Ms Taina Christiansen is a dual national of Sweden and Denmark, and the UN-Habitat Country Representative designate of Kingdom of Saudi Arabia, where she will be responsible for the leadership and management of the Country Programme.
Taina has served the United Nations since 2007. Most recently since 2019, she led the UN-Habitat’s Country Programme in Lebanon. In Lebanon, Taina oversaw a complex humanitarian-development-peace nexus Programme that responded and continues to respond to multiple urban crises facing the country. She managed a portfolio of more than US$ 45 million, focusing on both normative and operational work, spanning many projects including: territorial master planning, national urban policy development, local governance and development, local socio-economic development planning, mobility and transport, neighbourhood upgrading, (heritage) housing reconstruction, basic services upgrading, renewable energy, livelihood support, social stability, urban farming, innovative public space design and climate change adaptation and mitigation – and more.
Prior to assuming this role in 2019, Taina worked at UN-Habitat’s Headquarters in Nairobi, Kenya serving in the Office of the Executive Director, and later in the External Relations Division.
Prior to joining UN-Habitat, Taina served in two United Nations peacekeeping missions from 2013 to 2017, in Mali (MINUSMA) and the Democratic Republic of the Congo (MONUSCO). In both MINUSMA and MONUCSO, Taina worked in the Conduct and Discipline Teams, engaging in the prevention of sexual exploitation and abuse and general misconduct by UN personnel. From 2009-2013, Taina worked with the Joint United Nations Programme on HIV and AIDS (UNAIDS) in Geneva, on addressing HIV in security and humanitarian situations and on national strategic planning on HIV and with the International Trade Centre (ITC) in Geneva, on human resources policies. From 2007-2008, Taina worked with the Mediation Support Unit in the Department of Political Affairs in New York, USA.
Born in Brussels, Belgium, on 13 February 1983, Taina holds a Bachelor of Arts in International Relations and Politics from Mount Holyoke College, Massachusetts, USA and a Master of Arts in International Peace Studies with a specialisation in conflict mediation from the United Nations University for Peace, Costa Rica.