Our Team in Liberia

Ms. Christine N. Umutoni of Rwanda is the United Nations Resident Coordinator in Liberia. She recently served as the United Nations (UN) Resident Coordinator in Mauritius and Seychelles. She was already in this position prior to the UN reform. Previously, she was the UN Resident and Humanitarian Coordinator and UN Development Programme (UNDP) Resident Representative in Eritrea.

Ms. Umutoni also worked for UNDP as Country Director in Zimbabwe, Country Advisor in the Regional Bureau for Africa at Headquarters in New York, and Head of Governance, Justice, Gender and HIV Units in Rwanda. In this capacity, she supported the production of Rwanda's first-ever Joint Governance Assessment report and capacity building to governance institutions covering elections, anti-corruption, justice, human rights and peacebuilding.

Prior to joining the UN system, she worked as a development consultant, focusing on governance and gender. Ms. Christine N. Umutoni has worked with the Rwandan Government in various capacities. She has served as both Rwanda's Ambassador to Belgium, also accredited to the Netherlands, Luxembourg, the European Union and the Vatican, based in Brussels and Rwanda's Ambassador to Uganda.

Before her diplomatic assignments, she worked in the Office of the President as Advisor on Economic and Social Affairs and supported the process of the elaboration of Rwanda’s poverty reduction strategy among other things. Ms. Umutoni also served as Director of Cabinet at the Ministry of Rehabilitation and Social Integration in 1994, after the war and genocide. She was responsible for policy formulation, coordination of ministry activities, and international fundraising for post-genocide rehabilitation and reconstruction activities in Rwanda.

She also coordinated humanitarian aid, reconstruction, repatriation/resettlement of refugees and displaced persons, and provided assistance to vulnerable groups, including widows and orphans. From 1988 to 1994, she worked as Chairperson of the Rwandese Refugees Foundation and contributed to various types of work during the crisis period in Rwanda.

Ifeoma Charles-Monwuba joined UNOPS in August 2018 as Anglophone West Africa Hub Director/Representative (Ghana, Gambia, Liberia, Nigeria and Sierra Leone). She is a development specialist with more than 20 years’ experience in public health, development communication, social marketing and advertising. Ifeoma spent several years (2009-2018) with ActionAid and held a variety of roles in Nigeria, Haiti, and Senegal where she was ActionAid Country Director. Before that she served as Head of Governance, Policy and Partnerships for WaterAid Nigeria (2005 -2009). Prior to WaterAid, Ifeoma worked for Nigeria’s foremost public health NGO, the Society for Family Health (SFH) and in the private sector for a leading Nigerian advertising agency. Ifeoma also has mutli-disciplinary training in various areas related to gender and women development, international law, human resource management, and international health and population studies.

Ms. Ana Fonseca serves as the IOM Chief of Mission in Conakry, Guinea, and holds the position of non-resident Chief of Mission of IOM to Liberia. She assumed leadership of the Conakry mission in May 2021 and the Liberia mission in September 2021. Ana, based in Conakry, Guinea, oversees both missions with a focus on managing activities, program development, fundraising, institutional liaison, and the promotion of IOM services and strategy in Liberia and Guinea. With over two decades of experience, having joined the organization in April 1999, Ms. Fonseca plays a pivotal role in advancing IOM's mission and objectives in both countries.
Ms. Fonseca has twenty years of professional experience on international migration, public representation, and management with specialty in the fields of migration management and direct assistance to migrants, return migration and reintegration. She has verse experience on policy formulation for international cooperation in the field of migration.
Ms. Ana Fonseca is a key developer of IOM’s global footprint, and she also has long standing experience in designing and managing international projects with regional and global scope.
In that capacity, she has also been trained as a trainer, with various thematic training modules (internal and external) designed and delivered at regional level in Asia and the Pacific, Central, North America and the Caribbean, South America, West Africa, MENA, East and Southern Africa. This also includes National trainings in Afghanistan, China, Belarus, and Cyprus.

