The United Nations International Children’s Emergency Fund (UNICEF) has appointed Fran Equiza as its representative in Afghanistan. The Spaniard worked as Deputy Humanitarian Coordinator for the UN in Afghanistan between January 2022 to January 2023.
“Fran has a vast background of fostering humanitarian work across diverse regions and in volatile environments. His career in the development sector and in the UN has spanned over two decades,” the UNICEF said in a statement.
Mr Equiza joined UNICEF in 2014 and served as the UN agency’s representative in Mali, Syria, and the Central African Republic.
He begins his new role at a time when Afghanistan is going through its worst humanitarian crisis, exacerbated by the Taliban’s restrictions of women and girls, particularly on women working as aid workers, which forced UNICEF suspend some of its programmes in the country.
