United Nations Secretary-General António Guterres has appointed Aminata Maiga of Côte d’Ivoire as UN Resident Coordinator in Senegal and Christine N. Umutoni of Rwanda as UN Resident Coordinator in Liberia. They will take up their new positions on February 1.
Ms. Aminata Maiga brings more than 25 years of experience in economic policy and international development with the United Nations and externally.
Prior to her appointment as United Nations Resident Coordinator, Ms. Maiga served as Director of the Decent Work Technical Team for Central Africa and Country Director for Cameroon, Equatorial Guinea and Sao Tome and Principe at the International Labor Organization (ILO) in Cameroon. She has supported governments, employers’ and workers’ organizations in the formulation and implementation of policies, strategies and programmes for full and productive employment, social protection for all, international labour standards and social dialogue.
Before that, Aminata Maiga worked as ILO Country Director for Angola, Central African Republic, Chad, Congo, Democratic Republic of Congo (DRC) and Gabon in Kinshasa, DRC. She has also served as Senior Enterprise Specialist in Cameroon and Regional Coordinator for Women’s Entrepreneurship Development in Ethiopia.
Prior to joining the UN system, Ms Maiga held several senior positions at the technical and managerial levels. She was an economic policy analyst in the Department of Finance of the Government of the Northwest Territories, a community-based entrepreneurship programmes manager, and a private sector consultant in Canada.
In Côte d’Ivoire, she worked as a development economist and special economic advisor at the National Bureau of Technical and Development Studies.
Ms. Aminata Maiga holds two Master’s degrees in Development and Economics and a Master’s degree in Project Analysis from the University of Clermont-Ferrand. She also obtained a Master of Business Administration from the HEC Montréal.
Christine N. Umutoni
Ms. Umutoni recently served as the United Nations Resident Coordinator in Mauritius and Seychelles. She was already in this position prior to the United Nations reform. Previously, she was the United Nations Resident and Humanitarian Coordinator and United Nations Development Programme (UNDP) Resident Representative in Eritrea.
Ms. Umutoni also worked for UNDP as Country Director in Zimbabwe, Country Adviser in the Regional Bureau for Africa at Headquarters in New York and Head of Governance, Justice, Gender and HIV Units in Rwanda. In this capacity, she supported the production of Rwanda’s first-ever Joint Governance Assessment report and capacity-building to governance institutions covering elections, anti-corruption, justice, human rights and peacebuilding.
Prior to joining the United Nations system, she worked as a development consultant, focusing on governance and gender. Ms. Umutoni has worked with the Rwanda Government in various capacities. She has served as both Rwanda’s Ambassador to Belgium, also accredited to the Netherlands, Luxembourg, European Union and the Vatican, based in Brussels, and Rwanda’s Ambassador to Uganda.
Before her diplomatic assignments, she worked in the Office of the President as Adviser on Economic and Social Affairs and supported the process of the elaboration of Rwanda’s poverty reduction strategy among other things. Ms. Umutoni also served as Director of Cabinet at the Ministry of Rehabilitation and Social Integration in 1994, after the war and genocide. She was responsible for policy formulation, coordination of ministry activities, and international fundraising for post-genocide rehabilitation and reconstruction activities in Rwanda.
She also coordinated humanitarian aid, reconstruction, repatriation/resettlement of refugees and displaced persons, and provided assistance to vulnerable groups, including widows and orphans. From 1988 to 1994, she worked as Chairperson of the Rwandese Refugees Foundation and contributed to various types of work during the crisis period in Rwanda.
