Ms. Esther Kuisch Laroche is the Director of the Division of Specialized Operational Support.
Ms. Kuisch Laroche joined UNDSS from the UN Educational, Scientific and Cultural Organization (UNESCO) where she served as the Director of the UNESCO Office in San José and UNESCO Representative to Costa Rica, El Salvador, Honduras, Nicaragua and Panama. From July 2014 to September 2018, she was the Director of the UNESCO Office in Tehran and UNESCO Representative to the Islamic Republic of Iran and Turkmenistan. From 2012 to July 2014, she served as the Chief of the Donor Relations Division of the UN Relief and Works Agency for Palestine Refugees in the Near East (UNRWA) in Jerusalem.
Prior to this, Ms. Kuisch Laroche held roles with the Office of the Coordinator of Humanitarian Affairs (OCHA) and UNICEF, including as the Chief of OCHA's Financial Tracking Service Unit. Prior to joining the UN, she worked with several international NGOs in different countries including Colombia, Liberia, South Africa and Afghanistan, in the fields of development, human rights and humanitarian aid. Ms. Kuisch Laroche holds a Master's degree in Latin American Studies from Leiden University in the Netherlands and a Master's degree in Education (Lifelong Learning and Adult Education) from the Pennsylvania State University in the United States of America.
She is fluent in Dutch, English, French and Spanish with a good working knowledge of German and Brazilian Portuguese. Ms. Kuisch Laroche is a Dutch national. She is married and has three children.