Our Team in Malawi

Clara Anyangwe is the UN Women Representative for Malawi. She started her mission in April 2016. Prior to joining the Malawi team, she was the Representative ad interim for the UN Women Rwanda Country Office, as well as the Deputy Representative. She started out in Rwanda as the One UN Programme Manager and was appointed Chair of the Programme Planning and Oversight Committee (PPOC). Previous experiences include working as the National Programme Officer for UNIFEM in Cameroon and conducting trainings on gender-based violence for peacekeeping missions. Clara holds a Master in Agricultural Economics from University of Ibadan, Nigeria.

Mr. Kouame Cyr Modeste is the UNHCR Representative in Malawi since February 2021. He has 22 years of experience in protection and management. Previously, he worked as UNHCR Representative in the Republic of Congo from 2016 to 2020, following his rising through the ranks from a Protection Officer, through Head of Office in several operations. He started his career in Côte d'Ivoire working for a partnership project between CNCAR and UNHCR from 1997 to 1999. Kouame Cyr Modeste is a lawyer holding a Master’s in Legal, Administrative and Political Sciences.

Dylan Van Tromp is the Senior Project Officer of the ILO’s regional ACCEL Africa project, and holds delegated authority to represent the ILO in the Malawi UNCT. Dylan commenced his mission in October 2019, prior to which he served as Chief Technical Advisor of development cooperation projects at the ILO Regional Office for Asia and the Pacific and the ILO Country Office for Indonesia and Timor-Leste. Dylan has more than 15 years of experience with the ILO, UNICEF, UNDP, OHCHR, non-governmental organizations, a national human rights institute, and the private sector. He holds a Master of Public and International Law (LL.M) from the University of Melbourne.

Janet Kayita is designated to act as WHO Representative for Malawi since 4 October 2021. She is a medical doctor and public health practitioner with over 20 years of international experience on public health programmes in diverse settings, building on many years of experience as a pediatrician and child health expert in Uganda. She recently served for WHO in Sierra Leone as coordinator for the Basic Package of Essential Health Services (BPEHS) Cluster, including during the COVID-19 pandemic. Janet has a Master of Public Health (Epidemiology) from University of California, Los Angeles (UCLA); and a Master of Medicine (Paediatrics and Child Health) and Bachelor’s in Medicine and Surgery (MBChB) from Makerere University, Kampala, Uganda.

Mpilo Nkomo is the Chief of Mission for the International Organization for Migration (IOM) Mission to Malawi. He started his mission as Project Coordinator / Head of Office in February 2016. Before joining the IOM Team in Malawi, he was the Head of Sub-Office at the IOM Sub-Office in Musina, South Africa. Mpilo holds a Bachelor’s in Public Administration and Communication Facilitation from the University of South Africa (UNISA) and a Postgraduate Diploma in Disaster Management from the University of the Free State (UFS), South Africa.

Nuha Ceesay, a Health Planner by profession is the current UNAIDS Acting Country Director for Malawi. He was deployed to Malawi in 2019. He joined UNAIDS in 2007 as Country Officer for the Gambia and opened the UNAIDS office before taking up international duties as Investment and Efficiency Adviser for Swaziland and currently PEPFAR/Global Fund Implementation Adviser for Zambia. He holds a Master’s in Health Management, Planning and Policy, from the Nuffield Institute, University of Leeds.

Paul Turnbull is the Country Director and Representative of the UN World Food Programme in Malawi. He started his mission in Malawi in June 2021. Previously, he served as WFP Ethiopia’s Senior Deputy Country Director since July 2018 and WFP’s Deputy Country Director in Kenya from 2013‐2018 as well as Chief of the Programme Review and Support Unit at WFP’s headquarters in Rome from 2006 to 2013). He has worked for WFP for over 25 years. Paul holds a Master of Agricultural Science in Tropical Agricultural Development from the University of Reading and a Bachelor of Agricultural Science in Agriculture from Wye College, University of London.

Shigeki Komatsubara is the UNDP Resident Representative for Malawi. He started his mission in May 2019. Prior to his current assignment, he was Tokyo International Conference of African Development (TICAD) programme advisor in the UNDP Regional Bureau for Africa (RBA). He also regularly served as RBA officer-in-charge. Shigeki has also been Deputy Resident Representative in Ghana and Country Programme Advisor in the Regional Bureau for Africa. Shigeki holds a Master’s in International Relations from London School of Economics (LSE) and a Bachelor’s in International Relations from Tokyo University of Foreign Studies.

Won Young Hong is the United Nations Population Fund (UNFPA) Representative for Malawi. She started her mission in August 2018. She has over 16 years of experience in international and local development, as well as policy analysis, youth programming, and capacity development. Previously, she served as UNFPA Deputy Representative in Mozambique and the Assistant Country Director for UNDP in Bangladesh, as well as the Capacity Development Advisor for UNDP in South Africa. Young holds a Master’s in Political Science from Kyung Hee University, an MPA in Public Administration from National University of Singapore, and a Bachelor of Law from Ewha Woman’s University in Seoul, Republic of Korea.

Zhijun Chen is the Food and Agriculture Organization (FAO) Representative and the UN Resident Coordinator (ad interim) for Malawi. He started his mission as FAO Representative in May 2019. He has worked for FAO for about 15 years, serving in different capacities such as Irrigation and Rural Infrastructure Engineer at FAO Headquarters in Rome, Senior Irrigation and Rural Infrastructure Engineer and Investment Support Officer in Thailand. He joined the UN as the Irrigation and Water Management Officer at the UN Peace-Keeping Department in Timor-Leste in 2000. Zhijun holds a PhD in Farmland Water Conservancy, a Master in Fluid Machinery and Fluid Power Engineering, as well as a Bachelor in Irrigation and Drainage, from Wuhan University, China.