Kirsi Madi, United Nations Office for Disaster Risk Reduction
Kirsi Madi
Director
United Nations Office for Disaster Risk Reduction

Ms. Kirsi Madi has over 30 years of experience in international development, humanitarian action, external relations, partnerships, governance, resource mobilization, inter-agency coordination, intergovernmental processes and organizational development and change. In 2016, Ms. Madi was appointed as the Director of the UN Office for Disaster Risk Reduction in Geneva. In this role, she oversees the organization’s strategic vision and direction, and is responsible for its overall management. Ms. Madi’s career in the United Nations started in 1991 when she joined UNICEF’s Office of Emergency Programmes to support emergency response in countries in crisis. From 1993-1994, she was on loan to the Secretariat of the International Decade for Natural Disaster Reduction to support the preparation of the First World Conference on Natural Disaster Reduction (1994). From 1994-2002, she held positions of progressively increasing responsibility in the Office of Emergency Programmes dealing with humanitarian policy issues and serving as the focal point for UNICEF’s relationship key humanitarian partners to foster improved inter-agency coordination and collaboration. From 2002-2005, Ms. Madi served as the Chief of the Inter-Agency Standing Committee Secretariat in the UN Office for the Coordination of Humanitarian Affairs facilitating inclusive coordination among key international humanitarian partners, including UN agencies, Red Cross and Red Crescent Movement, and civil society organizations. From 2005-2010, she held the positions of Assistant Secretary, then Secretary of the UNICEF Executive Board in New York. In 2010, Ms. Madi was appointed as UNICEF Deputy Regional Director for the Central and Eastern Europe and Central Asia overseeing and supporting 22 UNICEF country offices across the region. In 2015, she joined UNICEF’s Private Fundraising and Partnerships Division where she was responsible for optimizing the potential and effectiveness of UNICEF’s presence in industrialized countries and maximizing the financial and non-financial contributions of 19 key National Committees to UNICEF’s global mission.

Email: kirsi@madi