Zhen-Zhen Huang, Business Transformation Officer, WFP
Teapot and cups in hand, Zhen-Zhen Huang was an integral member of each team she was on, across her many assignments.
Zhen-Zhen joined WFP’s China office as a national officer in 1992. She agreed to move to Pyongyang, North Korea in 1997, to help scale up WFP’s operations to provide food assistance to women and children facing famine.
Chinese citizens could easily travel in and out of North Korea to help WFP’s work. Former WFP Executive Director Catherine Bertini recalls Zhen-Zhen as “extremely efficient, thoughtful and organised”.
In 2001, in recognition of her work in North Korea, Zhen-Zhen was chosen to represent WFP in Oslo, where Kofi Annan and the UN were awarded the Nobel Peace Prize.
Zhen-Zhen’s skills and resilience kept her in high demand across WFP: in 2003, she worked in special operations in Rome, then returned to North Korea as a programme officer until 2006.
From there, she worked as a project manager, first in Banda Aceh, Indonesia, then in Colombo, Sri Lanka. A posting to Bangkok followed in 2010, where she secured WFP’s first donation from a wealthy individual, Annie Chen.
In 2014, Zhen-Zhen was a budget programming officer in the Philippines. Her last assignment, in Rome, was in the technology division.
With her can-do attitude, her smile and encouragement of others, Zhen-Zhen was “capable of anything…she could turn her mind to anything and master it,” says her colleague, Xuerong Liu.
Zhen-Zhen is survived by her husband, her seven-year old son, a sister and her elderly father.
Biographical information and photo provided by WFP.