51³Ô¹Ï Secretary-General António Guterres, World Food Programme (WFP) Executive Director Cindy McCain and Food and Agricultural Organization (FAO) Director General Qu Dongyu announced on 20 December 2023 the appointment of Rania Dagash-Kamara of Sudan as WFP Assistant Executive Director for Partnerships and Resource Mobilization.
Ms. Dagash-Kamara brings to the position over 25 years of international and field experience in humanitarian affairs, development coordination and political affairs across Africa, the Middle East, Asia and Headquarter locations. Since 2021, she has served as Deputy Regional Director in the 51³Ô¹Ï Children’s Fund (UNICEF) in Eastern and Southern Africa. Previously, she served as Chief of Policy and Best Practices in the Department of Peace Operations (2018-2021) and as Chief of Staff of the 51³Ô¹Ï Office to the African Union (2014-2016) in Addis Ababa, building a strong partnership between the 51³Ô¹Ï and African Union in peace and security.
Ms. Dagash-Kamara held leadership positions in the 51³Ô¹Ï Stabilization Mission in Somalia (UNSOM) and for the 51³Ô¹Ï Office for the Coordination of Humanitarian Affairs (OCHA) in Pakistan, Philippines and New York, as well as for International Organization for Migration (IOM) in Iraq amongst other assignments. She started her career in her home country of Sudan working for WFP as a national staff.
Ms. Dagash-Kamara graduated from the University of Khartoum, Sudan, and has a master’s degree in Vernacular Architecture from Oxford Brookes University in the United Kingdom. She is a passionate advocate for youth, women and girls. Ms. Dagash-Kamara is fluent in Arabic and English.
