Our Team in Pakistan

Mr. Fadil brings over 25 years of dedicated and passionate experience in international development and humanitarian relief, strategic management, peace-making and peacebuilding, public policy and administration and advocacy work. He previously served as UNICEF Representative in Sudan; Director of the UN Humanitarian Monitoring Mechanism for Syria; Deputy Head of Mission and Chief of Staff for the Joint Mission of the UN and the Organization for the Prohibition of Chemical Weapons in Syria. He also served with UNTSO, UNMIS, ICAO, UNAMID, DPKO, UNMIK, OSCE. Mr. Fadil holds two Master of Science degrees, one in Public Policy and Management from the School of Oriental and African Studies in London, and one in Industrial Relations and Personnel Management from the London School of Economics. More importantly, he is a husband and a father of two girls and two boys.

Arnoud Hameleers is IFAD’s Country Director for Pakistan, effective from January 2023. He leads the Pakistan operations, including, the formulation of new strategies and programmes and policy engagement and partnerships with the government and development partners. He also leads communication and knowledge management activities to ensure high visibility of IFAD’s presence in Pakistan.

Hameleers also serves as IFAD’s Country Director for Bangladesh and, previously, for Bolivia and Honduras. Prior to joining IFAD in 2016, he worked as a Senior Technical Advisor for DANIDA’s agriculture and economic developments programmes in Bolivia. His earlier positions include Senior Dairy Scientist for the Ministry of Agriculture in Northern Ireland, Program Director for a University support program in Bolivia and Dairy Research Program Manager for the Scottish Agricultural Colleges in Scotland.

Hameleers holds a Ph.D. in Agricultural Systems from the University of Glasgow, an M.Sc. from the University of Edinburgh and a B.Sc. from the Tropical Agricultural College in the Netherlands.

Carlos Geha has been appointed as the Head of the United Nations Office for the Coordination of Humanitarian Affairs (OCHA) in Pakistan (ai) since November 2022. With over 15 years of experience in providing humanitarian assistance in diverse, complex emergency contexts around the world, he has extensive management knowledge in the humanitarian field. He led field work with humanitarian international organizations including; ICRC, WFP and recently OCHA in different emergency contexts in Senegal, Bangladesh, Nepal, Sri Lanka, Chad, Yemen, Ivory Coast, Yemen, Tunisia, Libya and Syria which has provided him with extensive field experience in humanitarian organizations management.

Prior to his post in Pakistan, he was the Head of Office in OCHA ROMENA (ai) and the Head of Office for OCHA Jordan, where he established OCHA's office in Amman, Jordan at the onset of the Syria crisis and led the coordination and implementation of the UN Security Council Resolution 2165 for humanitarian activities from Jordan to Southern Syria from 2013 to 2016. Mr. Geha holds a Doctoral Degree in Computer Networking and Statistical Simulation Analysis from the University of Sussex in Brighton. He is a native of Lebanon and speaks French, English, Arabic, and Spanish fluently.

Dr. Luay Shabaneh is the Representative of UNFPA Pakistan. Prior to his current appointment, he served as the Regional Director of UNFPA for the Arab States since 2016.

A native of Palestine, Dr. Luay has held several high-profile national and international public service positions over the last two decades in official statistics, population census, population and development, monitoring and evaluation, programme management and advocacy within the UN System, in government and in the multilateral arena.

He served as chief statistician of Palestine from 2005 until he started his UN career in 2009 with both UNDP/UNCT and UNFPA in Iraq, and the Regional Office for Arab States since 2015 as the Regional Adviser for Population Data and Policies in ASRO. Within the Arab region, he served as chair or member of several regional professional and research committees, including the Statistical Committee of the Economic and Social Commission for Western Asia, the Arab regional statistical forum and the board of the Arab Institute for Training and Research in Statistics. Dr. Luay started his professional career at Palestine Central Bureau of Statistics where he worked from 1994 to 2005 and was appointed President.

Dr. Luay holds a PhD in Applied Social Statistics from Lancaster University, UK, a Master’s Degree in Mathematical Statistics from the University of Jordan and a Bachelor of Science in Mathematics from Baghdad University.

Dr Palitha Mahipala was appointed as WHO Head of mission in Pakistan in April 2019. He has diversified experience in the fields of family planning, health and population services, community health development, IDPs care and rehabilitation, primary eye health, hospital development, administration and management. He was a member of many advisory committees, medical boards, foundations, councils and associations and has many publications to his credit. Dr Mahipala graduated in Medicine and Surgery from the University of Peradeniya, Sri Lanka in 1983. He is also a specialist in medical administration and qualified in the fields of public health, management, business administration and developmental economics.

Before her appointment as FAO Representative in Pakistan, Ms Florence Rolle was the FAO Representative in Morocco from 2018 to 2021 and in Malawi from 2013 to 2018.

Ms. Rolle possess French nationality. She holds a Masters in Natural Resource Management and Environmental Policy from Wye College in London, United Kingdom, and graduated as an Agricultural Engineer from the Institut National Agronomique Paris-Grignon in Paris, France. She also holds an equivalent Masters on water and forest engineering from the National School of Rural Engineering, Water and Forests in Paris, France.

