Our Team in Tajikistan

Kavilmadam Ramaswami Parvathy

Parvathy Ramaswami

Resident Coordinator
 
 
 
Mrs. Kavilmadam Ramaswami Parvathy was appointed as UN Resident Coordinator for Tajikistan in 15 March 2023.

Parvathy brings more than 30 years of experience in development and humanitarian sectors, focusing on strategic planning, performance, and risk management, people management, conflict analysis and humanitarian access negotiations.
Prior to her appointment as United Nations Resident Coordinator, Parvathy served as Representative and Country Director for the United Nations World Food Programme (WFP) in Türkiye, addressing the food and nutrition needs of the most vulnerable people. In this role, she led the emergency response of WFP, providing the much-needed food assistance to hundreds of thousands of earthquake-affected people immediately in the aftermath of the devastating earthquakes in the southeast region of Türkiye. Parvathy actively contributed to the UN multi-sectoral response in support of the efforts of the government to provide emergency assistance to the earthquake-affected people.

Parvathy holds a Masters’ degree in Organizational Performance Management from the School of Management, Cranfield University in England.
WFP

Adham Musallam

WFP
Representative
 
 
 
Mr. Adham Musallam of Jordan has devoted more than 25 years to public service. He previously led some of the UN World Food Programme’s largest operations such as Yemen and Sudan.
His other UN assignments included serving as Deputy Humanitarian Coordinator in Sudan where Mr. Musallam was responsible for strategic advocacy and coordination of humanitarian action in Darfur. He also worked in such high profile operations as Kenya, Afghanistan, Iraq, Syria and executed with excellence his duties as Deputy Emergency Coordinator in Yemen and Senior Liaison Advisor in Turkey.
He obtained his bachelor’s degree in Business Administration and Psychology from the University of Jordan.
Ms. Aidai Kurmanova, UNEP

Aidai Kurmanova

UNEP
Head of Subregional office for Central Asia
 
 
 
Ms. Aidai Kurmanova started her assignment as the Head of Central Asia Office in Almaty in February 2019. She has 21 years of experience in the field of sustainable development. Prior to joining UNEP, she worked as the State Secretary of the Ministry of Economy of the Kyrgyz Republic for five years. Her main areas of expertise include the design and implementation of policies on sustainable economic development. She developed strategic documents on the green economy, e-governance, small and medium enterprise. She led the process of nationalizing the Sustainable Development Goals in the Kyrgyz Republic. She has significant practical work experience with the Parliament of the Kyrgyz Republic in improving the environment for business and has promoted draft laws on economic growth. She holds a Master's degree in Development Economics from the International University of Japan and Public Governance from the Academy of Management under the President of the Kyrgyz Republic.
Ms. Aziza Hamidova, UNAIDS Country Director in Tajikistan

Aziza Hamidova

Country Director in Tajikistan
 
 
 
Dr. Aziza Hamidova has over 25 years’ experience in the humanitarian and development sector in Tajikistan. She has a strong policy and programmatic background, particularly in achievement of the MDGs and more recently advancing the 2030 Agenda for Sustainable Development and the SDGs, and hands-on experience in a range of development issues. She is a medical doctor and holds a PhD Degree in internal diseases awarded by Russia’s Supreme Attestation Commission. Prior to joining UNAIDS in Tajikistan, she worked for UN Women as the Country Programme Manager. Her previous positions included managerial posts with UNFPA, UNDP, WHO, USAID, etc. She if fluent in Russian, Tajik and English.
Ms. Cristina Tranca Gheorghe

Cristina Tranca Gheorghe

IOM
Chief of Mission
 
 
 
Cristina joined the UN team in Tajikistan in 2018 after serving in IOM the Netherlands and IOM Romania. With migrant assistance at the core of her 20-year experience in migration management, Cristina has worked on various thematic areas such as refugee resettlement, labour migration and migration health. Highlights of her work include Europe’s first evacuation facility for persons in need of international protection; award-winning campaigns in support of vulnerable migrants; and digitalization of business processes in migrant assistance. Cristina graduated in English and Classical Studies at the University of Bucharest, Romania, and Business Administration at the International Management Center in Budapest, Hungary.
Freya von Groote, UNOPS

Freya Von Groote

UNOPS
Representative
 
 
 
Freya brings 20 years of diverse operational and leadership experience from the UN, inter-governmental and non-governmental sector. She served in Georgia, Armenia, Liberia/West Africa, Iraq and in HQ positions in Vienna and New York, managing complex development, humanitarian and partnership portfolios. A native of Germany, Freya holds an MScEcon in International Politics from the University of Wales and a BAhons in History and Russian from Trinity College Dublin. Freya is fluent in German, English, Russian and French.


