Our Team in Guyana

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 Cambodia.

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.

Daniel Anavitarte is responsible for managing IFAD's portfolio with the primary goals of creating economic development opportunities in rural areas and strengthening communities to face climate change.

At IFAD he previously served as a Regional Specialist for Latin America and the Caribbean and as Country Director for the Plurinational State of Bolivia. Before joining IFAD in 2020, Daniel served as an advisor to Peru’s Vice Minister of Finance, focusing on improving the quality of public spending. Earlier roles in Peru’s public sector include General Director of School Management at the Ministry of Education, General Director of Economics and Finance at the Ministry of Environment, and Poverty Targeting Specialist at the Ministry of Development.

His experience also includes working as a lecturer at Maastricht University and Universidad del Paci­fico at the graduate level. Daniel holds a MSc in Public Policy and Human Development from Maastricht University and United Nations University, as well as a BA in Economics from Universidad del Paci­fico.

Ms. Doretti, an Italian national, provides country-level leadership across the institution to support Guyana’s public and private sector priorities. She leads the full breadth of World Bank Group products and services in Guyana.

Since joining in 2002, Ms. Doretti has held various positions at the World Bank, including as Senior Private Sector Development Specialist for the World Bank West Africa region, based in Mali. She has extensive World Bank experience, including country engagements and developing strategies for private sector development, entrepreneurship, and innovation.

Ms. Doretti holds a Master’s degree in international economics from SAIS Johns Hopkins and Bachelor degree in International Affairs and Law from University of Florence.

Dr. Gillian Smith, Jamaican, was appointed the FAO Representative in Guyana in 2018. She was the Officer-in-Charge of the FAO Representation in Jamaica, The Bahamas and Belize in 2017 and prior to this was the Assistant FAO Representative (Programme). Before joining the UN, Dr. Smith held several senior positions within the Ministry of Agriculture in Jamaica.

She holds a Bachelor’s Degree in Zoology, a Master’s Degree in Aquaculture, and a PhD. in Marine Sciences from the University of West Indies.

Dr. Eva Kim Dickson is a Public Health Physician with over 25 years' experience. Dr. Dickson has worked in countries in Africa, Asia, America, Europe and the Pacific. She has the unique experience of working for three UN agencies - UNFPA, UNICEF and WHO.

Dr Kim Eva Dickson holds a BSc and a MB CHB from the School of Medical Sciences, Kwame Nkrumah University of Science and Technology, Kumasi, Ghana; a MSc in Maternal and Child Health from the Institute of Child Health, University of London, United Kingdom; and a Diploma in Family Planning with the Royal College of Obstetricians and Gynaecologists, UK; and several management and leadership certificates.

Dr Luis Longoria is the Director of the Division for Latin America and the Caribbean from the Department of Technical Cooperation at the International Atomic Energy Agency. He is responsible for the delivery of national and regional projects to 31 countries in the region.

Dr Longoria holds a Master’s degree in nuclear technology from Surrey University, United Kingdom and a PhD in nuclear physics from Imperial College, London. He joined the IAEA in February 2012 prior to which he was Director of Scientific Research at the Mexican Nuclear Research Institute. In this capacity, he was responsible for directing and developing scientific and technological research related to nuclear reactors.

Dr Longoria has been a university lecturer for more than 25 years and has published a number of scientific papers as well as given presentations at many conferences and symposiums. He is a member of his country’s prestigious Engineering and Science academies.

Prior to this current role, Mr. Velasquez has served as Leader of Regional and Metropolitan Planning Unit at Nairobi-HQ and was Chief of the Urban Governance Section; coordinator of the Safer Cities Programme and temporally responsible for the Gender Unit. He has assisted national and local governments in areas like urban governance, territorial planning, urban safety and area-based public policies. Mr. Velasquez is a national of Colombia and holds a Ph.D. in Geography, specializing in Territorial Policy and Planning.

Eraina Yaw, Guyanese, is the Deputy Sub Regional Coordinator for the Caribbean and Head of Office, IOM Guyana. Ms. Yaw has 12 years of experience and expertise in migration with particular emphasis on diaspora engagement, Caribbean migration governance and policy engagement. She also possesses prior experience in social protection for children in Guyana.

