Our Team in Kenya

Sandra Macharia is the Director of the United Nations Information Service in Nairobi, covering Kenya, the Seychelles and Uganda. She assumed her new duties on 10 July.

Ms. Macharia has over 20 years of experience in strategic and crisis communications, as well as policy and programme development. She is currently serving as Chief of the Africa Section and Editor-in-Chief of Africa Renewal in the United Nations Department of Global Communications. In addition, she previously held several positions with the United Nations Development Programme (UNDP) including Deputy Communications Director ad interim, Regional Communications Adviser for Africa, Special Assistant to Assistant Secretaries-General, and Communications Officer, serving in different locations including New York, Addis Ababa and Nairobi.

Prior to the United Nations, she worked as a producer, reporter and news anchor for news outlets including Reuters, BBC World Service, Nation TV/Nation Media Group and Kenya Television Network.

Ms. Macharia holds a master’s degree in media, peace and conflict studies from the Universidad para la Paz, as well as a bachelor’s degree in journalism, film and broadcasting, and a postgraduate diploma in broadcasting from Cardiff University

Rainer has served as Director of UNOPS Kenya Multi Country office (KMCO) since 2014 and was previously Adviser for Risk Reduction and Recovery in UNOPS Head Quarters in Copenhagen. He first worked with the UN in Sri Lanka, going on to other agencies in conflict, disaster and emergency operations in Afghanistan, Indonesia, Pakistan, Philippines, Haiti, Maldives, Ethiopia, Somalia and South Sudan. He is a Magister Juris/LLM from the Universities of Salzburg and Vienna and a Master’s in Development Studies from the School of Oriental and African Studies of the University of London.

Before joining UNISDR Regional Office for Africa, Mr. Abbashar headed the organization’s Regional Office for Arab States in Cairo, Egypt. Mr Abbashar began his United Nations career as a Programme Officer with the UNDP Emergency Unit in Sudan dealing with Operation Lifeline Sudan in the early 1990’s. Later he became Field Coordinator in the Department of Humanitarian Affairs during the Liberian war after which he was assigned as Deputy Head of OCHA in Sierra Leone. He joined OCHA’s headquarters in New York in 2000 as a Humanitarian Affairs Officer focusing on inter-governmental matters related to the Security Council, the General Assembly and the Economic and Social Council.

Mr. Anders Thomsen has more than 25 years of experience in Development and Humanitarian Assistance, with a commitment to promoting Human Rights, Reproductive Health, and Poverty Reduction. He is the UNFPA Representative to Kenya from April 2022. Prior to his appointment to Kenya, he served for three years as UNFPA Representative to Somalia and five years as the UNFPA Representative to Palestine. He focused on addressing humanitarian and development challenges related to population dynamics, youth, reproductive health, and combatting gender-based violence. Preceding that, Mr. Anders Thomsen was the UNFPA Deputy Representative for India and Bhutan.

Prior to his assignment in India, he worked at UNDP’s Multi-Donor Trust Fund Office, where he was Senior Portfolio Manager for the 700 million-dollar MDG Achievement Fund. At the same time, he led the development of a new system for the administration of Multi-Donor and Multi-Agency Trust Funds in the UN system. He has previously served as Resource Mobilization Specialist for UNFPA and as Programme Specialist in the Asia Pacific Division, where he covered South-East Asia during the Indian Ocean Tsunami crisis. Before joining UNFPA he spent six years with UNOPS both at Headquarters and in Eastern/Southern Africa where he focused on nationally implemented loans and grants from the International Fund for Agricultural Development (IFAD). Earlier, Mr. Thomsen worked for several companies in the Private Sector. Mr. Thomsen has been stationed in various countries across three continents: Africa, Asia, and Latin America.

He holds a double major in International Development Studies and Business Administration. He is a national of Denmark.

Andrea Noyes joins the OCHA team in Nairobi as Head of the Regional Office for Eastern and Southern
Africa. Prior to this assignment, she led the Interagency ProCap GenCap Project Management team in
Geneva together with NRC, and brings diverse field experience with OCHA to role, serving from 2017
2022 as Deputy Head of Office in Yemen and South Sudan. She worked with the Yemen team from late
2020-22 on field coordination, access, security and humanitarian notification/deconfliction issues. With the
South Sudan team, she focused on policy, financing, programme cycle, IM and communications functions
from 2017-2020.
She previously supported leadership development of Humanitarian Coordinators and Humanitarian
Country Teams in OCHA’s Humanitarian Leadership Strengthening Unit in Geneva, and worked on
strategic operational inter-agency issues in a range of humanitarian operations as the Coordinator of the
IASC Emergency Directors Group Secretariat. Previously, she worked with regional offices on the
preparations for the World Humanitarian Summit and with OCHA’s policy branch on publications on
accountability to affected people, humanitarian effectiveness, humanitarian-development nexus, and
research on humanitarian data and trends. She spent several years in Latin America and the UK in the
NGO and private sectors, and she holds an MSc in Population and Development from the London School
of Economics. She is a US American national.