Mr. Andrew Brooks is the UNICEF Representative to Liberia, effective 19th February 2024. He brings over three decades of experience in the protection of children’s rights, gained across diverse humanitarian and development contexts, both at regional and country level. Mr. Brooks' unwavering commitment to children's rights and his proven track record of impactful interventions will be instrumental in advancing the well-being of Liberian children.

Mr. Brooks has served in various leadership roles within UNICEF since 1999, with a strong focus on child protection in West and Central Africa. He most recently oversaw child protection initiatives across 21 countries as the Regional Advisor for East and Southern Africa, demonstrating his profound understanding of regional dynamics and a commitment to collaborative engagement. Prior to this, Mr. Brooks held key positions in Senegal, Tanzania, Sri Lanka, Sierra Leone, Côte d'Ivoire and UNICEF’s Regional Office for West and Central Africa, from where he tackled child protection and child rights challenges in conflict, post-disaster, and development settings, including Liberia.

Mr. Brooks arrives in Liberia with an understanding of the unique challenges and opportunities facing the country's children and a commitment to learning more about how UNICEF can best contribute to these. He will work closely with the Liberian government, civil society, and communities to identify and address critical child protection concerns, including violence, exploitation, abuse, and neglect. Mr. Brooks is committed to promoting a rights-based approach that empowers children and ensures their participation in shaping their future.

Mr. Brooks holds an M.A./Cantab in English Literature from Cambridge University and a Masters in Social Work from Nottingham University, reflecting his dedication to both frontline practice and thoughtful and evidence-based l research and advocacy. He is a citizen of the United Kingdom but was born and spent the first half of his childhood in Burundi, bringing a broad cultural perspective and is looking forward to learning more about the Liberian context.

In this new role, Mr. Brooks will build upon UNICEF's strong partnership with the government and people of Liberia. He is committed to collaborating effectively to contribute towards further developing a country where every child thrives and reaches their full potential.

Christian MUKOSA has been appointed as the Country Representative and Chief of the Office, United Nations Office of the High Commissioner for Human Rights (OHCHR) in Liberia. He brings to this position more than 25 years of experience in human rights, rule of law, transitional justice, peace and security and management. Prior to this position, Christian was the Senior Human Rights Adviser to the United Nations Resident Coordinator (UN RC) and the United Nations Country Team (UNCT) in Sierra Leone providing technical and policy support to the UN RC, UNCT, government ministries, Human Rights Commission of Sierra Leone, and civil society organizations.

He has previously worked at the OHCHR Headquarters in Geneva where he provided policy advice, methodological, technical, and capacity building support to OHCHR field presences and UNCTs. He also assisted UNCTs in the implementation of UN global human rights policies including the UN Human Rights Due Diligence Policy (HRDDP).

Christian has worked extensively in conflict and post-conflict settings including in the context of United Nations Peacekeeping Operations. He was a Team Leader in the United Nations Mission in South Sudan (UNMISS) and Head of the Abidjan Human Rights Regional Office of the then United Nations Operation in Côte d’Ivoire (ONUCI).

Before joining the United Nations, Christian worked for more than a decade for international humanitarian and human rights organizations. He also worked as a lawyer- admitted to the Bar in 1997- and a Lecturer in Human Rights Law. Christian holds a post-university degree in International Human Rights Law from the Louvain Catholic University (UCL) in Belgium in addition to a master’s degree in Law and various specialised certificates in the field of the Rule of Law, Justice, and Human Rights. He is fluent in English, French, Kiswahili, and Lingala.

