Our Team in Uruguay

Pablo Ruiz Hiebra has worked for more than 20 years on governance and post-crisis recovery issues at the United Nations. He was Director of UNDP in Colombia (2017-2019), from where he contributed to the implementation of the Peace Agreement, collaborating closely with the parties to the conflict. Previously, from the UNDP Regional Centre in Panama, he led technical assistance to 20 countries in Latin America and the Caribbean on governance and peacebuilding. He holds a PhD in International Economics and Development, a bachelor’s degree in law and a bachelor’s degree in Community Law.

Specialist in science diplomacy and science, technology, and innovation policies. In his 20 years at UNESCO Mr. Fernández Polcuch was Representative in Peru, Head of Science Policy and Partnerships in the Natural Sciences Sector and Program Specialist in Montevideo, Windhoek and at the Institute of Statistics in Montreal.

Francisco Benavides is Representative of UNICEF Uruguay since April 2022. Previously, he served as UNICEF's Regional Education Advisor for Southeast Asia and the Pacific, and for Latin America and the Caribbean. For more than 8 years he was an Education Policy Analyst in the Education and Skills Directorate of the OECD. He holds a bachelor’s degree in international relations and a master’s degree in political science with a specialization in Development Policy and Peace Studies from Sciences Po, France.

Jan Jarab has been the Representative for South America of the United Nations High Commissioner for Human Rights (OHCHR) since 2019. Previously, he was Representative of the OHCHR in Mexico (2016-2019) and the Regional Office in Europe (2010-2016). Jarab also served at the European Commission in Brussels and in various human rights positions in the Czech Republic.

Lucila Pizzarulli is IOM Uruguay's Ad Interim Office Chief. Her academic background includes studies in Sociology, with academic and work orientation in popular and informal economy. At IOM, she has led Protection issues; Resettlement; Knowledge and information management; Labor migration and development.

Magdalena Furtado worked between 2004 and 2014 at UNFPA. Previously, she carried out consultancies and research for different United Nations organizations and worked in public organizations in Uruguay such as National Institute of Statistics, and the National Administration of Public Education. In the academic field, she was a professor of Statistics and National Economics at Economic Sciences College of the Universidad de la República (Uruguay) as well as a researcher at different institutes.

Manuel Albaladejo has been the representative of the UNIDO Regional Office for Argentina, Chile, Paraguay, and Uruguay since 2017. With more than 20 years of experience, Manuel has led cooperation and research projects on industrial policy, trade competitiveness, circular economy, and industry 4.0. He worked as an academic at the University of Oxford (Queen Elizabeth House).