Brian Williams, Marc Andre Franche, Jenny Karlsen
Brian Williams
Resident Coordinator in Albania
Brian J. Williams is the United Nations Resident Coordinator and United Nations Development Programme Resident Representative in Albania. Prior to his assignment in Albania, Mr. Williams served as Chief of Financing for Peacebuilding with the UN Peacebuilding Support Office at the United Nations Secretariat in New York. Under his leadership, the Peacebuilding Fund has funded over $300 million to over 25 post-conflict countries, with a focus on those on the agenda of the UN Peacebuilding Commission. Prior to the work with the Peacebuilding Support Office, Mr. Williams focused on public health, in particular the global HIV crisis. From 2004 to 2008, he served as the UNAIDS Country Coordinator in Myanmar. From 2001-2004, Mr. Williams worked at the UNAIDS Headquarters in Geneva in the country-support division. Since 1990, Mr. Williams has been involved in humanitarian assistance, governance, rule of law and post-conflict recovery in Pakistan, Afghanistan, Cambodia, the Democratic Republic of Congo, Burundi and Rwanda. Mr. Williams has served as consultant for a number of United Nations Agencies and development organizations including the United States Agency for International Development and CARE International. Mr. Williams holds a Master’s degree in Public Affairs from the Woodrow Wilson School at Princeton University, and an undergraduate degree in engineering from Harvard University. Mr. Williams is married and has two children.
Marc-André Franche
Chief, Financing for the Peacebuilding Branch of the Peacebuilding Support Office
Marc-André Franche spent his professional career working in international development and conflict prevention with the United Nations. He serves as Chief of the UN Secretary General’s Peacebuilding Fund supporting over 30 countries worldwide to prevent violence, relapse into conflict and reconciliation. The Fund is the UN’s quick response, catalytic and risk tolerant funding vehicle to sustain peace. Prior to this assignment he was the Country Director of the UN’s Development Programme (UNDP) in Pakistan from 2013 to 2016, where he led a large team working on conflict prevention, governance and climate change adaptation. He was Deputy Director of UNDP in Haiti, a position he has held from 2008 to 2012 where he oversaw the implementation of programs addressing governance, rule of law reform, improvement of livelihoods and environmental protection notably in the context of the post-earthquake recovery and reconstruction. Between 2004 and 2008, Marc-André worked for UNDP in New York as Program Adviser for conflict prevention in Latin America and the Caribbean. In this capacity, he managed regional program on conflict prevention and supported consensus building and dialogue in the region. Prior to that he worked on applied research and policy dialogue in conflict prevention for UNDP in Colombia from 2001 to 2004, and poverty reduction and local governance for UNDP in Bolivia from 1998 to 2001. Marc-André is Canadian and Colombian. He holds an Master degrees in Politics of Development from LSE, and European Studies from Lund University and a BSc in Political Science from Université de Montréal.
Jenny Karlsen
Partnerships Development and Resource Mobilization Officer at the Water Supply and Sanitation Collaborative Council (WSSCC)
Jenny has more than 10 years of experience in managing donor relations, private sector fundraising, strategic projects and coordination within the UN System. She started her career with Citigroup Investment Banking and has since worked with WFP, UN, UNDP and UNOPS. She has worked in UK, Italy, Islamic Republic of Iran, United States of America, Jordan/Iraq, Brazil, China and Switzerland. Jenny’s focus and passion lies within the potential of developing transformational multi-stakeholder partnerships and projects engaging the UN, traditional donors, private sector, NGOs and business platforms such as Global Compact. She has experience of developing various private sector partnerships including with major corporations such as Nike, Vodafone, Citigroup and national level business associations in Brazil. In the UNDP Brazil Country Office, Jenny successfully supported the implementation of a new strategy for partnerships integrating work on private sector engagement, inclusive markets, south-south cooperation and domestic fundraising. Jenny is currently leading the efforts on resource mobilization and development of strategic partnerships at the UNOPS-hosted initiative, Water Supply and Sanitation Collaborative Council, based in Geneva. In this role, she is seeking to further both traditional and non-traditional partnerships for funding and strategic engagement. This includes innovative financing mechanisms relating sanitation and hygiene to outcomes such as gender empowerment and health. Jenny is an economist by training from Stockholm School of Economics and London School of Economics.