Secretary-General appoints Anna Marttinen-Pont of Finland United Nations Resident Coordinator in Equatorial Guinea

On 13 January, United Nations Secretary-General António Guterres appointed Anna Marttinen- Pont of Finland as the United Nations Resident Coordinator in Equatorial Guinea, with the host Government’s approval. 

Ms. Marttinen-Pont has 25 years of development assistance, political affairs, peacebuilding and humanitarian experience, which she has acquired at the United Nations and externally while occupying leadership positions in Africa, Asia-Pacific, Latin America and the Caribbean. At the United Nations, she most recently served as the regional head of office for the United Nations Verification Mission responsible for the disarmament of the FARC guerilla and their reincorporation into civilian life in Colombia. She also held senior positions at the United Nations Human Settlements Programme (UN-HABITAT) in Geneva, Pakistan, and Thailand, working on issues including building disaster mitigation capacity and implementing people-centred policies and owner-driven housing reconstruction. 

Outside the United Nations, she served with the International Federation of the Red Cross and Red Crescent Societies (IFRC) in Geneva and Panama as part of the global humanitarian interagency capacity. She also worked with international non-governmental organization Mercy Corps, managing health and community development programmes in refugee villages in Afghanistan and Pakistan, and discharged assignments promoting women’s rights and rural livelihoods with the UK Foreign, Commonwealth and Development Office in Ghana. A published author and lecturer on strategic issues including peacebuilding and change management. 

Ms. Marttinen-Pont holds a master’s degree in anthropology and development studies as well as a bachelor’s degree in Spanish philology from the University of Helsinki, Finland.