DCO at Global Level

Mr. Fernández-Taranco has over 30 years of experience in the United Nations. Prior to this position, he held roles such as Special Adviser to the Secretary-General on Strengthening Programmatic Integration, Assistant Secretary-General for Peacebuilding Support in the Department of Political and Peacebuilding Affairs (PBSO), and Assistant Secretary-General for Political Affairs (DPPA). He also served in various field positions, including as UN Resident Coordinator and United Nations Development Programme (UNDP) Resident Representative in the United Republic of Tanzania, and Deputy Special Representative of the Administrator in the West Bank and Gaza Programme of Assistance to the Palestinian People. 

Mr. Fernández-Taranco was also the Deputy Assistant Administrator and Deputy Regional Director in the Regional Bureau for Arab States (UNDP), and Resident Representative, UN Resident Coordinator and Deputy Special Representative of the Secretary-General in Haiti.  He also worked as Country Programme Officer with the United Nations Capital Development Fund and World Food Programme, covering countries in Africa and Latin America and the Caribbean.  He started his career in the United Nations as a United Nations Volunteer in Benin. 

Mr. Fernández-Taranco was educated at Cornell University, where he studied economics, and at the Massachusetts Institute of Technology, studying urban regional economic planning.  He is fluent in English, Spanish, and French.

Ms. Kalapurakal brings more than 20 years of diverse experience with the United Nations. Before becoming Deputy Director in 2022, she served as DCO Chief of Policy and Programme. 

Prior to joining DCO, she served as the 2030 Agenda Lead Advisor for the United Nations Development Programme (UNDP) and as the Deputy Executive Coordinator of the United Nations Volunteers Programme.

She has worked for UNDP in numerous management and policy capacities at HQ and in the field, focused on sustainable development and inclusion. 

Ms. Kalapurakal holds a doctorate in business and a master’s degree in economics.

Ms. Fraser brings over 20 years of experience with the United Nations and most recently served as UN Resident Coordinator in Uzbekistan. Ms. Fraser worked with the United Nations Office for the Coordination of Humanitarian Affairs (OCHA) since 1997, including assignments in UN peacekeeping operations in Kosovo and Timor-Leste.  

She headed OCHA’s Regional Office for the Syria Crisis in Amman, where she supported coordination of the humanitarian response inside Syria across five different response hubs, as well as overseeing inter-agency needs assessment, humanitarian access analysis and reporting. Prior to this, she established and led OCHA’s Partnerships and Resource Mobilization Branch in Geneva, serving simultaneously as Chief, Private Sector Section, following a four-year stint as Chief of OCHA’s Donor Relations Section. She has also served twice at UN Headquarters in New York. She began her United Nations career as a Field Adviser with OCHA in Georgia. 

Ms. Fraser holds a master's degree in international relations and a bachelor's degree in history and Russian Language and Literature, both from the University of Oxford. She speaks English, French, and Russian.   

Ms. Musa has over 15 years of experience working for the United Nations and in the private sector. In her previous capacity as Chief of the Finance and Budget Section, Development Coordination Office, she led the team in building structures and processes, ensuring transparency and visibility of resources at all levels, simplifying reporting, and championing prudent management of organizational resources. She brings a unique blend of leadership skills and client orientation, combined with a deep knowledge of budget management, finance, accounting and operational support and a passion for the important work of the RC System. 

Prior to joining the United Nations, she worked in banking and the private sector for several years. 

An accountant by training, Ms. Musa holds an MBA from Ahmadu Bello University of Nigeria and has acquired several certifications and diplomas on her professional journey. She is happily married and a proud mother of four children. 

Ms. Messina brings more than 20 years of experience working at the United Nations. She most recently served as Deputy Executive Director of the Secretariat of the UN Secretary-General’s High-level Panel on Digital Cooperation and Deputy Director of the UN System Staff College. Prior to that, she worked in various capacities in the United Nations Office for the Coordination of Humanitarian Affairs (OCHA), where she was in particular responsible for the Humanitarian Coordinator system and the leadership pillar of the Humanitarian Reform. 

