Our Team in Trinidad and Tobago

Ms. Joanna Kazana-Wisniowiecki has over 20 years of experience in international development cooperation. Prior to this appointment, she was the UN Resident Coordinator in the Republic of Belarus where she positioned the UN system as an impartial and neutral partner and substantive authority on sustainable development in the context of upper-middle income countries. She led the UN response to COVID-19 and supported the UN system’s action for refugees and migrants. Since the beginning of her tenure, she has strongly advocated for and collaborated closely with NGOs addressing human rights and sustainable development in Belarus.

Before that, Ms. Kazana-Wisniowiecki worked for the United Nations Development Programme (UNDP) Regional Bureau for Europe and the Commonwealth of Independent States (CIS) in New York, providing support to UNDP country offices in Europe and Central Asia and working closely with UNDP’s strategic partners, including the UN Member States’ missions in New York. She represented UNDP on the Steering Committee of UNDP-Russia Development Trust Fund and, together with the Department of Political Affairs , led the work of the Inter-Agency Task Force on Ukraine.

From 2005-2010, Ms. Kazana-Wisniowiecki served as UNDP Deputy Representative in Ukraine, and created one of UNDP's largest local development projects “Community Based Approach to Local Development in Ukraine”.

She began her professional career in Poland where she worked as a UNDP National Programme Officer in Warsaw, then as an international consultant for the United Nations Programme on HIV/AIDS (UNAIDS), and as an Advisor on international programme development and harm reduction for the Soros Foundation. She has facilitated South-South cooperation and knowledge transfer on HIV/AIDS prevention and care.

Mr Blanco, a national of Spain, brings to the office sixteen years of experience working with UNDP, most of which involved issues affecting the Caribbean, including crises in Haiti, natural disasters and the Covid-19 pandemic.
Prior to his appointment to the Port of Spain office, Mr. Blanco was stationed in Bridgetown for four years where he was the Deputy Resident Representative for Barbados and the Eastern Caribbean MCO, which covers ten countries and territories.

His career highlights include:

-Senior Recovery Advisor for Barbados and the Eastern Caribbean (2018-2019).
-Regional Advisor on Latin America and the Caribbean (2014-2018).
-Part of the UN response in Nepal following the earthquake of 2015 and the Ebola crisis in the Horn of Africa (2014).
-Special Assistant to the UN Assistant-Secretary General and Regional Director for Latin America and the Caribbean (2013-2014).
-Head of Recovery, Livelihoods and Poverty Reduction Unit in Haiti (2012-2013).
-Early Recovery Cluster Coordinator in Haiti after the earthquake (2010-2012).
-Programme analyst, Bureau for Crisis Prevention and Recovery, Global Pooled Fund, UNDP New York (2009-2010).
-Programme Officer for Disaster Management and Avian Flu, UNDP Vietnam (2007-2009)

Before joining UNDP, Mr Blanco was the Spanish representative of the Spanish Agency for International Cooperation (AECID) in Indonesia (2005-2006).

He holds a Bachelor degree and Master’s degree in Political Sciences and Public Administration from the Universidad Complutense de Madrid, Spain; a Master’s degree in International Cooperation and Development from the University Institute of Development and Cooperation, Madrid, Spain; and a Master’s degree in Human Resources Management Administration from the School of Politics, Madrid, Spain.

AbdulKadir Musse, a veteran humanitarian worker, has taken over as UNICEF Representative for the Eastern Caribbean Area. In this capacity, Musse will lead UNICEF's Multi-Country Programme across 12 countries and territories: Anguilla, Antigua and Barbuda, Barbados, British Virgin Islands, Dominica, Grenada, Montserrat, Saint Kitts and Nevis, Saint Lucia, Saint Vincent and the Grenadines, Trinidad and Tobago, and the Turks and Caicos Islands.

