Maria Katajisto Humanitarian Affairs, Civil Protection and Resilience Specialist

Maria Katajisto Humanitarian Affairs, Civil Protection and Resilience Specialist

Maria is a humanitarian affairs, civil protection, emergency preparedness, response and resilience specialist with over 20 years of experience working with the United Nations (OCHA, WFP and UNICEF), European Union (DG ECHO and DG INTPA), Organization for Security and Cooperation (OSCE), International Red Cross and Red Crescent Movement, Finnish governmental bodies and non-governmental organisations across Europe, Asia, Africa and the Middle East.

Her experience covers policy, strategy, operations, programme and project management, coordination and capacity strengthening at headquarters, regional and national levels. Her thematic expertise includes inter-agency humanitarian coordination, disaster risk reduction, climate change adaptation, food security and livelihoods, shelter, health and protection. She has been an active member of the United Nations Disaster Assessment and Coordination (UNDAC), EU Civil Protection Mechanism (UCPM), OSCE Election Observation and Finnish Red Cross expert rosters since 2012, with field deployments and assignments in Nepal, India, Bangladesh, Indonesia, Kenya, Uganda, Rwanda, South Sudan, Ethiopia, Senegal, Malawi, Mozambique, Lebanon, Jordan, Iraq, Ukraine, Moldova, North Macedonia and Bosnia and Herzegovina.

Maria’s additional areas of expertise include diversity and inclusion, protection, community engagement and accountability to affected populations, human rights, democracy and localisation. She has extensive experience in participatory research methods and fieldwork, including assessments, qualitative research, consultations and community engagement across humanitarian, civil protection and development contexts.