A Soviet specialist by training, Ms. Messina started her career working on migration and refugee issues in Russia and the former Soviet republics with the International Organization for Migration (IOM) and the United Nations High Commissioner for Refugees (UNHCR). 

Ms. Messina is a graduate of Scuola Normale Superiore di Pisa and holds a Master of International Affairs from Columbia University and a PhD from Institut d’Etudes Politiques de Paris. 

Ms. Hadi has over 20 years of experience with the United Nations in humanitarian action, development, and peacekeeping operations, spanning Asia and the Pacific, West and Central Africa, the Caribbean, as well as in HQs (Geneva and New York). She has held several management positions, including Section Chief a.i. for Central Africa and the Great Lakes region at the United Nations Office for the Coordination of Humanitarian Affairs (OCHA), Section Chief a.i. for Asia and the Pacific at the Office for the Coordination of Humanitarian Affairs, and Head of the Resident Coordinator’s Office in Timor-Leste. Prior to that, she worked in various capacities for the Department of Public Information, the Office of the Director-General of the UN in Geneva and the Department of Peacekeeping Operations (DPKO). 

Ms. Hadi holds a masters in European and International Law and a Postgraduate Diploma in Criminal Science from the University of Montpellier.

Ms. Collins brings over 20 years of experience in communications, advocacy, and development, having served in several UN offices including New York, Geneva, Bangkok, and Vienna. She has worked as a gender focal point for the Department of Global Communications (DGC) and has experience with issues related to youth engagement, sustainable development, human rights, and peacebuilding.

Prior to joining the UN, Ms. Collins was an award-winning television and radio producer in New York, Washington, DC, Los Angeles, Berlin, Türkiye and Iraq. She has also worked as a strategic partner manager for news partnerships at Facebook, where she focused on news integrity, news literacy, and building sustainable revenue models for media organizations.

Ms. Collins holds a Master of Science degree from Columbia University’s Graduate School of Journalism and a degree in political science and mass communications from the University of California, Berkeley.

Ms. Kurbiel has over 22 years of experience, having served across the UN system, including in Somalia, South Sudan, Mozambique and Kenya. Her skills include public policy and legislative reform, strategic communications and advocacy and innovative financing solutions. A passionate human rights advocate, she has cultivated and managed partnerships with key business entities, civil society organizations and philanthropies, always focused on the most vulnerable.   

She received her Juris Doctor from Saint John’s University Law School and a Bachelor of Arts from Niagara University.  She and her husband reside in NYC and are the proud parents of their two amazing teenagers.  

Mr. McLachlan-Karr has over 30 years’ experience working with the United Nations.  He has held various posts within the United Nations Development Programme (UNDP) and the Office for the Coordination of Humanitarian Affairs (OCHA) in the Asia-Pacific, Africa, and Latin America regions, including in complex emergency settings such as Afghanistan, Timor-Leste, Kosovo, Sudan and Iraq.   He has served as Resident Coordinator and UNDP Resident Representative in Venezuela, Papua New Guinea, Jordan, the Maldives, and Sierra Leone, and was later appointed Deputy Special Representative, UNDP Resident Representative and UN Resident Coordinator with the United Nations Integrated Peacebuilding Office in Guinea-Bissau.  Between 2016-17, he  was seconded to the World Economic Forum in Geneva as a specialist in the coordination of health emergencies.

Prior to joining DCO in 2022, Mr. McLachlan-Karr  was appointed Deputy Special Representative of the Secretary-General/Resident and Humanitarian Coordinator in the Democratic Republic of the Congo, where he played a critical role in leading the reconfiguration of the UN system in the context of the progressive drawdown of the United Nations Organization Stabilization Mission in the Democratic Republic of the Congo (MONUSCO), including through the implementation of the Humanitarian Development Peace Nexus. 

Mr. McLachlan-Karr holds a bachelor’s degree in law and political affairs from the University of Queensland and a Master of Philosophy degree in international relations from the University of Cambridge. 

