The Global Financing Facility for Women, Children and Adolescents (GFF) welcomes Luc Laviolette as the new Head of the GFF Secretariat. Mr. Laviolette’s appointment comes at a critical time as the GFF is scaling up its support to help countries manage the impacts of multiple crises and build more resilient primary health care that benefits women, children and adolescents.

In his role, Mr. Laviolette will lead the implementation of the GFF’s 2021-2025 strategy to help partner countries to deliver better health for women, children and adolescents. This will include continuing to strengthen the GFF’s country-led model and deepening global and country engagements to maximize the impact of the partnership.

Mr. Laviolette, a Canadian national, led the GFF’s Country Programs from 2017-2020 where he was instrumental in shaping the GFF’s 2021-2025 strategy. He returns to the GFF after leading the World Bank’s human development portfolio for the Maghreb Region and Malta. From 2013 to 2017, he was Program Leader for Human Development for the Central African Republic, Democratic Republic of Congo and Republic of Congo, based in Kinshasa, where he coordinated World Bank investments in health, nutrition, population, education, social protection, gender and fragility. He joined the World Bank as Senior Nutrition Specialist in the South Asia Region in 2009, initially based in New Delhi, India and then in Islamabad, Pakistan. Prior to joining the World Bank, he held several positions including Regional Director for Asia in the non-profit organization Nutrition International, and various positions at the Canadian International Development Agency. He also worked as Counselor to the Executive Director for Canada, China, Spain, Korea and Kuwait at the African Development Bank, based in Abidjan, Cote d’Ivoire and worked at the International Development Research Centre in Canada.

Mr. Laviolette succeeds Monique Vledder who led the GFF Secretariat since its inception, spearheading efforts to broaden the group of stakeholders and the expansion to support 38 countries.