Our Team in Kyrgyz Republic

Ms. Grawe brings more than 20 years of experience in international cooperation, sustainable development and peace and security with the United Nations and other international and bilateral organizations.

Prior to her appointment as UN Resident Coordinator, Ms. Grawe served for three and a half years with the Organization for Security and Cooperation in Europe (OSCE) Special Monitoring Mission to Ukraine, first as Deputy Chief Monitor leading the Mission's work in the fields of human rights, gender, environment and dialogue facilitation, since April this year as Acting Head of Mission.

Earlier, she served with UN Political and Peace Operations in various leadership and senior advisory roles in Afghanistan, Haiti and for the Office of the Special Envoy of the Secretary-General for Yemen (OSESGY). In Afghanistan, she led the Regional Office of the United Nations Assistance Mission (UNAMA) in Herat and was the Head of the Mission's Analysis and Planning Unit. In the OSESGY, she served as Senior Peacebuilding Officer after having advised the Special Representative of the Secretary-General and Head of the United Nations Stabilization Mission in Haiti (MINUSTAH) as Senior Special Assistant for nearly four years.

Ms. Grawe also worked with the German Government at the Embassy in Pakistan as Counsellor for Economic Cooperation and Development and as Desk Officer for Afghanistan in the German Federal Ministry for Economic Cooperation and Development (BMZ) in Bonn, in addition to positions with the German Corporation for International Cooperation (GIZ) at its Headquarters in Germany and in Afghanistan.

Ms. Antje Grawe holds a master’s degree in Political Science and History from the University in Trier, Germany. She also holds a certificate in political science from the Institut d’Études Politiques in Bordeaux, France, and studied at Universities in Krakow and Warsaw in Poland.

Dr Shahin Huseynov brings over 20 years of experience in international public health and international development. Prior to his assignment to Kyrgyzstan, he was coordinating the polio eradication program at the WHO Regional Office for Europe. Earlier, he served as an advisor on immunization and communicable diseases for five countries of Central Asia based in Uzbekistan and as a program management officer in Nepal. Before joining WHO, he worked in various roles with UNICEF and UNHCR in Azerbaijan, Indonesia, and New York.
Dr Huseynov holds a master's degree in international development policy and health policy, law and management from Duke University in the USA, a medical degree from Azerbaijan Medical University, and certifications from Université de Genève and INSEAD.

Mr. Andrey Seleznev started his duty as the Head of the UNODC Programme Office in the Kyrgyz Republic in 2018.
He brings more than 25 years of experience in leadership and management, fight against crime, illicit drugs, and terrorism, and holds a profound knowledge of Kyrgyzstan and the Central Asian region.
Prior to his appointment to the UNODC, Mr. Andrey Seleznev served as the head of the department in the Federal Financial Monitoring Service of the Russian Federation (Financial intelligence). In 2012 was appointed as a Deputy Executive Secretary of the Eurasian Group on Combating Money Laundering and Financing of Terrorism (EAG). In this position, Mr. Seleznev strengthened national anti-money laundering and counter-financing of terrorism (AML / CFT) regimes in Central Asia countries. He devoted over ten years to fighting corruption through AML/CFT activities.
Mr. Seleznev has led several review programs to assess Central Asian states' compliance with the international AML/CFT standards, including mutual evaluations of Kazakhstan and Kyrgyzstan, coordinated the work of the EAG on combating crime and terrorism with the UN CTC, UNODC, OSCE, CSTO, RATS SCO, and ATC CIS.
Earlier, Mr. Seleznev worked in the region with crisis/emergency response throughout his career. From 1999 to 2001, he took part in the peace support operation on the territory of Kosovo * based on UN Security Council Resolution 1244.
Mr. Seleznev graduated from the Ryazan Higher Airborne Command Academy and held a Master's Degree in Social and Behavioural Science from the Russian State Social University, where he studied human resource management. He also received additional education in project management at the Moscow State Technical University, named after N. Bauman.

Fabio Piana (Italy) is a lawyer with 20 years of human rights and political affairs experience. He joined OHCHR's Regional Office for Central Asia in June 2022 from the UN Assistance Mission in Afghanistan, where he served since 2019 focusing on national human rights institutions, human rights defenders and civil society, peace, human rights and transitional justice. Prior to that, he served in multiple posts with the OSCE, including as Deputy Head of the OSCE Office in Tajikistan (2015-2018), as Senior Human Dimension Officer at the OSCE Centre in Bishkek (2011-2015), as Human Rights Officer at the OSCE Office for Democratic Institutions and Human Rights (ODIHR, 2005-2008). He also worked as political officer for the EU Delegation in Armenia (2009-2010) and Country Director for Kyrgyzstan at Freedom House (2010-11). He speaks English, Russian, French, Spanish.

