Secretary-General appoints Stephen Jackson of Ireland as the United Nations Resident Coordinator in China

United Nations Secretary-General António Guterres has appointed Stephen Jackson of Ireland as the United Nations Resident Coordinator in China, with the host Government’s approval. He takes up his post today, 1 April. 

Mr. Jackson brings more than 30 years of experience in international development, peacebuilding and humanitarian affairs to the position, with a strong record of leading UN country teams and driving strategic engagement with host Governments to advance national development priorities. He most recently served as Resident Coordinator in Kenya, where he mobilised United Nations system-wide support for national agendas, and guided the organization’s strategic planning and coordination efforts. This followed his assignment as Resident Coordinator in Gabon and several leadership positions at the Department of Political Affairs (DPA) and with United Nations Peacekeeping. Within DPA, Mr. Jackson served as Chief of Policy Planning and Guidance, headed the Secretariat to the High-Level Review of United Nations Peacebuilding in 2015, worked as Team Leader of the Mediation Support Unit, was Chief of Staff of the United Nations Office in Burundi (BNUB), led both the Policy Planning Unit and the Africa Great Lakes Team, and served as Special Adviser to the Special Envoy of the Secretary-General for the Great Lakes. With United Nations Peacekeeping, he was a Senior Political Adviser with the United Nations Organization Mission in the Democratic Republic of the Congo (MONUC). 

Before joining the United Nations, Mr. Jackson was Deputy Director of the Conflict Prevention and Peace Forum (CPPF) at the Social Science Research Council (SSRC) in New York, Director of the International Famine Centre and Lecturer in Sociology at the National University of Ireland in Cork. Earlier in his career, he worked in humanitarian relief and development in Angola, Rwanda and Somalia. 

He holds a doctorate in cultural anthropology and a master’s degree in public affairs from Princeton University in the United States, and a bachelor’s degree in mathematics from Trinity College Dublin in Ireland.