NEWLY APPOINTED UN RESIDENT COORDINATOR MS FUNMI BALOGUN PRESENTS CREDENTIALS

Dili, TIMOR-LESTE, 15 December 2022 - The newly appointed UN Resident Coordinator (RC), Ms Funmi Balogun, presented her letter of credence to Her Excellency Adaljiza Magno, Minister of Foreign Affairs and Cooperation, in a meeting held at the Minister's Office earlier today.

Ms Adaljiza welcomed Ms Balogun to Timor-Leste and congratulated her on the appointment. The Foreign Minister expressed confidence that Timor-Leste & UN relations will further deepen under her leadership. She thanked the UN System for its continued support of implementing the country's development priorities and achieving Sustainable Development Goals.

During the meeting, the new Resident Coordinator expressed her honour to have been designated by the UN Secretary-General to represent the UN System in a country. "It is indeed a privilege that I have been assigned to serve Timor-Leste, which has hugely contributed to peace, democracy, human rights, and freedom of expression as one of the world's youngest countries," noted the UN Resident Coordinator. Ms Balogun added that she was looking forward to supporting the country and fostering an 'enabling environment' for a new era of 'national ownership & leadership' of sustainable development.

The UN presence in Timor-Leste consists of 21 resident and non-resident agencies.

Ms Olufunmilayo Abosede Balogun-Alexander has more than 30 years of experience working on and leading sustainable development, peace, and humanitarian portfolios at a senior level within the United Nations and international organisations.   

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BACKGROUND NOTE FOR THE EDITOR

Prior to her appointment as United Nations Resident Coordinator, Ms Balogun-Alexander served as Head of Humanitarian Normative and Coordination Action, UN Women, where she led UN Women's global response to humanitarian crises and supported UN Women Country Offices to strengthen gender mainstreaming in UN-led Humanitarian Coordinated response in crisis-affected countries.    

Before that, she worked as UN Women Country Representative to UN Women, Deputy Representative, UN Women Ethiopia, Director, External Relations and Advocacy, International Planned Parenthood Federation, Africa Region and Kenya Programme Manager for the UN Development Fund for Women.     

Ms Balogun-Alexander led and supported multi-functional teams at the country level to be fit for purpose and to achieve impact and results, particularly on the humanitarian-development-peace nexus.  She led UN inter-agency coordination to coordinate joint assessments and develop and implement joint UN programmes on gender-based violence, governance and protection from sexual exploitation and abuse.   

She has coordinated national support and government priorities for development and social policy funding, including co-creating and driving solutions around pressing challenges, including gender equality, sexual and reproductive health and rights, and minority groups, to ensure that no one is left behind in achieving the SDGs. Ms Olufunmilayo Abosede Balogun-Alexander has established and maintained strategic partnerships with governments, intergovernmental commissions, bilateral donors, media and the private sector for innovative funding and programmes.

Ms Balogun-Alexander has a master's degree in Gender and Development from the Institute of Development Studies, University of Sussex, UK and a bachelor of arts degree in English from the University of Lagos, Nigeria.   

She has two children.