Our Team in Tanzania

Dr. Nyabenyi Tipo has over 30 years’ experience in development work, she holds a Master’s Degree in Veterinary Epidemiology and Economics from Nairobi University and a Bachelor of Veterinary Science from Khartoum University, she took up the position of FAO Country Representative in Sierra Leone in 2016 where she supported government counterparts in their efforts to improve food and nutrition security for Sierra Leone to achieve zero hunger by 2030.

Prior to her work with FAO, Tipo was the Country Director for African Development Solutions where she designed and implemented a multi-million recovery programme for South Sudan returned population. And in 2007 – 2011, she worked as a technical advisor for Veterinaries Sans Frontiers Belgium where she supported the South Sudan government to formulate national livestock policies, disease control strategies, and instituting transboundary disease control protocols with the neighboring countries.

Caroline Mugalla, a highly accomplished professional, is the newly appointed Resident Director for the East African region at the International Labour Organization (ILO), commencing her role on January 1, 2024. A Kenyan citizen born in 1981, Ms Mugalla holds a Master's in Business Administration with a focus on Human Resource Management from Kenya Methodist University and a Bachelor of Science in Biology Major and Chemistry Minor from the University of Eastern Africa Baraton.

With a career spanning nearly two decades, Ms Mugalla has demonstrated her exceptional leadership capabilities. She began her journey in 2005 at Kenya's Central Organisation of Trade Unions, evolving through various roles, including gender and training, social dialogue, and good governance. Notably, from 2013 to her recent appointment, she served as the Executive Director of the East Africa Trade Union Confederation (EATUC), making history as the first female to lead a sub-regional trade union organization in Africa.

During her tenure, she championed social dialogue in the East African Community, played a pivotal role in political policy advocacy, and successfully mobilized resources for the organization's vision and mission. Ms Mugalla is recognized globally, having been featured in the Netherlands in the FNV Magazine 2020 as a top Woman Trade Unionist Leader worldwide and acknowledged for her leadership by various prestigious awards such as the 2015 CFC Bank Rising Star Awards.

Currently, she contributes her expertise as a member of the World Economic Forum Joint Trade and Labour Steering Group and serves as an Evaluator for the Prince Talal International Prize by the Arab Gulf Program for Development. Ms Mugalla's wealth of experience and achievements position her as a dynamic leader in the field of labor relations and policy advocacy.

Martin Odiit has more than 30 years’ international and national experience in the field of health and development in Eastern and Southern Africa and the Caribbean. Before his assignment to Tanzania, he served in the positions of UNAIDS Senior Strategic Information Adviser and Country Director ad interim in Zimbabwe. He has also served as UNAIDS Country Director in Somalia and in Guyana and Suriname and before that as UNAIDS Strategic Information Advisor in Namibia. He has held various Monitoring and Evaluation Specialist positions in the UNAIDS Uganda office, the Uganda HIV/AIDS Control Project funded by the World Bank, and the USAID-funded Regional Centre for Quality of Health Care in Kampala. Martin holds a Medical Doctor's degree from Makerere University Kampala, a Master’s in Public Health from the London School of Hygiene and Tropical Medicine, and a PhD in Epidemiology from the University of Edinburgh. Martin is married and is an Uganda national.

Mr. Busatti is a national of Italy and has over three-decade long experience working on refugees and international migration issues, within government, non-government, the UN and the private sector. He joined IOM in 1996 to work on the demobilization in Angola and since then held several positions both at Headquarters and in field missions of IOM. He was regional program coordinator in Nairobi (1997- 2000), then served as COM in Albania (2000-2006) and Turkey (2006 -2010). He was appointed head of the Special Liaison Mission to France (2010-2012), before becoming COM in Nepal (2012 -2016) where, among other things, he led the IOM response to the 2015 earthquake. Starting in 2016, at IOM Headquarters his main responsibility has been to oversee the policy and procedural aspects connected to IOM formal entry in the UN system. In this role he helped spearhead the IOM’s integration within the UN and its alignment to the 2030 Agenda. Mr. Busatti is an expert in disaster management and recovery, irregular migration, labor and human development and migration policy support. He holds a MSc. in Political Science and a post graduate diploma in international relations from the University of Florence (Italy) and a Master in Defense Administration (MDA) from Cranfield University and the Royal Military College of Science (United Kingdom).

