Head of Resident Coordinator's Office in Ecuador

Meet Esther Almeida, the Head of the Resident Coordinator’s Office in Ecuador. With over 16 years of experience in the UN system, Esther supports the Resident Coordinator and UN country team in implementing the UN development system reform on the ground.  During the designing of the Cooperation Framework (2022-2026) for Ecuador, she led a broad consultation process and coordination with the government and other stakeholders by applying innovative instruments to better grasp development needs in the country.  For instance, the social listening exercise she conceptualized and implemented, captured information about people’s concerns, such as unemployment, insecurity, and corruption, which informed the Cooperation Framework, to ensure that it leaves no one behind.  

When the COVID-19 pandemic hit the country, Esther successfully brought UN entities and other development actors together to develop a UN’s joint programmatic response to the pandemic, in order to address the socioeconomic needs of diverse population groups in the country.
  
She has played a key role in establishing strategic alliances with stakeholders such as local governments, private sector, and International Financial Institutions to jointly address development challenges and to maximize the impact of UN cooperation. She has also supported the development of the UN’s conflict prevention strategy, which enables the UN country team to collectively mitigate risks and to address the root causes of conflict, such as limited social protection and services, inequalities and limited participation in decision making and public life, through development cooperation.