UN Secretary-General appoints new Resident Coordinator in Sri Lanka

The United Nations Secretary-General Antonio Guterres has appointed Marc-André Franche of Canada as the United Nations Resident Coordinator in Sri Lanka, with the host Government’s approval. He took up his post on 8 July.

Franche has served the United Nations for over 24 years. Prior to his appointment as the UN Resident Coordinator in Sri Lanka, he acted as the Resident Representative of the UN Development Programme (UNDP) in Libya promoting better governance, local peacebuilding and sustainable growth.

Between 2016 and 2021, he led the Secretary General’s Peacebuilding Fund in the Peacebuilding Support Office in the Department of Political Affairs and Peacebuilding, investing in over 50 countries worldwide to sustain peace. Prior to this assignment he was Country Director for UNDP in Pakistan from 2013 to 2016, where he led a team working on governance, climate change adaptation and crisis prevention and recovery. He was Deputy Director of UNDP in Haiti from 2008 to 2012 where he oversaw the implementation of programs addressing governance, rule of law reform, improvement of livelihoods and environmental protection notably in the context of the post-earthquake recovery and reconstruction. Between 2004 and 2008, he worked for UNDP in New York as Program Adviser for Conflict Prevention in Latin America and the Caribbean. Before that he worked on applied research and policy dialogue for UNDP in Colombia from 2001 to 2004, and poverty reduction and local governance for UNDP in Bolivia from 1998 to 2001.

He obtained his Master’s degrees in Politics of Development from the London School of Economics and Political Science and in European Affairs from Lund University and a BSc in Political Science from Université de Montréal. (Colombo Gazette)