Mr. El Hillo brings 32 years of experience in humanitarian and peacekeeping operations with the United Nations.  He previously served as the Deputy Special Representative of the Secretary-General/Resident Coordinator/Humanitarian Coordinator in Libya (DSRSG/RC/HC) and the DSRSG/RC/ and Resident Representative in Liberia leading the post-Mission transition. He was also the RC/HC/RR in Syria. 

Having worked in many complex humanitarian and complex peacekeeping operations, including in Sudan, Kenya, Somalia, Iraq, Tanzania and others, he authored the playbook on the humanitarian-peacebuilding-development nexus in complex emergencies. 

Mr. El Hillo holds a Bachelor of Law degree from the University of Khartoum, Faculty of Law. 

Ms. Nega brings over 24 years of experience with the United Nations, including four years with the Development Coordination Office (DCO). 
Prior to joining DCO, Ms. Nega served with the UN Economic Commission for Africa (ECA) in various capacities, including Acting Head of the ICT and Digital Policy Section, Chief of Programme Evaluation, and Acting Head of ECA's Strategic Planning, Oversight and Results Department. She also led the implementation of the Secretary-General’s UN Development System Reform at the country and regional levels during her tenure as Senior Coordination Officer with DCO Africa.
Before joining the UN, Ms. Nega was a lecturer in International Law at the University of Toulouse, where she was an active member of the research center on new technologies global normative frameworks and governance models.
Ms. Nega holds a Master's degree and a Diplome d'Etudes Approfondies (DEA) from the University of Toulouse, France.

Mr. Valent brings 24 years of service to the United Nations, primarily with the United Nations Development Programme (UNDP) in Africa, Central America, Eastern Europe and the Middle East. He most recently served as UN Resident Coordinator in Argentina and has held leadership positions with UNDP in various countries, including the Democratic Republic of Congo, Sudan, El Salvador, and Belize. He has also served as Special Representative of the UNDP Administrator for the Programme of Assistance to the Palestinian People.

Mr. Valent holds a bachelor’s and a master’s degree in political science from Bologna University and a master's degree in international relations from the University of Sussex.

Ms. Son brings over 30 years of experience in international development with the United Nations. Prior to assuming the Regional Director post in Istanbul, she served as the UN Resident and Humanitarian Coordinator in Sudan. During this period, she supported the transition from a 30-year dictatorship to a people-led democracy and the transition from humanitarian-centered UN action to peace building focused and SDG-centered sustainable development.

She joined the United Nations Development Programme (UNDP) in 1994 and has since served in Somalia, Lao PDR, Timor-Leste during the pre-independence period, Indonesia during the first democratic elections and the 2004 Tsunami and in Thailand. She also served in New York, as UNDP’s Programme Adviser on Afghanistan. Ms. Son was later appointed as the Director of Corporate Programmes at the United Nations Office for the Coordination of Humanitarian Affairs (OCHA). In this role, she was responsible for organizing the World Humanitarian Summit and overseeing work on communications, information services, policy development, and humanitarian financing, including the Central Emergency Response Fund (CERF) and the country-based pooled funds.

Ms. Son holds a MPA degree from the Columbia University in New York.

Ms. Manzi brings extensive United Nations experience in development and complex settings. She most recently served as Resident Coordinator in Burkina Faso and Djibouti and has held other leadership positions, including Head of the United Nations Office for the Coordination of Humanitarian Affairs (OCHA) in Ukraine, Iraq, Myanmar, and Sri Lanka. She also served with the United Nations in the southern Africa region, as well as in Angola, Central African Republic, Ethiopia and Haiti. 

Prior to joining the United Nations, Ms. Manzi worked in the private sector and collaborated with non-governmental organizations, think-tanks and universities on development, disaster management and reconstruction, as well as peace building initiatives. 

She holds a master’s degree in post-war reconstruction and development studies from the University of York and a master’s degree in architecture from the Universita’ degli Studi di Firenze.