Our Team in Mauritius

Ms. Lisa Simrique Singh

Lisa Simrique Singh

UN
Resident Coordinator
lisa.singh@un.org
 
 
Ms. Singh brings over 25 years of experience in international development in Asia and Africa continents, including Afghanistan, Bangladesh, Cambodia, Cameroon, Chad, Laos, Nepal, Thailand, Sri Lanka, Uganda, and Vietnam.

Prior to her appointment as United Nations Resident Coordinator, Lisa Singh served as UNDP Resident Representative ad interim (ai) in Chad. She previously worked as UNDP Director of Programme and Deputy Resident Representative ai in Mali. She has significant senior policy expertise advising governments on issues of economic transformation, regional integration, sustainable development, and disaster and climate risk resilience.

As Senior Economist, she led joint UN collective actions to support governments in the finalization of national development strategies (Afghanistan and Cameroon) and more recently with national socioeconomic response planning for COVID-19 (Chad).

Lisa Singh is adept in intergovernmental processes including leadership roles in facilitating regional collaboration, knowledge brokering, south-south partnership, and financing solutions. As Regional Environment Governance Manager in the Mekong Region based in Cambodia, she played a lead role strengthening riparian diplomacy and cross-border capacity building to include work with the private sector and non-government organizations in the Asia Pacific Region.

Ms. Singh obtained her master’s degree in Economics from Simon Fraser University, Vancouver, Canada. She holds a bachelor’s degree in Liberal Arts (Economics and French) from Mount Holyoke College, Massachusetts, USA. She is multilingual with fluency in English, French and Nepali.
Abigail Noko

Abigail Noko

OHCHR
Regional Representative for Southern Africa
anoko@ohchr.org
 
 
Abigail Noko is the Regional Representative for Southern Africa at the Office of the High Commissioner for Human Rights (OHCHR). She has worked at the OHCHR for the past 19 years in various capacities. In her current capacity, she is responsible for overseeing the work of the regional office which covers 14 countries (Angola, Botswana, Comoros, Lesotho, Madagascar, Malawi, Mauritius, Mozambique, Namibia, Seychelles, South Africa, Swaziland, Zambia and Zimbabwe). This includes providing technical assistance and advisory services in human rights to States, United Nations agencies, sub-regional organizations, national human rights institutions, and civil society organizations.
Amanda K. Serumaga

Amanda K. Serumaga

UNDP
Representative
amanda.serumaga@undp.org
 
 
Amanda Serumaga brings more than 22 years working experience in public policy, governance and rule of law, and poverty law. Following a career as a legal advisor and in civil society, she began her UNDP career as Chief Rule of Law and Governance Team leader in Khartoum, Sudan and served as Team Leader Governance and Rule of Law and Deputy Country Director in South Sudan, Coordinator for Prevention of Violent Extremism in the Africa Bureau in New York; and as Country Director in Kenya.
Celine Lemmel

Celine Lemmel

IOM
Chief of Mission
clemmel@iom.int
 
 
Céline Lemmel joined the International Organization for Migration Office in Mauritius in July 2017 as Head of Office covering Mauritius and Seychelles. As a legal expert, specialized in human rights, access to justice and international cooperation, she is an international professional with extensive professional experience in development programming, advocacy and multidisciplinary team management. Prior to joining the IOM, her career led her to work for various international non-governmental organizations as well as for the United Nations in several countries in Central and Western Africa and in Europe, including Belgium, Burundi, Republic of Congo, Guinea, Nigeria and Uganda.
Charles Mbuli Boliko

Charles Mbuli Boliko

FAO
Representative
MbuliCharles.Boliko@fao.org
 
 
Charles Boliko joined FAO headquarters in 1997 as Personnel Officer in the Human Resources Division and thereafter served as FAO Liaison Officer with the UN in New York, in charge of macro-economic policy questions, humanitarian assistance, and human resource management. He later served as Senior Attaché de Cabinet in the Office of the Director-General. From 2009 to 2013, he was Chief of the Recruitment and Staffing Branch in the Human Resources Division at FAO headquarters. In 2013, he was appointed Director of the FAO Liaison Office in Japan where he has significantly contributed to improving FAO’s visibility and collaboration with public, private and non-State actors. He holds a PhD in International Development from Nagoya University in Japan.
Coffi Agossou

