Diplomatic Desk:
Gillian Melsop, an experienced international development officer, has taken charge as the Interim Representative of the United Nations Children’s Fund (UNICEF) in Bangladesh.
With more than four decades of experience in international development and humanitarian assistance, she will lead UNICEF’s work in Bangladesh.
Gillian Melsop’s international development career began in 1979 at the New Zealand Ministry of Foreign Affairs. She later joined the Australian Agency for International Development (AusAID) in 1982. While working there, she held various important positions at the Australian Missions in Bangladesh, India (including Nepal and Bhutan), Laos, the Pacific, Papua New Guinea and the Philippines. She later served as the agency’s Director of United Nations and Commonwealth Programmes.
In April 2003, she joined UNICEF and took charge as its Representative in Suva, Fiji. During this time, she oversaw UNICEF’s activities in 14 Pacific island countries under the ‘Pacific Sub-Regional Programme’.
She then successfully served as UNICEF Representative in Nepal from 2006 to 2011, China from 2011 to 2015, and Ethiopia from 2015 to 2019.
Even after retirement, she was involved in various important positions at UNICEF. In 2021, she served as UNICEF’s Director of Human Resources (HR) in New York, UNICEF Representative in India in 2022, and Senior HR Advisor in Afghanistan in 2024.
In her educational career, Gillian Melsop earned a bachelor’s degree in Anthropology and History from the University of Auckland, New Zealand. She also earned a Postgraduate Diploma in Community Counseling from the University of Canberra, Australia, and a Master’s degree in Development Management from the Australian National University.
Stakeholders expressed hope that his joining as the interim representative in Bangladesh will play a role in further strengthening UNICEF’s ongoing initiatives in child rights, education, health, nutrition, climate resilience, and child protection activities in the country.
