Our team in UN Eswatini

Alice Akunga is the Resident Representative of UNICEF in Eswatini since 2017. Before this appointment, she held several positions with the organisation, including that of UNICEF Representative to the Maldives, Chief of Education in Abuja, Nigeria and Education Specialist in Nigeria. She had also worked at the UNICEF Regional Office for Eastern and Southern Africa in Nairobi, Kenya. She holds a Masters degree and a PhD in Education from the Kenyatta University in Nairobi, Kenya and a Masters Degree in Education from the University of Illinois-Urbana Champaign, USA.

Beatrice brings to the East and Southern Africa region over 25 years of experience in international and local development, including experience in programme management, particularly around family planning and HIV/AIDS. Prior to her appointment in the East and Southern Africa (ESA) region, Beatrice served as the UNFPA Deputy Regional Director for West and Central Africa Regional Office (WCARO), and also as the Officer-In-Charge for UNFPA Nigeria.

Ms Cissy Byenkya is heading WFP Eswatini Country Office since January 2019. With 20 years of experience with WFP, she has served in different duty stations in Uganda, Kenya and Italy and has extensive experience in managing all aspects of WFP operations with expertise in programme and resource management; supply chain, planning and logistics operations. She holds a Master’s degree in Financial Economics from the University of London, a post-graduate diploma in Computer Science and a Bachelor’s degree in Economics from Makerere University in Uganda.

Joni Musabanyana is the Director of the ILO Decent Work Team based in Pretoria covering 18 countries in Eastern and Southern Africa technically and five countries politically and administratively. Mr Joni Musabayana joined the ILO in 1992. Prior to joining ILO Decent Work Team, he was the Technical Specialist on Enterprise Development in the ILO Sub Regional Office for East Africa in Addis Ababa. Before that, Mr Musabayana worked in the ILO Headquarters, Geneva Switzerland as a Global Programme Manager and as a Chief Technical Adviser in Harare. He a Doctorate in Business Leadership from UNISA, (MBA) and a BSc Political Science and Public Administration.

Dr. Cornelia Atsyor (Ghana) is the Head of the WHO Office in Eswatini since March 2019. Before Eswatini, she worked as head of WHO Country Office in Lesotho, Seychelles. She also worked in senior level WHO positions in Tanzania and Ethiopia. She began her career in Ghana as a senior officer with the Disease Control Department responsible for Child Health activities, on Diarrheal Diseases (CDD) Control and the Expand­ed Program on Immunization (EPI). She holds a degree in Medicine and Surgery from the University of Ghana, a Master’s Degree in Public Health, (Epidemiology) from the Johns Hopkins School of Hygiene and Public Health in Baltimore USA, and a Post Graduate Diploma in Poverty Policy Analysis from Institute of Social Studies from the Hague / REPOA Dar Es Salaam.

Dr. Chimimba David Phiri is the FAO Subregional Coordinator for Eastern Africa and the FAO Representative to the African Union (AU) and the United Nations Economic Commission for Africa (UNECA). He has held several high-level positions with the FAO which he first joined in 1991 as an Economist, including Senior Attaché de Cabinet, Office of Director-General (1998-2008), Chief of the Policy Assistance Support Service in the Technical Cooperation Department (2008 -2013). In 2013, he was appointed as the FAO Subregional Coordinator for Southern Africa and Representative to Zimbabwe, Swaziland and Botswana.

Prof. Hubert Gijzen holds a PhD in Biotechnology and joined UNESCO in 2006 as the Director of the UNESCO Regional Science Bureau for Asia and the Pacific. In 2015, he was appointed as the Regional Director of the newly established UNESCO Regional Office for Southern Africa in Harare, Zimbabwe. In this capacity he also serves as the UNESCO Representative to Botswana, Eswatini, Lesotho, Malawi, South Africa, Zambia, and Zimbabwe. He also is the UNESCO Representative to SADC, and he serves on the UN Regional Directors Team for Eastern and Southern Africa.

Mr Mendes joined the UN Migration Agency (IOM) in the Kingdom of Eswatini in April 2019 as the Head of Office. He also serves as Head of Office for Angola and Namibia. Mr. Mendes started his career with the agency in IOM Mozambique in 2013. He has extensive experience in project development and management in the areas of migration health, humanitarian resettlement, movement management, facilitated migration, counter-trafficking and diaspora engagement. Prior to his appointment to the Kingdom of Eswatini, Mr. Mendes served in Angola, Namibia, Federated Republic of Micronesia and Republic of Marshall Islands (RMI).

Rose Ssebatindira (Uganda) has worked with UNDP for more than 17 years, most recently as UNDP Deputy Resident Representative in Eritrea, where she served for the past 5 years before her re-assignment as UNDP Resident Representative to the kingdom Eswatini. Before that, Rose worked with the World Bank in Ethiopia and UNDP in Uganda. She has a Master of Arts degree in International Relations from The Fletcher School of Law and Diplomacy, Tufts University and a Master of Science degree in Environment and Natural Resource Management from Makerere University.

Mr Tim Rwabuhemba joined UNAIDS Swaziland Office in July 2015. He brings to this position over 20 years of professional service in the UN system at the international and country levels with substantive experience in AIDS programming including work with young people, faith communities, key affected individuals, and PLHIV. He notably served as the UNAIDS Country Director for Fiji/Pacific (2010 -2015), and in Papua New Guinea (2006- 2010) and as the UNAIDS Country Coordinator in Lesotho (2002- 2006).

Valentin Tapsoba (Burkina Faso) is covering Eswatini in his quality of UNHCR Regional Director for Southern Africa, a position to which he was appointed on 1 February 2019. Valentin has worked with UNHCR for the past twenty-six years in various leadership capacities at its Headquarters in Geneva and several field operations in sub-Saharan Africa and Asia. He holds a master’s degree in economics from Ouagadougou University and a master’s degree in International Transactions from George Mason University, in the United States.