BRIDGETOWN, Barbados — UN Secretary-General Ban Ki Moon has appointed Michelle Gyles-McDonnough, a national of Jamaica, as the resident coordinator of the United Nations System’s operational activities for development in Malaysia, effective July 1, 2013.
Gyles-McDonnough also will serve as resident representative of the United Nations Development Programme in Malaysia, with additional responsibility for Singapore and Brunei Darussalam, and will have overall responsibility and team leadership for the coordination of UN development activities in these three countries.
Gyles-McDonnough left Barbados on June 29 after a successful five-year tenure as UN resident coordinator and UNDP resident representative for Barbados and the OECS.
During her tenure, she significantly raised the visibility of the development challenges facing small island developing states and mobilized other development partners to work together with the UN to support Barbados and OECS member states to address the impacts of climate change; make the transition to more sustainable energy future; strengthen capabilities to assess and manage disaster risks and impacts; and improve citizen’s security, well-being and life chances, among other key development areas.
Prior to her posting in Barbados and the Eastern Caribbean, Gyles-McDonnough was programme adviser in the Executive Office of UNDP, and regional adviser in Jamaica. She has also served in the United Nations as coordinator for the Grenada Recovery Programme following Hurricane Ivan in 2004, and Chief — UNDP Caribbean Sub-Regional Resource Facility in Trinidad and Tobago, which she was instrumental in establishing in 1999.