Born in Equatorial Guinea- a small country in Central Africa- educated and bred in the United States, Mozambique, Spain and Nigeria, I am Rosa Malango, mother, daughter, sibling and emerging leader. After 20 years of service to the United Nations, I am honoured to have been appointed to serve as the United Nations Resident Coordinator, Designated Official and UNDP Resident Representative in Uganda. English, Portuguese, Spanish and French are languages I am comfortable with. Mandarin, I have just begun to learn. I am the first person from Equatorial Guinea to serve the United Nations at this level, potentially setting a precedent particularly for young girls and women back home.
I am a daughter of parents who were part of my home country’s independence movement, my late father was part of the first ever delegation to sit at the UN General Assembly when Equatorial Guinea was welcomed as its 126th member. My parents instilled in me a commitment to hard work and breaking new ceilings. I am a woman of faith, the first of four children and a single parent of a now thriving miracle son.
After years in Africa and Headquarters, I was deployed to Guatemala under a UN talent program for high potential women leaders to gain a first-hand exposure to the leadership challenges and opportunities associated with serving as a UN Resident Coordinator/DO & UNDP Resident Representative.
I am a firm believer in the United Nations, its values, principles and resources. The UN is the largest partnership framework in the World and I work constantly to identify opportunities for partners to join us in being proactive, innovative and relevant in responding to the challenges ahead of us. I believe in teamwork, everyone has a contribution to make and every role is important.
I believe that my combined responsibilities reflect the key components of our service to the people. The Peace-Development-Safety nexus is important if we are to bring to bear the remarkable wealth of knowledge, experience and skills that we have as the United Nations as a contribution to attain inclusive, sustainable and innovative national development.
One of my favorite quotes from the UN Charter is Article 1.3 it reads: To achieve international cooperation in solving international problems of an economic, social, cultural, or humanitarian character, and in promoting and encouraging respect for human rights and for fundamental freedoms for all without discrimination as to race, sex, language, or religion;…
Ms. Rosa Malango (Equatorial Guinea) has been appointed as UN Resident Coordinator and UNDP Resident Representative for the Republic of Uganda.
Before this appointment (2015-2016), Ms. Malango undertook an assignment as part of the UN Inter-Agency Field Leadership Programme with UNDP as Head, Resident Coordinator’s Office, Guatemala. From 2005-2015 she worked with the UN Office for the Coordination of Humanitarian Affairs (OCHA) as Chief, External Relations and Partnerships Section, New York. From 2002 to 2005, Ms. Malango worked in Côte d’Ivoire with the World Food Programme as Regional Programme Adviser (2003-2005) and with OCHA as Regional Programme Coordinator (2002-2003). From 1995-1998 she was based in Angola as OCHA’s Chief Information Officer. Before joining the UN, Ms. Malango worked in the private sector in Nigeria as an Advertising Practitioner with STB & Associates Ltd and as an Executive Assistant/Translator for the First Secretary, Embassy of Argentina.
Ms. Malango holds a Bachelor of Science Degree in Mass Communication from the University of Lagos, Nigeria. She speaks French, Spanish, English and Portuguese.
Ms. Malango took on her new assignment in March 2016.
