Regional Director's corner
Sanjay Wijesekera
Sanjay Wijesekera
Regional Director, UNICEF South Asia
Sanjay Wijesekera is in charge of leadership, oversight and guidance to the eight UNICEF country programmes: Afghanistan, Bangladesh, Bhutan, India, Maldives, Nepal, Pakistan and Sri Lanka. He also represents UNICEF with governments, donors, the private sector and civil society in the region.
Before taking up this role, Mr. Wijesekera was Director of Programme Group at UNICEF Headquarters in New York. Prior to that, he was UNICEF Representative in South Africa and Chief of the Water, Sanitation and Hygiene Section and Associate Director of Programmes in New York.
Before joining UNICEF, from 2005 to 2011, Mr. Wijesekera worked at the United Kingdom’s Department for International Development (DFID), where he was responsible for managing overall policy and global programmes related to achieving the water and sanitation Millennium Development Goals. He also worked for DFID in Ghana as an infrastructure adviser, where he helped coordinate a joint assistance strategy for the donor community and was the lead donor representative for the water sector.
Between 2003 and 2005, Mr. Wijesekera worked for UNICEF as a water and sanitation adviser in Nigeria. From 2000 to 2002, he worked for the Department of Water Affairs and Forestry in South Africa, supporting newly formed local governments to take on the responsibility for delivering water and sanitation services, and helping to regulate public and private sector service providers. He also worked on emergency programmes in Rwanda for Oxfam in 1994 and for UNICEF, supporting post-tsunami reconstruction in Sri Lanka in 2005.
Mr. Wijesekera is a national of Sri Lanka. He is a Chartered civil engineer and holds a Master’s degree in Water and Environmental Management from the University of Loughborough, UK.
Notes from the field
Afghanistan
Sanjay Wijesekera met Nematullah, a 2.5-year-old boy, recovering from severe acute malnutrition, treated with ready-to-use therapeutic food (RUTF) and by a nutrition counselor at a UNICEF-supported health facility in Badghis Province, Afghanistan.
Sanjay Wijesekera visited a solar water system in Badghis Province, Afghanistan, which brings clean, safe water directly to the heart of communities.
Bhutan
Sanjay Wijesekera visited the neonatal intensive care unit in Jigme Dorji Wangchuck National Referral Hospital and met doctors took pride in their work and had great ideas, including introducing medical innovations to continue saving lives and provide the best healthcare to the people of Bhutan.
Sanjay Wijesekera met 5-year-old Tshewang, who after joining the Model Inclusive Early Childhood Care and Development Centre, has made incredible progress in developing her motor and communication skills.
India
Sanjay Wijesekera visited a family in Gujarat to understand the empowering effect of the family care scheme and discussed UNICEF's continued support to the Government of India in creating change for children.
Sanjay Wijesekera had enriching conversations with young people from YuWaah India.
Sanjay Wijesekera joined the G20 Empower event in Gandhinagar to discuss how lasting solutions to climate change start with putting women at the heart of decision-making.
Nepal
Sanjay Wijesekera visited Jamunibas, a community that had struggled with drinking water scarcity and relied on non-potable water from private wells. To make it a “water-safe” community, UNICEF supported the installation of a borehole as a solution to the drinking water issue.
Sanjay Wijesekera joined a Health Mother’s Group meeting in Khaira Basti where female Community Health Volunteers work with mothers on nutrition, health messages, hygiene, cash grants and immunization.
Pakistan
Sanjay Wijesekera spoke at a seminar held at Aga Khan University Institute for Global Health and Development on Climate Change Environment & Health, emphasizing the critical need for collaborative action and greater effort to make health systems climate-resilient.
Sanjay Wijesekera met 14-year-old Saba in the Women and Girls’ Safe Space, where she shared her experience of the last year, during which she learned a new skill – embroidery – while building friendships.
Sanjay Wijesekera visited a school, we visited a school left in ruins by the floods. For $20,000, quite a modest sum, UNICEF constructed a climate-resilient transitional school. This structure, raised above ground level to protect it from floodwater, has two classrooms and a staff room powered by solar panels.
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