Rebecca Vetharaniam Richards assumed her duties as Chief, Emergencies & Transitions at the United Nations World Food Programme (WFP) in January 2018, responsible for strategy and partnership development across WFP’s evolving work in Humanitarian, Development and Peace spheres. Rebecca also oversees the Peace and Conflict Office which is focused on growing the organisations past, current and future contribution to ‘peace’.

Rebecca brings twenty years of experience with the United Nations in the fields of political affairs, peacekeeping, emergency response coordination, humanitarian-development reform and policy, having served in various roles in in the field, regional and global levels with WFP, OCHA, Office of the Director General of the United Nations in Geneva and the Office of the Special Representative for the Secretary-General (SRSG) for Afghanistan.

Rebecca is a British national and holds a Master’s in ‘International Peace and Security’ from Kings College London.