Prior to this appointment she was the National Project Coordinator for the Caribbean where she worked on IOM national projects in Guyana and throughout the Caribbean that addressed migration management and supported direct emergency assistance to migrant populations under the Response for Venezuelans programme. Ms. Yaw has successfully supported the development of two diaspora engagement policies and implemented three comprehensive Migration Governance Indicators Assessments in the region.

In addition to extensive knowledge on migration-related issues in the Caribbean, Ms. Yaw is a certified instructor of the Essentials of Migration Management course and has trained government officials in Antigua and Barbuda, Grenada, Guyana, Suriname, and the Bahamas. Ms. Yaw also sits on the OECS-IOM Working Group on Migration and often works directly with CARICOM counterparts.

She has written several publications in the field of childcare and protection, public health and migration governance. This includes the Desk Review of Migration Health in Guyana: Migrants, Miners, HIV/AIDS and Malaria; Childlink’s Child Protection Policy and Parenting Handbook 1st and 2nd Editions.

Ms. Yaw holds a Post Graduate Diploma in Administration and Teaching and a Bachelor of Social Science in Social Work.

Ms. Yaw took up her new assignment in November 2022.

In July 2025, Mr. Eric Falt was appointed as Regional Director of the UNESCO Office for the Caribbean, 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.

Mr. Robinson has over 35 years of experience in sustainable development, population, and human rights. He has held various management and coordination positions in international development cooperation.

In his most recent position at the United Nations between 2019-2022, Mr. Robinson served as Regional Director of UNFPA for Latin America and the Caribbean, culminating in a significant strategic leadership role in the region's development goals and the promotion of human rights.

He has also held advisory position in boards and networks including Senior Advisor to the African Renaissance Diaspora Network for Latin America and the Caribbean, Member of the Scientific Committee of the International Center for Sustainable Development (CIES), Executive Secretary of the Group of Afro-descendant Parliamentarians of Latin America and the Caribbean, and Expert of the Scientific Committee of the AFROMADRID International Conference.

Ms. Iyahen is currently the Deputy Representative and the Head of Office ad interim (a.i.) for the UN Women Multi-Country Office (MCO) for the Caribbean. She is responsible for the day-to-day management of the MCO, substantially contributing to the design, implementation, management and oversight of programmes and operations to ensure effective and efficient delivery of results.

Prior to assuming the position of Deputy Representative, 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 17 years of experience in international development and has served in various capacities within the United Nations system and non-governmental organisations.

Ms. Iyahen has 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.

Jenny Karlsen serves as UNFPA Deputy Director, Sub-regional Office for the Caribbean based in Bridgetown, Barbados since September 2023. She is currently the Officer-in-charge of the UNFPA sub-regional office until further notice.

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

As a Sami (from the indigenous peoples in Norway), Ms. Karlsen is a long-standing advocate for the rights of indigenous peoples, particularly those of young women and girls, from a young age when she grew up in the Arctic part of the world.

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. She has led several efforts on gender-based violence, sexual and reproductive health and rights and population and data across the continuum of humanitarian and development work.

Prior to her current post, Jenny has served for as Deputy Representative for UNFPA in Mozambique, and she also served with other UN agencies in Brazil, Islamic Republic of Iran and the People’s Republic of China as well as in headquarter positions in New York and Rome. She started her career in Investment banking supporting the company to develop an innovative partnership with the United Nations.

Mr. Joni Musabayana, a Zimbabwean national, first joined the International Labour Organization (ILO) in 1992 as Project Officer at the ILO Country Office for Zimbabwe and Namibia in Harare. He has since held many positions with the Organization.

His other previous roles include Global Coordinator for the ILO Start and Improve Your Own Business Programme in Geneva, as well as Enterprise Specialist at the ILO Regional Office for Africa in Addis Ababa.

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 brings extensive experience 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.

As Director of the ILO Caribbean Office, Mr. Musabayana leads the promotion of social justice, decent work, and inclusive economic growth across 13 Member States and nine non-metropolitan territories in the English-and Dutch-speaking Caribbean. He provides strategic direction for technical guidance and cooperation through Decent Work Country Programmes and other activities supported though the wider United Nations system serving in the region.

