Ms. Izeduwa Derex-Briggs

Izeduwa (Zed) has been appointed as UN Women’s new Regional Director for East and Southern Africa (office in Kenya).

Zed transitions to the role of Regional Director having served as UN Women Representative in South Sudan since June 2012 and prior to this Representative in Liberia for just over three years. Prior to joining UN Women/ former-UNIFEM, she served with UNFPA as Gender Adviser in Ethiopia and HIV Programme Specialist in Malawi. She worked with Actionaid International as Regional HIV Coordinator, based in Nairobi and as Policy Officer/ International HIV Campaigns Coordinator in Brussels. She had her first UN experience with the former-UNIFEM in her home country of Nigeria subsequent to several years of work for the Ministry of Health and Social Welfare as a Medical Officer.

A national of Nigeria, Zed holds Master’s degree in Public health from the University of London and a Diploma in Tropical Medicine from the London School of Hygiene and Tropical Medicine. She received her MB ChB from the University of Jos in Nigeria.