Over 15 years of substantive leadership experience in international development and trade, fortune 500 corporate-centred experience and management consulting in USA; management of global and regional operations; expertise in impact investing, financing for development and solutions. Peter has served the United Nations in different capacities at national, regional and global levels and has led cross-cutting development initiatives and innovations in local economic development, climate resilience, clean energy, food security, women economic empowerment, private sector and capital markets development, knowledge management and partnerships across Africa and Asia.

With over two decades in international development, Mr. Komatsubara has served UNDP since 2002. Most recently, he was the Resident Representative in Malawi and TICAD Programme Adviser at UNDP Head Quarters, New York. In Ghana, he excelled as Deputy Resident Representative, achieving the highest program delivery for UNDP. He has also served as Country Programme Adviser at UNDP HQ, focusing on Southern African countries and Human Security program formulation. Before UNDP, he held pivotal roles at Keidanren, Tokyo (1992-2002). A Japanese national, he holds an MSc in Economics from the London School of Economics (LSE) and a BA in International Relations from Tokyo University of Foreign Studies.

Mr Michel Toto, a seasoned diplomat, brings over twenty years of international experience in multilateral cooperation. He joined the United Nations Educational, Scientific and Cultural Organization (UNESCO) in 1999, where he has held various positions, including Deputy Liaison Officer, Liaison Officer, and Chief of the Section for Cooperation with Member States in the Africa Department of UNESCO, serving in these roles until 2011. Prior to his current appointment, Mr Toto served as Chief of Protocol of the Organization and Introducer of Ambassadors to the Director-General from 2011 to 2022, providing regular support to the 194 permanent delegations accredited to UNESCO, Paris. Since June 2022, he has been serving as the Head of Office and Country Representative to the United Republic of Tanzania at the UNESCO Dar es Salaam Office.

Mark Bryan Schreiner is UNFPA’s Country Representative, United Republic of Tanzania since 2022. Mark previously served as the UNFPA Representative in Rwanda from 2017- 2021.

For the past two decades, Mark has served the United Nations as a distinguished leader and advocate for women and young people's health and development.

He has held management positions with UNFPA in the Pacific Sub-Regional Office in Fiji Islands, Pakistan, Eritrea, South Africa, Nigeria and Africa Division of UNFPA Headquarters in New York. Mark also worked with UNEP in Kenya and the United Nations Economic and Social Commission for Asia and the Pacific in Thailand.

Mark is married and a national of Canada.

Ms. Mahoua Parums took up her role as UNHCR Representative in Tanzania on 15 November 2021. A national of Côte d’Ivoire, Ms. Parums joins the One UN Tanzania family from Uganda, where she served as the UNHCR Deputy Representative from 2018 - 2021. For almost three decades, she has served the United Nations High Commissioner for Refugees as an ardent advocate for refugees and asylum seekers.

Joining UNHCR in 1993, her assignments have taken her to Burkina Faso, the Democratic Republic of Congo, Azerbaijan, Nigeria, Kenya, and Rwanda to assist people forced to flee their homelands. She has also worked at UNHCR’s Regional Bureau for West Africa in Senegal and several senior positions at Headquarters, including the Inspector General and Ethics Offices. A holder of a Master’s of Law Degree, Ms. Parums worked in various law firms in Abidjan before joining UNHCR.

Ms Ansermet is the UNIDO Officer in Charge in the United Republic of Tanzania. She has about 30 years of experience in international field with more than 20 years in development cooperation. She is currently facilitating the development and finalization of the Partnership Country Programme (PCP) lead by the Government of Tanzania. The programme will drive the development of inclusive and sustainable industrial development for the coming 5 years.

Leading the UNIDO Field Office in Tanzania, Ms Ansermet is dedicated to support the country’s efforts to support SMEs, women and youth through their integration into sustainable value chains. She is convinced that a new circular economic model, that protect the environment at the design stage of supply chain has to be put in place for the sake of the planet and its people. Previously in the Department of Agri-business in UNIDO Headquarter in Venna, she focused her work to fight biodiversity loss, deforestation and climate change while empowering rural communities.

