Rose Sarr, a respected development expert with over two decades of experience in gender equality, sexual and reproductive health, and international development, has been appointed Chief of the UNFPA Representation Office to the African Union and UNECA at the United Nations Population Fund (UNFPA).
Sarr made the announcement on LinkedIn, expressing excitement about her new role, which she officially began in June 2026. The position positions her at the forefront of UNFPA’s strategic engagement with the African Union and the United Nations Economic Commission for Africa (UNECA), focusing on advancing the ICPD agenda, women’s rights, and population and development issues across the continent.
Prior to this appointment, Sarr served as UNFPA Country Representative in The Gambia for over four years . Before that, she spent more than seven years as Regional Desk Specialist at UNFPA, where she played a key role in strengthening programming capacity across country offices, resource mobilization, and quality assurance of country programme documents. She also contributed significantly to inter-agency coordination on humanitarian response, particularly in advancing sexual and reproductive health and rights, maternal health, and gender-based violence prevention.
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During her tenure at UNFPA, Sarr was actively involved in high-level engagements with UN agencies, member states, and government delegations. She led efforts in knowledge management, provided strategic advisory support on global agendas such as UN reform and the Sustainable Development Cooperation Framework, and oversaw the development of UNFPA’s Social and Environmental Standards for Programming.
Before joining UNFPA in 2014, Sarr held several senior positions, including Gender and Programme Specialist at UNDP in New York, where she coordinated the Gender Equality Seal certification initiative, contributed to global policy development on gender-based violence, and played a central role in preparing Secretary-General’s reports on gender and HIV/AIDS, rural women, and related issues.
Her career also includes leadership roles at UNIFEM (now UN Women), the Open Society Initiative for Southern Africa as Grants Manager for the Democratic Republic of Congo Programme, GIZ, the International Women’s Health Coalition, and early work with the World Bank-funded AGETIP project in Senegal.
