About me

I am an award-winning urbanist and international development professional with nearly two decades of experience working across urbanization, food security, displacement, resilience and local governance. My career has taken me from towns hosting internally displaced people in Darfur to urban communities facing poverty, food insecurity and exclusion in Colombia, Nepal, Afghanistan, Kenya, Brazil and beyond.

My work combines strategy, programme design, field-based implementation and global policy engagement. I have supported governments, United Nations agencies, international organizations, city actors and communities to understand complex challenges and co-design policies, programmes and action plans that respond to people's realities on the ground.

I currently serve as Global Coordinator for Urban Agrifood Systems at the Food and Agriculture Organization of the United Nations (FAO), where I coordinate FAO’s urban agrifood systems work across divisions, regional offices and country teams. In this role, I lead strategic planning, support country engagement and help build global partnerships that connect local action with national priorities and global goals.

Previously, I led the World Food Programme’s global urban workstream and developed WFP’s first Corporate Urban Strategy, strengthening urban programming and providing strategic guidance in crisis-affected contexts. Before joining WFP, I served as Head of the Joint IDP Profiling Service (JIPS), an interagency initiative led by UNHCR and the Danish Refugee Council, supporting governments, humanitarian and development actors to generate evidence and inform responses for internally displaced populations and other vulnerable groups.

I have also led and contributed to global advocacy and policy processes through the Global Alliance for Urban Crises, the GP20 initiative, the UN Secretary-General’s High-Level Panel on Internal Displacement, HABITAT III, UN-Habitat World Urban Forums and Human Rights Council sessions.

My work is grounded in the belief that today’s most pressing challenges are interconnected and cannot be addressed through sectoral or institutional silos alone. Whether working on food systems, displacement, urban development or social inclusion, I focus on building partnerships, connecting actors and co-designing strategies, programmes and policies with governments, communities and multiple stakeholders - improving people’s lives and strengthening the systems they rely on.