Patricia Garcia AO

Patricia Garcia AO is an internationally recognised humanitarian leader with more than 20 years of experience working in some of the world’s most complex conflict and post-conflict environments, including Afghanistan, Sudan, South Sudan, Bosnia and Myanmar. She has led large-scale humanitarian aid and development programs supporting refugees and internally displaced persons, holding senior roles as Programme Manager and Director with international NGOs and UN agencies such as Oxfam, UNHCR, UNOPS, Norwegian Church Aid, German Agro Action, Peace Winds Japan, Austcare, and Act for Peace. She also served as Sudan Country Director for Concordis International.

Patricia is widely respected for her work in humanitarian advocacy, peacebuilding, and human rights, with a strong focus on Women, Peace and Security, conflict prevention, and the UN 2030 Sustainable Development Goals. As former Program Manager for the United Nations Association of Australia’s Sustainable Development Goals portfolio, she established and led the national SDGs program. She is an Honorary Associate at the School of Social and Political Sciences at the University of Sydney.

Her contributions have been recognised nationally and internationally. In 2016, Patricia was appointed an Officer of the General Division of the Order of Australia (AO) in the Queen’s Birthday Honours. She was also named a State Finalist for Australian of the Year and has received an Australian Federal Government award for services to the overseas humanitarian sector. In 2014, she was featured in the UNSW Australian Human Rights Centre’s photographic exhibition Positively Remarkable: People Ending Violence Against Women.

A Rotary Peace Fellow, Patricia completed her professional certificate at the Rotary Peace Centre at Chulalongkorn University in Bangkok. She is currently Partnership Development Manager at the Institute for Economics & Peace and serves as a Board Director of the Sydney Peace Foundation. Fluent in English, Spanish, and French, Patricia is a compelling and authoritative speaker who brings deep field experience, policy insight, and a strong commitment to justice, peace, and inclusive leadership.