Ms. Sarah Poole is a development professional with more than 25 years of experience working in field and headquarters assignments engaged with Africa, Europe and the CIS, and the Arab States. Since 1999, she has served in several leadership position in the United Nations Development Programme (UNDP), most recently as the Regional Director a.i. for Arab States. Prior to this, she was the Deputy Assistant Administrator and Deputy Director of the Regional Bureau for Arab States, the Deputy Director of the Bureau for Programme and Policy Support; Senior Advisor for the Europe and CIS Region; Deputy Resident Representative and Resident Representative a.i. in Turkey; Team Leader for the Western Balkans, Turkey and Cyprus; Senior Advisor on UN Reform and Strategic Initiatives; and global team leader on post-crisis reintegration and recovery.
Before joining UNDP, Sarah served as the Deputy and Regional Refugee Coordinator with the US State Department’s Bureau for Population, Refugees and Migration in Bosnia-Herzegovina, Croatia and Serbia-Montenegro between 1996-1999; and with USAID’s Office of US Foreign Disaster Assistance in Rwanda, Burundi, and Bosnia-Herzegovina from 1994 to 1996.
Sarah holds a MSc in Government from the London School of Economics and Political Science, and a BA in Political Science from the University of Michigan in Ann Arbor.