Mr Geir Thomas TONSTOL, a Norwegian national, was appointed Director of the ILO Country Office for Pakistan (CO-Islamabad), on 3 January 2023.
Mr Tonstol joined the ILO in 2003 and has held several positions both at ILO headquarters and in the field.

He comes to Pakistan from the position as Senior Administrator in the office of the ILO’s Deputy Director-General for Field Operations and Partnerships, a position he held since 2016. Prior to that, Mr Tonstol served as Resource Mobilization Specialist and Operations Specialist in the ILO’s Regional Office for Africa in Addis Ababa, Ethiopia.

He started his ILO career in the Bureau for Gender Equality, where he managed a portfolio of development cooperation projects as Chief Technical Advisor.
From April to October 2022, Mr Tonstol served on the Transition Team of the newly-elected ILO Director-General.

Mr Tonstol holds an MPhil degree in Gender and Development and an MA degree in Development Administration and Management.

He is married and has a daughter.

Mr Jawed Ali Khan is an Urban, Environment and Climate Change specialist by profession. He has been heading the UN-Habitat Programme in Pakistan since 2017. Mr Khan has over 30 years of experience in the areas of urban, environmental and climate change. Before joining UN-Habitat Pakistan, he served in the Government of Pakistan, starting as an Urban Planner in 1986 and retiring as Director General, Ministry of Climate Change in 2013. After that, he remained associated with UNEP as National Coordinator for Sustainable Consumption and Production, National Expert on Climate Change Mitigation and National Expert for UN-Habitat in preparation of Climate Change Vulnerability & Adaptive Assessment Report on Islamabad and National Report of Pakistan for United Nations HABITAT III Conference.

Jennifer Ankrom-Khan has lived and worked in Pakistan for over 14 years. Her primary roles to date have been within civil society, starting her work with a local organisation and more recently working with various INGOs. Her most recent tenure was as Country Director for Action Against Hunger in Pakistan. As part of this role, she was a founding member of READY Pakistan (the local branch of the Start Network) and took on leadership roles within the Pakistan Humanitarian Forum, most notably with regard to their work on regulation. She holds a bachelor's degree in Psychology and a master's degree in International Relations. She resumed her role with UNOPS on January 6, 2023.

Mr Milsom has been working with UNODC since 1996, managing a broad range of programmes covering counter-narcotics, alternative development, national capacity building and drug demand reduction in challenging and complex environments. He notably served in South East Asia, West and Central Asia, and the Pacific Islands region. Before taking up the overall coordination of the Regional Programme for Afghanistan and neighbouring countries, a role he has held since 2013, he managed the counter-narcotics pillar in the Country Office in Afghanistan, with a focus on national capacity building, policy development and alternative livelihoods. Mr Milsom holds a BA (Hons) and BSc degrees in Social Sciences and Environmental Sciences respectively from the Australian National University. He later attained a PhD in Social Sciences from the University of Melbourne (Australia) with research that focused on the interrelationship between drug control, security and development.

Ms. Mio Sato joined the International Organization for Migration (IOM) Pakistan office in October ‎‎2020. She has worked in IOM offices since 2001 in Kenya, Belgium, Indonesia, Iraq (based in Jordan), ‎Afghanistan and Japan. Prior to joining IOM, she worked with the Consulate General of Japan in Los ‎Angeles (1994-96) and the Japan Institute of International Affairs (JIIA) (1997-2001). She also worked ‎at the Japan Platform (JPF) Secretariat in 2005 and she took a position of Programme Advisor at the ‎PKO secretariat of the Cabinet Office, Government of Japan in 2011. She graduated from ‎International Christian University (B.A in Liberal Arts, 1992) in Tokyo, Japan and did post-graduate ‎studies at Graduate School of Public Administration, International Christian University (M.A in Public ‎Affairs, 1997).‎

Ms. Coco Ushiyama, a Japanese national, recently arrived in Pakistan to serve as the new Representative and Country Director for WFP Pakistan. She has over 28 years of dedicated UN service, mainly with the World Food Programme which was awarded the Nobel Peace Prize in 2020. She possesses extensive expertise in international development, humanitarian response, multi-stakeholder coordination and strategic management. She recently served as WFP's Director of UN Systems and Multilateral Engagement Division in New York and has served in various country offices, including as WFP Representative in Malawi and Indonesia.

Ms Aftab has more than 15 years of experience in strategic planning, programme development, result-based management, technical advisory and institutional capacity building. She joined UNIDO in year 2008 and since then have been holding various key positions within the organisation.

Samuel Rizk assumed the position of the United Nations Development Programme (UNDP) Resident Representative in the Islamic Republic of Pakistan in July 2023. Prior to his appointment in Pakistan, Samuel Rizk served as Head of Conflict Prevention, Peacebuilding & Responsive Institutions (CPPRI) at the UNDP Crisis Bureau in New York.

