UNHCR Goodwill Ambassador is an official postnominal honorific title, title of authority, legal status and job description assigned to those goodwill ambassadors and advocates who are designated by the United Nations. UNHCR goodwill ambassadors are celebrity representatives of the Office of the UN High Commissioner for Refugees (UNHCR) who use their talent and fame to advocate for refugees.
Current goodwill ambassadors and the year they were appointed:
The Office of the United Nations High Commissioner for Refugees (UNHCR) is a United Nations agency mandated to aid and protect refugees, forcibly displaced communities, and stateless people, and to assist in their voluntary repatriation, local integration or resettlement to a third country. It is headquartered in Geneva, Switzerland, with over 18,879 staff working in 138 countries as of 2020.
Goodwill ambassador is a post-nominal honorific title, a professional occupation and/or authoritative designation that is assigned to a person who advocates for a specific cause or global issue on the basis of their notability such as a public figure, advocate or an authoritative expert. Sometimes the role of a goodwill ambassador is presented as "Ambassador" or "Goodwill Ambassador" preceding the first and last name, the titled name of the individual is always presented with an organizational, regional or national affiliation. Goodwill ambassadors generally deliver goodwill by promoting ideals or positions from one entity to another, or to a population to establish a benevolent relationship. A goodwill ambassador may be an individual from one country who resides in or travels to another country on a diplomatic mission at a peer to peer level. This can be country to country, state to state, city to city, or as an intermediate emissary representative of the people of a specific organization or cultural group, such as an indigenous tribe, marginalized people or enclave population.
Sadako Ogata, néeNakamura, was a Japanese academic, diplomat, author, administrator, and professor emerita at the Roman Catholic Sophia University. She was widely known as the head of the office of the United Nations High Commissioner for Refugees (UNHCR) from 1991 to 2000, as well as in her capacities as Chair of the UNICEF Executive Board from 1978 to 1979 and as President of the Japan International Cooperation Agency (JICA) from 2003 to 2012. She also served as Advisor of the Executive Committee of the Japan Model United Nations (JMUN).
Notes from My Travels: Visits with Refugees in Africa, Cambodia, Pakistan and Ecuador is a collection of journal excerpts kept by actress Angelina Jolie written from February 2001 through June 2002 detailing her experiences travelling to troubled Third World regions in her role as a Goodwill Ambassador for the United Nations High Commissioner for Refugees (UNHCR).
WHO Goodwill Ambassador is an official postnominal honorific title, title of authority, legal status and job description assigned to those goodwill ambassadors and advocates who are designated by the United Nations. WHO goodwill ambassadors are celebrity advocates of the World Health Organization (WHO) and use their talent and fame to advocate for health and well-being.
UNIDO Goodwill Ambassador is an official postnominal honorific title, title of authority, legal status and job description assigned to those goodwill ambassadors and advocates who are designated by the United Nations. UNIDO goodwill ambassadors are expert advocates of the United Nations Industrial Development Organization (UNIDO) and use their abilities and experience to advocate for sustainable industrial development in developing countries. Other United Nations goodwill ambassador programs usually take a celebrity approach.
UNFPA Goodwill Ambassador is an official postnominal honorific title, title of authority, legal status and job description assigned to those goodwill ambassadors and advocates who are designated by the United Nations. UNFPA goodwill ambassadors are celebrity advocates of the United Nations Population Fund (UNFPA) and use their talent and fame to advocate for the human right of reproductive health.
Wendy Jean Chamberlin is a veteran diplomat who has served in the United States Department of State and USAID, worked for the UN High Commissioner on Refugees (UNHCR), and served as President of the Middle East Institute until 2018.
Alfonso Tomas "Atom" Pagaduan Araullo is a Filipino broadcast journalist and television presenter. He currently hosts documentary programs such as The Atom Araullo Specials and I-Witness, and is serving as the co-anchor of newscast State of the Nation.
UNDP Goodwill Ambassador is an official postnominal honorific title, title of authority, legal status and job description assigned to those goodwill ambassadors and advocates who are designated by the United Nations. The United Nations Development Programme (UNDP) along with other United Nations agencies, has long enlisted the voluntary services and support of prominent individuals as goodwill ambassadors to advocate these causes. Their fame helps amplify the urgent and universal message of human development and international cooperation, helping to accelerate achievement of the Millennium Development Goals. They articulate the UNDP development philosophy and programmes of self-reliant opportunities and motivate people to act in the interest of improving their own lives and those of their fellow citizens.
FAO Goodwill Ambassador is an official postnominal honorific title, title of authority, legal status and job description assigned to goodwill ambassadors and advocates who are designated by the United Nations. FAO goodwill ambassadors are celebrity advocates of the Food and Agriculture Organization of the United Nations that use their talent and fame to advocate for the organization.
A permanent representative to the United Nations is the head of a country's diplomatic mission to the United Nations.
Yusra Mardini OLY is a Syrian former competition swimmer and refugee of the Syrian civil war. She was a member of the Refugee Olympic Athletes Team (ROT) that competed under the Olympic flag at the 2016 Summer Olympics in Rio de Janeiro. On 27 April 2017, Mardini was appointed a UNHCR Goodwill Ambassador. She also competed in the 2020 Summer Olympics in Tokyo with the Refugee Olympic Team (EOR). She was named one of the 100 most influential people in the world by Time magazine in 2023, alongside her sister, Sarah.
Yiech Pur Biel is a track and field athlete and UNHCR goodwill ambassador originally from Nasir, South Sudan, but now living and training in the United States. He was selected by the International Olympic Committee (IOC) to compete for the Refugee Olympic Team in the 800 m event at the 2016 Summer Olympics. He placed last in his heat.
UNODC Goodwill Ambassador is an official postnominal honorific title, title of authority, legal status and job description assigned to those who are designated by the United Nations. UNODC goodwill ambassadors are celebrity advocates of the United Nations Office on Drugs and Crime and use their talent, popularity or fame to assist the UN in better addressing a coordinated, comprehensive response to the interrelated issues of illicit trafficking in and abuse of drugs, crime prevention and criminal justice, international terrorism, and political corruption.
UN Women Goodwill Ambassador is an official postnominal honorific title, title of authority, legal status and job description assigned to those goodwill ambassadors and advocates who are designated by the United Nations. UN Women goodwill ambassadors are celebrity advocates for the United Nations Entity for Gender Equality and the Empowerment of Women also known as UN Women; who use their talent, popularity or fame to assist the UN in better addressing a coordinated, comprehensive response to the interrelated issues of equality and working for the empowerment of women.
A goodwill ambassador is a professional occupation and/or authoritative designation assigned to a person who advocates for a specific cause or global issue on the basis of their notability such as a public figure, advocate or an authoritative expert.
WFP Goodwill Ambassador is an official postnominal honorific title, title of authority, legal status and job description assigned to those goodwill ambassadors and advocates who are designated by the United Nations. WFP goodwill ambassadors are celebrity representatives of the World Food Programme (WFP) who use their talent and popularity to advocate for hunger and food security.
Maya Ghazal is a UK-based Syrian refugee, a UNHCR Goodwill Ambassador, the first female Syrian pilot, and a Diana Award winner.
