Our Team in Mauritius

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.

As of 1 July 2023, Director and Representative a.i. of UNESCO’s Multisectoral Regional Office for Eastern Africa, in Nairobi. Total of more than 25 years of progressively responsible experience in the field of environmental sciences, 21 of which on the international platform on issues of development in developing and developed countries with focus on natural resources management (water and environment). Nineteen years working at UNESCO, eight years of experience in the field of bioremediation of hazardous chemicals and ten years in municipal water and wastewater purification. Experience includes representing UNESCO in Uzbekistan, Ethiopia and the African Union, Chief of the Disaster Risk Reduction (DRR) Unit, Global Coordinator of UNESCO’s Water for Human Settlements Programme, Regional Hydrologist for Africa, university lecturing, design and execution of innovative bench-scale treatment systems and mathematical model developments for further scale-up purposes as well as in-situ testing for verification, groundwater remediation and waste management. Authored and co-authored several scientific journal papers and book chapters.

Alia Hirji has joined the Mission to Mauritius and Seychelles from the IOM Sudan where she was based since July 2020. Previous workstations with IOM included Uganda, Kenya, Rwanda and the Maldives.
Alia’s educational background spans from a Master’s Degree in Women Studies and a Graduate Diploma in Refugee and Migration Studies from York University in Toronto, Canada. Alia looks back on more than 17 years of practical experience within IOM in providing direct assistance to vulnerable migrants specifically in the areas of counter-trafficking and migrant protection.

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.

Mr. Abbashar was appointed as the Chief of the UN Office for Disaster Risk Reduction (UNDRR), Regional Office for Africa in 2016. From 2010 to 2015, he was the Chief of the UNDRR Regional Office for Arab States in Cairo, Egypt.
Mr. Abbashar began his United Nations career in the early 1990’s serving as Programme Officer with the UNDP Emergency Unit in Sudan dealing with Operation Lifeline Sudan.

From 1995 - 1997 he served as Field Coordinator in the Department of Humanitarian Affairs in Monrovia during the Liberian civil war, and from 1998 to 1999 he was assigned as Deputy Head office in OCHA Sierra Leone.
He joined the Policy Development and Studies Branch at OCHA Headquarters in New York in 1999, serving as a Humanitarian Affairs Officer focusing on inter- governmental matters related to the Security Council, the General Assembly and the Economic and Social Council.

From 2004 - 2005, Mr. Abbashar served as the Chief of Staff of OCHA. Later- in 2006, he was Chief of the Policy Planning and Analyses Section where he focused on developing policies related to humanitarian affairs and their interface with the UN’s development, political and peacekeeping agendas. In 2006 he helped establish the Central Emergency Response Fund (CERF). Later he was part of the small team that established United Nations Peace-building Support office and the Human Security Trust Fund.

Mr. Abbashar graduated from Khartoum University and obtained an MA in Development Studies from the University of East Anglia.

Ms. Mutavati has served as the UN Women Country Representative in Kenya since 2019. Prior to that, she was the UN Women Deputy Representative in Uganda (2014-2019). In addition, she has held several OIC roles during her work at the UN Women, including Deputy Regional Director a.i. for Eastern and Southern Africa (2023/2024), Representative a.i. in Ethiopia (2022), and Deputy Representative a.i. in South Africa (2019).

Before joining UN Women, Ms. Mutavati worked as the Gender and Human Rights Advisor at UNICEF Zimbabwe (2012-2014), Senior GBV Programme Coordinator (2009-2012), Regional Programme Coordinator (2008-2009) at UNFPA Uganda, National Programme Officer for Gender and Advocacy at UNFPA Zimbabwe (2005-2008), and Programme Manager for Legal Aid at the Zimbabwe Women Lawyers Association (1999-2004).

She holds a Bachelor’s degree in Law (Honours) and a Master’s Degree in Women’s Law from the University of Zimbabwe.

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.

Anne-Rachel Inné is the International Telecommunications Union (ITU) Regional Director for Africa. She also serves as liaison to the African Union and UNECA.