Previously, Mr. Hans Friedrich Schodder served as Representative of UNHCR in Serbia, including one year as Resident Coordinator a.i. of the United Nations. In 2012-2015 Mr. Schodder was Deputy Chief of Mission of UNHCR in India, Senior Emergency Coordinator of UNHCR for the Syria Crisis (2014) and Representative of UNHCR in Kyrgyzstan (2008-2012). Mr. Schodder began his career with UNHCR in 1991 in Hong Kong, followed by subsequent assignments in Viet Nam, as Senior Liaison Officer of UNHCR to the OSCE in Vienna (1996- 2001) as well as Senior Protection Officer of UNHCR in Ukraine, in Sudan, and in Sri Lanka (2001-2008). He is married with two children and graduated with a BA (hons) in Social Anthropology and Vietnamese Studies from the School of Oriental and African Studies, University of London.

Jacek Cukrowski is the Chief of the UNIDO Regional Coordination Division for Europe and Central Asia at UNIDO headquarters in Vienna, Austria.

Prior to joining the Regional Coordination Division, Jacek Cukrowski served as the head of the UNIDO Institute for Capacity Development. Previously he worked for the United Nations Development Programme (UNDP) in the capacity of the Adviser on Millennium Development Goals and the Head of the Regional Center for Europe and the Commonwealth of Independent States. Earlier, he worked at the Center for Social and Economic Research (CASE) in Poland and the Economics Institute of the Academy of Sciences of the Czech Republic.

Mr. Kojiro Nakai, a national of Japan, has over 20-year experience of working in WFP. Before coming to the Kyrgyz Republic, Mr. Nakai worked as Deputy Emergency Coordinator for the Cox’s Bazar operation, WFP Bangladesh. Mr. Nakai also served in several management positions in WFP, including Head of Office in Pakistan, Sudan and Myanmar, as well as Donor Relations Officer at Headquarters in Rome, Regional Bureau in Johannesburg and Liaison Office in Tokyo. Before joining WFP in 2001, Mr. Nakai worked in the Japanese private sector, as well as the Japanese embassy in China. Mr. Nakai has a Master’s degree in Public and International Affairs from University of Pittsburgh, USA. He is married with two daughters.

Magnus Magnusson joined UNESCO in 2017 as Director for Partnerships and Outreach in the Human and Social Science Sector and has been appointed as Officer in Charge for the UNESCO Almaty Office as of 1 July 2022.

Prior to joining UNESCO, Magnus held positions as Vice President for Emerging Markets and Sustainability at Eco Capacity Exchange, Head of Government Relations, Northern Europe at the Bill & Melinda Gates Foundation, Head of Business Development and External Relations at the United Nations Capital Development Fund (UNCDF) and Regional Manager, Africa at the Nordic Development Fund (NDF).

Magnus started his career at the Ministry for Foreign Affairs with desk responsibility for international finance institutions. He then joined the Nordic Council of Ministers as Senior Advisor for the finance, transport and development cooperation sectors. Hereafter Magnus joined the UNEP/GRID Arendal as Head of the Stockholm Office.

A Swedish citizen, Mr. Magnusson has an academic background in social sciences, business administration and economics and environmental studies.

Mr. Mirlan Mamyrov represents UN Regional Center for Preventive Diplomacy for Central Asia in Kyrgyzstan since September 2015 and works in the area of peacebuilding, conflict prevention, and political analysis with focus on dialogue, mediation and human rights. Prior to this appointment Mr. Mamyrov served as the Project Manager of the Peacebuilding Fund Secretariat in the Kyrgyz Republic. He gained professional work experience in the Ministry of Foreign Affairs of the Kyrgyz Republic (1999-2001), OSCE mission to Croatia (2001-2003) and UN system (2003-2017).

Mr. Ronny Lindstrom has officially assumed his role as UNFPA Representative for Kazakhstan, and Country Director for Turkmenistan and Kyrgyzstan in March 2022.
Before joining the EECA region, Mr. Lidstrom had been working as a Representative in Timor-Leste since January 2018.
Mr. Ronny Lindstrom started his career with UNFPA in Central Asia as Programme Officer covering the Central Asian Republics based in Uzbekistan. He also worked in the Asia and Pacific Division and the Division of Management Services, where among other duties, he served as the secretary of the Contracts Review Committee. He then worked as UNFPA Deputy Representative in China and was then seconded to the CEB Secretariat under the office of the Secretary-General in Geneva before returning to UNFPA in Dili, Timor Leste.
Originally from Sweden, Mr. Lindstrom holds a Bachelor of Arts degree in Political Science and History from Delta State University (USA), an MA in Political Science from Mississippi State University (USA), an MSc degree in Political Science from the University of California (USA), and Ph.D. in Political Science from the University of California, Riverside (USA).

