Based in Nelson with frequent travel to Wellington, Tania is an experienced Humanitarian and Development practitioner. She comes with extensive knowledge and experience having worked with UNICEF for over 14 years internationally in Headquarters (New York and Geneva), Regional Office and Country office positions. She has worked in the Middle East and North Africa Region, Southeast Asia, and Latin America, predominantly responding to humanitarian crises.
Whilst new to the Pacific Region, Tania has extensive experience in senior management positions in fragile and protracted crisis and development contexts. As Senior Emergency Specialist/Head of Office in Gaziantep she was responsible for leading UNICEF’s Cross Border Operations from Turkey into Northwest Syria. She has a particular passion for Palestine and was the Chief of Field Office in Gaza for 3 years. As a Regional Emergency Specialist, Tania has been instrumental in developing and implementing learning courses for UNICEF in core UNICEF Policies, Planning and Procedures; Humanitarian Access and Advocacy, and Emergency Preparedness and Response. Prior to joining UNICEF, Tania was a lecturer at the Christchurch College of Education in Social Sciences and Health Education and taught at Sonoda Women’s University in Japan. She has a Masters of Education.
Tania has a passion for children and child rights and comes with a strong programming and programme implantation background.