Dr. Rose Mwebaza of Uganda has been appointed the new Director of the United Nations Environment Program’s Regional Office for Africa. She brings with her 20 years of experience on a wide range of climate change, environment and sustainable development issues.
The UN Environment Africa office is located in Nairobi, Kenya. The agency also has a sub-regional office for West Africa in Côte d’Ivoire, a liaison office in Ethiopia and an office in South Africa.
The UN Environment Africa Office represents the organization and coordinates its work in the region, ensuring effective and efficient implementation of interventions in response to regional, sub-regional and national needs and improved coherence and coordination in the effective delivery of environmental capacity building and technical support at all levels in response to country needs and priorities.
Director of the Climate Technology Centre & Network
Since 2019, Dr. Rose Mwebaza has been serving as the director of the Climate Technology Centre & Network (CTCN), the implementation arm of the UN Framework Convention on Climate Change Technology Mechanism. The CTCN is one of the key institutions helping nations realize their commitments under the Paris Agreement by providing technology solutions and capacity building on a broad array of sectors, including agriculture, early warning systems, energy, urban planning, industry and waste management. The CTCN leverages the expertise of a global network of more than 500 civil society, finance, private sector, and research institutions to deliver tailored solutions at the request of developing countries. 93 countries are currently participating in this innovative mechanism.
Dr. Rose Mwebaza holds a PhD in Environment and Natural Resource Governance from Macquarie University, Sydney, Australia; a Master’s Degree in International Comparative Law from the University of Florida, U.S.A; and a Bachelor of Law Degree (LL.B, Hons.) from Makerere University, Kampala, Uganda.
Chief Natural Resources Officer
She served previously as Chief Natural Resources Officer at the African Development Bank. Her mandate was to provide support for long-term resources planning and integrated development of Africa’s natural resources wealth. The scope of her work covered cross border resources mapping and resources audits, conservation and natural resource counter depletion policies and strategies and climate change and Green Growth policies and Strategies.
Several leadership positions within the UNDP
Prior to joining the African Development Bank, Dr. Rosee Mwebaza was Senior Policy and Regulatory Advisor at the African Mineral Development Centre at the United Nations Economic Commission for Africa in Addis Ababa, Ethiopia. Prior to that, she served as a Programme Management Advisor at the UNDP Regional Office for Africa in Addis Ababa, Ethiopia (covering 47 countries) and as Regional Policy Advisor for Eastern and Southern Africa for the UNDP Bureau for Development Policy in Johannesburg, (South Africa), for the UNDP’s strategic global initiative to address climate change in least developed countries . She previously served as a Senior Legal Advisor on Environmental Security for the Institute for Security Studies (ISS) based in Nairobi, Kenya
She was also designated as Advisor to the Chairperson of the African Union, where she provided policy advice on development issues related to the African Union Development Agenda and UNDP’s Development Support to Africa.
Lecturer
For ten years, Dr. Mwebaza was a Lecturer at Makerere University, Kampala, Uganda, where she also served as the Head of Department for Commercial Law, and Deputy Dean of the Law School. She is a former Carl Duisberg Research fellow at the World Conservation Union (IUCN) and a founding member of the Network for African Women Environmentalists.
