Darla Silva

Darla M. Silva is an experienced senior advisor with a demonstrated history of working in child focused international organizations. As the Chief Program Officer, Darla provides direction, vision and voice to organizational leadership on UNICEF USA program strategy, trends, and priorities. She leads the engagement with UNICEF to guide global program investment and oversees the Community Alliance for Child Rights in the US focused on municipal partnerships, youth engagement and child research.

Prior to joining UNICEF USA, she was a Senior Advisor at UNICEF in the Public Partnerships Division (PPD), where she led UNICEF’s partnership engagement with the US government, with a portfolio of over $800 million annually.  Previously she led the Humanitarian Financing Unit in UNICEF and served in the front office of the UNICEF Executive Director.  From 2006 to 2010, she worked as a Humanitarian Affairs Officer at the United Nations Office of the Coordinator for Humanitarian Affairs (OCHA) in Geneva, where she helped coordinate consultations on humanitarian policy issues and served on a surge roster with deployments to Indonesia and Pakistan.

Before joining the United Nations, she was the Deputy Director of Public Policy and Advocacy at UNICEF USA in Washington DC and worked as the Washington Liaison for the Women's Refugee Commission. 

Originally from New Mexico, she is a long-time children's advocate and served as counsel to US Senator Richard J. Durbin (D-IL) on the United States Senate Judiciary Committee.  She also worked as a Children's Court Attorney in New Mexico handling child abuse and neglect cases.

Darla graduated cum laude from Boston University with a B.A. in political science and holds a Juris Doctor from the University of New Mexico.

She lives in Westchester County, New York with her husband, William New.