DILI, 27 october 2022 (TATOLI) – The new United Nations Population Fund (UNFPA) representative to Timor-Leste, Pressia Arifin-Cabo presented her credentials to the Vice-Minister of Foreign Affairs and Cooperation, Julião da Silva, today.
Pressia Arifín-Cabo, a Filipino national, has recently joined UNFPA as the Representative for Timor-Leste.
Pressia comes to UNFPA with 20 years of professional experience in development and humanitarian work, and with specific expertise working in conflict-affected countries, having worked as a Regional Emergency Specialist in the UNICEF Regional Office for South Asia, where she helped manage important emergencies such as the 2015 Nepal earthquake and the 2016 Afghan returnee crisis.
She previously served as the Deputy Representative for UNICEF in Mexico, where her work was instrumental in the seven-fold increase in program budget through public and private sector fundraising, strategic positioning of the youth and adolescent agenda with the government, building the country office’s emergency capacity and the scale-up of UNICEF’s work at the federal and state levels.
“I am very pleased that finally, I can present my credentials to the government and so now I can start working together with different ministries and pushing forward the agenda that we have in terms of Sexual and Reproductive Health (SRH), Gender-Based Violence, Youth and also Population and Development,” Pressia told TATOLI at the Ministry of Foreign Affairs and Cooperation (MoFAC), in Dili.
She said that 74% of the Timorese population is under the age of 35, of which 40% are under the age of 15: “Thus, it is a concern on how much we are prioritizing youth in the development agenda. So, it also means that we have to ensure that there is enough budget allocation for youth programs.”
“There should be increased access to different services, education, employment, and sexual and reproductive health to ensure the well-being of the adolescence and youth in the country,” she said.
Pressia Arifín-Cabo will serve a three-year mission as the United Nations Population Fund (UNFPA) representative in Timor-Leste.
Pressia has an MSc in Public Financial Management from the School of Oriental and African Studies, University of London; a Magister in International Relations and American Studies from the Eberhard-Karls-Universitaet Tuebingen in Germany, as well as a Bachelor of Arts in Political Science from the University of the Philippines.
Journalist: Filomeno Martins
Editor: Nelia Borges
