Johanna (Yoka) Brandt of Netherlands Appointed Deputy Executive Director of United Nations Children’s Fund

United Nations Secretary-General Ban Ki-moon today announced the appointment of Johanna (Yoka) Brandt, a Dutch national, as Deputy Executive Director of the United Nations Children’s Fund (UNICEF).

She will succeed Hilde Frafjord Johnson, who was appointed Special Representative of the Secretary-General for South Sudan, and whom the Secretary-General would like to thank for her exceptional service and commitment to UNICEF.

Ms. Brandt brings to the position strong analytical skills and a deep commitment to working towards more equitable and sustainable development as well as timely and effective emergency response to humanitarian disasters.  She has worked extensively on developing and overseeing cooperation programmes and is an expert on development and emergency-response issues.  She has lived and worked in Uganda, Eritrea, Kenya and South Africa.

Since 2008, Ms. Brandt has served as Director-General for International Cooperation at the Ministry of Foreign Affairs of the Netherlands, prior to which she was Deputy Director-General.  Until earlier this year, she was Chairperson of the Advisory Group of the Central Emergency Response Fund (CERF) in the Office for the Coordination of Humanitarian Affairs (OCHA).  She has also served as Ambassador of the Netherlands to Eritrea and Uganda.

Ms. Brandt holds a master’s degree in geography and development from Utrecht University in the Netherlands.