He has also served as the Manager of the UNDP/RBAS Sub-Regional Response Facility (SRF) based in Amman, Jordan, supporting the organization’s regional response to the crisis in Syria. From July 2015 to October 2017, Samuel was the UNDP Country Director in Syria, and before that, he served as Senior Programme Advisor with the Regional Bureau for Arab States in New York. Samuel also served as Peace and Development Advisor in Sudan and Conflict Prevention Advisor in Yemen for the UN System.

Samuel holds a PhD in Conflict Analysis and Resolution from the Jimmy and Rosalynn Carter School for Peace and Conflict Resolution at George Mason University (2012), an MA in Middle East Studies from the American University in Cairo (AUC), and a BA in Political Science from Hanover College (Indiana, USA).

Mr. Shah Nasir Khan has more than 17 years of extensive experience in strategic planning, research and development, policy and programming, strategic management, disaster risk reduction & climate change adaptation, technical advisory and institutional capacity strengthening. He is serving as Head of UN Resident Coordinator’s Office & Senior Strategic Planner for the UN system in Pakistan since October 2019. Prior to it, he led the Policy, Programme and Sustainable Development Goals (SDGs) Unit at UN WFP.

Mr. Khan served as Advisor to the Provincial Government of Khyber Pakhtunkhwa on Housing, Disaster Risk and Climate Change Management, and managed various post-militancy and flood compensation and social protection programmes. He developed the both the comprehensive 5-year Disaster Risk Management and Climate Change Adaptation Road Maps for Khyber Pakhtunkhwa in 2014 and the FATA Sustainable Return and Rehabilitation Strategy in 2015.

He is visiting faculty to the National School of Public Policy, Civil Services Academy, Provincial Civil Services Academy, Military College of Engineering and University of Engineering & Technology Peshawar; lecturing on Development Policy, Strategic Management, SDGs Implementation, Climate Change and integrating Disaster Risk Reduction & CCA into Development Planning. He has diverse experience of serving in the UN on various positions and assignments in various countries.

Mr. Khan is a Civil Engineer specializing in Disaster Risk Management & Climate Change. He also holds a Masters Degree in Political Science. He is Fellow DANIDA/ Department of DRM University of Copenhagen and Pak-US Leadership Programme (IVLP) Alumni.

UN Women Pakistan’s Country Representative Ms. Sharmeela Rasool is an Attorney-at-Law of the ‎Supreme Court in Sri Lanka and holds a Masters in Intentional Human Rights Law (LLM), a Post Attorney ‎Diploma in Intellectual Property Law, a Post Graduate Diploma in Commercial Arbitration and an ‎Honours Degree in Biochemistry. Before joining UN Women in Pakistan in September 2020, Ms. ‎Sharmeela was working with UNDP Bangladesh as the Chief Technical Adviser for the Human Rights ‎Programme. She has served on a number of leadership positions throughout her career including ‎working as Chief Technical Adviser, Rule of Law and Human Rights Programme with UNDP Lao PDR, ‎UNDP Pakistan as the Chief Technical Adviser (Justice) and Provincial Representative Khyber ‎Pakhtunkhwa, UNDP Sri Lanka as the Programme Manager (Equal Access to Justice Programme), ‎Programme Officer with the Asia Foundation, and Head of the Human Rights Bureau at the Legal Aid ‎Commission of Sri Lanka. ‎

Mr Ashraf joined UNV as Country Coordinator in July 2018. He was already serving UNV in Pakistan as Acting Programme Officer since 2009. He briefly served at UNV HQ working for its Peace Division in 2013 covering DR Congo, Sudan, Algeria and Western Sahara. Before joining UNV, Mr Ashraf worked with UN-Habitat Pakistan as well as a UNDP project. He has earned a degree in computer science and another degree in mass communication.

Mr. Youssef Filali-Meknassi is a Water expert with 25+ years of experience in research & nternational project management, of which 15 years in policy advise and intergovernmental processes within the UN system - Proven intellectual, managerial and technical leadership - Demonstrated experience in programme and project development, leading to successful resources mobilization and partnerships: responsible for the development and execution of $45M+ of activities - Champion for innovation, science and technology, particularly Open Science and Free and Open-Source Software (FOSS) - Fluent in English, French, Spanish and Arabic.

Before joining UNESCO Islamabad office, Mr. Youssefi was the Director of the Division of Water Sciences and Secretary of the International Hydrological Programme (IHP) at UNESCO Headquarters in Paris (France) and after that, UNESCO Regional Director and Representative to Bolivia, Colombia, Ecuador, and Venezuela (Ecuador).

Ms Yuki Takemoto joins the United Nations in Pakistan as Country Director for ‎UNAIDS. She brings over twenty years of experience in development ‎cooperation, including fifteen years leading policy, programmes and strategic ‎partnerships for health, gender equality and human rights through multiple UN ‎agencies and UN interagency coordination mechanisms in Asia-Pacific, Latin ‎America and Europe. She has also worked for the Japanese Foreign Service ‎and the Global Fund to Fight AIDS, Tuberculosis and Malaria.‎

Ms Takemoto holds a Master of Public Policy and a Bachelor of Laws.‎