Our Team in DPRK

The United Nations Secretary-General António Guterres appointed Mr. Joe Colombano of Italy as the United Nations Resident Coordinator in the Democratic People’s Republic of Korea. He assumes his role on 1 March 2024 with the host Government’s approval.

Mr. Colombano has over 25 years of experience in international relations and negotiations on political and development issues with the multilateral system, including at Headquarters and in the field. Within the Organization, he served most recently as Head of the Office of the United Nations Resident Coordinator to China in Beijing. He was previously with the Executive Office of the Secretary-General in New York, where he served for almost a decade, including as Director for Sustainable Development. In that role, he coordinated the office’s political strategy to facilitate the international agreement on the Sustainable Development Goals. He also served as Senior Advisor to the WHO Special Envoy for COVID-19 in Geneva.

An economist by training, Mr. Colombano built a career in development finance, first at the World Bank in Washington DC, and later in London, at the European Bank for Reconstruction and Development, including as Advisor to its Board of Directors. His field experience includes roles in the private sector in Bangkok, Thailand; with the Central Bank of the Democratic Republic of Congo in Kinshasa; in addition to many official missions to the countries of the Former Soviet Union.

Mr. Colombano is a member of the Advisory Council of the Mossavar-Rahmani Center for Business and Government at Harvard Kennedy School in Cambridge, MA. He is the author of “Learning from the World: New Ideas to Redevelop America” published by Palgrave McMillan, in addition to numerous academic papers on economic development and international affairs.

Mr. Colombano holds a Master’s degree in Public Administration from Harvard University in the US, a Master’s in International Political Economy from the University of Warwick in the UK, and a Master of Laws in Chinese Law from the University of Hong Kong in China. He is married with three daughters.

Dr Ahmed Jamsheed Mohamed, citizen of the Republic of Maldives, took over the responsibilities of WHO Representative to Democratic People’s Republic of Korea on 3 August 2022. Prior to joining the WHO Country Office for DPRK, Dr Jamsheed was Deputy WHO Representative to Bangladesh.

Dr Jamsheed has over 16 years of leadership experience in public health and joined the World Health Organization’s Regional Office for South-East Asia, New Delhi, India, in November 2013 as Medical Officer and later appointed as Regional Adviser – NTD Control in December 2015. Dr Jamsheed was temporarily deputed as Acting WHO Representative to DPRK in 2019 and is familiar with the country. He holds a medical degree from Indira Gandhi Medical College, Nagpur, India, and a Masters Degree in Public Health from the London School of Hygiene and Tropical Medicine, United Kingdom.

Anthea Webb is the Representative and Country Director of the United Nations World Food Programme (WFP) in the Democratic People’s Republic of Korea.

Over the past 30 years she has been involved in international assistance to different countries. She was the Deputy Regional Director for the Asia and Pacific Region of WFP from 2019 to 2023 and was acting Deputy Country Director in WFP Afghanistan. She has been WFP Representative in Indonesia and China.

At WFP's headquarters in Rome, she specialized in building relations with the media, emerging government and the private sector partners. She worked in the Executive Office of the UN Secretary-General.

She has a Masters in International Relations from the Australian National University and a Bachelor in Communications.

Mr. Christophe Bahuet (France) has been appointed as UNDP Deputy Regional Director for Asia and the Pacific, effective 1 October 2020. From January 2019, he has been UNDP Resident Representative in Indonesia, and Country Director in the same country for the period 2015-2018.

His earlier assignments with UNDP included China, Vietnam, Ghana, Uzbekistan, and Ukraine. Mr. Bahuet also worked in UNDP Headquarters in New York, in the Evaluation Office, and then in Partnership Bureau. Prior to joining UNDP, he was posted in the French Embassy in Yugoslavia.

Mr. Bahuet holds a Master’s Degree with Honours from the Institut d’Etudes Politiques de Paris, a Diploma in Southeast Asian studies from the National Institute of Oriental Languages and Civilisations in Paris, a Law Degree, and a Degree in Slavic languages from the University of Bordeaux. He speaks French, English, Spanish, Russian, Chinese, and other Asian languages.

A national of Germany, Roland began his professional career as Research Scientist and Adjunct Assistant Professor in the Department of Nutrition at Harvard University in the United States.

He joined UNICEF in 2008 as public health nutritionist in the UNICEF Regional Office for West and Central Africa in Dakar, Senegal.

He subsequently worked as a Senior Nutrition Adviser at UNICEF Headquarters, New York to guide UNICEF’s global work on adolescent and maternal nutrition. At the same time, he served in various organizational leadership roles, including as a member of the Board of Trustees of the Micronutrient Forum, Board of Directors of the Iodine Global Network, and Executive Management Team of the Food Fortification Initiative.

Roland moved to Bangkok in 2020 to serve as the UNICEF Regional Nutrition Adviser and to provide strategic support to UNICEF’s nutrition programs operating in 14 countries throughout East Asia and Pacific.

Roland holds a Doctor of Science degree in Nutrition and Epidemiology from Harvard University in the United States.

Prof. Shahbaz Khan is Director of UNESCO Multisectoral Regional Office for East Asia and UNESCO Representative to the Democratic People’s Republic of Korea, Japan, Mongolia, People’s Republic of China, and the Republic of Korea.

Prof. Khan joined UNESCO in 2008 at its Headquarters as Chief of the Water and Sustainable Development Section. He has worked in Australia, France, Indonesia and Pakistan in various research, consultancy and policy positions around hydrology and sustainable development. His work has been widely recognized e.g. 2019 China Friendship Award and Great Wall Friendship Award China 2017. Prof Khan holds a Hon Doctorate Environment and Development from the National University of Malaysia and Hon DSc from the University of Birmingham.

Mr. Ahaduzzaman, a citizen of Bangladesh, was appointed as Deputy FAO Representative and Head of FAO office in DPRK in October 2021. He has over 15 years of experience in working with FAO in different countries (Bangladesh, Mongolia, Turkey) in different capacities. Prior to join FAO, Mr Ahaduzzaman was working with the Ministry of Agriculture in Bangladesh for over 13 years as an extension expert.

He holds a Ph.D. in Agricultural Extension and Rural Development. His key expertise is in extension advisory services, policy and strategy development, programme implementation as well as emergency response and operations.

Mr. Haridass, a national of Sri Lanka, brings with him over 21 years of experience in strategic planning and programming, in both development and humanitarian contexts. Most recently, he served as the Deputy Representative of UNFPA India Country office, where from September 2021 to February 2022, he also served as Representative, India and Country Director, Bhutan a.i. Prior to joining UNFPA India, he served in UNFPA Sierra Leone, where in addition to overseeing the implementation of large-scale donor-funded projects, he also coordinated UNFPA’s response to the Ebola crisis. Before that, Mr. Haridass spent many years with UNHCR in Sri Lanka, Afghanistan and South Sudan.

Mr. Haridass holds a Master's degree in Law and Human Rights (LLM) from the University of London, and a Bachelor's degree in Business Administration (BBA) from Curtin University of Technology, Perth. He is passionate about the rights and choices of women and girls and a strong believer in amplifying the voice of youth and adolescents.