Assistant Director General, Ambassador, Head of Sub-Saharan Africa Division
Nicolas Randin was born in 1967 and his place of origin is Rances in the canton of Vaud, Switzerland. Following his federal baccalaureate in science, he studied at EPFL, graduating with a degree in rural engineering in 1991. He subsequently gained a specialist degree in hydrogeology from the University of Neuchâtel in 1996.
Prior to his career in international development cooperation, he worked for an engineering and environmental consultancy firm in Lausanne, for the International Committee of the Red Cross (Mozambique, Angola and East Timor), and on international research projects at EPFL. In 1999, he joined the Swiss Agency for Development and Cooperation (SDC) at the Swiss Department of Foreign Affairs. He was initially posted to Peru (1999–2002) and Mozambique (2002–2006) and later joined the East Asia Division in Bern. He headed the cooperation offices in Niger (2010–2012) and Burkina Faso (2012–2014) before moving to the Permanent Mission of Switzerland to the United Nations in New York (2014–2018). On returning to Bern, he became the head of the Analysis and Policy Division. In 2022, he took up the position of assistant director and head of the SDC's Sub-Saharan Africa Division.
