Secretary-General Appoints Jose Barahona of Spain United Nations Resident Coordinator in Djibouti

On 1 April, United Nations Secretary-General António Guterres appointed Jose Barahona of Spain as the United Nations Resident Coordinator in Djibouti, with the host Government’s approval.

Mr. Barahona brings more than 20 years of experience in international development and humanitarian assistance to the position, including 16 years working in the field.  Before taking on this first assignment with the United Nations, he most recently served as the Emergency Response Manager of the international non-profit Norwegian Refugee Council (NRC), based at its head office in Oslo, Norway.  At the NRC, in addition to a representational role with a director-level crisis management group, he also led the launch of humanitarian operations in Burkina Faso, Niger, Mozambique, Sudan and Venezuela.

Before that, he worked with the non-governmental organization Oxfam, including as Country Director for Oxfam Great Britain and Oxfam International in the Democratic Republic of the Congo, South Africa and South Sudan.  He also worked on Oxfam’s advocacy and campaign team in Mozambique, Spain and the United Kingdom and with another global non-profit, ActionAid International in Mozambique before that.  While leading those complex operations at the international and country levels, he focused on initiating advocacy campaigns for sustainable development issues, managing and implementing international development programmes and providing effective humanitarian responses.

Mr. Barahona holds a master’s degree in international development, as well as a degree in sociology from the Universidad Complutense of Madrid in Spain.  He also completed four years of studies in African politics at the University of South Africa and holds executive training certificates in leadership and management from the University of Oxford and in climate change leadership from University of Cambridge, both in the United Kingdom.