3.8 Principled Action

Rethinking Development Podcast

Wafaa Saeed is currently the Deputy Director in the Operations and Advocacy division, covering Eastern and Southern Africa at UN OCHA, the United Nations Office for the Coordination of Humanitarian Affairs. She has over 20 years of humanitarian work experience in complex settings. She has worked with WFP, UN OCHA and UNICEF in various roles in Sudan, Somalia, Indonesia, Syria, Pakistan and other countries. Prior to joining the UN, Wafaa worked as a lecturer at the University of Khartoum and as an architect in the private sector. She speaks to us about:

• her interest in working closely with communities / in the field
• governments in the leading role and UN organizations in the supporting role
• empowering local government systems
• making principled decisions / zero tolerance for fraud
• maintaining the neutral humanitarian space
• the differential treatment between national vs. international staff
• the 3 pillars of the UN reform process
• working collectively
• her commitment to localization - and much more!

She joins us from New York, USA.
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