Our Team in Zambia

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.

Aurelia Patrizia Calabrò is the UNIDO Representative to the AU Commission for Economy, Trade, Industry and Mining and to UNECA. She is also the Director of the Regional Hub in in the Federal Democratic Republic of Ethiopia covering Burundi, Madagascar, Rwanda and Uganda. She assumed her duties in Addis Ababa at UNIDO Regional Hub in November 2018. In June 2022, she has also been appointed as OiC of UNIDO Regional Office in the Republic of South Africa covering additional 10 countries.
Ms. Calabrò, an Italian national, holds a University Degree in International Economy, and a Master-Degree in Theory and Policy for Economic Development. She also has attended post-graduate courses in many parts of the world and speaks 6 languages with a basic knowledge of Amharic.

She started her career at the United Nations Industrial Development Organization (UNIDO) in May 1989 at the Agro-Industries Development Department and during her over 33 years of service, she has specialized in agro-value chains development.

Ms. Cissy Byenkya, a national of Uganda, has been serving as Representative and Country Director of the United Nations World Food Programme (WFP) for Zambia since August 2021. She holds a master’s degree in financial economics from the University of London, a university degree in Economics, and a Post Graduate Diploma in Computer Science from Makerere University. She speaks English and basic French.

Before her appointment to Zambia, she served as Head of WFP Eswatini since February 2019.

Ms. Cissy Byenkya has almost 20 years of working experience within WFP. Committed to the objectives of the Programme to save lives and improve the livelihoods of the most vulnerable populations, she worked in the Uganda Country Office, Nairobi Regional Bureau office and Headquarters in Rome. She has extensive experience in managing all aspects of WFP operations with expertise in the management of programme and resources; supply chain; budget planning and logistics operations. She is skilled in tasks necessary to establish and run effective, large-scale food and nutrition supported programmes.

Dr. Nathan Nsubuga Bakyaita has been WHO Representative to Zambia since 4 December 2017. Nathan is a medical doctor specializing in Public Health with experience spanning 26 years. He joined WHO as M & E Officer in the Malaria Program at WHO-AFRO (2005-2011); Medical Officer Integrated Disease Surveillance and Response (IDSR) at WHO-AFRO in Brazzaville (2011-2013); and WHO Malaria Adviser Kenya (2013-2017). Before joining WHO, he worked with the Ministry of Health, Uganda in the fields of HIV/AIDS control; Malaria Control and IDSR between 1994 and 2005. He holds a degree in Bachelor of Medicine and Bachelor of Surgery (MBChB) from Makerere University Kampala, Uganda and a Masters in Public Health (MPH) from the University of Leeds, United Kingdom.

Tharcisse Barihuta started his assignment as UNAIDS Zambia Country Director in August 2019. He has over 25 years professional experience in prevention and care of communicable diseases programming, oversight implementation, political advocacy, resource mobilisation and leading teams at regional and international levels. He spent four years representing Burundi in the Executive Committee of the Authority of Great Lakes initiative on HIV/AIDS involving Burundi, DRC, Kenya, Tanzania, Uganda and Rwanda, three years with the World Bank, Global Funds to Fight AIDS, Tuberculosis and three years as Special Advisor to the Minister of Health in Djibouti. He has worked with UNAIDS for 11 years and previously served as UNAIDS Country Coordinator in Djibouti, Middle East and North Africa Region, and UNAIDS Country Director in Namibia. Tharcisse is a Physician who worked in hospitals and also taught in medical school.

Ms. Eunice G. Kamwendo was appointed as Director for the United Nations Economic Commission for Africa, Southern Africa Sub Regional Office in Lusaka, Zambia. She leads ECA’s efforts in supporting member states in the sub region towards inclusive industrialization in order to reduce poverty and inequalities.

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. She started her career as an economist in the Ministry of Economic Planning and Development also in Malawi where she contributed to the development of the country’s Vision 2020 and related growth and development strategies.
An economist by training, she holds a Master of Science degree in Economics from the University of Southampton in the UK.

George Okutho has taken his new appointment, with effect from 1st January 2019, as the Director of the ILO Country Office for Zambia, Malawi and Mozambique and Representative to COMESA. Prior to that, he was the Director of the ILO Country Office in Addis Ababa responsible for Ethiopia, Somalia, Djibouti, South Sudan and Sudan. He was also the Special Representative to the African Union (AU) and the United Nations Economic Commission for Africa (ECA). He holds a Master degree (M.Sc) in Human Resources Development from the University of Manchester, U.K; B.Stat (Upper second degree) from Makerere University, Kampala Uganda and has undertaken several courses in and led development cooperation work.

