Egypt's Hanaa Singer-Hamdy Takes Helm as UNRC in Nepal

United Nations Secretary-General António Guterres has named Egypt's Hanaa Singer-Hamdy as the United Nations Resident Coordinator (UNRC) in Nepal, with the host Government’s approval. 

According to a statement by the UN, Ms. Singer-Hamdy has worked for nearly 30 years across development and humanitarian contexts in various senior management and strategic leadership roles. She served as the United Nations Resident Coordinator in Sri Lanka from 2018 to 2022.

Under her leadership, the United Nations in Sri Lanka continued its partnership with the Government in responding to complex economic and political challenges including the 2019 Easter Bombings, COVID-19 pandemic and subsequent deterioration in macroeconomic stability and debt sustainability.

When Sri Lanka faced a significant rise in food insecurity and other humanitarian concerns, she led a response targeting 3.4 million people in need that raised over $100 million for vital aid.

To advance inclusive and rights-based development, she led the design of the United Nations Strategic Development Cooperation Framework 2023-2027 in consultation with the Government and other stakeholders. Since 2019, she also mobilized over $36 million for peacebuilding and resilience programming through the United Nations Sri Lanka Sustainable Development Goal Multi-Partner Trust Fund.

Prior to this, she held several senior management positions in the United Nations Children’s Fund (UNICEF) offices across the world, including as the Associate Regional Director in Geneva and as Country Representative for Syria, Nepal, Kazakhstan and Azerbaijan.

In Syria, she provided strategic leadership to one of the most significant protection crises on the global stage — successfully scaling up programs through an integrated package of high-impact interventions in health, nutrition, water and sanitation, education and child protection — increasing the reach of UNICEF’s work to the most vulnerable children including in besieged and hard-to-reach areas.

As UNICEF Chief in Nepal, she pioneered strategic programs for scaling up sanitation, adolescents and multisectoral nutrition programs, establishing strategic new alliances resulting in the Government adopting national action plans. She has also led humanitarian programs in Burundi and Haiti.

As a Regional Emergency Adviser for Central and Eastern Europe and the Commonwealth of Independent States, she coordinated setting up cross-border humanitarian operations to Afghanistan from Central Asia, and Iraq from south Turkey.

She also provided technical support to emergency preparedness programs in the North Caucasus, and Kyrgyzstan.

Ms. Singer-Hamdy holds a master’s degree in political sociology and a bachelor’s degree in political science from the American University in Cairo, Egypt. She obtained a diploma in “Planning and Management of Decentralized Development Projects” from Bradford University in the United Kingdom.

She is the author and co-author of two publications on social change in the Middle East.

In conclusion, Ms. Singer-Hamdy has engaged in academia and research in political sociology and international relations at the American University of Cairo and at the Sadat’s Academy for Management Sciences, Faculty of Political Science of Cairo University.