There are currently more than one hundred people working for FAO in Cambodia. Most of them are located in the capital, Phnom Penh, of whom about 40 in the Representation. Cambodia joined FAO in 1950 but collaboration was limited to humanitarian assistance during the years of the Khmer Rouge and subsequent period of civil strife. The Representation was re-established in 1992 after the war and is located in a three-story villa located in the city center, close to the offices of most of the sister UN agencies and to the Ministry of Agriculture, Forestry and Fisheries and its departments, which is convenient to avoid the increasingly chaotic Phnom Penh traffic.
FAO Representative
Ms Rebekah Olivia Bell took up her assignment as the FAO Representative in Cambodia on 15 January 2022. She is the third woman to lead the Organization since FAO opened its office in Cambodia in 1994.
A national of Australia, Ms Bell holds a Master of Diplomacy and Trade from Monash University in Australia, a Bachelor of Behavioural Sciences, a Bachelor of Arts in Psychology, and a Bachelor of Arts in Outdoor Education and Environmental Sciences from La Trobe University in Australia.
She joined the FAO Representation in Pakistan in 2019 as Senior Project Officer based in Quetta and acted as FAO Representative ad interim from 01 December 2020 to 23 August 2021. Prior to this role, she undertook various consultancy positions for FAO in Dhaka, Bangladesh, in particular, she served as Project Manager/Project Development Adviser from 2017 to 2018, Project Evaluation Lead and Country Programme Evaluation Adviser from 2015 to 2017. In addition, from 2010 to 2011, she was Food Security and Agriculture Cluster Coordinator in Kabul, Afghanistan, and, in 2009, Project Evaluator and Design Consultant with FAO in Bamiyan, Afghanistan.
She started her career in 2000 as an Associate Lecturer in the School of Psychological Science at La Trobe University in Australia. In 2004, she worked as Senior Policy Advisor in the Department of Immigration and Multicultural and Indigenous Affairs, Government of Australia in Canberra, where she became Assistant Director in 2006. In 2007, she joined the United Nations Development Programme (UNDP) as UN and Donor Coordinator for the Afghanistan National Development Strategy in Kabul and, in 2008, she served as Ministerial Advisor/Emergency Coordinator at the Ministry of Agriculture, Irrigation and Livestock, Government of Afghanistan in Kabul. Between 2009 and 2014, she served in different positions in Afghanistan, in particular Senior Programme Development Officer for Development Alternatives Inc. in Jalalabad, Country Representative ad interim, Information Management and Mine Action Programme in Kabul.
Assistant FAOR (Programme)
Mr. Kosal OUM
Assistant FAOR (Administration)
Mr. Rachna HOR
Head of Operations
Mr. Antonio SCHIAVONE