Our Team in Suriname

Joanna Kazana-Wisniowiecki has over 20 years of experience in international development cooperation. Prior to this appointment, she was the UN Resident Coordinator in the Republic of Belarus where she positioned the UN system as an impartial and neutral partner and substantive authority on sustainable development in the context of upper-middle income countries. She led the UN response to COVID-19 and supported the UN system’s action for refugees and migrants. Since the beginning of her tenure, she has strongly advocated for and collaborated closely with NGOs addressing human rights and sustainable development in Belarus.

Before that, Ms. Kazana-Wisniowiecki worked for the United Nations Development Programme (UNDP) Regional Bureau for Europe and the Commonwealth of Independent States (CIS) in New York, providing support to UNDP country offices in Europe and Central Asia and working closely with UNDP’s strategic partners, including the UN Member States’ missions in New York. She represented UNDP on the Steering Committee of UNDP-Russia Development Trust Fund and, together with the Department of Political Affairs, led the work of the Inter-Agency Task Force on Ukraine.

From 2005-2010, Ms. Kazana-Wisniowiecki served as UNDP Deputy Representative in Ukraine, and created one of UNDP’s largest local development projects “Community Based Approach to Local Development in Ukraine”.

She began her professional career in Poland where she worked as a UNDP National Programme Officer in Warsaw, then as an international consultant for the United Nations Programme on HIV/AIDS (UNAIDS), and as an Advisor on international programme development and harm reduction for the Soros Foundation. She has facilitated South-South cooperation and knowledge transfer on HIV/AIDS prevention and care.

Ms. Kazana-Wisniowiecki hold a Master’s degree in Economics and International Relations from the Warsaw School of Economics.

Berdi Beridyev brings 19 years of experience within the UN system, including 15 years with UNDP in the SIDS, LDC, UMIC, fragile and post-conflict country contexts.

He started his professional journey as a Political Affairs officer/International UN Volunteer in the UN Peacekeeping Mission in Kosovo (SCR1244) and as UN coordination consultant in Timor-Leste before joining UNDP as Policy Specialist in New York through the LEAD Programme.

He served at global, regional and country office levels overseeing programme and operations, policy development; project implementation and oversight, partnerships, people and change management. Most recently, Mr Berdiyev served as Country Manager/Deputy Resident Representative (P/O), head of the UN Local Team and the UN Area Security Coordinator in the Solomon Islands (MCO Pacific Region) where he built a robust portfolio on Effective Governance, Climate Action, Energy Transition and Digital Transformation and positioned UNDP as a strategic development partner in the context of country’s LDC graduation and COVID crisis response.

Previously, Mr Berdiyev worked in the Regional Bureau for Europe and Central Asia in New York (RBEC), where he oversaw programmatic and management support to UNDP’s operations in Turkey, Cyprus and the Western Balkans. He also served as Assistant Country Director (Programme) in Ukraine, and the Deputy Resident Representative ad interim in Belarus and Kazakhstan.

Mr Berdiyev holds an MPhil in Development Studies (Cambridge University, UK) and an LLM in International Comparative Law (European University Institute, Florence, Italy).

Brian Bogart has over 20 years of experience managing humanitarian and development programmes at the global, regional and national levels. As the newly designated Country Director for the WFP Caribbean Multi-Country Office, which coordinates support for 22 countries and territories as well as several regional institutions, he oversees WFP’s work throughout the English and Dutch-speaking Caribbean in the areas of social protection, disaster risk management and food systems.

Before joining the MCO, Mr. Bogart served as Deputy Country Director for WFP Tanzania. He has served in a variety of roles throughout his WFP career, including Senior Regional Pro-gramme Advisor for Southern Africa, Strategic Advisor in the New York Global Office and HQ, and emergency coordination roles in Ukraine, Mozambique, the Horn of Africa, Sudan, and South Sudan. He began his career with WFP in 2005 as a Congressional Hunger Fellow in Cambodia.

Mr. Bogart is a national of the United States and holds an MA in International Relations from the University of Kent at Canterbury and a BA in Political Science from the State University of New York at New Paltz.