On 24 March 2025, Musse presented his credentials to Barbados’ Minister of Foreign Affairs and Foreign Trade, Kerrie Symmonds, at the Ministry’s headquarters in Bridgetown. Minister Symmonds warmly welcomed the new head, thanking UNICEF for its invaluable support to children and young people in Barbados and the broader Eastern Caribbean over the past four decades. The Minister reaffirmed the Government of Barbados’ commitment to further strengthening collaboration with UNICEF in the region, particularly in the areas of education reform and climate resilience.

Musse brings with him a wealth of experience in humanitarian leadership, with a distinguished career spanning over two decades. He has successfully navigated complex crises around the world, with a particular focus on emergency response, humanitarian operations, and child welfare. In his new role, he is committed to advancing sustainable development, enhancing emergency preparedness, and ensuring the protection and well-being of children across the region.

"I am deeply grateful to Minister Symmonds for his warm reception," said Musse. "I look forward to engaging with policymakers across the Eastern Caribbean, but more importantly, I look forward to connecting with the children and young people whose lives we are working to improve. Together, we will face the challenges and embrace the opportunities of this rapidly changing world, always with the goal of ensuring a brighter future for every child."

Sylvie Bertrand previously served as the Deputy Regional Representative at the Regional Office for Eastern Africa. Prior to her tenure in the senior management team of this organization, she held a diverse array of roles, including advisor, expert, program coordinator, and pillar leader. In these capacities, she applied the UNODC mandate in the realms of health and social development, with a particular focus on HIV/AIDS prevention, treatment, care, and support for individuals facing drug-related challenges, as well as those residing and working within correctional environments. Her contributions also encompassed UNODC's comprehensive approach to drug use prevention, treatment, and care.

Before her affiliation with UNODC, she contributed to the United Nations Development Programme (UNDP) as a coordination officer within the Office of the Resident Coordinator in South Africa. Her commitment to fostering positive change extends beyond her time with the UN, as she previously managed development projects within civil society organizations in Bolivia and Bulgaria. In addition to her international experience, she engaged in the public sector at the municipal level, addressing pivotal management practices such as results-based management and service delivery.

Mr. Brian Bogart has over 20 years of experience managing humanitarian and development programmes at the global, regional and national levels.

As the newly designated Country Director for the WFP Caribbean Multi-Country Office, which coordinates support for 22 countries and territories as well as several regional institutions, he oversees WFP’s work throughout the English and Dutch-speaking Caribbean in the areas of social protection, disaster risk management and food systems.

Before joining the MCO, Mr. Bogart served as Deputy Country Director for WFP Tanzania. He has served in a variety of roles throughout his WFP career, including Senior Regional Pro-gramme Advisor for Southern Africa, Strategic Advisor in the New York Global Office and HQ, and emergency coordination roles in Ukraine, Mozambique, the Horn of Africa, Sudan, and South Sudan. He began his career with WFP in 2005 as a Congressional Hunger Fellow in Cam-bodia.

Mr. Bogart is a national of the United States and holds an MA in International Relations from the University of Kent at Canterbury and a BA in Political Science from the State University of New York at New Paltz.

Mr. Cleveland Thomas ITU’s Area Representative for the Caribbean region. Prior to this appointment, he was the CEO-National Information and Communication Technology Company Limited of Trinidad and Tobago. He was also the National Chief Information Officer. Mr. Thomas helps to implement the Caribbean Governments’ vision for development using ICTs: improvement in health care, education, security, commerce, transport, tourism etc.

Dr. Gabriel Vivas Francesconi, originally from Bogota, Colombia, holds a medical doctor degree from Universidad del Bosque, a Master of Public Health (MPH) from Universidad de Chile, and a Master of Science (MSc) in Health Care Management from Marymount University, Virginia, USA. With over 25 years of experience in public health program management across South and Central America, and the Caribbean, Dr. Vivas has been instrumental in both public and private sectors, focusing on health systems and services, health policy, financing, human resources, and emergency preparedness and response. His extensive tenure with PAHO/WHO, spanning more than 15 years, has seen him serve in various roles across Central America, Barbados, Brazil, and at the headquarters in Washington D.C. Noteworthy is his coordination of a significant south-south cooperation project in Brazil aimed at expanding primary health services in remote areas.