Comfort Lamptey is the Country Representative for UN Women Liberia with effect from
24 March 2022. Ms. Lamptey is a development practitioner and the immediate past UN
Women Representative to Nigeria and ECOWAS. She has an established track-record of
working to advance women’s rights in the Africa region and globally. Ms. Lamptey has
served in senior advisory and management positions with different UN entities in New
York, Geneva and in countries across Africa. Her work within the UN spans assignments
with the UN Development Programme, the UN Refugee Agency, the Department of
Peacekeeping Operations and more recently UN Women. She has worked extensively on
issues of governance, peace and security and has been instrumental in helping to establish
the policy architecture on gender peace and security in the context of UN peacekeeping.
Ms. Lamptey's professional experience also includes work in the non-governmental
sector. She has further supported the establishment and growth of women’s regional
networks to advance peace and development in Africa, including the Federation of
African Women’s Peace Network, the Mano River Union Women’s Network, the G5
Sahel Women’s Network and more recently the Nigeria chapter of the Africa Women’s
Leadership Network.

She has also served on the board of a number of African-based organizations working to
advance governance and development, including the Centre for Democratic Development
(CDD) and the Africa Leadership Centre. Ms. Lamptey hails from Ghana.

Dr Clement Lugala Peter (MD, MPH, FAIH) is the WHO Representative for Liberia. He was assigned to Liberia after serving as the Officer in-charge for the WHO country office in Nigeria for 16 months.

Prior to assuming the responsibility of the officer in charge in Nigeria, Dr Clement was the Team Lead for the WHO Health Emergencies Program in Nigeria.

Dr Clement has been in Liberia as senior technical officer with the WHO country office for a period of over 10 years and overseeing the
Disease Prevention and Control and WHO Emergency programs.

He is a Public Health Expert with nearly 20 years’ experience and brings a wealth of experience in Public health.

Before his current role, Mr Ahemesah ( Ghana) has worked since 1997 with UNAIDS in Ghana, Nigeria, Liberia and Malawi in different positions. He also worked with the Catholic Relief Services (CRS), the Voluntary Service Overseas (VSO), the Netherland Development Organization (SNV).
Mr Ahemesah is a public health practitioner. He holds a Master of Public Health in Health Systems Management from Tulane University, USA and a Master’s in Health Development from Royal Tropical Institute, Netherlands.

Mr. Jesus AGUILAR CEREZO is currently serving as WACI Regional Programme Coordinator for United Nations Office on Drugs and Crime (UNODC) in West Africa.
Mr. Aguilar has over 20 years of progressively experience in providing policing expertise and technical services to enhance intelligence collection and analysis, surveillance, investigations, tactical operations and international coordination for Law Enforcement Agencies. He has also provided technical assistance with the aim of planning, designing and managing appropriate measures to address the drugs and crime situation and providing technical advice, support and coordination with regards to a broad range of specialized training activities for Law Enforcement Agencies, aimed at strengthening the expertise, operations and investigations.
Mr. Aguilar has worked for United Nations Integrated Peacebuilding Office in Sierra Leone (UNIPSIL) as a Counter Narcotics and Organized Crime Advisor. Prior to that, he worked for the Spanish Army and for the Spanish National Police as a Chief Inspector.
Mr. Aguilar holds a master’s degree in criminology from Salamanca University, Spain and a master’s degree in Archaeology from Alcala de Henares University, Spain.

Lamine Sow has over 25 years of experience in the education sector with more than 18 years in leadership roles as OIC/Senior Education Programme Advisor, UNESCO Abuja Regional Office. Chief of Party and Chief Education Officer across West Africa, including crises and conflict effected environments like Liberia, Democratic Republic of Congo, Djibouti and Niger. He started his career in primary education in 2003 with USAID Literacy Enhancement Assistance Program (LEAP) program and since then has worked across early grade reading, teacher training and development, curriculum and textbook development, education policy, school leadership and early childhood development focused programming. In his current and previous roles as a Chief of Party of the USAID, Early Grade Reading Activity in Liberia and Senior Education Advisor with USAID ACCELERE! I-Read Project program in DRC, he provides technical assistance in improving learning outcomes in more than 4,000 primary schools, with special focus on reading in mother tongues.