Prior to joining ITU, she was the Senior Vice President of Government Affairs, at the American Registry for Internet Numbers (ARIN) and the primary link to Governments of US, Canada, and more than 25 Caribbean and North Atlantic economies that constitute ARIN’s region and the focal point for International IGOs, IOs and their work.

Immediately prior to working for ARIN, Anne-Rachel was the Internet Corporation for Assigned Names and Numbers (ICANN)’s Vice President Government Engagement in Geneva, Switzerland, and worked for ICANN for 12 years in different policy and higher management positions.

She also worked as the Chief Operations Officer (COO) of the Africa Regional Registry, AFRINIC, taking care of the total registry operations, and governments’ engagement in the Registry’s public policies process.

Anne-Rachel worked at the IICD in The Hague, Netherlands (1998-2001) as several African, Caribbean and South American countries’ programme manager directing multi sector social development projects that were early adopters of ICT/Internet. She produced and publicized Learning by Doing: Lessons emerging from the ICT
Stories Projects for the benefits of the projects and the wider community.

She was a member of the Bureau of the African Group at the World Summit for Information Society (WSIS), as a representative of the African private sector and a member of the Gender Coalition during WSIS with which she helped write Creating Your Own National Gender Programme – A Practical Guide

Anne-Rachel was an entrepreneur and consultant in the ICT4D for several years in developing economies and worked with African Union and UNECA on the African Information Society Initiative and subsequent NICI plans.

She was featured as ICT Expert in the ILO/IOM book for the AUC: African Women at the Service of the Union and a recipient of several awards for her demonstrated immense commitment and continued engagement with African communities.

She is the Chair or member of the Board of several NGOs that work in Digital Skills, Diplomacy in the digital age, African languages and ICTs and is the initiator/participant to several other initiatives around education and Internet/ICTs for Africa, by Africans.
 

Mr. Ashish Shah has been working at the International Trade Centre (ITC) for 23 years in different capacities and is a member of its Senior Management Team. He currently serves as Director, Division of Country Programmes and previously held the post of Acting Deputy Executive Director. He has also spent several years in the Office for Africa, Office for Arab States, the Office of the Executive Director, where he was head of strategic planning, monitoring and evaluation. Prior to joining ITC, he worked first at the International Labour Office in Geneva and then at the United Nations Conference on Trade and Development (UNCTAD) for 6 years.

Mr. Shah brings with him 30 years of international and United Nations experience in the field of trade promotion and development working with policy makers, business support institutions and SMEs across the globe, particularly in Africa, Asia and the Arab Region.

He has extensive experience both in operations and strategic planning, resource mobilization, project design and management, client management and negotiations. He currently leads a team of over 200 people.
Mr. Shah leads, inter alia, ITC’s Innovation Lab. He is also the focal point for donor relations with two of ITC’s biggest donors.

An Indian national, Mr. Shah holds a Bachelor’s Degree in Economics from Jadavpur University, Calcutta, a Master’s degree in Cooperative Economics and a PhD in Economics from Philipps University of Marburg, Germany. He is fluent in several languages.

Based in Nairobi, Kenya, effective August 2024 Ms. Ashita Mittal oversees UNODC programs in 13 countries, including Kenya, Burundi, Comoros, Djibouti, Eritrea, Ethiopia, Madagascar, Mauritius, Rwanda, Seychelles, Somalia, Tanzania, and Uganda. Prior to this position, she served as the Regional Representative for the UNODC Regional Office for Central Asia, based in Tashkent, from September 2014 until July 2024. In this role, she covered Kazakhstan, Kyrgyzstan, Tajikistan, Turkmenistan, and Uzbekistan and provided technical support to UNODC programs in the Southern Caucasus.

Ms. Mittal has extensive experience, having joined UNODC in 1995. Before that, she worked with the World Food Programme in India as well as with civil society on drug and HIV programs and with street and working children. Ms. Mittal has over 38 years of development experience, including 29 years with UNODC focusing on areas such as counter-narcotics, transnational organized crimes, the rule of law, criminal justice and penitentiary reforms, addressing gender-based violence, anti-corruption, and prevention and counter-terrorism. Her work is characterized by a nuanced approach incorporating rights, health, gender, inclusion, and sustainable development perspectives.