Dr. Smith has worked with the Food and Agriculture Organization of the United Nations for over 14 years, leading programme development and implementation in several countries of the Caribbean, engaging with governments and other stakeholders in a wide range of areas covered by the Organization and in alignment with national and regional priorities. Dr. Smith has also worked at the sub-regional and regional level of the FAO, developing Country Programming Frameworks and supporting the design of FAO’s Caribbean sub-regional priorities, and worked on initiatives to enhance alignment and synergies between the Caribbean and Latin American work programme.

Dr. Smith is committed to promoting sustainable approaches to development, recognizing and respecting the views and aspirations of all stakeholders (especially the voiceless and most vulnerable) in the development process. Her abiding interest is to continue active engagement in development, ensuring that equity and social justice inform choices and responses. She is confident that people have within themselves an often unexplored capacity for doing better.

Dr. Amenyah is UNAIDS Multi-Country Director for Belize, Barbados, Guyana, Jamaica, Suriname, Trinidad and Tobago, and the Eastern Caribbean States. A medical doctor by training, he brings into this position several productive years of professional experience in Global Health. He believes in the goal of ending AIDS as a public health threat by 2030, and the urgent need to improve the health and wellbeing of people especially vulnerable, marginalized, and underserved key populations.

Dr. Amenyah joined UNAIDS in 2014 and has wealth of experience in developing public health policies and programs to shape health investments in countries. He previously worked at the Regional Support Team of West and Central Africa as the Regional Investment and Efficiency Advisor, and supported countries to mobilize resources from multi-lateral and bilateral donors, conducted several efficiency studies for sustainability planning, and coordinated technical support and capacity development programs for health systems strengthening. His last duty station was in Nigeria where he supported the established a US$100 million HIV Trust Fund for the elimination of vertical transmission of HIV and helped to mobilize the largest grant for a single country of about US$1.2 billion from the Global Fund for HIV/TB/Malaria/COVID19. He was also a member of the core team that developed the current Global AIDS Strategy 2022-2026.

Prior to joining UNAIDS, he worked on regional technical support projects based in Burkina Faso and in Ghana his home country.

In July 2025, Mr. Eric Falt was appointed as Regional Director of the UNESCO Office for the Caribbean (D2), based in Kingston, Jamaica. He is the UNESCO Representative to Antigua and Barbuda, the Bahamas, Barbados, Belize, Dominica, Grenada, Guyana, Jamaica, Saint Kitts and Nevis, Saint Lucia, Saint Vincent and the Grenadines, Suriname, Trinidad and Tobago as well as Anguilla, Aruba, British Virgin Islands, Cayman Islands, Curaçao, Montserrat and Sint Maarten.

Mr. Falt was previously based in Rabat, Morocco (2022 – 2025), as the Regional Director of the UNESCO Office for the Maghreb and UNESCO Representative in Algeria, Libya, Mauritania, Morocco and Tunisia.

From 2018 to 2022, he was based in New Delhi, India as Regional Director of the UNESCO Office for South Asia.

From 2010 to 2018, he was Assistant Director-General for External Relations and Public Information, based at UNESCO Headquarters in Paris – with the rank of Assistant Secretary-General of the UN.

With 35 years of experience at the United Nations, Mr. Falt also served in New York as Director of the Outreach Division in the UN Department of Public Information (2007-2010), and in Nairobi, Kenya as Director of the Communications Division for the UN Environment Programme (2002-2007). Previously, he was Director of the UN Information Centre in Islamabad, Pakistan (1998-2002).

A national of France, Mr. Falt also served in the 1990’s as a spokesperson for UN peacekeeping and humanitarian operations in Cambodia, Haiti and Iraq.

