Gillian Mellsop

Enlarge this image +

From 2003 to 2007 Gillian was the UNICEF Representative in the Pacific and was responsible for managing UNICEF's Multi-Country Programme of Co-operation with 14 Pacific Island Countries.

She has recently taken up the position of UNICEF Representative in Nepal.

After graduating from the University of Auckland with a Bachelors Degree in Anthropology and History, Gillian began her international development career in 1979 with New Zealand's Ministry of Foreign Affairs in the External Division (1979-1982).

She then joined the Australian Agency for International Development (AusAID). Her work with AusAID included serving as AusAID's representative in Australian Embassies in Bangladesh, Laos and India (also covering Nepal and Bhutan), where she was responsible for Australia's development co-operation programmes in those countries.

Gillian was also involved in managing Australia's aid programmes in the Pacific, Papua New Guinea and the Philippines. Prior to joining UNICEF she was the Director of AusAID's UN and Commonwealth Section.

Gillian has a son (16) and a daughter (13) and obtained a Post-graduate Diploma in Community Counselling from the University of Canberra and a Master's Degree in Development Management from the Australian National University.


Issues facing children in Nepal:

  • More than 50,000 children die in Nepal each year, with malnutrition as the underlying cause for more than 60 percent of these deaths.
  • Half of the children in Nepal are underweight and three-fourths of the pregnant women are anaemic. 
  • Fifteen percent of Nepal's wells are contaminated by arsenic. Despite Nepal's high overall coverage of accessibility to drinking water, access to improved water for deprived, disadvantaged communities and conflict-affected rural and fringe urban areas remains low. 
  • Two-thirds of Nepalis are still without access to toilets. 
  • The conflict has had a significant impact on education. Forced closures of schools due to strikes have cut the school year in half in some areas. Teachers have been threatened, assaulted and even killed. Thousands of students have been taken from school for political indoctrination, and some have been recruited into the Maoist forces or militia.