She holds a graduate degree in psychology and a master's degree in social work from Delhi University in India. She is a recipient of a Fulbright Fellowship, USA from 1989 to 1990.

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.

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.

Mr. Frederick MUIA has been appointed Director of the ILO Country Office for Madagascar, Comoros, Mauritius and Seychelles, with effect from 1 September 2023.

Born on 18 April 1969, Mr MUIA holds a Diplôme d'Études Approfondies (DEA) in Business Communication and Sociolinguistics from the Université Paul Valéry Montpellier 3, France, and a master's degree in Language and Communication Sciences from the Université de Franche-Comté, Besançon, France.

A global labour, employment and project management executive with over 22 years' experience, focusing on private sector development, employers' organisations, capacity development, stakeholder engagement and tripartism, civil society, governments, the United Nations, bilateral and multilateral organisations, Mr MUIA has recognised expertise and experience in skills development, entrepreneurship and job creation. He has recently developed a keen interest in the digital economy and social media as a means of influencing policy.

Before joining the ILO, Mr MUIA was:
- Project Manager at ERS Global, a project of the Bill & Melinda Gates Foundation, Addis Ababa, Ethiopia.
- Teacher in the training programme for administrators, Financial Institutions Training Centre (FITC), Lagos,
Nigeria.
- Partner, African Union Partnership for Youth Empowerment "1 million by 2021" Initiative, Geneva,
Switzerland and Addis Ababa, Ethiopia.
- Senior Adviser for Africa, International Organisation of Employers, Geneva, Switzerland.
- Head of Investment and Government Relations, French Trade Commission for East Africa, Nairobi, Kenya.
- Lecturer at the University of Nairobi, Kenya.

Mr. MUIA is married and has three children.

Mr. Haitian Lu leads the Capacity Development Programme Management Office (CDPMO) of DESA. The Office manages and coordinates the capacity development function of the Department through the formulation, coordination and implementation of the Department’s capacity development activities for the coherent and integrated delivery of capacity development programmes, projects and other activities and the promotion of direct and effective translation of intergovernmental outcomes into the operation programmes.


The Office supports the Under-Secretary-General in his role as Programme Manager of the United Nations Development Account, and in promoting strategic cooperation and partnerships within the Secretariat and with the Account, and in promoting strategic cooperation and partnerships within the Secretariat and with the United Nations development system at large, including the resident coordinator system, to promote more coherent, coordinated and cross-sectoral support for the implementation of the two agendas.

Igor Ciobanu, a Moldovan national, has served as Ad-interim Representative at the UNHCR South African Multi Country Office, covering Botswana, Comoros, Eswatini, Lesotho, Madagascar, Mauritius, Namibia, Seychelles, and South Africa, since 1 August 2024. Prior to this, he was Deputy Representative since February 2021. He brings over 29 years of experience in diplomacy, humanitarian work, law, and academia.
Mr. Ciobanu began his career in 1992 at Moldova's Ministry of Justice before leading European affairs at the Ministry of Foreign Affairs. He subsequently served as Director of International Relations at ULIM University, where he taught and published extensively on human rights.

Since joining the UNHCR in 1998, he has led refugee and humanitarian operations in Moldova, Serbia, Kosovo, Uganda, South Sudan, Central Europe, Kyrgyzstan, Greece, Sudan, Namibia, and Bangladesh, with a focus on emergency response, refugee protection, statelessness eradication, and peacebuilding. He speaks English, Russian, Romanian and French.

Mr. Joseph Rostand Olinga Biwole works as Representative and Country Director for the International Fund for Agricultural Development (IFAD) in Madagascar; also covering Comoros, Mauritius and Seychelles. Prior to this, he was Acting Country Director for Burundi from March to December 2021. From September 2019 to February 2021, he was Programme Officer at IFAD’s Sub-Regional Office for East Africa and the Indian Ocean in Nairobi-Kenya. He joined IFAD in 2014 as Programme Officer, where he held a portfolio covering Cameroon, the Central African Republic and Gabon.