Dr. Gillian Smith, Jamaican, was appointed the FAO Representative in Guyana in 2018. She was the Officer-in-Charge of the FAO Representation in Jamaica, The Bahamas and Belize in 2017 and prior to this was the Assistant FAO Representative (Programme). Before joining the UN, Dr. Smith held several senior positions within the Ministry of Agriculture in Jamaica.

She holds a Bachelor’s Degree in Zoology, a Master’s Degree in Aquaculture, and a PhD. in Marine Sciences from the University of West Indies.

Dr. Yafflo Ouattara has over 25 years of experience in public health in several countries in West, Central and Eastern Africa (Cote d’Ivoire, Burundi, South Sudan, Democratic Republic of Congo, Cameroon, Chad) and the Caribbean (Haiti) out of which 22 years with the United Nations System. He has an extensive experience in policy, programme development and management. His rich experience has allowed him to make significant contribution (policies’ development, high-level advocacy, technical support, resource mobilization) to Health and AIDS response in countries where he has worked. Dr. Ouattara has an extensive experience in a broad range of development, conflict, post-conflict, and humanitarian settings in a wide range of complex political, socio-economic, fragility, and human rights contexts.

Before joining the UN system, earlier in his career, he worked as a Clinical Psychologist in the Tropical and Infectious Diseases Department of Treichville’s Teaching Hospital (Abidjan – Cote d’Ivoire), he contributed to the establishment of the first out-patient clinic for AIDS patients, which model was replicated in several west and central African countries as care model to reduce the burden on in-patient department, improve the quality of care through a patient centred approach and maintain the patients within their family.
He is also the author or co-author of several scientific articles published in conference acts and scientific journals.
He holds a master’s degree in Psychopathology and Clinical Psychology and Post-master’s degree in social psychology as well as Public Health Degree respectively from the Department of Psychology - University of Cote d’Ivoire and Public Health School / Faculty of Medicine - University of Nancy (France).

Dr. Ouattara is a national from Cote d’Ivoire. He is fluent in French, English, Haitian Creole and is currently learning Dutch.

Gabriel Vockel has previously served as Deputy Representative in Romania since 2018 where he coordinated all programmatic interventions during the COVID-19 pandemic, as well as during the unprecedented refugee response amidst war in neighboring Ukraine that saw UNICEF’s presence triple in size amid an unprecedented emergency to which UNICEF responded.

He has also worked with UNICEF in the Democratic Republic of Congo (Kinshasa) for almost four years as Child Protection Chief, leading a team of 45 staff preventing and responding to grave child rights violations in and out of armed conflict. Earlier, he served as a UNICEF Child Protection Specialist in Kyrgyzstan, focusing on alternative care reform, justice for children as well as the prevention violence against children.

Prior to that, Mr. Vockel spent over two years with UNICEF and the United Nations Development Programme (UNDP) in New York, contributing to the UN’s more global knowledge creation and coordination efforts.

Mr. Vockel started his career with the UN working as a Human Rights Officer in the United Nations Stabilization Mission in Haiti and the UN Integrated Office in Burundi from 2008-2010. There, he centered on monitoring and improving the situation of detainees in prisons and police stations, as part of broader efforts around transitional justice and human rights reforms.

Isiuwa Iyahen was recently appointed as Head of Office ad interim. In her new role, Ms. Iyahen is responsible for the day-to-day management of the MCO, leading the design, implementation, management and oversight of programmes and operations to ensure effective and efficient delivery of results.

Ms. Iyahen served as Deputy Representative from April 2022 to January 2025. Prior to this, Ms. Iyahen managed the Economic Empowerment and Statistics portfolios for the UN Women MCO -Caribbean.

In that capacity, her technical leadership resulted in narrowing significant knowledge, research, and gender data gaps on violence against women and girls, the labour force, social protection, and unpaid care work in CARICOM.


She has over 20 years of experience in international development and has served in various capacities within the United Nations system and non-governmental organisations.

Ms. Iyahen holds a Master of Public Policy degree from the University of Minnesota’s Hubert Humphrey Institute of Public Affairs and a Bachelor of Arts degree in Political Science from Swarthmore College.

