Mr. Björn Andersson
UNFPA Asia-Pacific Regional Director
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Björn Andersson joined Asia-Pacific Regional Office of the United Nations Population Fund (UNFPA) in September 2017. A Swedish national, Mr. Andersson has over 25 years of extensive experience in international development cooperation, both in the bilateral and multilateral arena. He has also held key positions in programme management, policy development and strategic organizational management, in the UN System and government agencies. |
Mr Andersson first worked in the UN as a Junior Professional Officer in the UN Population Division working on preparations for the Cairo Conference. He then joined UNFPA as Programme Officer in the Zimbabwe Country Office, transitioning into Headquarters in 1994, where he provided coordination of the UNFPA Country Support Teams before returning to Sweden in 1998 to take up progressively responsible positions in Sida and the Ministry for Foreign Affairs, including as Deputy Director for Foreign Affairs in 2000-2003. In 2003 Mr. Andersson returned to UNFPA as Chief of Staff for the Office of the Executive Director, providing policy and programming support as well as strategic management advice to the Executive Director. From 2008 to 2013 Mr. Andersson worked as Director of the Department for Development Policy, Ministry for Foreign Affairs of Sweden. Mr. Andersson provided leadership to around 20 senior experts in various areas related to international development cooperation, including population and development, gender equality, economic growth, the environment, good governance, health and education. Mr. Anderson was also Sweden’s Chief Negotiator for the Rio+20 Conference. Mr. Andersson rejoined UNFPA in 2013 as Senior Adviser to the Executive Director and was later appointed Chief of Staff.
Mr. Andersson holds a Master of Science degree in Horticultural Sciences from the University of Agricultural Sciences in Uppsala, Sweden. His studies focused on economic aspects of horticulture production, international rural development and political science. Mr. Andersson has also completed specific courses in population and development at Princeton University, New Jersey, USA.