Mr. Ibrahim Peghouma, assumed his role as UNHCR Zambia Officer-in-Charge (OiC) since December 2022. He is the substantive Senior Programme Officer who has served UNHCR in various capacities and field locations including globally.

Prior to his appointment In Zambia, Isaac served for four (4) years in the Pacific region as the UNCDF’s Country Technical Specialist and was responsible for overseeing the financial inclusion programme for the Solomon Islands. He also earlier served as the Digital Finance associate for the UNCDF in Uganda, as well as working with the private sector, specifically from the FMCG, Telecommunication and financial inclusion consulting industries.
Isaac is a national of Uganda and holds a master’s in business administration (MBA) from Makerere University Kampala. He is married with two children.

Ms Livermore joins IOM Zambia with over 15 years of experience in migration management. She previously served as Head of Office in IOM Jamaica.
She also has extensive experience working with governments, international community and development partners.
She holds a Master of Science degree in International Relations.

Ms. Lidia Brito has been appointed the new UNESCO Regional Director for Southern Africa (ROSA) based in Harare Zimbabwe. She took up her position on 1st December 2022
Ms. Brito joins ROSA coming from UNESCO's Regional Bureau for Sciences in Latin America and the Caribbean based in Montevideo, Uruguay.
Ms. Brito has vast experience IN science policy, development plans and monitoring of science policies and instruments, the forestry sector, traditional energy (biomass and coal), management in higher, technical and vocational education, ICTs for development, university professor, researcher, consultant and main manager at national, regional and international institutions, combining academic and practical aspects to promote sustainable development.

Between 2009 and 2014, she was UNESCO’s Director of Science Policy and Capacity-Building at UNESCO Headquarters in Paris, France. She has worked extensively in the advancement of STI for sustainable development. She was the first Minister of Higher Education, Science and Technology of Mozambique (2000-2005) and Vice-Chancellor of the Eduardo Mondlane University (1998 to 2000). From May 2014, she was the Director of the UNESCO Regional Office for Science in Latin America and the Caribbean and UNESCO Representative in Argentina, Paraguay and Uruguay, based in Montevideo.

Lionel Laurens has been UNDP Resident Representative in Zambia since 2019. Prior to this assignment, he served as UNDP Guinea Country Director. From 2014 till 2015, he was UNDP Sierra Leone Head of Programmes and supported in reprogramming its interventions to respond to Ebola.

From 2008 till 2014, he was UNDP Iraq Inclusive Growth and Area Based Development Cluster Team Leader and managed a portfolio of projects focussing on local governance, service delivery, economic recovery and poverty reduction. Prior to that, he worked in Afghanistan from 2005 to 2008 as UNDP Programme Manager engaging with communities to rebuild rural infrastructures, deliver basic services and promote economic development. From 2002 to 2005, he contributed to the launch of the World Bank supported CDD Poverty Reduction Fund in Laos as Senior Technical Advisor. From 1997 till 2002, he worked with the Laotian Government, ILO and UNDP in developing participatory and integrated planning approaches.

Lionel started his career in development 25 years ago, working with NGOs on a variety of humanitarian issues in Cambodia, Haiti, Georgia and Liberia.

Lionel holds a Master of Engineering and Management from the French Ecole Nationale Supérieure des Arts et Métiers, and an MSc in Sustainability and Responsibility at Ashridge Business School, UK.

Miguel Fernando SILES is from Bolivia. He is the UNCTAD ASYCUDA Programme Regional Coordinator for East and Southern Africa. He joined UNCTAD in 1992 and has over 29 years of experience with leading roles in the automation of Customs and Trade Facilitation in several countries in Latin America (Salvador, Honduras, Bolivia, Venezuela), Palestine, the Caribbean and in Africa (Nigeria, Rwanda, Seychelles, Burundi, Uganda, and Zambia). He also joined the IMF on assessment and evaluation missions in the Caribbean. Since November 2015, he supervises and coordinates the ASYCUDA Programme in more than 18 countries in the Region. He holds a degree in Electronic Systems Engineering and a master’s degree in International Trade.

