Our Team in Lesotho

Ms. Taija Kontinen-Sharp (Finland) brings over 20 years of experience in sustainable development, peacebuilding, and humanitarian affairs across headquarters and field settings in Africa, Asia, and the Middle East.

Most recently, she served as Senior Adviser to the Secretary-General’s Special Adviser on Solutions to Internal Displacement. Prior to that, was the Chief of the Integrated Office of the Deputy Special Representative, Resident and Humanitarian Coordinator for Sudan, where she led UN-wide strategy, planning, and partnerships. She has held senior roles within the UN Secretariat, including as Chief of Staff in the Development Coordination Office and Strategic Planning Adviser in the Executive Office of the Secretary-General. In addition, she served as Development Adviser in the World Humanitarian Summit Secretariat, leading the resilience and climate outcomes of the Summit.

Ms. Kontinen-Sharp served for ten years with the United Nations Development Programme (UNDP), where her work focused on peace, development, and resilience programming in Lebanon, Sri Lanka, the Philippines, and Nepal.
Prior to joining the United Nations, she worked with the Aga Khan Foundation in Afghanistan and with the Ministry for Foreign Affairs of Finland.

Ms. Kontinen-Sharp holds a Master of Science degree in State, Society and Development from the School of Oriental and African Studies (SOAS), University of London.

Dr. Innocent B. Nuwagira is the current World Health Organization (WHO) Head of Mission and Representative in the Kingdom of Lesotho. A highly experienced global health diplomat and public health leader with over 25 years of hands-on experience spanning health leadership, infectious disease management, maternal and child health, data and analytics, and health & community systems strengthening.
In his current role, Dr. Nuwagira leads WHO’s strategic engagement with the Government of the Kingdom of Lesotho, development partners, and civil society to advance the country’s health agenda. His job is to lead WHO’s ambitious threefold mission: to promote health by addressing the root causes of diseases; to provide health by strengthening health systems based on primary health care and expanding access to health services and financial protection; and to protect health by preventing, preparing for, mitigating, detecting and responding rapidly to health emergencies.
A Ugandan medical doctor, Dr. Nuwagira served as the WHO Representative ad interim in Sierra Leone for more than 2 years, and in various public health capacities including more than 18 years with WHO among others. An accomplished leader, manager and mentor, Dr Nuwagira is also a scholar, publisher and a certified management/personal development coach.
Dr. Nuwagira holds a degree of Bachelor of Medicine and Bachelor of Surgery (MBChB) and a Master of Arts in Demography from Makerere University in Uganda, as well as a Master of Public Health (MPH) from the University of Nottingham in the United Kingdom, among others.

Dr. Jacqueline Saline Olweya holds a Doctor of Philosophy Degree (Ph.D.) in Economics and Planning of Education from Kenyatta University, Kenya, and a Master of Philosophy Degree in the same discipline from Moi University, Kenya. She has published several books and articles on a wide range of topics including Education, Governance, Security, Poverty Reduction, HIV&AIDS, and Strategic Planning from a gender perspective.
With over 20 years of experience in development practice, she provides high level policy, advisory, teambuilding support and capacity development initiatives for governments, United Nations, civil society organizations and academia.

Prior to being appointed as the UNDP Resident Representative in the Kingdom of Lesotho Jacquiy, as she is fondly known, served as the Deputy Resident Representative for Programmes in UNDP Somalia. Dr. Olweya also served as the Head of the Regional United Nations Sustainable Development Group for Eastern and Southern Africa (R-UNSDG ESA) covering 22 countries; Training Policy Specialist with the United Nations Development Operations Cooperation Office (UNDOCO); Assistant Resident Representative with UNDP Kenya in charge of Governance and Gender Programmes and National Gender Advisor to the Government of Kenya. She also worked as Programme Manager with Care International for an EU funded education project in Somaliland.

A Kenyan citizen, Jacquiy brings a strong track record of leadership and demonstrated exemplary performance in change management, research undertaken and contributions to policy debates in various subject areas.

Mr Alankar Malviya, a graduate of London School of Economics, has over 30 years of diverse development sector experience, with government, private sector and with UN. He started his career with Civil Services in India and has worked with UN since 2005. He has completed an extremely successful tenure as Country Director UNAIDS in Botswana. He spearheaded UNAIDS support to Government of Botswana coming up with its Sustainability roadmap and receiving Gold tier certification on path to eliminate vertical transmission of HIV. Before being posted to Botswana he was managing the portfolio of Senior Regional Advisor Fast
Track for Eastern and Southern Africa, for UNAIDS regional office based in Johannesburg, where has been instrumental in galvanizing partnerships on reinvigorating prevention and sustainable financing under SADC umbrella, leveraging Information Communication Technology for advancing SRHR services to youth amongst his other many achievements. He also was Director a.i. for the Regional Support Team of UNAIDS in East and South Africa (RST ESA) for sometime.

