanaa Singer, presented her credentials to President Maithripala Sirisena as the new United Nations Resident Coordinator and United Nations Development Programme Resident Representative, at his residence on Wednesday.
As the most senior UN Official in the country, Ms. Singer will lead the UN Country Team of 22 Resident and Non-Resident UN Agencies and act as the representative of the UN Secretary-General in Sri Lanka.
Prior to this appointment, Ms. Singer held several senior management positions in UNICEF offices across the world, including Associate Regional Director UNICEF Geneva, as well as, Country Representative for UNICEF Syria, Nepal, Kazakhstan, and Azerbaijan.
She has led humanitarian programmes in Burundi and Haiti, and managed cross-border humanitarian operations to Afghanistan and Iraq among other areas. She has close to 3 decades of experience with the UN.
A national of Egypt, Ms. Singer holds a Master’s degree in Political Sociology and a Bachelor’s degree in Political Science from the American University in Cairo, Egypt.