Javier Córdoba is a Spanish national with over 20 years of professional experience. He currently serves as Deputy Representative ai for UNICEF in Guyana & Suriname. Previously, he held key positions, including Deputy Representative at UNICEF Panama and Emergency and Field Coordinator at UNICEF Ecuador.
Javier is a seasoned specialist in child development and child rights. Prior to joining UNICEF, he gained diverse professional experience across several countries, working with NGOs and other UN agencies. He also served as a consultant and advisor to public and private sector organizations on a broad range of issues, including children’s rights, public policy, disaster risk reduction and emergency response, indigenous populations, and corporate social responsibility.
He holds a master’s degree in International Cooperation and Development Studies from the Complutense University of Madrid and a bachelor’s degree in political science and international Relations from the University of the Basque Country. In addition, he has completed specialized training in human rights, humanitarian affairs, education, results-based management, resource mobilization, and leadership.

Jenny Karlsen serves as UNFPA Deputy Director, Sub-regional Office for the Caribbean based in Bridgetown, Barbados since September 2023. She is currently the Officer-in-charge of the UNFPA sub-regional office until further notice.

Ms. Karlsen is a passionate development professional with two decades of progressive programming, management and leadership experience in UNFPA and the UN Development System including UNDP, WFP, UNOPS and UN Coordination.

As a Sami (from the indigenous peoples in Norway), Ms. Karlsen is a long-standing advocate for the rights of indigenous peoples, particularly those of young women and girls, from a young age when she grew up in the Arctic part of the world.

Ms. Karlsen champions the urgency to achieve pace and scale of targeted multi-sectoral investments to address the unfinished business for women, adolescent girls and young people working across government, civil society, academia and the private sector. She has led several efforts on gender-based violence, sexual and reproductive health and rights and population and data across the continuum of humanitarian and development work.

Prior to her current post, Jenny has served for as Deputy Representative for UNFPA in Mozambique, and she also served with other UN agencies in Brazil, Islamic Republic of Iran and the People’s Republic of China as well as in headquarter positions in New York and Rome. She started her career in Investment banking supporting the company to develop an innovative partnership with the United Nations.

Joni Musabayana, a Zimbabwean national, first joined the International Labour Organization (ILO) in 1992 as Project Officer at the ILO Country Office for Zimbabwe and Namibia in Harare. He has since held many positions with the Organization.

His other previous roles include Global Coordinator for the ILO Start and Improve Your Own Business Programme in Geneva, as well as Enterprise Specialist at the ILO Regional Office for Africa in Addis Ababa.

Prior to his current role as Director of the ILO Decent Work Team and Office for the Caribbean, Mr. Musabayana served as Director of the ILO Pretoria Decent Work Team, leading technical support for 18 countries in Eastern and Southern Africa. He was also Director for the Country Office politically and administratively covering Botswana, Eswatini, Lesotho and South Africa.

Mr. Musabayana brings extensive experience addressing issues relevant to the Caribbean including labour migration, enterprise development, social protection, skills development, gender equality and climate resilience. His dedication to fostering tripartite social dialogue and cooperation between governments, employers, and workers has been instrumental in reducing decent work deficits and driving positive change in the labour landscape.

As Director of the ILO Caribbean Office, Mr. Musabayana leads the promotion of social justice, decent work, and inclusive economic growth across 13 Member States and nine non-metropolitan territories in the English-and Dutch-speaking Caribbean. He provides strategic direction for technical guidance and cooperation through Decent Work Country Programmes and other activities supported though the wider United Nations system serving in the region.

Mr. Musabayana has a Doctorate in Business Leadership from UNISA School of Business Leadership, as well as a Master of Business Administration (MBA) and a Bachelor of Science (BSc) in Political Science and Public Administration from the University of Zimbabwe. He also has a Diploma in Training Management, and a Diploma in Computer Programming.

Before joining the ILO, Mr Musabayana worked for the Zimbabwe Ministry of Higher Education and the Employers’ Confederation of Zimbabwe.

He is a music lover, avid reader, political analyst and a keen sportsman who played basketball for the Zimbabwe national team for 13 years. He enjoys running and going to the gym. He is married to Wynne and they have two boys and two girls and one granddaughter.