Lenni Montiel

Lenni Montiel

UNDP
Resident Representative
 
 
 
Mr. Lenni Montiel (Venezuela) has been appointed as UNDP Resident Representative for Tajikistan as of 1 January 2022.

Prior to this appointment, Mr. Montiel served as UNDP Deputy Regional Director for Latin America and the Caribbean (2017-2021). Before that, he served at the UN Secretariat as Assistant Secretary General for Economic Development in UNDESA (2015-2017), where he also served as Sherpa of the Secretary-General Ban Ki-Moon to the G20. Mr. Montiel was Director for Economic, Social and Development Affairs at the Executive Office of the UN Secretary-General Ban Ki-Moon (2012-2014).
Mr. Montiel holds a PhD in Public Policy from the University of Birmingham, UK (1998); and a MA in Legislative Studies from the University of Hull, UK (2005). He got an MSc combined with his First degree in Economics at the USSR, in the Belorussian State Institute of National Economy (1985). He graduated with distinction.

He speaks Spanish, Russian and English.
Nargis Rakhimova, UNFPA

Nargis Rakhimova

UNFPA
Head of Office
 
 
 
Dr. Nargis Rakhimova graduated from the Tajik State Medical University in 1994. Her educational background includes a diploma in Pediatrics, a master’s degree in Reproductive health and a PhD in Public Health. During almost 25 years of her professional experience in the social and international development sectors, she has worked on different projects for UNFPA, WHO, Asian Development Bank, the Ministry of Health. She has more than 10 years of experience with UNFPA. She has been acting Assistant Representative since 2018 and was appointed Acting Representative in July 2020. She has strong knowledge and skills in strategic positioning and high-level advocacy and introducing the innovative evidence-based programmes that resulted in accelerating the Government commitment to the SDGs and significantly increasing UNFPA visibility in Tajikistan. She has strong experience in coordinating and leveraging the resources of government and development partners, building strategic alliances and mobilizing additional resources to UNFPA areas of work.
Sobir Aminov, ILO

Sobir Aminov

ILO
National Coordinator
 
 
 

Sobir Aminov serves in the capacity of National Coordinator in Tajikistan for ILO since 2009. Prior to that he used to work in the capacity of National Project Coordinator (2008-2009) and Programme Assistant (2007-2008) for Anti-trafficking and Regional Labour Migration project for the same agency. Sobir's education background includes diploma from Institute of Entrepreneurship and Service in Dushanbe, Tajikistan on Finance and Credit and various of relevant training programmes.
Victor Stefan Olsavszky , WHO Representative/ Head of Country Office

Victor OLSAVSZKY

WHO
Country director
olsavszkyv@who.int
 
 
Dr. Victor Olsavszky is a Romanian physician specialized in Public Health, holding a master’s degree in management of social and health services and a Ph.D. in medical science. His career in Public Health began in the Ministry of Health of Romania as Director of the Department for International Cooperation. From January 2016 to December 2020 Dr. Olsavszky was representing the WHO in Bosnia and Herzegovina, managing the WHO country office in Sarajevo. In 2020 on behalf of WHO, Dr. Olsavszky was leading the international support for fighting the COVID-19 pandemic in BiH. From January 2021 Dr. Victor Olsavszky represents the WHO in Tajikistan as WHO Representative /Head of WHO Country Office.
Mr. Yu Yu, UNFPA

Yu Yu

UNFPA
UNFPA Representative for Uzbekistan and Country Director for Tajikistan
 
 
 

Mr. Yu Yu has more than 17 years of work experience in UNFPA. Before his appointment as UNFPA Representative in Uzbekistan/Country Director in Tajikistan in August 2019, he worked as UNFPA Deputy Representative in Zimbabwe (5 years) and Pakistan (4 years), Head of Office in UNFPA DPR Korea (5 years) and National Programme Officer in UNFPA China (3 years). He also worked for 3 years in the Ministry of Commerce of China prior to joining UNFPA. Mr. Yu Yu holds an MSc Degree in Public Policy and Management from the University of London and Postgraduate Diploma in Economics from the University of International Business and Economics in Beijing. He speaks Chinese and English.