Our team in Yemen

Lieutenant General (retired) Abhijit Guha is the Head of the United Nations Mission to support the Hudaydah Agreement (UNMHA) and the Chair of the Redeployment Coordination Committee (RCC). General Guha brings 39 years of national and international military experience to this position.

Mr Aidan O’leary first joined the UN as Deputy Director of UNRWA Operations in the Gaza Strip (2006 -2011). He then served as Head of OCHA Office in Afghanistan (2011- 3014); Chief of Polio Eradication with UNICEF in Pakistan (2015-2017); Head of the Regional Office for the Syria Crisis (August 2017 – March 2018) and Head of Office, OCHA Iraq, from March 2018 until his appointment in Yemen.

Ali is the National Program Coordinator of the International Labour Organization (ILO) in Yemen since October 2012. During his tenure, he has contributed to enhance the engagement with constituents and development partners. He came to ILO after six years working with international organisations as expert in economics, results-based planning, monitoring and evaluation. Ali holds a Master's Degree in Public Administration from the University of Jordan.

Dr Anna Paolini is UNESCO Representative in the Arab States of the Gulf and Yemen and Director of the UNESCO Doha Office since September 2013. Prior appointments include Head of Office in Uzbekistan and Jordan. She holds a MA in Architecture and in Urban and Regional Planning, a post-graduate degree in Development Cooperation and a Ph.D in Territorial Engineering.

Mr Auke Lootsma has been serving in Yemen as the Resident Representative since February 2019 and as the Country Director since August 2016. Previously, he has served in Rwanda, Ukraine, Sudan, and Uganda. He holds a Master of Science in Business Administration and Development Economics.

With 20 years of experience in humanitarian response, development and migration management, Christa provides strategic guidance for IOM’s work in Yemen. During 14 years in DFID, she established a track record in improving large-scale programming in contexts like Afghanistan and Pakistan. Prior, Christa held positions in the British Red Cross and the International Committee of the Red Cross.

Ms Cristina Albertin is the UNODC Regional Representative for the Middle East and North Africa. With a UN career spanning 28 years, Ms. Albertin joined UNODC in 1994, serving in Peru and Vienna before becoming UNODC Representative in Bolivia, South Asia, and Nigeria.

In 2014, Dina established the UNWomen presence in Yemen, leading UN Women’s engagement in Women Peace and Security and Humanitarian action. Dina holds a Master’s degree in Business Administration and International Management and a Bachelor's degree in Economics. She has served in several representation and senior positions with UNWomen as well as UNFPA and UNESCO.

Mr Musani was appointed to the post of WHO Representative in Yemen in October 2018. With over two decades of humanitarian experience in tow, Mr Musani’s work spans global, regional, and local levels of WHO. Currently, he oversees the Organization’s largest mission, managing over 300 staff across all offices and hubs in Yemen, Amman, and Djibouti.

Fayyaz brings a wealth of construction/engineering, development, and project management experience of more than 20 years in all facets and phases of the projects to his current role. In particular, he has valuable experience and knowhow in successfully implementing projects and programmes within post-conflict and emergency settings. He is a recipient of the UN Core Values award.

Mr Gadain joined FAO in 2006 as Water Coordinator for the Somalia Water and Land Information Management project (SWALIM) based in Nairobi, Kenya. From 2013 to 2016, he served as Chief Technical Advisor of the FAO SWALIM project in Nairobi. From 2016 to 2019, he was FAO Representative in Egypt.

Jean-Nicolas has worked for more than 21 years with the UN in the areas of Human Rights (OHCHR), Peacekeeping (DPKO) and Child Protection/Education (UNICEF) at Headquarters and in the field (Cameroon, DRC, Uganda, Afghanistan, the MENA region) before joining UNHCR in Lebanon as Deputy Representative for Protection and Inter-Agency Coordination and most recently as UNHCR Representative in Canada. He worked on emergency responses in Iraq, Libya and Syria and specialized in the protection of civilians, transitional justice, women’s rights, elections and poverty eradication.

Mr Kareem Ismail is the IMF resident representative for Iraq and Yemen. He previously worked in the IMF’s Strategy, Policy, and Review Department on emerging markets and low-income countries, and in the African department. During that time, he helped design and implement programs including in fragile states, and co-authored policy papers on IMF lending. He holds a Ph.D. from the Johns Hopkins University.

Laurent Bukera joined WFP in 1994 as a Programme Officer in Burundi and has worked in Uganda, Sudan and Senegal as well as at the Headquarters in Rome. He most recently served as Country Director in Somalia. Laurent speaks French, English, Italian and Spanish.

Nestor brings with him over 20 years of experience with UNFPA and the UN system. He is no stranger to Arab region and joins us from the UNFPA Iraq office where he served as the Deputy Representative for the whole of Iraq and as head of UNFPA’s sub-office in the Kurdistan region.

As the Country manager for Yemen, Raja leads and implements the World Bank’s country engagement strategy in Yemen. She also manages the partnership with Yemeni authorities, civil society, the private sector, and international development partners for Yemen’s recovery and reconstruction, and provides strategic leadership to the country team.

UNICEF Representative since February 2019, Ms Sara Nyanti began her development career as a Special Assistant in Liberia’s Ministry of Health; and later Director of the National AIDS Control Programme (1998-2003). Since then, she worked for United Nations programmes and funds in Nepal, Namibia and Nigeria before becoming UNICEF Representative in the Gambia from May 2015 to May 2017.

Mr Wael Al-Ashhab, a Jordanian National, has a degree in Civil Engineering with more than 30 years of experience, including in programme management, policy development, urban planning, design and implementation of infrastructure projects. He started his career with UNICEF in 1999 and joined UN-Habitat in 2007.