Katy Thompson (Uk) is the Resident Representative for the United Nations Development Programme (UNDP) in Guyana and Suriname, and is based in Georgetown, Guyana.
Prior to this role as Resident Representative, Ms. Thompson served as Co-Director of Governance, Rule of Law & Peacebuilding at the UNDP Headquarters in New York, where she led a global team focused on policy and positioning across a range of development priorities. These included institutional reform, access to justice, security sector reform, local governance, public sector reform, rule of law and human rights, and social cohesion. She collaborated closely with the United Nations (UN) system, UN Member States, development partners, private sector, global coalitions, and think-tanks to advance the Sustainable Development Goals (SDGs).
Ms. Thompson has held senior positions in UNDP’s Bureau for Policy and Programme Support and the Bureau for Crisis Prevention and Recovery. With over 25 years of international experience, she has worked for the UNDP, the Organization for Security and Co-operation in Europe (OSCE), and the United Nations Children’s Fund (UNICEF). She has supported strategic planning and programming in UNDP Country Offices, UN Missions, and UN Country Teams in more than 100 countries. She is recognized for scaling global and country programmes, building development partnerships, and investing in innovation to strengthen development frontiers.
Before joining the UN system, Ms. Thompson practiced law in England and Wales. She is a published expert and has worked in academia and civil society as a researcher and advocate for gender equality.
She holds a Bachelor of Arts degree from Cambridge University (UK), a Master of Laws degree from Essex University (UK), and postgraduate diplomas in Law and Legal Practice from the College of Law (London).

Liliana Garavito is a Colombia national with twenty-seven years of experience as a journalist and communications specialist. She has worked for twenty-three years with the UN and four years as a news producer.

As the director for the United Nations Information Centre for the Caribbean Area (UNIC Caribbean), Liliana works to educate Caribbean audiences about the work of the UN globally and provides communications support to various UN offices and agencies operating within the Caribbean region.

Before joining UNIC Caribbean, Liliana served as a Regional Communications Officer for the Development Coordination Office based in Panama. This position entailed managing a network of communication professionals across 25 countries. In previous years, she acted as Chief of Public Information and Communication Strategy in the UN Verification Mission in Colombia.

Prior to joining the Mission, she served as Information Officer for 17 years at UNIC Bogotá, which also covers Ecuador and Venezuela, and led public information activities.

Patrice Quesada comes to the Caribbean from the IOM Regional Office in Brussels where he was coordinating the Unit responsible for providing support for the development and implementation of IOM’s European Union funded emergency and post-crisis activities and policy guidance on EU-led humanitarian policy files in the region and worldwide.

Prior to joining the IOM Regional Office in Brussels in March 2016, Patrice was the Senior Humanitarian Policy Advisor at IOM Headquarter in Geneva in the Department of Operations and Emergencies. He has been working for IOM since 2008, first in IOM’s policy and research department and then in various other capacities. He has been deployed to a number of large-scale crisis contexts to support preparedness, response and risk reduction efforts including in Haiti, Pakistan, Libya, Niger, Côte d’Ivoire, Nigeria, DRC Goma, etc. As of 2013, he began focusing his work on strengthening IOM’s humanitarian and crisis response frameworks through policy development.

Dr. Richard Amenyah is a medical doctor by training and brings into this position several productive years of professional experience in Global Health. He joined UNAIDS in 2014 and has wealth of experience in developing public health policies and programs to shape health investments in countries. He previously worked at the Regional Support Team of West and Central Africa as the Regional Investment and Efficiency Advisor. His last duty station was in Nigeria where he supported the setting up of a US$100 million HIV Trust Fund for the elimination of vertical
transmission of HIV, establishment of continuous quality improvement initiatives for the HIV program, governance reform of the Country Coordinating Mechanism and the mobilization of the largest grant for a single country of about US$1.2 billion from the Global Fund for HIV/TB/Malaria/COVID19. He was a member of the core team that developed the current Global AIDS Strategy 2022-2026.

Prior to joining UNAIDS, he worked on regional technical support projects based in Burkina Faso and in Ghana his home country, he was the Technical Director in-charge of strategic planning, HIV program planning and implementation, performance monitoring and donor coordination at the Ghana AIDS Commission.

Vincent Sweeney is Head of the Caribbean Sub-Regional Office for the UN Environment Programme (UNEP) and previously spent 4 years as the Coordinator of the GPA, in UNEP’s headquarters. He also served for 10 years as Executive Director of the Caribbean Environmental Health Institute.