Before joining UNAIDS RST ESA, he worked as Country Director a.i. in Vietnam, as Senior Advisor in Ethiopia and as Advisor in India, Nepal, and Bhutan. He has delivered results in the areas of Strategic Information, Program Support, Policy and Strategy in his various roles. Overall he has more than 20 Years’ experience including more than 10 years experience in Eastern and Southern Africa. He has a long list of papers published in journals of repute, on issues ranging from HIV estimates, Gender and SRHR issues, governance and issues relating to Key Populations. Mr Malviya is passionate about removing inequalities and working on gender issues and is fluent in English, Hindi and few Indian languages. A national of India, Mr Malviya is married to Pallavi Verma and has a daughter Himani Malviya.

Mr Fakhruddin AZIZI, has been appointed as UNIDO Representative for Southern Africa, which covers Angola, Botswana, Eswatini, Lesotho, Namibia, South Africa, and Zambia. Mr Azizi assumed his duty on 3 August 2026.
He brings to his post a mammon of experience spanning over 30 years in the field of humanitarian and development programmes with different UN agencies and International Organisations.

Before his arrival to South Africa, he worked as Senior Officer at the Regional Bureaus for Asia and the Pacific and Regional Bureau for Africa at UNIDO HQs (November 2022- July 2026). Prior to this, Mr Azizi served as UNIDO Representative for Ghana and Liberia (March 2017-November 2022), UNIDO Representative for the Philippines (2014-2017) and in Afghanistan as Head of UNIDO from May 2008 to February 2014.

He also worked with UNDP as Senior Programme Officer and Assistant Country Director a.i. from 2003 to 2008. During this period, Mr. Azizi established a new Policy Centre at the Kabul University called Centre for Policy and Human Development (CPHD) that strongly contributed in transfer of knowledge and advocacy.

Mr. Azizi also worked as Head of Operations and Deputy Director of the UN funded Mine Action Programme for Afghanistan from 1997 to 2003. As Head of Operations, he was responsible for management of Mine Action and Mine Risk Education teams.

He earlier worked as Deputy/Acting Regional Director of INGO from 1993 to 1996 based in Eastern region, covering six provinces of Afghanistan.

He has an MA in Management and has also obtained his second MA in the field of Responsible Management and Sustainable Economic Development from University for Peace a UN Mandated University.

He is married with four children.

John Kennedy Mosoti, is the UNFPA Resident Representative a.i. for Lesotho. He previously served as Principal Advisor for Strategic Partnerships and Resource Moblization At UNFPA Eastern Europe and Central Asia Regional Office in Istanbul, Turkey. Prior to that he served as the Resident Representative for Bosnia and Herzegovina, Country Director for Albania, Serbia and the Republic of North Macedonia, and Director for Kosovo (UNSCR 1244). He is a national of Kenya. He holds Bachelor of Laws degree, Post-Graduate Diploma in Laws, a Master’s Degree in Criminal Justice and Diploma in International Environmental Law.
John served as Senior Adviser for Human Rights, Social and Humanitarian issues at the Permanent Mission of Kenya to the United Nations from 2004 to 2013. He was also charged with the work relating to the functional commissions of the Economic and Social Council (ECOSOC), the Executive Boards of UNDP/UNFPA/UNOPS, UNICEF and UN Women. He also specialized in Peace and Security issues, particularly in the Great Lakes region of Africa and on UN Reform. John represented his country and region in numerous negotiations of the major UN conferences and meetings. John served as the Public Partnership Adviser at UNICEF between 2013 and 2015.
John brings with him over thirty years’ experience and leadership in the private sector, civil society, the United Nations as well as government. As the Chief of the Multilateral Affairs Branch at UNFPA, John managed UNFPA's political interaction with Member States in the General Assembly, Security Council, ECOSOC and its functional commissions as well as the UN secretariat. He later became the Chief of the Inter-governmental, Inter-agency and Policy Dialogue Branch. In 2019, he was appointed and served as UNFPA’s Deputy Global Coordinator on ICPD 25 charged with the organization of the Nairobi Summit: Accelerating the Promise.
He currently serves as UNFPA Resident Representative a.i. for Lesotho based in Maseru. John speaks Kisii, Swahili, English, French and Arabic and communicates in Bosnian, Croatian and Serbian. He is married and has three daughters.

Dr Patrice Talla Takoukam, a national of Cameroon, has been FAO Sub-Regional Coordinator for Southern Africa since September 2020. Prior to that Dr Talla was FAO Representative in Madagascar and covering Comoros, Mauritius, and Seychelles, under the multiple-accreditation scheme.

Dr. Talla joined FAO headquarters in 2001 as Legal Officer in the Law and Development Service of the Legal Office. In 2004, he transferred to the World Bank in Washington DC, United States, as Legal Officer/Counsel in the Environment and International Law Unit, Legal Department.

He returned to FAO headquarters in 2010, where he served as Legal Officer in the Development Law Service, Legal Office. He holds a Doctor of Philosophy in International Environmental Law and Public Law from the University of Limoges in France.