Lamine started his career as a teacher and later worked inside the Ministry of Education in Guinea. Lamine Sow is a skilled manager, technical expert, and diplomatic leader able to build alliances and achieve results across programming in close collaboration with national and international stakeholders. Overseeing technical implementation, he manages groups of national and international and consultants as large as 250 in the design, development, planning, and implementation of teacher training and early grade reading materials in a variety of local languages, French and English. From 2008-2017 Mr. Sow served in senior education management roles with UNICEF in Togo, Senegal and Niger, focusing on developing new education sector policy and programming in improved access and inclusion, quality education and teaching and learning, policy dialogue and sector coordination. As a part of this, in Senegal, was the design and implementation of an accelerated learning programme for primary school aged out of school children

Lamine holds a master’s degree in Public Policy and Management from Carnegie Mellon University and a bachelor’s degree in Education. Fluent in English and French.

Ms. Mary Njoroge, a Kenyan citizen, brings over 30 years of dedicated
experience with the World Food Programme to her role as Country Director
and Representative at the WFP Liberia Country Office. Throughout her
career, Ms. Njoroge has held various roles across diverse regions including
Kenya, Lesotho, WFP HQ in Rome, Georgia (Tbilisi), Ethiopia, and Djibouti.
Ms. Njoroge's career highlights include 10 years of leadership and
management experience, notably as WFP Representative and Country
Director in Djibouti and Lesotho, where she oversaw diverse humanitarian
and development initiatives. Her expertise includes emergency response
and preparedness, social protection, school feeding, resilience building, and
nutrition, with a strong focus on strengthening national capacities. She has
also successfully managed the WFP Regional Humanitarian Logistics Hub,
supporting operations in Ethiopia, Yemen, South Sudan, Somalia, and
Djibouti.
Ms. Njoroge holds a master’s degree of science in Population Health from
the London School of Economics, a master’s degree in science management
in Rural Development from Wye College, University of London, UK, and a
Bachelor of Arts in Social Work from the University of Nairobi, Kenya.

Ms. Bidisha Pillai assumed the post of the United Nations Population Fund (UNFPA) Liberia Country Office Representative on 07 June 2022.

Before joining UNFPA, Ms. Pillai worked with Save the Children International as Global Policy, Advocacy, and Campaigns Director from 2020 to 2022, with Save the Children in India as Chief Executive Officer (2018 – 2020) and as Director of Programmes and Policy (2015 – 2018).

In a career spanning over two decades, she has also worked with the UK DFID in India as Head of Strategy, Results, and Communications; with UNODC and FAO in India on Programme Management and several civil society organizations.
At the start of her career, she worked in the Banking sector for two years.

Ms. Pillai brings significant experience in the social change and development sector, including leadership, strategy and project management; advocacy, campaigns and communications; strategic partnerships and alliance building over the years, including as CEO of the largest child rights CSOs in India.

Having worked on various issues aligned with the SDGs across India, South Asia, and globally, she has gained a broad perspective of current development challenges and the need to address them in an integrated manner.

She is a passionate advocate for child rights, quality education for all, gender equity, ending violence against women and children, and sexual and reproductive health rights for all.
Over the years, she has consistently demonstrated her ability to deliver results at scale, especially by working in partnership with the Government, communities themselves, and other key stakeholders such as the private sector and media, building collective ownership, leveraging their own resources and strengthening programmes and policies through technical assistance.

Ms. Stephen Tchicaya was appointed as the FAO Representative ad interim in Liberia on 1 May 2023. She has over twenty-five years of professional experience in the United Nations System, 18 of which have been in FAO Country, Sub Regional and Regional Offices in Africa. She is a seasoned professional with a background in agricultural economics.