Ms. Ansermet has extensive experience in the field having worked as a UNIDO Representative in Madagascar from 2011 to 2016, also covering Seychelles, Mauritius and Comoros. In Madagascar, she developed the UNIDO portfolio on renewable energy, creative industries and sustainable sugar value chain. From 2006 to 2010, she led the process of opening up UNIDO’s regional office in South Africa and developed a programme on energy efficiency.

From 1999 to 2006, she worked for the Swiss State Secretariat for Economic Affairs of Switzerland, where she implemented trade development projects in West Africa, Vietnam, China and South Africa. Ms. Ansermet has also worked in humanitarian contexts with the International Committee of the Red Cross. She played a key role in programme implementation during the conflicts in Rwanda and the former Yugoslavia. She is an economist by training from the University of Fribourg in Switzerland. She is motivated to create, innovate and implement positive changes for the people and the planet.

Elke Wisch has been the UNICEF Representative to the United Republic of Tanzania, based in Dar es Salaam, since August 2023. With 27 years of dedicated service, she brings extensive experience in leading UNICEF's efforts, focusing on the rights of children and families in developmental, transitional, and emergency contexts. Ms. Wisch has previously served in various countries, including Rwanda, Liberia, Kosovo, Bosnia and Herzegovina, North Macedonia, Serbia and Montenegro, Afghanistan, Myanmar, and Uganda.

Before joining UNICEF, Ms. Wisch worked in conflict resolution organizations and academic institutions in Germany and the United States. She is a German national with a Master of Arts in Social and Political Sciences from the University of Munich and a Master of Public Administration from the Kennedy School of Government, Harvard University.

Hodan Addou is the UN Women Representative to Tanzania since April 2018. She has over 25 years of experience in promoting gender equality and women’s empowerment. Prior to Tanzania, she served as the Country Representative in Uganda, Zimbabwe and in Sudan. She also held senior policy advisor, country and regional program coordination positions in East, Central and Southern Africa as well as at Headquarters in New York.

Sarah Gordon-Gibson has been working for the World Food Programme for over 20 years. She took up her duties as Representative in Tanzania in September 2020. She also served as a Representative in Jordan and Lao PDR. Prior to these assignments, she was the Regional Programme Manager for the Syria Crisis Response, covering Egypt, Iraq, Jordan, Lebanon, Syria and Turkey. Before her position in the Middle East, she served as Deputy Country Director in Niger, Myanmar and Tanzania. Her previous positions have been in Mauritania, Armenia, and Morocco. She holds a master’s in law from the University of London, and a University Degree in Law from the University of Paris I, Panthéon-Sorbonne.

He is a Medical Doctor from Ghana with over 37 years’ experience in clinical medicine and public health. He joined the World Health Organization in 2002 and has served as the WHO Representative in a number of African countries, including Eritrea, The Gambia and Namibia.

He is a Fellow of the Ghana College of Physicians and an Infectious Disease Fellow of University of Virginia School of Medicine, Charlottesville, Virginia, USA . He has MSc from University of Maastrich, The Netherlands and master’s in public health (MPH) from the University of Leeds, UK. He had his initial medical education (MB ChB) from Kwame Nkrumah University of Science and Technology, Kumasi, Ghana.

He began his duty of service in Tanzania on 7th June 2023. He previously held other senior leadership positions in the WHO Regional Office for Africa (AFRO).

Prior to assuming her position in Tanzania, Ms. Mallick was the Country Manager in The Gambia for the United Nations Office for Project Services (UNOPS). She was also the COVID-19 Outbreak Coordinator for the UN System in The Gambia. Ms. Mallick has over 18 years of international development experience, of which more than 12 years in conflict/post-conflict countries, and has extensively held leadership roles managing country offices and programmes across low-income and middle-income countries, small island developing states and transition countries. She was UNDP Deputy Resident Representative (Programme and Operations) in Guyana, Bhutan and North Korea/DPRK.

Ms. Mallick has worked in a variety of different countries including Afghanistan, Darfur/Sudan (where she was also the acting Head of Office), the Solomon Islands (as Officer in Charge and MDG Manager) in the South Pacific, and Sri Lanka. Ms. Mallick has also worked in Washington DC at the World Bank (Agriculture and Rural Development department), for USAID’s Bureau of Economic Growth and Trade/Office of Women in Development; and at the Brookings Institution – Foreign Policy department.