Secretary-General appoints Laura Melo of Portugal United Nations Resident Coordinator in Ecuador

United Nations Secretary-General António Guterres appointed Laura Melo of Portugal as the United Nations Resident Coordinator in Ecuador, with the host Government’s approval, effective 8 June 2025.

Ms. Melo brings more than 20 years of experience in development and humanitarian work in support of, and advocating for, the most vulnerable. Prior to her appointment as Resident Coordinator in Ecuador, she served as Country Director and Representative for the United Nations World Food Programme (WFP) in Venezuela, where she led a team of nearly 200 staff in charge of providing life-saving food security assistance to around 700,000 people. From 2018 to 2022 she was the WFP Representative in Guatemala leading a team of around 130 people working to improve food security among the most vulnerable groups and contribute to emergency response to natural disasters. 

Before her assignment in Guatemala, she served as WFP Representative in Cuba for 5 years. She also coordinated the implementation of WFP’s Purchase for Progress (P4P) initiative in the Latin American and Caribbean region. This was a five-year pilot programme to promote agricultural and market development to improve smallholder farmers’ productivity, skills and incomes. 

Her international career with WFP and other international organizations has included work in a variety of capacities including communications, advocacy, fundraising and project implementation as well as with the BBC (British Broadcasting Corporation) as a journalist and work in advertising.

Ms. Melo holds a master’s degree in social psychology from the London School of Economics in the United Kingdom and she is a graduate in psychology from the University of Coimbra, Portugal. 

She is married and the proud mother of two daughters.