Abigail Noko is the Regional Representative of the Regional Office of OHCHR in Southern Africa. She has worked at OHCHR for more than 20 years in various capacities. Prior to her current posting, she oversaw OHCHR’s work from headquarters in east and southern Africa and the African Union and undertook special assignments in Sierra Leone and Nigeria. Previously she was Special Assistant to the Assistant Secretary General for Human Rights, the adviser on HIV and worked on external relations and donor relations. Before joining OHCHR, she worked with UNHCR and in the private sector.

Anna Mukiibi-Bunnya the Country Director and Representative of WFP Lesotho, knows that lasting impact in humanitarian work comes from collaboration, innovation, and resilience. A Ugandan national, Anna holds an MBA from Grand Valley State University (USA) and a Bachelor of Science degree in Economics and Statistics from Makerere University (Uganda).
Anna began her career with the World Food Programme (WFP) in Uganda providing logistics corridor support to the crisis response in Rwanda and Burundi and progressed to managing complex demand planning and resources allocation in Khartoum, Sudan. Her early years in logistics taught her the importance of precision, accountability, and agility in saving lives—skills that have shaped her leadership journey over nearly two decades.
Anna’s illustrious career has seen her serve WFP Headquarters in Rome, where she was part of the technical team designing WFP’s sustainable financing framework for Duty of Care—an initiative to ensure a healthy, safe, respectful, and inclusive workplace that integrates global best practices, risk management, and inclusivity principles to strengthen staff well-being worldwide.
Previously, Anna served as Deputy Country Director and Head of Programme in Ghana, where she provided strategic leadership in positioning, programme integration, and resource mobilization—successfully diversifying funding sources to include government, private sector, and catalytic funds. Working in close partnership, she advanced integrated humanitarian and development programmes. These efforts focused on enhancing shock responsiveness and strengthening climate change adaptation initiatives, social protection systems, and home-grown school feeding. Anna also championed farmer support programmes, promoted youth economic empowerment through agriculture, and prioritized data and evidence generation to inform policy and programme design.
Anna’s career spans diverse contexts, including Democratic Republic of Congo, Mali and Southern Africa Regional Bureau, where she led financial reforms, strengthened governance structures, and championed systems that improved accountability and operational efficiency. She is recognized for her expertise in strategic leadership, fostering partnerships, resource mobilization and management, and organizational transformation.
Anna’s leadership philosophy is grounded in collaboration and shared purpose, empowering teams to deliver meaningful results. She believes that true and lasting impact comes from placing the people we serve at the centre, nurturing local talent, and strengthening systems—while creating space for innovation and resilience to thrive.

Driven by a vision of a world where resilience and equity define food systems, she remains committed to advancing WFP’s Zero Hunger mission.

Ms. Masoai Mokone Dennis serves as the Head of Office a.i for the International Organization for Migration (IOM) in Lesotho, where he provides strategic leadership, and guides IOM’s operational and policy engagement with the Government of Lesotho, the United Nations Country Team, and international partners. She is responsible for managing a diverse portfolio spanning migration governance, labour mobility, migration data, counter-trafficking, youth employment, diaspora engagement, and climate resilience.

With over 12 years of experience in migration governance, data management, and migration policy Ms. Dennis leads IOM’s support to national efforts to strengthen migration systems, enhance border management, expand decent employment opportunities for youth, and protect vulnerable migrants, including victims of trafficking.

Ms. Mokone Dennis is committed to advancing the catalytic role of migration in development and promoting evidence-based, migrant sensitive policy. She supports national and regional processes aimed at promoting safe, orderly and regular migration in line with the Global Compact for Migration. Her evidence-driven work on remittances and diaspora engagement was instrumental in aligning Lesotho’s migration management priorities with national development objectives.

Ms. Masoai is a Lesotho national. She holds a Master of Science in Statistics, a Post Graduate Diploma in Agricultural Statistics from Makerere University in Kampala, Uganda and a BA in Economics and Statistics from the National University of Lesotho.

Ms. Kavita Belani is a Malaysian national and a senior international civil servant with 25 years of service with the United Nations High Commissioner for Refugees (UNHCR). Over the course of her career, she has held leadership and advisory roles across Asia, Africa, Middle East and Europe, working in complex political and humanitarian contexts.

She previously served as UNHCR Representative in Armenia, leading the Office’s engagement with national authorities and regional partners. Her prior assignments include Deputy Chief of Mission in India, Senior Protection Cluster Coordinator in South Sudan, and Liaison Officer to the African Union and the Economic Commission for Africa in Ethiopia. She has also served in Lebanon, Sudan, Tanzania, Bangladesh, Kazakhstan, South Africa, Iraq, Pakistan, Ghana, and Thailand in various protection, management, policy and coordination roles.

Ms. Belani is a law professional and a trained classical pianist, with a strong foundation in legal practice and the arts that has supported her cross-cultural and diplomatic work.
Fluent in Malay and English, she also speaks Indonesian, Hindi, Urdu, Swahili, and Thai, enabling her to operate effectively in diverse linguistic and cultural environments.

She brings to her work a principled commitment to international law, refugee protection, and the strengthening of multilateral cooperation in response to global displacement challenges.