Yin Yin Nwe

Yin Yin Nwe (born c.1952) is a Burmese geologist. She has held important
positions with UNICEF since 1991, and was appointed UNICEF Representative to
China on 1 December 2006.

Yin Yin Nwe's father is Sao Saimong Mangrai, a member of the princely
Kengtung State and a highly regarded scholar on Shan State and the Head of
the Shan State Education Department during the post-Independence years.
Yin Yin Nwe's mother is Daw Mi Mi Khaing, also a scholar and a former
Principal of Kambawza School. Her father, Sao Saimong, had an
administrative career after the Shan principalities agreed to become part of
the Union of Burma, and was Chief Education Officer for Shan and Kayah
States. Her mother was the author of Burmese Family, a book on Burmese
culture and was one of the first women to write in English about Burmese
culture and traditions.[1][2] Yin Yin Nwe is of Mon ancestry on her mother's
side[2] and of Tai ancestry on her father's side, given that the state of
Kengtung originated in the 13th century, when the Chiang Mai dynasty
founded a new kingdom which was named Lanna, sending a prince to
Kengtung to establish a separate kingdom.
Yin Yin Nwe obtained a Bachelor of Science degree from Yangon University
and later finished a Doctor of Philosophy in the Earth Sciences from the
University of Cambridge.[3] She also has a Master of Science in Public Policy
and Management from London University. She served for 19 years at the
Geology Department of Yangon University.
In 1991, Yin Yin Nwe joined UNICEF as an Environment Project Officer and
from 1992 to 1994, she was UNICEF Programme Officer for Central and
Eastern Europe and the Commonwealth of Independent States, the Central
Asian Republics and Albania. From 1994 to 1999, she worked a regional
advisor for western and central Africa in Abidjan, Cte dIvoire.[3] In 1999, she
was appointed UNICEF Regional Planning Officer for the Middle East and
North Africa and in June 2005 appointed UNICEF Chief of Tsunami Support
and did much work in Indonesia to help victims. She became the UNICEF
Representative to China on 1 December 2006.[1][3] Dr. Yin Yin Nwe retired
from UNICEF in 2011.

In August, 2012, the President of Myanmar appointed Dr. Yin Yin Nwe as a
member of an Inquiry Commission to look into communal violence in
Myanmar's Rakhine State. The commission completed its work and
submitted a report in 2013.[4]
In June 2014, the President of Myanmar appointed Dr. Yin Yin Nwe as Chief
Education Advisor.[5] Prior to that she had also served as an advisor to the
Myanmar Peace Center (MPC), and was a member of the National Economic
and Social Advisory Council as well as a member of the Education Promotion
Implementation Committee (EPIC), promoting education reform. [6]

Personal life
She is fluent in English, French and Bahasa Indonesia and in 2006 was
reported to be learning to speak Chinese fluently due to her new position. [1]

Yin Yin Nwe

Born

Personal details
1952 (age 6465)
Kengtung, Shan State, Myanmar

Nationali
Burmese
ty
Spouse(s Phyo Wai Win (divorced)[citation
needed]
)
Parents Sao Saimong, Mi Mi Khaing
Alma Rangoon University
mater University of Cambridge
University Professor
Professio
Geologist
n
UNICEF Representative to China
Religion Theravada Buddhism