“United Nations Secretary-General Antonio Guterres has appointed Indian official Gita Sabharwal as the Resident Coordinator in Thailand, with the host government’s approval,” the United Nations said in a press release.

A United Nations Resident Coordinator is the highest-ranking representative of the United Nations development system at the country level and the chief of UN diplomatic mission in a country. The UN Resident Coordinator confers the same rank as an Ambassador of a foreign state.

The Resident Coordinators are the designated representatives of the United Nations secretary-general and lead UN Country Team of world body’s support to countries such as UNICEF, WHO, WFP or UNFPA and they report directly to UN secretary-general.

Gita Sabharwal brings 25 years of experience in development, peace-building, governance and social policy across five Asian countries. She most recently served the United Nations in Sri Lanka as the Peace-building and Development Adviser for nearly seven years.

Prior to joining the UN, Ms. Sabharwal was The Asia Foundation’s Deputy Country Representative for Sri Lanka and Maldives and has held positions as the Poverty and Policy Adviser for the United Kingdom’s Department for International Development in India and Vietnam.

The Asia Foundation is a nonprofit international development organisation committed to improving the lives of people across Asia.

Gita Sabharwal holds a master’s degree in development management from the University of Wales, United Kingdom and is the author of numerous policy papers on South and South-East Asia.