Secretary-General appoints Jean P. Bernardini of Brazil as the United Nations Resident Coordinator in Uruguay
United Nations Secretary-General António Guterres has appointed Jean P. Bernardini of Brazil as the United Nations Resident Coordinator in Uruguay, with the host Government’s approval. He took up his post on 1 November.
Mr. Bernardini has performed various functions across the United Nations system over the last two decades, with a strong track record in delivering results in the fields of sustainable development, humanitarian and peacekeeping operations. He is currently the Team Leader for UN reforms in the Executive Office of the Secretary-General, coordinating the development and implementation of the reforms made to the UN development system. In this function, he is a lead advisor to the Secretary-General and Deputy Secretary-General on UN reforms, organizational change and intergovernmental processes. He leads engagement with Member States on priorities to accelerate implementation of sustainable development goals, while also coordinating development-related priorities of the UN80 Secretariat led by the Under Secretary-General for Policy. He served in the transition team of then Secretary-General-elect António Guterres before joining his Executive Office as the mandate commenced in January 2017.
Prior to his current role, Mr. Bernardini had responsibilities in various consecutive assignments in the UN Secretariat and the UN Development Programme (UNDP) in headquarters and in the field, as well as in offices of the Resident Coordinator in Brazil and Haiti. In these functions, he focused on matters ranging from programmatic support to strategic planning, through partnership building, aid management, south-south cooperation, to tailoring UN support to the specific needs of SIDS and middle-income countries. Over the years, he has developed strong expertise in identifying and leveraging development pathways in Latin America and the Caribbean, having served in the regional bureau for Latin America of UNDP and overseeing operations in the region while in the UN Department for Peacekeeping Operations (DPKO).
Mr. Bernardini holds a master’s degree in political science and economic development from the Institut d’études politiques de Paris (Sciences Po) and pursued specialised studies in Latin American economics at the University of California, San Diego in the USA.
He is fluent in Portuguese, Spanish, French, English and Haitian Creole.
He is married and has one daughter.
