Regional Director for Europe and Central Asia

Alia El-Yassir was appointed as UN Women Regional Director for Europe and Central Asia in September 2018 and in this capacity also serves as UN Women Representative to Turkey.

She has been working on gender equality and women’s empowerment within the United Nations system since the Fourth World Conference on Women in 1995. She has extensive experience of working as UN Women Representative at country level managing normative, coordination and operational work within complex contexts that span the development, humanitarian and political continuum. She has also served at HQ level supporting UN Women’s global programmatic work. In her country, regional and global roles, she has built strong partnerships with and among diverse groups of stakeholders to advance the rights of women and girls.

Before joining the UN system, Ms. El-Yassir worked as a teacher and developed educational media for children, in addition to volunteering with a number of women’s and human rights non-governmental organizations.

Alia El-Yassir holds a BSc degree in Biology (with a specialization in Ecology) from McGill University and a MSc degree in Desert Studies (with a specialization in Gender Studies) from Ben Gurion University of the Negev.