Samir Bejaoui is Country Director for the Kyrgyz Republic and the Republic of Moldova. Since 2010, Bejaoui managed several portfolios in a wide range of contexts from fragile and post-conflict to lower-middle income countries. He has an extensive experience on public procurement, value chain development and farmers organizations support.

A national of Moldova, Viorel Gutu is FAO's Subregional Coordinator for Central Asia and FAO Representative for Turkey and Uzbekistan. He joined FAO in 2014 as the head of FAO Tajikistan office, leading the country office in establishing productive relations with the national government and with key donors including the European Union and Japan International Cooperation Agency. Before joining FAO, Gutu was Deputy Minister of Agriculture and Food Industry in Moldova. In this position, he was responsible for the coordination, monitoring and evaluation of strategic policy implementation in agriculture and rural development. He also served as economic affairs officer with the United Nations Transitional Administration in East Timor, where he dealt with peacekeeping operations, poverty alleviation and prevention of the emergency situations. He holds a doctoral degree in economics.

Ms. Aidai Kurmanova started her assignment as the Head of Central Asia Office in Almaty on 2nd 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 design and implementation of policies on sustainable economic development. She developed strategic documents on 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 Master degrees on Development Economics from International University of Japan and Public Governance from the Academy of Management under the President of Kyrgyz Republic.

Mrs. Moldobaeva started her career at IOM in 2001 and has advanced in her career at IOM. Since 2002 she has been acting as an Officer-in-Charge at IOM Office in Kyrgyzstan and since 2010, she has in parallel assumed a position of the Regional Coordinator on Counter-Trafficking program in Central Asia.

Before joining UNICEF Kyrgyzstan CO, Ms. Christine Jaulmes has 18 years of experience in UNICEF. She also served in Bangladesh, Nigeria and Chad. Christine Jaulmes is a national of France and her professional background is in the field of communications.

Indira Kadyrkanova holds MS in Economics (Texas A&M University, USA), MBA (Academy of Management under the President of the Kyrgyz Republic), Diploma of Graduate Course in Law (the Kyrgyz State National Juridical Academy), Diploma of Graduate Course in Mathematics (Kyrgyz State University). Worked in projects of the World Bank, the Asian Development Bank, USAID, SECO, EU, UN agencies. Has more than twenty years project management experience in development programmes in various sectors of the Kyrgyz economy, i.e. financial, agricultural, trade, gender equality.

Ms. Louise Chamberlain has joined UNDP in the Kyrgyz Republic in May 2019. She started her career in 1994 as Investment Advisor and she has worked in Newsec AB (JSC) till 1999 in Stockholm. She worked in Palestine as Project Evaluator and Monitoring Assistant in 1999, and M&E Specialist inthe World Bank in 2000. Between 2003 and 2008 Ms. Chamberlain worked as Assistant Resident Representative (Programme) in UNDP Sri Lanka Colombo(Aug 2003-Aug 2005) and UNDP Somalia Nairobi(Mar 2006-Jul 2008). From 2008 to 2012 Ms. Chamberlain worked as Deputy Country Director (Programme) in Tanzania coordinating UNDP Tanzania Dar es Salaam. Between 2012 and 2018 Ms. Chamberlain worked as Country Director in UNDP Viet Nam Ha Noi(Aug 2012-Jul 2017) and UNDP Ethiopia Addis Ababa(July 2017-Nov 2018). From December 2018 to May 2019 Ms. Chamberlain worked as Resident Representative a.i. in Ethiopia coordinating UNDP Ethiopia. Ms. Chamberlain holds Master of Science M.Sc. equiv. (Business and Economics) from the Stockholm School of Economics (SSE) of Sweden.

Ms. Sarybaeva assumed her functions as UNAIDS Country Manager in 2014. Prior to joining UNAIDS, she worked at UNDP Social development dimension in charge of HIV issues. Before that from 2002-2010 Meerim has worked for UNDP HIV Programme covering issues of coordination, human rights and legislation.

Ms. Jamsran has 20 years of professional experience in international development, strategic and managerial leadership in gender and women’s issues in Moldova, Ukraine, Kyrgyzstan, and Kazakhstan for UNDP, UNIFEM and UN Women. Ulziisuren Jamsran worked as the UN Women Representative in Moldova, and Palestine.