Melanie Hauenstein

Melanie Hauenstein brings many years of experience from various positions within UNDP and the United Nations system. For the past two years, she has headed the UNDP country office in Lebanon as Resident Representative. Prior to that, she worked at UNDP Headquarters in New York as Regional Advisor responsible for Yemen, Sudan, Somalia, Djibouti, Libya and the Maghreb countries. In 2016, she also gained important experience in the field of international security policy as Senior Stabilization Advisor to the UN peacekeeping mission in the Democratic Republic of Congo and as Head of Office of the UN peacekeeping mission in northern Mali (2014-2016).

Previously, Melanie Hauenstein worked in New York at the UN Office for the Coordination of Humanitarian Affairs (OCHA, 2013-2014) and the UNDP Office for Crisis Prevention and Recovery (2010 -2013). She supported the Deputy Special Representative of the UN Secretary-General for Humanitarian Affairs in the Democratic Republic of Congo and Sudan (2007-2009). She began her career with the United Nations in Congo in 2005 and worked as a UN election expert during the first democratic elections there.

Melanie Hauenstein holds a Master’s degree in Population and Development from the London School of Economics and Political Science (LSE) and previously studied international politics, sociology and economics in Regensburg, Leipzig and Paris. She is fluent in English, French and Spanish.