Coffi Agossou

ILO
Country Office Director
agossou@ilo.org
 
 
Coffi Agossou is the International Labour Organization (ILO) Country Office Director for Madagascar, Comoros, Mauritius and Seychelles. Prior to this position, he was Senior Labour Statistics Specialist, at ILO Pretoria Office. He was a member of the Decent Work Team for Eastern and Southern Africa. In this capacity he provides technical support to 18 countries and SADC Secretariat in labour statistics and labour market information system. Prior to joining the ILO, he was at UNDP/Regional Centre Dakar, Senegal as Youth Employment Expert for the Regional Programme for Social Cohesion and Youth Employment (YERP).
Dr Anne-Marie Ancia

Dr Anne-Marie Ancia

WHO
Representative
anciaa@who.int
 
 
Dr. Anne Ancia is a medical doctor with a diploma in tropical medicine, a master's in public health, and a master's in international affairs. Since 1995, she has worked in international public health, serving populations in Africa, Asia and the Pacific, the Middle East, and Europe with various international institutions. In Africa, some of the countries she has worked in include RDC, Angola, Madagascar, South Sudan, Guinea Conakry, Sierra Leone, Liberia, and Mozambique.

Most recently she served as the WHO Representative in Sao Tome and Principe. She has 13 years of experience with WHO including 7 years in WHO headquarters in Geneva. She is delighted to now serve in Mauritius where she hopes to effectively contribute to improving the health and well-being of the men, women, and children of this beautiful country.
Director, Regional Department for Africa

Elcia Grandcourt

UNWTO
Director of the Regional Department for Africa
egrandcourt@unwto.org
 
 
Elcia Grandcourt joined the World Tourism Organisation in 2013 as Director of the Regional Department for Africa. Elcia began her tourism career studying Hotel Management in Singapore at the Singapore Hotel Association and Education Centre (SHATEC). Thereafter, she occupied various positions in operations, reservations and sales mainly in hotels. She worked with the Seychelles national airline and destination management companies before joining the public sector as deputy Chief Executive Officer of the Seychelles Tourism Board, and thereafter Chief Executive Officer. Passionate about tourism, Elcia is honoured to be able to contribute towards sustainable tourism development in Africa.
Eunice G. Kamwendo UN ECA

Eunice G. Kamwendo

UN ECA
Director of the Southern Africa Sub Regional Office
eunice.kamwendo@un.org
 
 
Eunice G. Kamwendo was appointed as Director for the United Nations Economic Commission for Africa, Southern Africa Sub Regional Office in Lusaka, Zambia. Ms. Kamwendo has devoted more than 20 years of her professional career to economic development, analysis and policy research both with the UN and externally. Within the UN System, she spent the last 14 years with UNDP at global and regional levels in New York and South Africa. Ms. Kamwendo was most recently a Senior Strategic Advisor, leading research, strategy and analysis for UNDP Africa in New York; Policy Advisor with UNDP’s Bureau for Development Policy also in New York; and Policy Advisor for East and Southern Africa for UNDP’s Regional Service Centre in South Africa. Before that, she worked as an Economic Governance Research Analyst for the continental African Peer Review Mechanism (APRM) in South Africa where she contributed to the first country reviews of South Africa, Uganda, Nigeria and Zambia. Prior to her international career, Eunice was a Senior Economist and special advisor to the Secretary to the Treasury on macroeconomic issues and engagements with the IMF in the Ministry of Finance in Malawi.
Frank Turyatunga (UNEP)

Frank Turyatunga

UNEP
Acting Director and Regional Representative
frank.turyatunga@un.org
 
 
Frank Turyatunga has enormous wealth of environmental programme and policy implementation experience having served as Regional Coordinator for Africa, Early Warning and Assessment Sub Programme, and previously with GRID-Arendal, a UNEP Collaborating Centre in Norway where he was in charge of its Africa Programme. Frank's first assignment at UNEP was as a Programme Officer with its Disaster Management Branch based in Geneva, Switzerland.
Before joining the United Nations, Frank worked as an environmental expert within the Government of Uganda during which he was part of a team mandated to set up the Ministry of Environment Protection and later the establishment of the National Environmental Management Authority. Frank is a Ugandan Citizen who holds an MSc in Natural Resource Management from Edinburgh University, a BSc in Forestry from Makerere University and a Diploma in Geographical Information Systems and Remote Sensing from École Polytechnique Fédérale de Lausanne.
Head of Regional Office for Southern & Eastern Africa Gemma Connell

