Newly-appointed UNICEF Representative in Ethiopia Ms. Adele Khodr today presented her credentials to State Minister of Foreign Affairs, His Excellency Ambassador Markos Tekle Rike.  

In welcoming Ms. Khodr, the State Minister said Ethiopia believed in multilateralism and the Government was keen to strengthen its partnership with agencies like UNICEF which, he said, was known for its pragmatism and results-oriented programming. Ms. Khodr said UNICEF’s wide presence in the field in Ethiopia gave the organization the experience, know-how and the evidence from the field to be an effective partner of the Government in addressing the challenges facing children and women.

Ms. Khodr’s career with UNICEF began in her native Lebanon in 1990. In 2002, she moved to Sudan where she headed UNICEF’s Child Protection programme until 2005 when she transferred to UNICEF’s Regional Office for South Asia to work on child trafficking.

From 2006-2008, she worked as UNICEF’s Deputy Representative in Sierra Leone before moving to India to head UNICEF’s field office in the state of Uttar Pradesh. There, she led programmes on polio, nutrition, water, sanitation and hygiene and child protection for a population of 200 million.

Ms. Khodr’s first appointment as UNICEF Representative was in Cote d’Ivoire where she worked on child and maternal health, nutrition, education, child protection with a special focus on nutrition, birth registration, violence against children and child labour, water, sanitation and hygiene and social protection.

Prior to coming to Ethiopia, Ms. Khodr served as UNICEF Representative in Afghanistan, one of the largest UNICEF programmes globally.

A national of Lebanon, Ms. Khodr has a BA in Public Administration from The American University of Beirut and an MA in Anthropology. She has also worked a lecturer in Sociology and Anthropology at the American University of Beirut and the Lebanese American University. 

The new Representative joins at a critical juncture when UNICEF Ethiopia is developing its next country programme for 2020-2024. Ms. Khodr expressed her keenness to work with the Government in Ethiopia to ensure the safeguarding of children’s rights and the realization of their potential, especially given that the programme in Ethiopia is among the top five largest UNICEF programmes in the world.