Prior to joining IFAD in 2014, he worked for national and international development and humanitarian organizations. From 2000 to 2004 he worked in Cameroon with different NGOs. In 2004, he joined the UN Inter-Agency Unit for Coordination of Reintegration in Burundi; worked as Reintegration Officer and as Programme Officer of the UNV Country Programme, respectively. In 2009 he moved to Chad to serve in the UNDP Recovery Programme in eastern Chad as Technical Specialist in charge of socioeconomic recovery. He was promoted in 2010 to Recovery Programme Coordinator and in 2013 to Head of the Field Coordination Office in Eastern Chad, respectively.

M. Olinga Biwole holds an engineering degree in agronomy from the University of Dschang / Cameroon. He also holds a Diploma in Local Development from the ILO Training Centre/Turin-Italy as well as a Master of Arts in International Relations and Affairs from The Fletcher School of Law and Diplomacy/Tufts University in Massachusetts-United States.

Ms Josiane Yaguibou joined the UNFPA Country Office in Madagascar on July 19, 2023 as Representative and Country Director for Comoros, Mauritius and Seychelles.

Before Madagascar, Josiane served as the UNFPA Country Representative in Togo and in Mali. Prior to that, she was the Representative (a.i) for UNFPA in Eritrea and the Family Planning Policy Adviser overseeing twenty-three East and Southern African countries, based in Johanesburg.

Josiane is a seasoned Development professional with over two decades of increasing leadership, management, advocacy, operational expertise providing support to challenging multifaceted complex environments implementing triple Nexus Humanitarian Operations. She brings to Madagascar, Comoros, Mauritius and Seychelles, a solid background in national and international project management implementing triple Nexus humanitarian operations, advancing women, adolescent and young people access to sexual and reproductive rights, and advocating to eliminate gender-based violence. She is a Champion for mobilizing resources in defiant circumstances, in donor orphan contexts while fostering private partnerships and raising first time ever funds.

Josiane holds a Master degree in Economics from Paris IX DAUPHINE University, France and a Bachelor of Administration from the University Quebec in Montreal, Canada.

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.

Mr. Nikhil Seth joined UNITAR as its Executive Director on Oct 1, 2015. During his term UNITAR has grown significantly in the number of beneficiaries of its services and its work has been aligned to the pillars of the 2030 Agenda and the SDGs.

Before assuming the post of the UNITAR Executive Director, Nikhil Seth was the Director of the Division for Sustainable Development, Department of Economic and Social Affairs (DESA) at the United Nations Secretariat in New York. In this role he served as head of the Rio+20 secretariat and of the secretariat for the Third International Conference on Small Island Developing States, spearheading the preparations for these conferences in Rio, Brazil, and Apia, Samoa. He was also closely engaged in coordinating and advancing their follow-up.

In the United Nations Mr. Seth served as the Director for ECOSOC, Secretary of the Economic and Financial Committee (2nd Committee), Secretary of ECOSOC and with the USG of DESA. He was closely involved with many of the Summits and Conferences of the 1990’s – as a delegate from India and as part of the support secretariat.

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.

Pedro Manuel Moreno of Spain was named Deputy Secretary-General of the United Nations Conference on Trade and Development (UNCTAD) by the United Nations Secretary-General on 4 November 2022.

He has over 20 years of experience of working for multilateral and intergovernmental organizations in programme, management and strategic positions both in the field and in headquarters. Mr. Moreno’s extensive experience includes having worked as Deputy Secretary-General of the Communication for Development Committee at the Spanish Commission for UNESCO (1999-2004) and for the UN Development Programme (2004-2014), including in Ecuador, in New York as part of the Human Development Report team and in the Regional Bureau for Latin America and the Caribbean. He helped drive UN Human Development Reports and supported programmes on poverty eradication, Millennium Development Goals as well as human development initiatives.
In 2014, he was appointed Director of the Cabinet of the Ibero-American General Secretariat in Madrid, an intergovernmental organization bringing together 22 member states of Europe, Latin America and the Caribbean. He coordinated key political processes such as summits of heads of state in Mexico (2014), Colombia (2016), Guatemala (2018) and Andorra (2020), over 30 ministerial summits and South-South cooperation projects in the region.