She currently serves as the Senior Policy Officer for the FAO Sub-Regional Office for West Africa in Senegal, leading highly specialized multi-disciplinary teams and providing technical leadership in high-level policy analysis, policy assistance, and governance work to member states at the regional level.

She is also the Programme Leader for Social Protection for Africa in the FAO Regional Office for Africa.
Ms. Stephen Tchicaya has extensive experience in social and agriculturale economic policies, strategic planning, and economic analysis. She possesses a good knowledge of the United Nations system and international development, focusing on regional and sub-regional integration organizations. She is familiar with procedures for mobilizing resources with partners and donors and has participated in the formulation of strategic planning of several documents in the fight against poverty, the formulation of food security projects, and sustainable management of resources and the environment.

She has served previously in several positions within the FAO, including Strategic Planning Officer in the Regional Office for Africa in Ghana and Programme Officer in the Sub regional Office for Central Africa in Gabon. She has also served as Programme Lead in the Office of Support to Decentralized Offices at FAO Headquarters in Rome, leading the UNDS reform for the Decentralized Offices Network.

Before joining FAO, she served as Advisor and Grant Officer at USAID, and Programme Officer for the United Nations Peace Keeping Mission in Haiti. She holds master’s degrees in Economics and International Finance from the American University in Paris, France, and in Human Development, Food Security and Sustainability from Roma Tre University, Italy.

Pascaline Barankeba is a socio-economist development expert with over 24 years of experience in leadership and management, rural development, UN/Donor’s coordination, gender equality, partnerships, and resource mobilisation.

She has served as IFAD Country Director for Liberia and Sierra Leone since 2022 and was previously the IFAD Country Director for West and Central Africa covering Cote d’Ivoire. Before joining IFAD, she worked within other UN agencies in Burkina Faso, Cameroon, and Burundi. She previously led and coordinated various international and national NGOs, worked at the Ministry of Planning and Reconstruction, supported the socio-economic research at the Economic Development Institute in Burundi, and served as an independent consultant.

She is enthusiastic about SDGs, with extensive experience in strategic planning, agri-food systems transformation and rural poverty reduction. She has achieved significant successes in private sector engagement, innovative financing mechanisms, research and policy analysis, institutional capacity building, resource mobilization, gender equality, and peace building in different countries. She coordinated and supported the high level discussions, studies, analysis and advocacies sessions on resilience, nexus and gender & peacebuilding with multi-stakeholders in Sierra Leone, Liberia, Ghana, Rwanda, Kenya, South Africa, Ethiopia, UK, Belgium, USA, Canada, and with the European Union Commission/Belgium as well as the UN Peace Building Commission in New York.

An economist by profession, Ms Barankeba holds a Masters’ Degree in Gender, Institutions and Society from the Light University of Bujumbura in close collaboration with the Catholic University of Louvain/Belgium, and a Degree in Economic and Administration from the University of Burundi. She is certified in Executive Leadership from Harvard Business Publishing and UNDP, and in Human Rights, Health and Discrimination from the University of Geneva.

Ms Vanessa Phala, a South African national is the Country Director of the ILO Country Office for Nigeria, Ghana, Liberia and Sierra Leone. Prior to this appointment, she worked as a Senior Specialist (Employers’ Activities) at the ILO Office for the Caribbean, in Port of Spain. Before that, she undertook several leading roles in the public and private sectors from 2004 to 2016. She was the Executive Director in charge of Social and Transformation Policy at Business Unity South Africa (BUSA), a non-profit company representing organised business in South Africa. She also served as the Director of the Ethics and Integrity Management Unit and Special Anti-corruption Unit of the South African Department of Public Service and Administration. Her professional career began in 2004, as an Assistant Director in the Policy Research and Analysis Unit of the South African Department of International Relations and Cooperation.
Ms Phala graduated from the University of the Witwatersrand in 2004 where she obtained a Master’s Degree in International Relations and from the University of the West Indies in 2021 where she obtained an Executive Master of Business Administration.