2025 Urban School Inaugural conference

Anacláudia Marinheiro Centeno Rossbach

Executive Director, United Nations Human Settlements Programme (UN-Habitat)

Anacláudia Marinheiro Centeno Rossbach, an economist from Brazil, was elected Executive Director of UN-Habitat on 7 June 2024, following her nomination by the United Nations Secretary-General António Guterres and approval by the General Assembly.

She brings more than two decades of experience dedicated to tackling the challenges of precarious and informal urban settlements, advancing social housing, and shaping urban policies. Her career spans leadership roles across international organizations, government, and civil society, combining technical expertise with strategic engagement at local, national, and global levels.

Since 2022, she served as Director for Latin America and the Caribbean at the Lincoln Institute of Land Policy, and from 2014 to 2022, she was Regional Manager for Latin America and the Caribbean at Cities Alliance. In this role, she fostered communities of practice, facilitated knowledge exchange, and provided policy advisory services in countries such as Brazil, Jamaica, Haiti, Guatemala, El Salvador, Mexico, Chile, and Paraguay. She also led the organization’s Global Programme on Informality during the COVID-19 pandemic.

Earlier in her career, from 2005 to 2014, Ms. Rossbach was a Senior Housing Specialist at the World Bank, where she delivered technical assistance and policy dialogue for housing and informal settlement upgrading in Brazil and internationally, including in India, Mozambique, the Philippines, and South Africa. Before that, she contributed to urban development at the Municipality of São Paulo and co-founded Interação, a non-governmental organization affiliated with Slum Dwellers International, leading impactful projects in informal communities in São Paulo State and Recife.

With this unique combination of field experience, policy expertise, and leadership in international organizations, Anacláudia Rossbach brings to UN-Habitat a deep understanding of urban inequality and a proven ability to design and implement inclusive, scalable solutions for sustainable urban development.

Sources : https://www.un.org/sg/en/content/profiles/anacl%C3%A1udia-rossbach-0