Sheema’s UNICEF career, spans both development and complex humanitarian contexts. She has been in her current role as UNICEF Director of Child Protection and Migration for over a year. Prior to this, she has been UNICEF Representative in Iraq, Afghanistan and Deputy Representative in Afghanistan and Bangladesh.
In her various roles, she has led Programmes which focussed on making sustainable changes in systems, policy and service delivery for children and women. Sheema is well experienced in advocating for child rights in complex emergencies. Prior to these, Sheema was Chief of Child Protection Programme in Somalia and in Ghana.
Sheema’s UNICEF career began in Child Protection, with a focus on developing Psychosocial Support Programmes for UNICEF’s emergency response. In the last two decades Sheema has worked in India, Sri Lanka, Myanmar, Ghana, Somalia, Bangladesh, Afghanistan, and Iraq.
A Malaysian national, she holds a Master’s in Clinical Psychology and practiced as a Psychologist and worked for The Calcutta Samaritans prior to joining UNICEF.