UN chief appoints Zimbabwe national as Assistant Secretary-General for Safety and Security

United Nations Secretary-General Ban Ki-moon today announced the appointment of Fadzai Gwaradzimba of Zimbabwe as the Assistant Secretary-General for Safety and Security.

Ms. Gwaradzimba succeeds Ms. Mbaranga Gasarabwe of Rwanda, who was appointed as Deputy Special Representative for Mali in May.

Ms. Gwaradzimba brings more than 25 years of experience with the UN system to the role. She began her career with the UN Development Programme (UNDP) in Somalia in 1989 and worked with UNDP in New York as a Programme Manager and Senior Evaluation Advisor. She also served with UN Department of Peacekeeping Operations (DPKO) as a Deputy Municipal Administrator in Kosovo from 2000-2001.

She most recently held the position of Deputy Assistant Administrator and Deputy Director, Bureau of External Relations and Advocacy (BERA) for the UNDP in New York. Prior to that, she was Division Chief for South and West Asia for six years. She was also the Resident Coordinator and UNDP Resident Representative in The Gambia, and Deputy Resident Representative in Malawi and Barbados.

Ms. Gwaradzimba has a wealth of experience in strategic management and leadership, coupled with in depth knowledge of international development, crisis prevention and recovery, evaluation design and practice and gender issues.