He is married, with five sons.

The UN Women Multi-Country Office (MCO) – Caribbean is pleased to introduce Ms. Isiuwa Iyahen as the Head of Office ad interim. In her role, Ms. Iyahen is responsible for the day-to-day management of the MCO, leading the design, implementation, management and oversight of programmes and operations to ensure effective and efficient delivery of results.

Ms. Iyahen has served as Deputy Representative from April 2022 to January 2025. Prior to this, Ms. Iyahen managed the Economic Empowerment and Statistics portfolios for the UN Women MCO -Caribbean. In that capacity, her technical leadership resulted in narrowing significant knowledge, research, and gender data gaps on violence against women and girls, the labour force, social protection, and unpaid care work in CARICOM.

She has over 20 years of experience in international development and has served in various capacities within the United Nations system and non-governmental organisations.

Ms. Iyahen holds a Master of Public Policy degree from the University of Minnesota’s Hubert Humphrey Institute of Public Affairs and a Bachelor of Arts degree in Political Science from Swarthmore College.

We look forward to Ms. Iyahen’s continued leadership as she continues to champion initiatives that foster equality and drive meaningful change across the Caribbean.

Jamie Mendoza is the Regional ASYCUDA Coordinator for the Americas at UNCTAD

Jenny Karlsen is the UNFPA Director ad interim for the Sub-regional Office for the Caribbean based in Bridgetown, Barbados.

She is a passionate development professional with almost two decades of progressive programming, management and leadership experience in UNFPA and the UN Development System including UNDP, WFP, UNOPS and UN Coordination.

Ms. Karlsen champions the urgency to achieve pace and scale of targeted multi-sectoral investments to address the unfinished business for women, adolescent girls and young people working across government, civil society, academia and the private sector.

In her previous role as Deputy Representative of UNFPA Mozambique, her commitment to improving the lives of the most vulnerable women, girls and youth made Ms. Karlsen instrumental in doubling the size of the new Country Programme (from $40 mln to $90 mln) and tripling the humanitarian programme to respond to the triple Cs of conflict, cyclones and COVID-19.

Ms. Karlsen also led several joint programming efforts on gender-based violence, adolescent sexual and reproductive health and rights and data, including to position UNFPA as lead entity on new initiatives such as the EU funded Spotlight to end gender-based violence and harmful practices and the multi-donor trust fund for census support.

Before joining UNFPA, Jenny has served in other middle income contexts including as Head of UN Coordinator Office in the Islamic Republic of Iran and the People’s Republic of China and as Head of Strategic and Private sector partnerships for UNDP Brazil.

As a Sami (indigenous peoples in Norway), Ms. Karlsen has been a passionate advocate for the rights of indigenous peoples from a young age, starting off as a volunteer for indigenous rights movements in Peru. Ms. Karlsen holds a Masters degree in Business Administration and Economics (Stockholm School of Economics) and a Bachelor’s degree in International Relations (London School of Economics). Originally from Norway, she is the mother of two girls.

Mr. Joni Musabayana took up the position of Director of the ILO Decent Work Team and Office for the Caribbean, effective 15 October 2023.

Mr. Musabayana, a Zimbabwean national, leads the ILO’s efforts in promoting social justice, decent work, and inclusive economic growth across 13 Member States and nine non-metropolitan territories in the English-and Dutch-speaking Caribbean.

Mr. Musabayana has a three-decades long career in labour, social development, and international relations. He has played a pivotal role in addressing issues relevant to the Caribbean including labour migration, enterprise development, social protection, skills development, gender equality and climate resilience. His dedication to fostering tripartite social dialogue and cooperation between governments, employers, and workers has been instrumental in reducing decent work deficits and driving positive change in the labour landscape.

Prior to his current role as Director of the ILO Decent Work Team and Office for the Caribbean, Mr. Musabayana served as Director of the ILO Pretoria Decent Work Team, leading technical support for 18 countries in Eastern and Southern Africa. He was also Director for the Country Office politically and administratively covering Botswana, Eswatini, Lesotho and South Africa.

