Sir Lowcock is the United Nations Under Secretary General for Humanitarian Affairs and the Emergency Relief Coordinator.
He is a British economist who served as the United Kingdom’s Permanent Secretary of the Department for International Development (DFID) between 2011– 2017 and was awarded a Knighthood for public service in 2017.
In the two years since he was appointed Head of the United Nations’ Office for the Coordination of Humanitarian Affairs (OCHA), he has successfully implemented widespread reforms designed to make OCHA more accountable, agile, effective and transparent. USG Lowcock is one of UN Secretary-General Guterres’ most senior officials.
As head of OCHA, he is responsible for the United Nations humanitarian response, which in 2019 provided life-saving assistance to 103 million people. His trip to New Zealand forms part of a wider week-long Pacific programme which includes visits to Fiji and Australia. This is USG Lowcock’s first visit to the Pacific.
Schedule:
12.00 - 12.15 pm: Attendees' arrival
12.15 - 12.20 pm: Welcome and introductory remarks by MFAT representative and CID representative
12.20 – 12.35 pm: Mark Lowcock talks on:
• The global humanitarian outlook and OCHA’s strategic priorities
• OCHA’s engagement with civil society
• OCHA’s views on localisation and its challenges.
