Sara Beysolow Nyanti

Last updated
Sara Beysolow Nyanti
Sara Beysolow Nyanti (2024) (sq cropped).jpg
in 2024
United Nations Assistant Secretary General
In office
December 2021 –July 2023 [1]
Personal details
Born
Sara Frances Beysolow

1968 (age 55–56)
Liberia
SpouseStephen Joeboe Nyanti
Education College of West Africa, Cuttington University, New Charter University

Sara Frances Beysolow Nyanti (born 1968) is an international development expert and Liberian pastor. She has more than 20 years of professional experience. [2] She was the United Nations Assistant Secretary General from December 2021 to her retirement in July 2023. [1]

Contents

Early life and education

Nyanti is the oldest of seven children of Winston E. Beysolow and Frances Hayes. [3] Her mother worked multiple jobs to support her children. [4] She attended the College of West Africa and Cuttington University. [4] She has a master's degree in public administration from the New Charter University in the United States and is completing a doctoral degree in transformational leadership. [5]

Career

Nyanti held senior positions in the Liberian Ministry of Health from 1999 to 2003, including as Director of the National AIDS Control Program. [5] She wrote the country's first grant to the Global Fund for money to combat malaria, HIV, and tuberculosis. [6] During the conflict and transitional government periods, Nyanti worked for the United Nations in Liberia. [5] [6]

From 2005 to 2009, Nyanti worked for the UN in Nepal, before becoming UNICEF HIV/AIDS advisor to the representatives in Namibia and Kenya in 2009. She was head of the UNICEF office in Lagos from 2015 to 2015. [7] She was UNICEF Representative in Gambia from 2015 to 2017 [8] and in Yemen from 2019 to 2020. [5] [9] In January 2021, she was appointed Resident Coordinator for the UN in Nepal. [10]

Nyanti was a key figure in the response to Nigeria's Ebola Virus Disease outbreak and has been a leader in the international response to the COVID-19 pandemic. [11] Since 2019, she has been the highest ranking Liberian in the UN. [7]

In November 2021, she moderated the second day of the Women Political Leaders' fourth annual Reykjavik Global Forum, noting the need for gender equality to move from policy to action. [12]

In December 2021, UN Secretary-General António Guterres appointed Nyanti Deputy Special Representative, Resident Coordinator and Humanitarian Coordinator in South Sudan (UNMISS) and Resident Coordinator in South Sudan, [5] succeeding Alain Noudéhou of Benin. [13] The role is an Assistant Secretary General. [14] Nyanti will be leading the UN's efforts in recovery and stabilization in the world's newest country. [15]

Community service and activism

Nyanti is an ordained Reverend and a minister at the Zion Grove Baptist Church in Brewerville, outside Monrovia. [16] [15] In October 2020, she preached at the Liberia Baptist Missionary and Educational Convention and expressed her disappointment over the "conspicuous silence of denominations of various churches to stand up and speak against societal ills in Liberia. [16] [17] She has spoken out and written about sexual violence in Liberia. [18]

In 2014, Nyanti founded an NGO, The Development Brokers, which operates the Social Movement for Change (SM4C) to change impoverished communities in Montserrado County. [19] She has launched two Rainbow Community Learning Huts for adolescent girls in response to escalating rape cases, [18] each accommodating 30 girls who are assisted with education and counselling. [19]

In January 2021, Nyanti was appointed to the Board of the Center for Transparency and Accountability in Liberia (CENTAL), the national chapter of Transparency International. [7]

In the 2023 election, Nyanti ran for the presidency of Liberia with the African Liberation League party. [20]

Personal life

Nyanti is married to Stephen Joeboe Nyanti, and has children and grandchildren. [4] She is a feminist and on her appointment with the UN in Nepal, named the many Liberian women who had inspired her. [4]

Selected publications

Related Research Articles

<span class="mw-page-title-main">Hilde Frafjord Johnson</span> Norwegian politician

Hilde Frafjord Johnson is a Norwegian politician from the Christian Democratic Party. She is a former Minister of International Development of Norway, and member of the Norwegian Government. She most recently served as the Special Representative of the Secretary-General and Head of the United Nations Mission in the Republic of South Sudan, completing her term in July 2014

<span class="mw-page-title-main">David Nabarro</span> British medical academic and international civil servant

Sir David Nunes Nabarro is a British Special Envoy on Covid-19 for the World Health Organization. He has made his career in the international civil service, working for either the Secretary-General of the United Nations or the Director-General of the World Health Organization. Since February 2020, he has helped the DGWHO deal with the COVID-19 pandemic.

