UNICEF Appoints new representative in Mongolia

Next Monday on Oct 19, new UNICEF representative in Mongolia, Rana Flowers will visit Foreign Minister Batbold Sukhbaatar and hand her credentials.

Following is bio of Rana Flowers.



Rana Flowers is the new UNICEF Representative in Mongolia. She has recently arrived from her previous role as Representative in the Central American country of Belize. She was UNICEF representative in Belize from September 2005 to August 2009, where she worked with a small and dynamic team to address the significant threats to MDG achievement from child poverty and survival issues, to extremely poor quality education, to the highest HIV in Central America, to high levels of violence and exclusion of young people. She was also the UN Designated Official for Safety and Security of Staff in Belize and oversaw the UN emergency response including to the annual hurricanes that threaten that small nation. During her time in Belize she was actively engaged UNICEF in efforts to harmonise and combine programme expertise with fellow UN Country team members, driving efforts that led to the first Country Common Assessment, UN’s Development Assistance Framework and Interagency Emergency Contingency Plan in the country.

Passionately committed to human rights and to the achievement of concrete results for women and children, she has applied her expertise and fundraising skills to inspire an approach at UNICEF that seeks to support the most excluded and vulnerable populations in particular. This includes efforts to mobilise and build skills and confidence in urban adolescents; to bring water, sanitation and micronutrients to isolated indigenous communities; to reform national policy, target budgets and cash transfers to children and ensure legislative changes are implemented; or to bring religious leaders and young people together in the fight against HIV.

Prior to this assignment and since joining UNICEF, (originally as a consultant in 1994), Ms. Flowers has served the organisation in the Planning/Evaluation and Communication Divisions in New York and in UNICEF’s Regional Office for Latin America and the Caribbean. In these roles, her responsibilities included performing the planning function for the LAC region, providing programme, policy and management support to the Regional Director’s office, supporting sub-regional/regional teamwork on issues of concern and encouraging UN Reform initiatives at all levels. Her concern for excluded populations led her to establish the first meeting of Indigenous leaders in the region. While in New York she liaised closely with the UN system, Missions, NGO partners and the media to ensure delivery of policy guidance, support and technical assistance on child rights, including protection issues.

She came to UNICEF with over 10 years of experience working on child development / rights issues in Australia. She worked with the Australian Human Rights Commission and with Federal, State and local governments as well as NGOs, to assess the situation of children, reform legislation and policy implementation, encourage investment in children, plan programme interventions and evaluate results. In the early eighties, Ms. Flowers worked both in England and Australia with the Departments of Health providing community care and support to disabled, developmentally challenged, and abused children and adolescents.

Ms. Flowers is a national of Australia. She has a Masters Degree in Business Administration, and Bachelor Degrees in Social Work and Arts. She is the mother of two children.

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