Joseph Foumbi (born 1955) is a senior

United Nations The United Nations (UN) is an intergovernmental organization whose stated purposes are to maintain international peace and security, develop friendly relations among nations, achieve international cooperation, and be a centre for harmoniz ...

official working for the

United Nations Children's Fund UNICEF (), originally called the United Nations International Children's Emergency Fund in full, now officially United Nations Children's Fund, is an agency of the United Nations responsible for providing humanitarian and developmental aid to ...

(UNICEF). Born in 1955,

Cameroon Cameroon (; french: Cameroun, ff, Kamerun), officially the Republic of Cameroon (french: République du Cameroun, links=no), is a country in west-central Africa. It is bordered by Nigeria to the west and north; Chad to the northeast; the C ...

ian by origin, he spent most of his life in France and the United States. From 2003 to 2006, he was appointed as head of the UNICEF office in

Bangui Bangui () (or Bangî in Sango, formerly written Bangi in English) is the capital and largest city of the Central African Republic. It was established as a French outpost in 1889 and named after its location on the northern bank of the Ubangi ...

Central African Republic The Central African Republic (CAR; ; , RCA; , or , ) is a landlocked country in Central Africa. It is bordered by Chad to the north, Sudan to the northeast, South Sudan to the southeast, the DR Congo to the south, the Republic of th ...

. During that time, he led efforts to promote the rights of children in the country, and school attendance as well as child nutrition also improved. In January 2006, Secretary-General

Kofi Annan Kofi Atta Annan (; 8 April 193818 August 2018) was a Ghanaian diplomat who served as the seventh secretary-general of the United Nations from 1997 to 2006. Annan and the UN were the co-recipients of the 2001 Nobel Peace Prize. He was the founde ...

also appointed him as

Resident Coordinator A United Nations Resident Coordinator is the highest United Nations official and the chief of UN diplomatic mission in a country (except when there is a mission of the Department of Peacekeeping Operations or similar, in which case the Special Repre ...

and

Humanitarian Coordinator The Humanitarian Coordinator is the senior-most United Nations official in a country experiencing a humanitarian emergency. The Humanitarian Coordinator is appointed by the United Nations Emergency Relief Coordinator when a new emergency occurs o ...

in the country, as successor to Stan Nkwain. In such capacity, he played an important role in advocating to raise funds for humanitarian work in the country, supported by the local

OCHA The United Nations Office for the Coordination of Humanitarian Affairs (OCHA) is a United Nations (UN) body established in December 1991 by the General Assembly to strengthen the international response to complex emergencies and natural disaster ...

office headed by Souleymane Beye. In November 2006, he was promoted and appointed as head of UNICEF in Kigali, Rwanda.

References

Cameroonian humanitarians 1955 births Living people UNICEF people Cameroonian diplomats Cameroonian officials of the United Nations {{UN-bio-stub