senior management group

Thoraya Ahmed Obaid, Executive Director of the United Nations Population Fund (UNFPA)

Thoraya Ahmed Obaid is the Executive Director of UNFPA, the United Nations Population Fund, the world's largest multilateral source of population assistance. Ms. Obaid was appointed head of UNFPA, effective 1 January 2001. She is the first Saudi Arabian to be named head of a United Nations agency. From 1998 to 2001, Ms. Obaid was Director, Division for Arab States and Europe, UNFPA.

Before joining UNFPA, Ms. Obaid was Deputy Executive Secretary for the Economic and Social Commission for Western Asia (ESCWA) from 1993 to 1998. She was the Chief of the Social Development and Population Division, ESCWA, from 1992 to 1993, and Social Affairs Officer, responsible for the advancement of women, from 1975 to 1992. Working with governments to establish programmes to empower women and develop their capacities as citizens with rights and responsibilities and working with women's non-governmental organizations (NGOs) to advocate for equality for women have been a central focus of Ms. Obaid's work, both at ESCWA and UNFPA.

In 1975, Ms. Obaid established the first women's development programme in the Western Asia region. The programme was instrumental in building partnerships between the United Nations and regional NGOs. Ms. Obaid chaired the United Nations Inter-Agency Task Force on Gender in Amman, Jordan, in 1996. In November 1997, she was a member of the United Nations Inter-Agency Gender Mission to Afghanistan. Earlier that year, she was a member of the United Nations Strategic Framework Mission to Afghanistan. From 1984 to 1985, she was a member of the League of Arab States Working Group for formulating the Arab Strategy for Social Development.

Ms. Obaid is the first Saudi Arabian woman to receive a government scholarship to study at a university in the United States, in 1963. She has a doctorate degree in English Literature and Cultural Anthropology from Wayne State University, Detroit, Michigan. Throughout her career, Ms. Obaid has emphasized the importance of development that emerges from the context of each society, thus taking into consideration cultural values and religious beliefs that shape people and affect their actions. As UNFPA Executive Director, she has introduced a special focus on culture and religion in the Fund's development work, thus linking universal values of human rights to values of the human worth promoted by all religions and found in all cultures.

Ms. Obaid has received many awards and honours.

She is married and has two daughters.