Rima Salah, a national of Jordan, holds an undergraduate degree in Sociology & Social Work, Master’s degrees in Education & Sociology and Cultural Anthropology, and a PhD in Cultural Anthropology. She has worked at the Assistant Secretary General (ASG) level as Deputy Special Representative of the Secretary General of the UN Mission in the Central African Republic and Chad (MINURCAT) from 2008-2010 and as Deputy Executive Director of UNICEF from 2004-2007. In honour of her extensive work, Dr Salah has received various awards of distinction from several non-governmental organizations and UN Member States including the French Legion of Honour. She is fluent in Arabic, English and French.
Rima Salah began her international work for women by conducting research in gender and development while living in a Palestinian refugee camp in Jordan for one year. Her PhD dissertation was entitled, “The Changing Status of Palestinian Women in Refugee Camps”. She has lectured in Middle Eastern Studies, Arabic Language and Literature, Psychology, Sociology and Social Work.
Dr Salah worked with the Jordanian Ministry of Education and Catholic Relief Services managing Humanitarian Programmes for refugees and IDPs prior to joining UNICEF in 1987. As UNICEF Representative and Officer providing strategic guidance while partnering with UN entities and associates including the World Bank, WHO, UNESCO, UNDP, FAO, USAID, civil society, and government officials in Pakistan, Burkina Faso, and Vietnam to create programmes in education, health care, water and sanitation, girls’ education, women’s rights, human rights, child protection, child survival, and microcredit. Many of the programmes she collaborated on were so successful that they were implemented nationwide.
In 1999 Rima Salah became Regional Director for UNICEF’s largest Regional Office of 24 countries in West and Central Africa, many in some situation of conflict or post-conflict such as the Democratic Republic of Congo, Liberia, Sierra Leone and Cote d’Ivoire. Working closely with UN partners and the Office of the SRSG, she advocated for access to humanitarian assistance during conflicts and negotiated with non-state rebel groups for the release of child soldiers. She also helped coordinate effective emergency response programmes to the crises and collaborated with key decision-makers on conflict resolution, reconciliation and confidence-building peace initiatives.
Rima Salah was appointed Deputy Executive Director of UNICEF in 2005 where she provided leadership in strategic planning while managing of seven global divisions of UNICEF including Emergency Operations, Funding, Communications, Evaluation, and the Office of Public Partnerships. She visited and assessed the situation of children in conflict and post-conflict countries (including Afghanistan, Sudan, Uganda and Burundi), visited and advocated for the rights of women and children in countries in the Middle East (including Libya, Egypt, Saudi Arabia, Qatar, and the United Arab Emirates), and visited and advocated with many acceding EU countries of Eastern Europe. In her first year she mobilised funds along with the Programme Funding Office of 1.4 billion USD from governmental organizations and 1.2 billion USD from the private sector allocating 55% of these funds to post-conflict and humanitarian programmes. Dr Salah spearheaded discussions and policies within UNICEF on conflict prevention, management and resolution of conflict and post-conflict strategies with particular emphasis on women and children. She advocated globally with government officials, civil society, UN and UN partners for women’s and children’s rights both in conflict situations and at the political and policy levels. Dr Salah contributed to the adoption of UN Security Council Resolution 1612 on monitoring and reporting on child rights violations; advocated for UN Security Council Resolution 1325 on protection and empowerment of women and girls in conflict zones. She also provided leadership while participating in the UN Secretary General’s Study on Violence Against Children. Dr Salah represented UNICEF at Executive Committees on Humanitarian Affairs and Peace and Security (ECHA/ECPS) and the Security Council Working Group on Children and Armed Conflict. She coordinated inter-divisional collaboration on key issues such as restructuring Sudan’s Country Programme and the UN Inter-Agency Task Force on Sexual and Gender-Based Violence. She established partnerships with the Organization of Islamic Countries (OIC), the Arab League, and the African Union strengthening global partnerships to boost advocacy for women and children. As a senior member of the UNICEF Global Management Team, Dr Salah worked on emerging policy issues, development of UNICEF’s global integrated resource mobilization strategy, and ensuring the strategic global positioning of UNICEF.
In 2008 Rima Salah was appointed Deputy Special Representative of the Secretary General of the UN Mission in the Central African Republic and Chad (MINURCAT). In this role she worked to coordinate and implement UN Security Council Resolutions 1923, 1861, 1834, and 1778 by providing strategic direction for programmes on Rule of Law (Justice, Corrections, and Human Rights), Gender, HIV/AIDS, and Civil Affairs (Reconciliation and Peace-making). To achieve programme implementation, Dr Salah developed and maintained relationships with government officials, UN agencies, Diplomats, development agencies, civil society, and humanitarian Actors. These partnerships and programmes facilitated the provision of humanitarian assistance, created good governance, contributed to ending impunity in Eastern Chad, secured favourable conditions for refugees and the voluntary return of IDPs allowing for reconstruction, economic and social development. Upon MINURCAT withdrawal, with the support of the SRSG, she supervised and led the orderly process of transfer of programmes to the government, NGOs and CSOs in order to ensure sustainability of MINURCAT achievements. Clearly this mission left an indelible mark in Eastern Chad; in the words of Chad’s Minister of Economy and Planning, “the process of transformation in the East initiated by MINURCAT has finally bridged the advancement of the East to the development of the whole nation.”
In August 2011, Dr Salah was requested to return to UNICEF as Officer in Charge for the Deputy Executive Director for External Relations in the Office of the Executive Director. In this function, she was responsible for the following areas globally: Communications, Emergency Programmes, Governance, U.N. and Multilateral Affairs, Public Alliances and Resource Mobilisation, and Private Fundraising and Partnerships.
Dr Salah’s strong negotiation and mediation skills have consistently resulted in successful conflict resolution, reconciliation, inter-community dialogue, and implementation of peace initiatives. She has successfully collaborated with Heads of State, Prime Ministers, National Assembly Presidents, government and non-government entities including “rebel” groups, UN agencies, UN partners, the private sector and civil society in order to achieve various goals and implement humanitarian reconstruction and development programmes. She has extensive leadership experience successfully managing complicated international and multi-regional UN-related operations at the ASG level. In addition, Dr Salah triumphantly contributed to and campaigned for multiple UN Security Council resolutions and substantially participated in the creation and restructuring of specific UN programmes within UNICEF and MINURCAT. She has deep knowledge and experience with many cultures, especially those of the Middle East, North Africa, and Sub-Saharan Africa, particularly in West and Central Africa. Rima Salah has served the United Nations for over 20 years in increasingly senior positions and is fully committed to the United Nations and the principles on which it is based.
