Etleva Kadilli
Regional Director for Eastern and Southern Africa
Ms. Etleva Kadilli
Regional Director for Eastern and Southern Africa
Etleva (Eva) Kadilli is the UNICEF Regional Director for Eastern and Southern Africa. In this function, Ms. Kadilli is responsible for leadership, oversight and guidance to 21 UNICEF country offices in the region, and the representation of the organization with governments, donors, civil society and private sector.
Prior to this role, Eva was Director of UNICEF’s Supply Division, based in Copenhagen, Denmark. In this capacity, she led UNICEF’s global supply chain operations and strategic market shaping functions for programmatic areas including health, nutrition, and water & sanitation, with an annual expenditure of over USD 7 billion, in cooperation with national governments, donors, private sector and partners. Responsible for the management of UNICEF’s supply response to humanitarian crises, Ms. Kadilli also led the organization’s historic response to the COVID-19 pandemic, including accelerated access to vaccines, diagnostics and therapeutics, as well as other supplies such as syringes, personal protective equipment, cold chain equipment, and oxygen.
A UNICEF staff member for over 27 years, Ms. Kadilli has held roles at headquarters and in country offices, in both development and emergency contexts, including Albania, the Democratic Republic of the Congo (DRC), the Republic of the Gambia, and Somalia. Prior to her appointment as Supply Division Director in March 2018, her positions with Supply Division included Deputy Director, Supply Chain, and Chief of Contracting.
Throughout her career, Ms. Kadilli has been a strong advocate for staff well-being, culture change and innovation. She is married and is the mother of a teenage son.
Ms. Kadilli holds a Master’s degree in Science with a specialty in Finance. She is an Albanian national.