Caroline Mugalla is ILO Director overseeing the East African Region; Tanzania, Kenya, Rwanda, Burundi and Uganda. She commenced the role 1 January 2024.

Ms. Mugalla began her career as a junior officer at the Central Organisation of Trade Unions in Kenya in 2005 serving under different responsibilities that included, gender and training, social dialogue and good governance, and productivity until 2009.

She joined the East Africa Trade Union Confederation (EATUC) as a lobby, advocacy and Public Relations Officer a position she held until 2013 when she was appointed the first ever female to head a sub-regional trade union organisation in Africa, with a membership of over 5.4 million.

In her position as the Executive Director of EATUC she was tasked with overseeing all aspects of union coordination, organisation, and leadership for underrepresented workers while maintaining compliance with established regulations and ensuring adherence to best practices and guidelines in the EAC region.

She has had extensive experience in social dialogue in the East Africa Community, political policy advocacy, spearheading vision and resource mobilization, strategy, and execution of trade unions and labour organisations policy advocacy work representing the voice of workers at high level forums nationally and internationally.

She was a distinguished Executive Director, Board member and labour relations specialist. She has served in many leadership roles for which she has been recognized locally and internationally.

A finalist of the 2015 CFC Bank Rising Star Awards, Service: Public and Private, she featured in the Netherlands in the FNV Magazine 2020 as a top Woman Trade Unionist Leader worldwide and in Kenya as women movers and shakers in the trade union movement.

She is currently a member of the World Economic Forum Joint Trade and Labour Steering Group and an Evaluator of the Prince Talal International Prize by the Arab Gulf Programme for Development. Ms. Mugalla has previously served as Member of the Commonwealth Foundation Civil Society Advisory Committee.

Ms. Mugalla holds a Masters in Business Administration with a focus on Human Resource Management from Kenya Methodist University and a Bachelor of Science Biology Major and Chemistry Minor from the University of Eastern Africa Baraton.

Caroline van Buren took up her function as UNHCR Kenya Representative in April 2022. Ms. van Buren joined UNHCR in 1993 in Geneva, Switzerland. Most recently, she held the position of UNHCR Representative in Afghanistan, and prior to that, UNHCR Representative in Somalia. She has also held various other positions with UNHCR in the USA (Washington), Bosnia, Liberia, Tanzania, Democratic Republic of Congo, Malawi, Hungary and Slovenia.

In 1998 and from 2004 to 2009, Ms. van Buren was on loan from UNHCR to the United Nations Department of Peace Keeping Operations in Sierra Leone and in Liberia, where she worked in the Rule of Law Division.

Ms. van Buren holds a Bachelor’s degree in Political Science from the University of California at Berkeley (1988) and a Juris Doctor Degree from Boston University School of Law (1991). She is a national of Suriname and is married to Joseph F. Brent.

Capt. Muli joined the IMO from Maritime Administration in Kenya where his last appointment was the head of maritime safety. He previously served the disciplined forces where he served in different capacities, including as command of the Kenya Navy Ships. Capt. Muli holds a Master’s Degree in Maritime Transport from the World Maritime University, Malmo, Sweden and he is a holder of Master Mariner Certificate of Competency.

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.

Dr. Rose Mwebaza brings over 25 years’ experience to the Position of Director and Regional Representative for Africa in UNEP.
Prior to taking on her current position, she served as the Director and Advisory Board Secretary of the United Nations Climate Technology Centre & Network (CTCN), the implementation arm of the UN Framework Convention on Climate Change (UNFCCC) Technology Mechanism.
Rose was a lecturer at Makerere University between 1997 and 2008 where she also served as the Head of Department for Commercial Law, and Deputy Dean of the Law School. She then served as the Regional Policy Adviser for Eastern and Southern Africa on Climate Change in the Environment and Energy Group, at the United Nations Development Programme Bureau for Development Policy. She later served as Programme Manager for UNDP’s regional office for Africa in Addis Ababa, Ethiopia where she was also designated as Advisor to the Chairperson of the African Union and Advisor to the Committee of Heads of State and Government on Climate Change. Rose then joined the banking sector and served as Chief Natural Resources Officer at the African Development Bank in Abidjan, Ivory Coast.
Rose holds a Ph.D. in Environment and Natural Resource Governance from Macquarie University, Sydney, Australia; a master’s degree in international Comparative Law (With a Certificate of Academic Excellence) from the University of Florida, U.S.A, and a Bachelor of Laws Degree (LL. B, Hons.) from Makerere University, Kampala, Uganda. She is a Carl Duisburg Research fellow at the World Conservation Union (IUCN), a member of the UN Master Minds, a Member of the Association of Environmental Law Lecturers in Africa, and a founding member of the Network for African Women Environmentalists.

