ILO(
International Labour Organization (ILO)
Mia Seppo
Assistant Director General for Jobs and Social Protection
Appointed Assistant Director-General for the Jobs and Social Protection Cluster, with effect from 1 February 2023.
Mia Seppo has served with the United Nations for more than 20 years including two terms as UN Resident Coordinator in Malawi and in Bangladesh. Her last assignment was as the UNDP Resident Representative in Zimbabwe where she served in 2022.
During her assignment in Bangladesh, October 2017 - November 2021, Mia Seppo led the UN Country Team's response to the Rohingya refugee crisis and the regular development programs of the UN in coordination and liaison with the Government of Bangladesh and the international community. The UN in Bangladesh supported, under Mia Seppo's leadership, a multisectoral, multiagency response to the COVID crisis, developed a socio-economic recovery plan and co-designed with partners the UN Sustainable Development Cooperation Framework 2022-2026.
s UN Resident Coordinator and UNDP Resident Representative in Malawi from April 2013 to October 2017, she coordinated the UN system and partner support to the tripartite elections held in May 2014, the mobilization of resources and government buy-in for national registration and unique ID cards for all Malawians, the humanitarian responses to the devastating floods in 2015 and to the food insecurity crisis in 2016-2017.
Between 2010 and 2013, she served as the UNDP Country Director in Sierra Leone, where, in partnership with the UN Peace Building Mission, she led the UNs technical support to the tripartite elections held in 2012 and worked with the Mission on peace building and conflict prevention initiatives.
Ms. Seppo served in the UNDP Regional Bureau for Africa in New York from 2005 to 2010. She worked closely with DPA, DPKO and PBSO on integrated mission planning and provided oversight and support to the field operations in her portfolio.
Earlier, Ms. Seppo worked for a decade on the countries of the former Soviet Union focusing on Central Asia and the Caucasus, as part of the Regional Bureau for Europe and the CIS in the UN HQs in New York. She was appointed as the UNDP Deputy Resident Representative in Tajikistan where she served for two and a half years.
Ms. Seppo started her UN career in 1996 with a focus on governance and human rights issues. Prior to her joining the UN, Ms. Seppo worked for civil society organizations and think tanks, including the Finnish Committee for European Security. Ms. Seppo holds a master's degree in Social Sciences from the University of Helsinki, Finland and a bachelor's degree from the Swedish School of Social Science.
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