Gemma Connell

OCHA
Head of Regional Office for Southern & Eastern Africa
connell@un.org
 
 
Gemma Connell is currently the Head of the OCHA's Regional Office for Southern and Eastern Africa, a position where she oversees frontline surge to 25 countries. Prior to this, Gemma served as OCHA’s Deputy Head of Office in South Sudan, where she led humanitarian coordination, including during the famine response, oversaw the humanitarian pooled fund, and steered strategic advocacy. Before South Sudan, Gemma held a number of positions at OCHA Headquarters, during which time she travelled on mission to many of the world’s hotspots. In addition, Gemma worked on global strategic processes, such as the IASC’s Transformative Agenda.
Hubert Gijzen Regional Director and Representative UNESCO

Hubert Gijzen

UNESCO
Regional Director and Representative
h.gijzen@unesco.org
 
 
Hubert Gijzen joined the UN in 2006 as the Director of the UNESCO Regional Science Bureau for Asia and the Pacific based in Jakarta, Indonesia. In 2015, he was appointed as the Regional Director of the UNESCO Regional Office for Southern Africa in Harare, Zimbabwe. As per July 2021 he serves as UNESCO Regional Director for Eastern Africa in Nairobi, and as UNESCO Representative to Kenya, Comoros, Djibouti, Eritrea, Madagascar, Mauritius, Rwanda, Seychelles, Somalia and Uganda. He is the UNESCO Representative to SADC and COMESA, serves on the UN Regional Directors Team and is member of the UN Regional Coordination Platform for Africa. He holds a PhD in Biotechnology, and has an established career of over 38 years in both academics and international cooperation for sustainable development.
Ibrahima Bamba

Ibrahima Bamba

IFAD
Country Director for Madagascar, Comoros, Mauritius and Seychelles
i.bamba@ifad.org
 
 
Prior to working in the Indian Ocean Islands, Ibrahima Bamba was in charge of the management of IFAD country programme in Mauritania, Chad and Central African Republic. His professional experience includes the CGIR supported Africa Rice Center where he worked as a Policy Economist in Cotonou, Benin, as well as various consultancies mission with WFP including on the Special Project Unit of WFP working on a pilot Index insurance initiative in Rome, Italy and Dakar, Senegal. Ibrahima holds a PhD in Agricultural Economics from the University of Kentucky in USA and a Maîtrise des sciences économiques from the University Aix-Marseille II in France.
Jude Padayachy

Jude Padayachy

UNAIDS
Country Director for Madagascar, Comoros, Mauritius and Seychelles
padayachyj@unaids.org
 
 
Prior to his nomination to the post of UNAIDS Country Director for Madagascar, Comoros, Mauritius and Seychelles, Jude Padayachy was the principal strategic information adviser at the UNAIDS Headquarters in Geneva from 2013 to 2017. He has served in the same function from 2010 to 2013 in the UNAIDS multicountry office for Madagascar, Comoros, Mauritius and Seychelles, and from 2003 to 2007 in UNAIDS South Africa.
Country Director for Comoros, Mauritius and Seychelles

Koffi Kouame

UNFPA
Country Director for Comoros, Mauritius and Seychelles
kouame@unfpa.org
 
 
Koffi Kouame took office at the UNFPA Country Office in Madagascar on 2 January 2021 as Representative and Country Director for Comoros, Mauritius and Seychelles. Before coming to Madagascar, he served as the UNFPA Country Representative in Afghanistan and Papua New Guinea. Prior to that, he was the Deputy Country Representative for UNFPA in Nigeria and Programme Manager for UNFPA in Sierra Leone and Senegal. Before joining UNFPA, Koffi served as the Africa Region Research and Evaluation Manager for the International Planned Parenthood Federation in Kenya and as In Charge of Studies for the Department of Demography, National Statistical Institute at the Ministry of Planning of the Republic of Côte d’Ivoire.
UNHCR South Africa Representative

Leonard Zulu

UNHCR
Representative
zulu@unhcr.org
 
 
Leonard Zulu, an international human rights and refugee law specialist, is the Representative for the United Nations High Commissioner for Refugees (UNHCR) in South Africa. Before taking up this position, he was Deputy-Director for UNHCR Southern Africa Regional Bureau. He previously served UNHCR, at its Headquarters, as Head of the Legal and Policy Unit of the Regional Bureau for Africa, in Geneva. Prior to that assignment he was Senior Legal Officer at the UNHCR Representation for the United Kingdom of Great Britain and Northern Ireland. He has worked in a number of frontline duty stations, the most recent as Senior Protection Coordinator for the UNHCR Refugee Operation in the Dadaab Refugee Camps, in Kenya, where he served for almost three years.
Maxime Houinato

