Ms. Gillian Mellsop

Ms. Gillian Mellsop began her international development career in 1979 with New Zealand’s Ministry of Foreign Affairs. In 1982, she joined the Australian Agency for International Development (AusAID) serving in Australian Missions in Bangladesh, India (also covering Nepal and Bhutan), Laos, the Pacific, Papua New Guinea, the Philippines, and lastly as director of AusAID’s UN and Commonwealth Programme.

Gillian joined UNICEF in April 2003 as representative in Suva, Fiji, where she was responsible from the Pacific sub-regional programme covering 14 Pacific island countries. She then served as a representative with UNICEF in Nepal (2006–2011), in China (2011–2015) and Ethiopia (2015–2019).

Since retiring, Gillian has acted as director of the Division of Human Resources in New York (2021), Representative in India (2022) and Senior HR Advisor in Afghanistan (2024). She holds a bachelor’s in anthropology and history from the University of Auckland, a postgraduate diploma in community counselling from the University of Canberra and a master’s in development management from the Australian National University.