<span class="mw-page-title-main">United Nations Mission in Liberia</span> Peacekeeping operation in West Africa

The United Nations Mission in Liberia (UNMIL) was a United Nations peacekeeping operation established in September 2003 to monitor a ceasefire agreement in Liberia following the resignation of President Charles Taylor and the conclusion of the Second Liberian Civil War (1999–2003). At its peak it consisted of up to 15,000 UN military personnel and 1,115 police officers, along with civilian political advisors and aid workers.

A special representative of the Secretary-General is a highly respected expert who has been appointed by the Secretary-General of the United Nations to represent them in meetings with heads of state on critical human rights issues. The representatives can carry out country visits to investigate alleged violations of human rights and act as negotiators on behalf of the United Nations.

Sally Fegan-Wyles currently serves as the Acting Head of the United Nations Institute for Training and Research (UNITAR). She was appointed to this position by the United Nations Secretary-General Ban Ki-moon on 10 September 2012. Prior to this, she was Senior Adviser on System-Wide Coherence in the Office of the Deputy Secretary-General of the United Nations.

<span class="mw-page-title-main">David Gressly</span>

David Gressly is the United Nations Resident Coordinator / Humanitarian Coordinator for Yemen Prior to that he was the United Nations Deputy Special Representative for the Democratic Republic of the Congo. He also previously served as Deputy Special Representative in the United Nations Multidimensional Integrated Stabilization Mission in Mali (MINUSMA).

Karin Landgren is the executive director of the independent think tank Security Council Report. A former United Nations Under-Secretary-General, she has headed multiple UN peace operations. She has also worked extensively in humanitarian response, development, and protection with the UN refugee agency, UNHCR, and the UN Children's Fund, UNICEF.

<span class="mw-page-title-main">David Shearer</span> New Zealand politician

David James Shearer is a New Zealand United Nations worker and politician. He was a member of the New Zealand Parliament for the Labour Party from 2009 to 2016, serving as Leader of the Opposition from 2011 to 2013.

Moustapha Soumaré is the United Nations Deputy Special Representative in the Republic of South Sudan. Prior to this appointment of 24 December 2014 by United Nations Secretary-General Ban Ki-moon, Mr. Soumaré served as the United Nations Deputy Special Representative in the Democratic Republic of the Congo.

<span class="mw-page-title-main">Ross Mountain</span>

Ross Stewart Mountain has spent most of his career in the service of the United Nations working on humanitarian, recovery, development and peacekeeping operations in Asia, Africa, the Middle East, the Caribbean, and the Pacific as well as assignments based in Geneva, Switzerland promoting non-governmental action and managing UN humanitarian operations.

<span class="mw-page-title-main">United Nations Mission in South Sudan</span> United Nations peacekeeping mission for South Sudan

The United Nations Mission in South Sudan (UNMISS) is a United Nations peacekeeping mission for South Sudan, which became independent on 9 July 2011. UNMISS was established on 8 July 2011 by United Nations Security Council Resolution 1996 (2011).

<span class="mw-page-title-main">Richard Ragan</span>

Richard Ragan is a senior staff member for the United Nations and is currently the United Nations WFP Representative in Yemen. As the Director of Operations, he opened the Liberia Office and managed operations as part of the UN Secretary General's Ebola Emergency Response Mission (UNMEER), and was the UNWFP Emergency Co-ordinator for the 2015 Nepal earthquake response. He's spent time in the private sector as the Senior Director with Vulcan, Microsoft Co-Founder Paul Allen's company. Also with the UN World Food Programme he has served as the (WFP) Representative to Bangladesh, Tanzania, Nepal, North Korea, Zambia, and worked on emergencies in East Timor, Kosovo and China. He also re-opened WFP's office in Libya after it was evacuated in 2014. Ragan appears regularly in both international and national media, and is listed in the book, Mississippians, which features famous people from the state of Mississippi.