Louise Haxthausen (Denmark) was appointed Director of the UNESCO Regional Office for Eastern Africa in Nairobi in September 2024. She previously served as UNESCO’s Representative to the European Union and Director of the Liaison Office in Brussels.

Ms. Haxthausen has worked on conflict and crisis response at country-level in Afghanistan and in Palestine, and as Director of the UNESCO Office for Iraq.

At UNESCO Headquarters, she has served in key roles including Focal Point for the Middle East in the Office of the Director-General, Senior Coordinator for Crisis Response in the Arab World within the Bureau of Field Coordination, and Senior Coordinator for Crisis and Transition Response in the Director-General’s Office.

Ms. Haxthausen joined UNESCO in 1993, starting her career as an Associate Expert in the Human Rights Division at the Organization’s Headquarters in Paris.

She has an academic background in political science and international public law.

Mariatu Kamara is an International development professional with over 18 years of experience that spans United Nations, International Financial Institutions and Civil Society in conflict and post conflict Countries. She is a skilled negotiator and a driver of institutional reforms, organizational restructuring, with result in achieving efficiency gains and leading successful policy reforms. Mariatu has extensive experience in the execution of country strategies, programme/project development and management, partnerships building, resource mobilization, policy leadership and institutional management for rural and agricultural transformation. Prior to her joining International Fund for Agricultural Development (IFAD), she served as Head of a Sub office with the World Food Programme (WFP) in Sierra Leone, coordinating relief, recovery and development activities from 2001 to 2005. She also served as a project Manager for the Recovery and Crisis Prevention unit with UNDP in Sudan from 2005 to 2011. In 2012, she served with a Non-Governmental Organization – CAFOD as the Programme Manager for Sierra Leone and Liberia.
Mariatu holds a Master’s Degree in Rural Development from Njala University, University of Sierra Leone.

Prior to her appointment to in Kenya, Dr. Tsehaiu served for five years in the same position in Zambia and for three years in South Sudan. She has also served as Chief of Staff at the Federal Ministry of Health in Ethiopia, her country of birth. Medhin's professional career spans across research, academia, public health, management and development. She graduated with a PhD in Organic Chemistry from Eotvos Lorand University in Budapest, Hungary.

Shaheen Nilofer is the UNICEF Representative to Kenya. She has over 30 years of experience in the development sector at senior leadership positions. This includes building large social sector development and humanitarian programmes for non-profit organizations, bi-laterals and Governments in the backdrop of under-development and post-conflict environments.

Prior to joining UNICEF Kenya, Ms Nilofer served as UNICEF Representative to Eritrea (2019-22), UNICEF Representative to Turkmenistan (2016-19) and UNICEF Representative to Bhutan (2012-16). She also served as UNICEF Chief of Field Office in Chhattisgarh (Central India) for over five years.

Prior to joining UNICEF India, Ms Nilofer served in Oxfam GB, India and later in South Asia from 1993-2008 in various capacities including South Asia Regional Programme Quality Coordinator. She served as Oxfam’s Regional Representative, in East and South India region and later as India Country Humanitarian Programme Manager. She was responsible for programme strategy development and implementation, leveraging and resource management and management of human resources besides humanitarian response planning and management.

Ms Nilofer is an Indian national. She holds a Doctorate in Gender Studies and a Master’s degree in Sociology. She is fluent in English, Hindi and Urdu and is able to read and speak basic Arabic.

Ms. Tally Einav has more than 15 years of experience in development and international organizations. She is passionate about the promise of inclusive and sustainable industrial development to countries well-being and the achievement of the global Agenda 2030. Starting in UNIDO in 2009, she worked in both technical cooperation and management of the organization. Among her other roles over the years, she led on UNIDO’s inquiry of its normative role as well on the coordination of the African Agribusiness and Agro-industries Development Initiative (3ADI) in UNIDO. She worked at the Executive Office of the Deputy to the Director General for many years and before moving to Kenya she worked in the External Relations leading on dialogues with Member States. She also served as the focal point for UNIDO’s work with civil societies.
She holds a Master’s Degree in Organizational Development and certification in Sustainable Development. She also holds degrees in Political Science and Communications.