Our Team in Lesotho

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.

Elliot Vhurumuku is the Country Director and Representative of WFP Lesotho. He is a national of Zimbabwe and holds a MSc in Agricultural Economics from University of London, Wye College.

Elliot career spans over a period of 38 years. Elliot worked in Sudan as Head of West and Central Darfur Area Office in January 2021, managing a complex operation reaching out to over 2 million beneficiaries. The operation also included piloting the World Bank social safety net programme, expansion of cash-based transfers and use of mobile money. With the outbreak of the Sudan war in April 2023, he moved to Chad and setup the Chad Sudan cross-border WFP offices and operation.

Elliot also worked in the Johannesburg Regional Bureau as WFP/FAO staff member seconded to the Southern Africa Development Community (SADC) in Botswana, where he was supporting the Regional Vulnerability Assessment Committee (RVAC), covering southern Africa. He also worked in Ethiopia and South Sudan as Head of the Food Security Analysis Unit. Elliot also worked in Regional Bureau Bangkok as a Regional Food Security Advisor, and then moved to Regional Bureau Nairobi as head of Food Security Analysis Unit, where he worked with IGAD among other activities.

Prior to that, he worked for FEWS NET Zimbabwe as Country Representative and as Farm Business Management Expert with the Government of Zimbabwe’s Ministry of Agriculture.

Igor Ciobanu, a Moldovan national, has served as Ad-interim Representative at the UNHCR South African Multi Country Office, covering Botswana, Comoros, Eswatini, Lesotho, Madagascar, Mauritius, Namibia, Seychelles, and South Africa, since 1 August 2024. Prior to this, he was Deputy Representative since February 2021. He brings over 29 years of experience in diplomacy, humanitarian work, law, and academia.

Igor began his career in 1992 at Moldova's Ministry of Justice before leading European affairs at the Ministry of Foreign Affairs. He subsequently served as Director of International Relations at ULIM University, where he taught and published extensively on human rights.

Since joining the UNHCR in 1998, he has led refugee and humanitarian operations in Moldova, Serbia, Kosovo, Uganda, South Sudan, Central Europe, Kyrgyzstan, Greece, Sudan, Namibia, and Bangladesh, with a focus on emergency response, refugee protection, statelessness eradication, and peacebuilding. He speaks English, Russian, Romanian and French.

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.

Deepak Bhaskaran was appointed as the Representative for the Lesotho Country Office in January 2022. He assumed his role on June 27th, 2022.

Mr. Bhaskaran brings over twenty-one years of experience in strategic digital innovation and development, ICT, technology partnerships, and emergency and operations management in Africa, Central Asia, Europe, and the Middle East.

Before this assignment, Mr. Bhaskaran served as UNICEF Deputy Regional Director Eastern and Southern Africa Region a.i, responsible for management and operations oversight for 21 countries. He also served as Chief of ICT UNICEF HQ Geneva, where he managed the private sector fundraising Business systems and ICT for Eastern Europe and Central Asia. Between 2005 and 2009, Mr. Bhaskaran served as the Specialist Emergency Response Operations and ICT for UNICEF, where he led the rapid deployment of emergency kits for UNICEF operations and global capacity building. In addition, from 2001-2005, he served as an ICT and Emergency specialist at UNICEF Middle East and North Africa, where he was responsible for ICT and emergency response support for 14 Middle East and North Africa countries. Mr. Bhaskaran, a national of India, joined UNICEF in April 2000 and has held several senior positions.

Mr. Bhaskaran holds a Master’s in Business Administration (Strategic Management) from the University of Wales.

Ms Pepukai Chikukwa joined the UN in Lesotho in July 2022, serving as the UNAIDS Country Director. Overall, she has over 28 years progressive experience in HIV, and health and development in general, holding senior positions in government, civil society organizations and the United Nations.

Prior to per appointment in Lesotho, she served in the same capacity in Liberia since September 2020. Before her assignment as Country Director, Ms Chikukwa worked as Strategic Information Adviser for UNAIDS in Lesotho, Eswatini and Malawi since 2009.

Prior to working with UNAIDS, she worked for 6 years for an international NGO i.e., Frontline AIDS (formerly International HIV/AIDS Alliance) at its Headquarters in the UK departing as M&E Manager. She has also worked in South Africa for a national NGO and in Zimbabwe for UNICEF and the Ministry of Health, where her professional career began in 1992. She has also worked for a university research institute in her native Zimbabwe.
Her work has seen her support in strengthening government leadership and coordination of HIV responses, defining and refining national HIV priorities, with development and review of strategic plans as well as for the health sector, helping position and strengthen countries for funding opportunities including for Global Fund and oversight of the grants, capacity building and technical guidance in different HIV technical areas and strategic information including health information systems, development and management of corporate accountability systems. Her work with civil society has helped develop and strengthen nascent organizations into national organizations managing significant Global Fund grants for example. She has experience leading interagency and multidisciplinary teams for defined national and/or UN priorities.

In addition to the 6 countries she has lived and worked in, Ms Chikukwa has provided direct technical assistance to national and sub-national civil society organizations in over 20 countries across the globe. Ms Chikukwa’s qualifications include an MPH (Epidemiology and Biostatistics) from the University of Pretoria, an MSc in Development Management from the Open University – UK, and a BSc in Statistics and Computer Science from the University of Zimbabwe. She is a native of Zimbabwe with one daughter.