<span class="mw-page-title-main">Arnauld Antoine Akodjènou</span> United Nations official

Arnauld Antoine Akodjènou, a native of Benin, is a long-life humanitarian and diplomat, currently serving as Senior Adviser for Africa at the Kofi Annan Foundation specifically working on the Democracy and Electoral Integrity Initiative. Prior to this he served as the Regional Refugee Coordinator and Special Adviser to the High Commissioner for refugees for the South Sudan Situation at the United Nations High Commissioner for Refugees (UNHCR). He has held numerous positions in the United Nations Department of Peace Operations, in Côte d'Ivoire (ONUCI) and Mali (MINUSMA), and as a Deputy Special Representative of UN Secretary General. His career with the UNHCR spans over twenty-five years.

<span class="mw-page-title-main">Sigrid Kaag</span> Dutch politician, humanitarian and diplomat

Sigrid Agnes Maria Kaag is a Dutch politician, humanitarian and diplomat. She was the leader of the Democrats 66 (D66) and served as Minister for Foreign Trade and Development Cooperation, as Minister of Foreign Affairs, and as Minister of Finance.

Major General Julius Facki Oketta was a military officer in Uganda. He was a senior commander in the Uganda People's Defence Force (UPDF). Before his death, he was the Director of National Emergency Coordination and Operations in the Office of the Prime Minister of Uganda. In October 2013, the President of Uganda nominated and the Secretary General of the United Nations endorsed General Oketta to join the advisory group of the United Nations (UN) Central Emergency Response Fund (CERF). In 2004, at the rank of brigadier, he was a member of the pioneer class to attend the Uganda Senor Command and Staff College, at Kimaka, Jinja, Eastern Uganda, under its first commandant, Lieutenant General Ivan Koreta. Oketta died in the early hours on 5 November 2016.

<span class="mw-page-title-main">C. Cyvette M. Gibson</span> Liberian politician

Cyvette M. Gibson is the tenth Mayor of Paynesville, Liberia. She was appointed as acting Mayor on November 14, 2012; the youngest mayor in the country. Her administration faced an Ebola epidemic, persistent waste management issues, and human rights concerns.

<span class="mw-page-title-main">Responses to the West African Ebola virus epidemic</span>

Organizations from around the world responded to the West African Ebola virus epidemic. In July 2014, the World Health Organization (WHO) convened an emergency meeting with health ministers from eleven countries and announced collaboration on a strategy to co-ordinate technical support to combat the epidemic. In August, they declared the outbreak an international public health emergency and published a roadmap to guide and coordinate the international response to the outbreak, aiming to stop ongoing Ebola transmission worldwide within 6–9 months. In September, the United Nations Security Council declared the Ebola virus outbreak in the West Africa subregion a "threat to international peace and security" and unanimously adopted a resolution urging UN member states to provide more resources to fight the outbreak; the WHO stated that the cost for combating the epidemic will be a minimum of $1 billion.

<span class="mw-page-title-main">Alain Noudéhou</span> Beninese diplomat

Alain Noudéhou is a Beninese diplomat who has been serving as Deputy Special Representative for the United Nations Multidimensional Integrated Stabilization Mission in Mali (MINUSMA) and Resident Coordinator in Mali since 2021, serving alongside Special Representative Mahamat Saleh Annadif. He was previously the Deputy Special Representative of the Secretary-General of the United Nations, Resident Coordinator, and Humanitarian Coordinator in South Sudan.

Susan Ngongi Namondo is a Cameroonian animal scientist, public administrator and diplomat, who serves as the United Nations' representative and coordinator in Uganda, since June 2021. Immediately before that, from 2017 until 2021, she served in the same capacity in Eritrea, based in the city of Asmara, the capital of that country.

<span class="mw-page-title-main">Anita Kiki Gbeho</span> Ghanaian United Nations official

Anita Kiki Gbeho is a Ghanaian United Nations official who is the Deputy Special Representative in the United Nations Mission in South Sudan and Resident Coordinator in South Sudan since 8 December 2023.

