The Secretary-General appoints Mr. Raul Salazar of Peru as the United Nations Resident Coordinator in Belize and El Salvador

UN Secretary-General António Guterres has appointed Mr. Raúl Salazar, of Peru, as the UN Resident Coordinator for Belize and El Salvador, with the agreement of the host government. He will take office on July 1.

Mr. Salazar brings over 24 years of international experience managing poverty reduction, governance, disaster risk reduction, crisis prevention and reconstruction programmes, including complex post-crisis situations.

Prior to his appointment as Resident Coordinator, he was Head of the United Nations Office for Disaster Risk Reduction (UNDRR) in the Regional Office for the Americas and the Caribbean in Panama. There, he led the regional team, providing policy advice and technical advice to prevent the impact of disasters in 35 countries and in small island developing states that are highly vulnerable to social crises and disaster risks. Her responsibilities included promoting high-level political consultation processes leading to the development of national resilience-building strategies, in line with the 2030 Agenda, the Sendai Framework and the Paris Agreement. He also has experience in building resilience programs across borders, partnerships with finance, science and technology institutions, civil society organizations, women, youth, and people with disabilities, and outreach for private sector engagement.

Mr. Salazar previously worked for the United Nations Development Program in Peru (1997-2010), where he was responsible for the Poverty Reduction, Crisis Prevention and Reconstruction Cluster, providing political support and technical skills in disaster risk reduction and reconstruction operations, and developing effective strategies and teams. And project structures to get results there. He was also the Chair of the United Nations Emergency Technical Team from 2003 to 2010 and a member of the United Nations Disaster Assessment and Coordination Team (UNDAC) since 2003, and participated in various UN coordination missions after the disaster, particularly in Jamaica (Hurricane Ivan 2004), Coordinating the recovery process after the earthquakes in Peru (2007) and Haiti (2010) as well as during the social crisis in Kyrgyzstan (August 2010).

Mr. Salazar is an economist with a degree from the Catholic University of Lima – Peru (1989), an MBA from the University of Piura-IESE, Peru – Spain (1992) and a Master of Science in National Development and Enterprise Planning from the University of Bradford, UK (1995).