Former Costa Rican vice-president chosen to fill senior UN post

Secretary-General Ban Ki-moon announced today the appointment of former Costa Rican Vice-President Rebeca Grynspan to be second-in-command at the United Nations agency tasked with providing countries with the knowledge, experience and resources that aid economic growth.

Ms. Grynspan has been named Under-Secretary-General and Associate Administrator of the UN Development Programme (UNDP), which she has served since March 2006 as Regional Director of the agency’s office for Latin America and the Caribbean.

She succeeds Ad Melkert who has been appointed as the Secretary-General’s Special Representative for Iraq and head of the UN mission in that country (UNAMI).

Before joining UNDP, Ms. Grynspan worked within the UN Secretariat as Director of the Sub-regional Headquarters in Mexico of the Economic Commission for Latin America and the Caribbean (ECLAC) from 2001 to 2006.

She won election to Vice-President of Costa Rica, serving one term from 1994 to 1998, after holding ministerial positions in the Central American nation’s Government for eight years.

In her new post, Ms. Grynspan will assist UNDP Administrator – former New Zealand Prime Minister Helen Clark – in overseeing the agency’s programmes, as well as fulfilling other leadership responsibilities.

In addition to helping developing countries build democratic governance; assist in conflict prevention and recovery; aid in poverty and HIV/AIDS reduction; and establish energy sources while protecting the environment; UNDP seeks to promote human rights and the empowerment of women.

Ms. Grynspan, who was born in 1955, holds a masters degree in economics from the University of Sussex in the United Kingdom and is married with two children.