DAVID MCLACHLAN-KARR

Mr. McLachlan-Karr has over 30 years’ experience working with the United Nations.  He has held various posts within the United Nations Development Programme (UNDP) and the Office for the Coordination of Humanitarian Affairs (OCHA) in the Asia-Pacific, Africa, and Latin America regions, including in complex emergency settings such as Afghanistan, Timor-Leste, Kosovo, Sudan and Iraq.   He has served as Resident Coordinator and UNDP Resident Representative in Venezuela, Papua New Guinea, Jordan, the Maldives, and Sierra Leone, and was later appointed Deputy Special Representative, UNDP Resident Representative and UN Resident Coordinator with the United Nations Integrated Peacebuilding Office in Guinea-Bissau.  Between 2016-17, he  was seconded to the World Economic Forum in Geneva as a specialist in the coordination of health emergencies.

Prior to joining DCO in 2022, Mr. McLachlan-Karr  was appointed Deputy Special Representative of the Secretary-General/Resident and Humanitarian Coordinator in the Democratic Republic of the Congo, where he played a critical role in leading the reconfiguration of the UN system in the context of the progressive drawdown of the United Nations Organization Stabilization Mission in the Democratic Republic of the Congo (MONUSCO), including through the implementation of the Humanitarian Development Peace Nexus. 

Mr. McLachlan-Karr holds a bachelor’s degree in law and political affairs from the University of Queensland and a Master of Philosophy degree in international relations from the University of Cambridge.