Asya Varbanova has 20 years of experience advancing sustainable development and gender equality in complex political, post-conflict and crisis contexts, across Europe, Central and South Asia, and the Middle East.
Currently serving as Head of Humanitarian Section/Deputy Chief. She has led Country Offices of UN Women in Turkiye, Moldova, Serbia and North Macedonia. She has managed development programmes and humanitarian responses in diverse settings, translating normative commitments on women’s rights and empowerment into operational results and spearheading multi-stakeholder partnerships across the UN, government institutions, civil society and private sector to advance impact at scale and institutional and systemic change.