In September 2021 he was named Chief of Staff and Director of the Office of UNCTAD’s Secretary-General.
Mr. Moreno holds a master’s degree in public policy and political sociology from the Ecole Doctorale at the Institut d’Etudes Politiques de Paris (Sciences Po) and a master’s degree in international cooperation and project management from the Universidad Complutense de Madrid. He has a bachelor’s degree with honors in political communications and international relations. He has taught at the Universidad Complutense de Madrid and completed specialized training at Columbia University and other institutions.

Mr. Moreno was awarded the Cross of the Royal Order of Isabel la Católica, the highest civil decoration granted by the King of Spain to people who have made outstanding contributions to the improvement of cooperation among countries.

He is fluent in English, French, Spanish and Italian.

Mr. Rainer Frauenfeld is the Director of UNOPS Kenya Multi-Country Office (KEMC). He previously held the position of Adviser for Risk Reduction and Recovery in UNOPS Headquarters in Copenhagen.

Rainer began his career with the UN, as a JPO at UNDP in Sri Lanka in 1996 and has since worked both within and outside the UN in a range of post-disaster and post-conflict settings. In 1998, Rainer joined UNOPS to continue work on the Jaffna programme. Subsequently he worked on humanitarian and stabilization matters for a number of UN agencies in East Timor, Ethiopia, Haiti and Afghanistan and a brief assignment with the International Water Association in London.

In early 2005, Rainer moved to Sri Lanka to re-establish and then run the UNOPS office after the Indian Ocean Tsunami struck. The work included injecting money into tsunami-affected communities by hiring local people to reconstruct damaged infrastructure, implement environmental and infrastructure initiatives, and manage large segments of the conflict-related humanitarian response with partners.

In early 2010, after the earthquake in Haiti, Rainer led the first phase of the UNOPS emergency response focusing mainly on building shelters and assessing structural damage to people’s homes and established UNOPS in Haiti. He has also supported the development and management of UNOPS operations in Afghanistan and overseen UNOPS country programmes in Indonesia and the Maldives.

Prior to taking up her role as the Director and Regional Representative of UNEP Africa Office, Ms. Rose Mwebaza served as the Director and Advisory Board Secretary of the United Nations Climate Technology Centre & Network (CTCN), the implementation arm of the UN Framework Convention on Climate Change (UNFCCC) Technology Mechanism.

Ms. Mwebaza was a lecturer at Makerere University between 1997 and 2008 where she also served as the Head of Department for Commercial Law, and Deputy Dean of the Law School. She then served as the Regional Policy Adviser for Eastern and Southern Africa on Climate Change in the Environment and Energy Group, at the United Nations Development Programme Bureau for Development Policy in Johannesburg, South Africa. She later served as Programme Manager for UNDP’s regional office for Africa in Addis Ababa, Ethiopia, where she was also designated as Advisor to the Chairperson of the African Union and Advisor to the Committee of Heads of State and Government on Climate Change. Rose then joined the banking sector and served as Chief Natural Resources Officer at the African Development Bank in Abidjan, Ivory Coast.

Ms. Mwebaza holds a Ph.D. in Environment and Natural Resource Governance from Macquarie University, Sydney, Australia; a master’s degree in international Comparative Law (With a Certificate of Academic Excellence) from the University of Florida, U.S.A, and a Bachelor of Laws Degree (LL. B, Hons.) from Makerere University, Kampala, Uganda. She is a Carl Duisburg Research fellow at the World Conservation Union (IUCN), a member of the UN Master Minds, a Member of the Association of Environmental Law Lecturers in Africa, and a founding member of the Network for African Women Environmentalists.

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.