Mutinta Munyati is a Programme Management Specialist. Working in UN-Habitat’s Regional Office for Africa in Nairobi, Kenya; responsible for Strategic Planning and Development Coordination. Mutinta Munyati is the UN-Habitat Task Manager for Zambia. She has worked for over 20 years on issues related to Policy & Programme Development, including developing youth programmes globally and in Africa. A Zambian National she holds a BA in Public Administration and Sociology from the University of Zambia and a Master’s degree in public policy from Erastus University in the Netherlands.

Penelope Campbell is the UNICEF Representative to the Republic of Zambia, based in Lusaka. She took up her post in April 2022. She leads a team working on a broad range of programmes in support of the rights and well-being of children and young people under the UNICEF Country Programme of Cooperation with the Government of the Republic of Zambia.
With a career spanning 20 years in UNICEF, Ms. Campbell has led multiple global programmes focusing on Health, Nutrition, HIV development & humanitarian work. Additionally, she has represented UNICEF at leading international forums and engaging with senior-level stakeholders including local governments to diplomatically drive improvements in the health sector, focusing on women and children, especially from vulnerable communities.
Prior to her appointment as UNICEF Representative to Zambia, Ms. Campbell served as Chief of Health in the Somalia office.
Ms. Campbell is of Jamaican and British descent with a MSc in Health Education & Health Promotion and a BSc (Hons) in Nursing Studies from King’s College, University of London. She is currently pursuing a Doctorate in Public Health with the University of West Indies. She is a wife and mother of three.

Philipp is a national of Germany. Philipp has worked with IFAD’s Eastern and Southern Africa Division as Country Director for Lesotho, Namibia and Botswana since 2019. Before he was supporting IFAD work in China and Bangladesh as well as working with IFAD technical team linking smallholders to markets and increasing access to finance.

Philipp holds a PhD in Agricultural Economics from the University of Bonn, Germany and two Master degrees (Development Economics from the School of Oriental and African Studies, UK and International Business and Cultural Studies from University of Passau, Germany). He has worked with the World Bank on and research organisations before joining IFAD in 2013. Philipp is married and has three children, he enjoys cycling, cooking and travelling.

Rainer Frauenfeld is the Director of the UNOPS, Kenya Multi-Country Office (KEMC) covering East and Southern Africa. He established and led multiple UNOPS emergency and recovery operations in post/conflict and disaster situations. He managed several country and regional offices to provide UNOPS value adding services both in fragile and MIC settings. Prior to joining UNOPS, Rainer worked with multiple UN agencies and missions, NGOs and the private sector. He holds degrees in Law and Development Studies, is married and has two children.

Mr. Seth Broekman assumed his role as UNFPA Country Representative on 11 January 2023.
He brings over 20 years of extensive experience in international development, public health and strategic programme management. Seth comes to Zambia from the Sub-Regional Office for the Caribbean where he, as the Deputy Director, led UNFPA strategic programme planning and implementation in 22 Small Island Developing States.
Before joining the Sub-Regional Office, Seth worked for the UNFPA East and Southern Africa Regional Office where he provided oversight and quality assurance support to 21 Country Offices and UN Country Teams as well as the Regional Office on strategic planning, programme management and UN Reform. He furthermore established and led the UNFPA Office for Northern Nigeria; worked for the ILO Regional Office for Asia and the Pacific as the UN Reform Advisor; and was the M&E technical lead for UNFPA Afghanistan and UNFPA Nepal.
Prior to joining the United Nations, Seth worked in Uganda for an NGO that offers medical and psychosocial services to people living with HIV; and for a large health insurance provider in the Netherlands.
Seth is a national of the Netherlands and holds a Master’s Degree in Health Sciences from Maastricht University with specializations in Health Care Studies, and Health Policy and Administration.

Suze Percy Filippini was FAOR in the Republic of Congo before assuming the same position in Zambia. Having more than 25 years of multi-cultural leadership experience, Percy earlier held various prestigious positions under Government portfolios and represented her Country to the FAO in Rome, the UN in New York and the Organization of the American States (OAS) in Washington DC, enriching her professional experience in diplomacy, sustainable agriculture, strategic planning and programming. Percy Filippini holds Three (3) Master’s degree qualifications in International Service, Arts in Hemispheric Security and Defense, and in Science in Agricultural Engineering.