Luiza Carvalho (Brazil) joined UN Women as Regional Director for the Americas and the Caribbean in November 2014. The promotion of gender equality and the empowerment of women has been a constant orientation throughout her long career In the United Nations system, in the public sector and in academia, before joining UN Women, she served as United Nations Resident Coordinator in the Philippines (2012-2014), a position from which she directed the response of the humanitarian system to Typhoon Haiyan, the most destructive registered globally, which affected more than 14 million people and caused more than 6 thousand deaths.
Between 2008 and 2012, she was United Nations Resident Coordinator in Costa Rica, where she worked with the government in the formulation of the national citizen security policy, ensuring that it incorporates a strong gender perspective to guarantee women and girls their rights, in particular r, the right to a life free of violence. Prior to joining the United Nations, she worked in the Government of the Federal District of Brazil for more than 15 years, in the promotion of social development in the suburban areas of the Brazilian capital, doing fieldwork and later as Program Supervisor and Advisor of the Planning Department of the Governor’s Office of the Federal District.
She also accumulated experience as a teacher and researcher at the Universidad Estatal del Norte Fluminense (1996-1999) and at the University of Brasilia (2000-2003). Luiza Carvalho holds a PhD in Sociology from the University of Essex (United Kingdom) and a Master’s Degree in Planning and Social Development from the London School of Economics and Political Science (United Kingdom). She has a degree in Public Policy Administration for the Generation of Employment from the University of Campinas (Brazil) and in Planning and Administration from the University of Brasilia (Brazil).