Maxime Houinato

UN Women
Regional Director for Eastern and Southern Africa Regional Office
maxime.houinato@unwomen.org
 
 
Maxime has been UN Women’s Country Representative in Uganda since 2018 where he contributed to a significant growth of programme through the successful implementation of a robust resource mobilization strategy. Before going to Uganda, Maxime has also served as UN Women's Deputy Regional Director of WCARO (6 years: 2008-2014 in Dakar) and Country Representative in Mali (4 years: 2014-2018 in Bamako). Maxime has been an active member of the UN Regional Quality & Support Assurance (QSA) Team of the UNDG in West Africa, and a key contributor to UN’s "Deliver as One" (DaO) model. He has supported the design and implementation of a series of positive legislation, public policies, and large-scale programmes to promote women’s leadership, the involvement of women in business and critical value-chains as well as ending violence against women and girls. Maxime holds a Master of Business Administration (MBA) from Abomey-Calavi University in Benin, a Master of Arts (MA) in International Development from Brandeis University in the US and a Doctorate (PhD) in Applied Sociology from Cheikh Anta Diop University in Senegal.
Oumar Sylla

Oumar Sylla

Acting Director of the Regional Office for Africa
oumar.sylla@un.org
 
 
Oumar has more than 18 years of academic and practical experience in land, natural resources, conflict resolution, urban development, regional cooperation and partnership. Prior to being appointed as Acting Director for the Regional Office for Africa, Oumar was coordinator of the Urban Legislation, Land and Governance Branch within UN-Habitat. As the Leader of the Land and GLTN Unit, Oumar has led the efforts towards improving tenure security for the vulnerable through the expansion of GLTN’s work at the country level; advocating for wider incorporation of land governance in the overall SDGs agenda towards bridging the gap between rural and urban land nexus, and to build strong partnership on land governance. The Land and GLTN Unit is also supporting tools implementation at country levels to support land administration and policy development.
Mr. Shaukat Abdulrazak, Director for the Division for Africa, Department of Technical Cooperatio

Shaukat Abdulrazak

IAEA
Director of Regional Office
s.abdulrazak@iaea.org
 
 
Shaukat Abdulrazak facilitates IAEA technical cooperation support to 46 countries in Africa. Before joining the IAEA, Shaukat worked as CEO at the Kenya National Commission for Science, Technology and Innovation. He has more than 25 years working experience as a professor and university administrator, chairman and member of national and international boards, including the African Technology Policy Studies (ATPS), the Kenya National Economic Social Council, the African Commission on Nuclear Energy and the International Centre for Genetic Engineering and Biotechnology.
Stephen Bainous Kargbo

Stephen Bainous Kargbo

UNIDO
Representative and Secretariat of the East African Community (EAC)
s.kargbo@unido.org
 
 
Stephen Bainous Kargbo has an accumulated national and international work experience of over 30 years in teaching/research, organizational change and development work. He has held various positions in NGOs, Academia and the UN system (UNDP and UNIDO). Before his current position as UNIDO Representative to Tanzania, Mauritius and the Secretariat of the East African Community (EAC), he worked in the UNIDO Regional Office in Ethiopia, overseeing operations in Burundi, Rwanda and Uganda, as well as activities related to the African Union Commission. Stephen holds a PhD in Agricultural Economics both from the Georg-August University of Goettingen, Germany.
Sylvie Bertrand

Sylvie Bertrand

UNODC
Deputy Regional Representative and Officer-in-Charge, Regional Office for Eastern Africa
sylvie.bertrand@un.org
 
 
Sylvie Bertrand has been based in Nairobi, Kenya, since 2015, supporting technical assistance in thirteen countries covered by the regional office. Serving at UNODC since 2004 in the field (Kenya, South Africa) as Adviser and Programme Coordinator and at Headquarters (Vienna) as Expert, Advocacy and Programme Officer, she has contributed to partnership building, south-south cooperation, portfolio and programme development, management, monitoring and evaluation, as well as technical assistance within UNODC’s mandate, specifically in the field of health and social development, including prevention of Drug Use, Treatment and Care of Drug Use Disorders and HIV and AIDS Prevention and Care for people who use drugs and people in prisons. Prior to joining UNODC, Ms. Bertrand serve at UNDP as Coordination Officer at the Office of the Resident Coordinator in South Africa, supporting large scale events such as the World Summit on Sustainable Development (WSSD) and engaging in first generation UNDAF.