Senior Director, UN Relations and Financial Management
Rania Ashraf is Senior Director for UN Relations and Financial Management at the United Nations Foundation. In this role, she provides leadership and oversight of the UN-UN Foundation relationship and corresponding reporting, compliance, and coordination mechanisms, working closely with the Executive Office of the Secretary-General and the UN Office for Partnerships. She also oversees the UN-related grant and business services portfolio, including special project grantmaking and 30+ fiduciary relationships. She manages strategic relationships across the UN system as well as with donors and grantees.
Prior to joining the Foundation in 2012, Rania served as a Project Associate for UNDP where she conducted independent fieldwork in the Chittagong Hill Tracts in Bangladesh, evaluating community-based health services facilitated by UNDP. She developed and implemented research design methods and co-authored a program evaluation report outlining key findings from interviews with relevant stakeholders, barriers to sustainability, and recommendations for an appropriate handover of the program from UNDP to local government officials. Rania also served as an Advisor at New York University where she led the Alternative Breaks program, through which 300+ students participated in public service trips annually, and collaborated with campus and community partners to develop service-learning courses.
Rania holds an MPA in International Policy and Management from the NYU Robert F. Wagner Graduate School of Public Service and a BA in Economics and Psychology from New York University.