UN Appoints New Interim Resident Coordinator for Kazakhstan

As of today Mr. Stephen O'Malley has commenced his role as the United Nations Resident Coordinator ad interim in Kazakhstan. With over 25 years of experience in development and humanitarian work, Mr. O'Malley brings a wealth of expertise to this position, reinforcing the UN’s commitment to advancing sustainable development and resilience in Kazakhstan.

Prior to this role, Mr. O'Malley served as Deputy Director a.i. for Africa 1 in the Operations and Advocacy Division of the United Nations Office for the Coordination of Humanitarian Affairs (OCHA). From 2021 to 2024, he was the Director of the Peer-2-Peer Project under the Interagency Standing Committee’s Emergency Directors Group, focusing on interagency cooperation in emergency response. During 2018-2021, he led OCHA’s office in South Sudan, including a critical assignment as Head of the COVID-19 Team at OCHA HQ in 2020. His previous roles also include serving as UN Resident Coordinator and UNDP Resident Representative for Barbados and the Eastern Caribbean States from 2013 to 2018.

With a career spanning continents, Canadian Mr. O'Malley also held numerous key positions at OCHA’s headquarters in New York, including Deputy Director of the Coordination and Response Division and Chief of the Central Emergency Response Fund Secretariat. Before joining the United Nations, he worked with Médecins Sans Frontières across North America, Europe, and Africa.

Upon his arrival in Kazakhstan, Mr. O'Malley underscored the UN’s commitment to deepening its partnership with Kazakhstan: "I am honoured to take on this role as interim Resident Coordinator. I look forward to collaborating closely with Kazakhstan’s leadership and our key partners, enhancing our efforts to achieve the Sustainable Development Goals."

The UN is deepening its support to Kazakhstan to better support the ambitious vision of the country’s forward-looking development agenda and the Government’s commitment to the Sustainable Development Goals. The UN system in Kazakhstan will remain a rights-based and trusted partner, focused on providing the most relevant policy advice, technical assistance and access to global networks for all partners in the Republic of Kazakhstan.