Profile

Marisa Panyachiva joined the Office of the UN Resident Coordinator in Thailand in January 2021 as a Partnership and Development Finance Officer. She supports the Resident Coordinator and the UN Country Team by providing substantive support for strategic planning and coordination of partnerships. She also facilitates dialogues with partners, including with Government, the private sector, civil society and other relevant stakeholders, to improve development assistance policies and practice. Marisa began her UN career in 2006 with the United Nations Economic and Social Commission for Asia and the Pacific (ESCAP).

She has 15 years of UN experience in developing partnerships and capacity development strategies and supporting programme management at the regional level. A lawyer by background, Marisa has negotiated complex agreements with Member States, facilitated intergovernmental meetings, and managed key partnerships, including with the private sector. She has also helped design innovative development finance frameworks such as the establishment of an inter-regional fund between East Asian and Latin American countries and set up mechanisms for inter-agency pooled funding in the Asia-Pacific region.

Through her work in programme management, Marisa has played a major role in setting up integrated systems accompanied by guidelines and training programmes in ESCAP, including on the gender marker, donor agreements, and partnership arrangements. Prior to joining the United Nations, Marisa was working in the private sector as a lawyer with Baker & McKenzie’s Bangkok Office. During her six years with Baker & McKenzie, she practiced law in the banking and finance practice group.

Marisa graduated with honors from Chulalongkorn University’s Faculty of Law in Thailand and went on to study in Europe and the U.S. She received a Master of Law (cum laude) on international economics and business law from the University of Groningen, in the Netherlands, and a Master of Law on banking and securities law from Georgetown University in Washington, D.C.