UN Assistant Secretary-General, UNDP Assistant Administrator and Director of the Crisis Bureau
Ms. Shoko Noda began her role as UNDP’s Assistant Administrator and Director of the Crisis Bureau on 13 November 2023. In this role, Ms Noda leads the delivery of UNDP’s Crisis Offer, which supports countries to anticipate, prevent, respond to and recover from crisis, every day, and in every development context.
Throughout her 25-year UN career, Ms Noda has gained extensive experience working in crisis and post-conflict settings. Starting out as a Junior Professional Officer in Tajikistan and Kosovo in 1998, Ms Noda went on to become Assistant Resident Representative in the Federal Republic of Yugoslavia, where she led the Crisis Prevention and Recovery Cluster in 2001 - 2002; and Chef de Cabinet to the Deputy Special Representative of the Secretary-General in the UN Mission in the Democratic Republic of Congo, advising the DSRSG on development and humanitarian matters in 2005.
Ms Noda has also served as Early Recovery Coordination Advisor to the UN Resident Coordinator in Pakistan after the devastating disaster in 2005; Programme Specialist to the UNDP Administrator in New York; and UNDP Deputy Resident Representative in Mongolia, where she led the Early Recovery Programme and managed the response to a humanitarian crisis caused by extreme winter weather.
During her tenure as UNDP Country Director in Nepal, she worked to improve the office’s capacity for post disaster operations, and as UN Resident Coordinator and UNDP Resident Representative in the Maldives, she coordinated UN response to a political crisis in cooperation with DPPA and OHCHR while also acting as the UN’s Designated Official.
Immediately prior to joining the Crisis Bureau, Ms Noda served as Resident Representative for the UNDP India Country Office. She was at the helm through the COVID-19 crisis, supporting and inspiring her team to adapt existing programmes to respond to emerging needs, and ensure that UNDP continued to deliver during the crisis. She also led UNDP’s engagement with India’s G20 Presidency at the country level. The Country Office also received official recognition for its efforts to improve gender equality across all of its work under her leadership.
Ms. Noda holds a bachelor’s degree and a Master of Arts in Political Science from Keio University, Japan. She started her professional career as Researcher in the Behavioural Sciences Department, Mitsubishi Research Institute Inc. in Tokyo.