References

  1. 1 2 "Liberia: Sara Beysolow Nyanti Retires from the United Nations after 22 Years of Service to Humanity". Front Page Africa Online. 2023-07-03. Retrieved 2023-11-17.
  2. ↑ "Secretary-General Appoints Sara Beysolow Nyanti of Liberia Deputy Special Representative in South Sudan | Meetings Coverage and Press Releases". www.un.org. Retrieved 2022-01-29.
  3. ↑ "Deacon Winston Edward Beysolow". TLC Africa. 2016. Retrieved 17 December 2021.
  4. 1 2 3 4 Beysolow Nyanti, Sara (22 January 2021). "A Tribute to the Liberian Woman (A response to congratulatory remarks)" . Retrieved 17 December 2021.
  5. 1 2 3 4 5 "Secretary-General Appoints Sara Beysolow Nyanti of Liberia Deputy Special Representative in South Sudan". United Nations. 6 December 2021. Retrieved 17 December 2021.
  6. 1 2 "Celebrating Sara Beysolow Nyanti, Highest Ranking Liberian in the UN System". Daily Observer. 10 April 2018. Retrieved 17 December 2021.
  7. 1 2 3 "Liberia: Sara Beysolow Nyanti Becomes CENTAL Board Member". Front Page Africa. 10 January 2021. Retrieved 17 December 2021.
  8. ↑ Ceesay, Halimatou (30 December 2015). "We need an independent media to protect children: UNICEF country rep". The Point. Retrieved 17 December 2021.
  9. ↑ "30 Years of Child Rights Yet Yemen Remains One of the Worst Places to be a Child- UNICEF". Relief Web. 19 November 2019. Retrieved 17 December 2021.
  10. ↑ "Sara Beysolow Nyanti is new United Nations resident coordinator in Nepal". The Kathmandu Post. 26 January 2021. Retrieved 17 December 2021.
  11. ↑ Beysolow Nyanti, Sara; Nyenswah, Tolbert; Nyan, Dougbeh Chris; Stone, Mardia (5 July 2021). "Fighting the Coronavirus disease (COVID-19) pandemic: Employing lessons from the Ebola Virus Disease response". The New Dawn. Retrieved 17 December 2021.
  12. ↑ "How African Women Leaders Powered Together for Progress at The Reykjavík Global Forum". Bella Naija. 9 December 2021. Retrieved 17 December 2021.
  13. ↑ "Liberia's Sara Beysolow Nyanti Gets UN Deputy Special RepresentativePost". Daily Observer. 7 December 2021. Retrieved 17 December 2021.
  14. ↑ Cassell, Joseph (7 December 2021). "Liberian Woman Appointed to Assistant Secretary General Level". Front Page Africa. Retrieved 17 December 2021.
  15. 1 2 Brooks, Cholo (9 December 2021). "Who Is Sara Beysolow Nyanti – The Liberian Woman Now UN Deputy Secretary General". Global News Network Liberia. Retrieved 17 December 2021.
  16. 1 2 Johnson, Obediah (29 October 2020). "Liberia: Highest-Ranking Liberian Serving in the United Nations System Urges Religious Leaders to Speak Truth to Power On Vices in the Country". All Africa. Retrieved 17 December 2021.
  17. ↑ Yates, David A. (29 October 2020). "Liberia: 'Speak Truth to Power'". Daily Observer. Retrieved 17 December 2021.
  18. 1 2 Beysolow Nyanti, Sara (2 September 2020). "Liberia: Stop Raping Our Future". Front Page Africa. Retrieved 17 December 2021.
  19. 1 2 "Liberia: Sara Beysolow Nyanti Opens Second Learning Hut for Adolescent Girls in Lower Virginia". Front Page Africa. 31 December 2020. Retrieved 17 December 2021.
  20. ↑ Walker, Christopher C. (13 September 2023). "Liberia: Presidential Candidate Sara Beysolow Nyanti Urges Politicians To Desist from Divisive Politics". Front Page Africa. Retrieved 17 October 2023.
This page is based on this Wikipedia article
Text is available under the CC BY-SA 4.0 license; additional terms may apply.
Images, videos and audio are available under their respective licenses.