Mr. Musabayana has a Doctorate in Business Leadership from UNISA School of Business Leadership, as well as a Master of Business Administration (MBA) and a Bachelor of Science (BSc) in Political Science and Public Administration from the University of Zimbabwe. He also has a Diploma in Training Management, and a Diploma in Computer Programming.

José Egas is the UNHCR Multi-Country Office Representative

A national of Colombia, Liliana is a journalist and communications specialist with twenty-seven years of experience in the field — including twenty-three years with the UN and four years as a news producer.

As the director for the United Nations Information Centre for the Caribbean Area (UNIC Caribbean), Liliana works to educate Caribbean audiences about the work of the UN globally and provides communications support to various UN offices and agencies operating within the Caribbean region.

Before joining UNIC Caribbean, Liliana served as a Regional Communications Officer for the Development Coordination Office based in Panama. This position entailed managing a network of communication professionals across 25 countries. In previous years, she acted as Chief of Public Information and Communication Strategy in the UN Verification Mission in Colombia.

Prior to joining the Mission, she served as Information Officer for 17 years at UNIC Bogotá, which also covers Ecuador and Venezuela, and led public information activities.

Michelle Brathwaite is the OHCHR Caribbean Community Regional Office Representative

Miosotis Rivas Peña took up the appointment at ECLAC Caribbean’s office at the beginning of June 2025. A national of the Dominican Republic, she brings more than 20 years of leadership and policy experience in public administration, gender equality, sustainable development, and economic policy.

Prior to joining ECLAC, Rivas Peña served as Director-General of the National Statistics Office (ONE) of the Dominican Republic from 2020. She was also elected Chair of the Statistical Conference of the Americas of ECLAC for the 2023–2025 period. Her career spans leadership roles including Executive Director of the Regional Centre for the Promotion of Micro, Small and Medium-sized Enterprises (CENPROMYPE), National Programme Officer at UN Women, and Technical Secretary for Women in the Council of Ministers for Women’s Affairs of Central America and the Dominican Republic (COMMCA).

The United Nations Office for Disaster Risk Reduction (UNDRR) appointed Mr. Nahuel Arenas Garcia as Chief of the Regional Office for the Americas and the Caribbean of UNDRR (UNDRR ROAC), effective the 6th of July 2023.

Mr. Arenas Garcia has been serving as the Deputy Chief of UNDRR ROAC since 2017, and brings more than 20 years of experience leading humanitarian, Disaster Risk Reduction and development cooperation programs in different countries in Latin America & Caribbean, Africa and the Asia Pacific region.

During the last 20 years, Mr. Arenas has led humanitarian assistance interventions, DRR programming and development cooperation in different countries in Latin America & Caribbean, Africa and Asia Pacific. Before joining UNDRR, Mr. Arenas occupied the position of Director for Humanitarian Programs and Policy for OXFAM USA.

He has also worked for the Japan International Cooperation Agency (JICA), Action Against Hunger (ACF), consulted for UN-Habitat leading learning processes around DRR programming and contributed to many academic programs including the Harvard Humanitarian Initiative Course: Humanitarian Response to Conflict and Disasters. He has a background in Public Policy (FLACSO) and International Politics (SOAS, Univ. of London) as well as degrees in Crisis Management (Universidad Complutense of Madrid).

Shelley Cheatham is the OCHA Head of Office for the Regional Office for Latin America and the Caribbean

Soledad Urruela is the Director of the Regional Centre for Peace, Disarmament and Development in Latin America and the Caribbean (UNLIREC)

Vincent Sweeney is Head of the Caribbean Sub-Regional Office for UNEP and previously spent 4 years as the Coordinator of the GPA, in UNEP’s headquarters. He also served for 10 years as Executive Director of the Caribbean Environmental Health Institute.