Gaye Phillips

UNICEF Representative, Malaysia &
Special Representative, Singapore & Brunei

Ms. Gaye Phillips assumed her duties as the UNICEF Representative for Malaysia on 23 December 2003 and was appointed UNICEF Special Representative to the Republic of Singapore and Brunei Darussalam in May 2004.

Immediately prior to her assignment to Malaysia, Ms. Phillips served as the Executive Director of the Australian Committee for UNICEF for more than seven years from 1996 to 2003, having previously served with the Committee as the Director of Marketing and Communications from 1992 to 1996.

As Executive Director, Ms Phillips was responsible for the strategic direction and day-to-day management of the operations of the UNICEF Committee including governance and compliance, business development and fundraising, co-ordination of overseas projects, alliance building and communication and advocacy activities. Under her leadership, the income generated for UNICEF from community fundraising and corporate partnerships grew from AUD $ 0.5 million to more than AUD $ 10 million. The income from government grants was also substantially increased during this period.

Prior to joining the Australian Committee for UNICEF Limited, Ms. Phillips was employed by the New South Wales (NSW) State Government in various capacities, in increasingly responsible administrative and management positions. These included the Government Departments of Technical and Further Education, Corrective Services, Business and Consumer Affairs, the Police Service and the NSW Education and Training Foundation.

Ms. Phillips is recognised for her involvement in the fight against HIV/AIDS which spans more than 20 years, beginning in the early-mid 80s when AIDS was first emerging as a health and social problem in Australia. She was part of the original education unit under the New South Wales AIDS Bureau when it was first set up in the mid-1980s. Her commitment to the cause continued when she joined UNICEF Australia in 1992. Under her leadership as CEO, UNICEF Australia established HIV/AIDS as a priority program and funded several youth prevention programs in Southern Africa and prevention of mother-to-child treatment programs in South East Asia.

Her steadfastness to the fight against HIV/AIDS continued when she was appointed UNICEF Representative to Malaysia. She has led several dialogues with the Government and established HIV/AIDS as a country office priority, resulting in programs with the Ministry of Health, Ministry of Education as well as the Ministry of Women, Family and Community Development. Her continued leadership around HIV/AIDS issues in Malaysia contributed to the launch of the “Institute of Health Management-UNICEF Collaborative Centre for Health Policy, Enhancement and Appraisal”. The Collaborative Centre aims to produce a variety of research to provide the Government and UNICEF with a reliable source of information and analysis which will feed into its decision-making process.

Ms. Phillips is a national of Australia.