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.

Before joining the ILO, Mr Musabayana worked for the Zimbabwe Ministry of Higher Education and the Employers’ Confederation of Zimbabwe.

He is a music lover, avid reader, political analyst and a keen sportsman who played basketball for the Zimbabwe national team for 13 years. He enjoys running and going to the gym. He is married to Wynne and they have two boys and two girls and one granddaughter.

Previously, Ms. Meredith, Canadian, was Senior Programme Coordinator/Head of the Global Programme on Criminal Network Disruption (BMB) and Head of the Programme Office in Portugal. She also worked with the Global Maritime Crime Programme (GMCP) as Deputy Head, launching regional GMCP programmes in the Mediterranean and Latin America and the Caribbean. In addition, she served as Regional Programme Coordinator covering ROSEN (a.i.), ROSEAP from Bangkok, and ROEA and ROSA from Nairobi. She was also Programme Officer and Head of Office in Mogadishu and Associate Programme Officer in Nairobi.

Prior to joining UNODC in 2012, Ms. Meredith worked with the Canadian Government as a Policy Analyst and Project Officer/Legal Counsel, including on corruption in Ukraine. She also held short assignments with NGOs in Canada, Haiti, Indonesia, Guinea, and Kenya as a Legal Researcher, Prisoner Rights Advocate, and Legal Aid Consultant, and interned with UNODC in Vienna and Nairobi.

Ms. Meredith holds an LL.B./B.C.L/M.B.A from McGill University (Canada) and is licensed with the Law Society of Ontario.

Ms. Thompson brings over 25 years of international experience in governance, peacebuilding, and development to her new role.

Prior to her appointment, Ms. Thompson served as Co-Director of Governance, Rule of Law & Peacebuilding at UNDP Headquarters in New York. She led global policy efforts across institutional reform, access to justice, human rights, and social cohesion. Her career spans senior roles in UNDP’s Bureau for Policy and Programme Support and the Bureau for Crisis Prevention and Recovery, as well as work with the OSCE and UNICEF in over 100 countries.

Ms. Thompson holds degrees from Cambridge University and Essex University, along with postgraduate diplomas in Law and Legal Practice from the College of Law in London. She is a former practicing lawyer in England and Wales and has worked in academia and civil society as a researcher and advocate for gender equality.

Liliana Garavito is a Colombia national with twenty-seven years of experience as a journalist and communications specialist. She has worked for 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.

Ms. Rivas, a national of the Dominican Republic, holds a bachelor’s degree in economics from the Santo Domingo Institute of Technology (INTEC), a master’s degree in gender and development from the same Institute, and a master’s degree in economic policy from the National University of Costa Rica.

She has more than 20 years of experience managing large-scale national projects. She has headed programmes aimed at mainstreaming gender in public policy, managing financial and human resources to support women's rights initiatives. She also has experience in the strategic coordination of public policies for sustainable development, working with governments to design economic sustainability policies for micro-, small and medium-sized enterprises (MSMEs) and promoting local development.

Since August 2020, Ms. Rivas has served as Director-General of the National Statistics Office (ONE) of the Dominican Republic. She also served as Chair of the Statistical Conference of the Americas of ECLAC for the period 2023–2025. She also held positions as Executive Director of the Regional Centre for Promotion of Micro-, Small and Medium-sized Enterprises (CENPROMYPE), National Programme Officer at the United Nations Entity for Gender Equality and the Empowerment of Women (UN-Women), Technical Secretary for Women in the Council of Ministers for Women’s Affairs of Central America and the Dominican Republic (COMMCA), Executive Director of the Economic Research Centre for the Caribbean (CIECA), and Director of Research and Strategy in the National Commission on Trade Negotiations in the Ministry of Foreign Affairs of the Dominican Republic.

Mr. Arenas Garcia 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 having served as the Deputy Chief of UNDRR ROAC since 2017.

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).

Stein R. Hansen is an Economist who has been working in international development for 32 years. Since August 2024, he is the Director of the United Nations Industrial Development Organization (UNIDO) - Barbados Global SIDS Hub and the UNIDO Representative to Barbados and Caribbean Community, Bridgetown, Barbados.