Our Team in Moldova

Ms. Ala Lipciu has a long working experience with the International Labour Organization (ILO), serving since 2005 as National Coordinator (NC) for Moldova. The ILO NC mandate involves country-level co-ordination and liaison on behalf of the ILO Decent Work Technical Support Team and Country Office for Central and Eastern Europe to facilitate and strengthen implementation of the Decent Work Country Programme (DWCP) in Moldova. Ms. Lipciu provides necessary programming and administrative support to the ILO technical cooperation activities carried out in the country. She also facilitates interagency information sharing and interaction with the UN Country Team in Moldova. She has degrees in public communication and economics. Ms. Lipciu holds master degree on Law, European Social Security from the Katholic University of Leuven, Belgium. She was awarded Master degree in Applied Labour Economics for Development by the University of Turin and the Institute d'Etudes Politiques de Paris (Sciences Po). Ms. Lipciu has a PhD degree in Economics from the Moldovan Academy of Economic Science.

As Human Rights Adviser to the United Nations Country Team, Bea Ferenci is also heading the presence of the Office of the High Commissioner for Human Rights (OHCHR) in Moldova. She has over 20 years of work experience in human rights.
In 2002 Ms. Ferenci began her international career with the UN High Commissioner for Refugees in West Africa. She first joined OHCHR in 2005 in Cambodia, and later moved on to work with OHCHR in Nepal, Gaza (occupied Palestinian territories), and Central Asia. She also worked with the Organization for Security and Cooperation in Europe in Kosovo* (as per SC res 1244).
In her various assignments Ms. Ferenci engaged among others with state authorities, civil society and National Human Rights Institutions to contribute to their efforts to an improved human rights record including by contributing to capacity building efforts, by providing technical expertise, by supporting legislative drafting processes as well as facilitating the engagement of various stakeholders with UN human rights mechanisms.

Ms. Dima Al-Khatib (Lebanon) serves as UNDP Resident Representative for the Republic of Moldova, as of 24 March 2019. Prior to this appointment, Dima was the Programme and Policy Coordinator at the UNDP Regional Hub in Amman since October 2018. She also served as UNDP Deputy Resident Representative in Kuwait (September 2013 - September 2018) and the UNDP Deputy Country Director in Libya (June 2012 - August 2013). She has also assumed several functions in UNDP Headquarters in New York (May 2012 - August 2004). Dima was the Environment Programme Manager in UNDP Lebanon (January 1997 - August 2004) and worked for the UNDP Lebanon Reintegration of the Internally Displaced Project (February 1995 - January 1997). Dima holds a Master’s Degree in Environmental Health from the Lebanese University and France University of Bordeaux II. She also holds a Bachelor of Science and a Teaching Diploma in Environmental Health from the American University of Beirut. She speaks English, French, and Arabic.

Ms. Dominika Stojanoska is the UN Women Representative to Moldova since August 2020.
Prior to joining UN Women Moldova country office, Dominika worked in Ukraine where she managed the programme portfolio of UN Women in Eastern Ukraine between 2018-2020 and was acting as the Head of Office ad interim from January to July 2020. Dominika’s career with UNIFEM/UN Women initiated in North Macedonia, where she was the Head of the Office for more than 7 years. Dominika has over 15 years of work experience in the area of development, human rights and gender equality.
She started her work experience at the Institute for Central and Eastern Europe of the University of Bologna in 2001 and managed projects focusing on the Inter-university cooperation in the frame of the Adriatic Ionian Initiative, promoted within the EU Stability Pact for South-Eastern Europe. Dominika holds B.A. in Political Sciences and a PhD in International Relations and Sustainable Development Policies, with research on gender and development.
She is native Macedonian and speaks English, Italian, French and Serbian language.

Inguna Dobraja, a Latvian national, is the World Bank’s Country Manager for Moldova effective July 1, 2021.
Dobraja has been the World Bank’s Country Manager for the Cambodia Country Office since 2016. Prior to that she was the Country Manager for the Liberia Country Office.
Dobraja has been working in the World Bank for more than 25 years. She has professional experience in the managerial, operational, and corporate areas of the institution encompassing: country office, program and portfolio management, extensive operational work, including World Bank's financial and knowledge products, as well as specific social protection technical expertise.

Mr. Jaroslaw K. Ponder is Head of the Office for Europe at the International Telecommunication Union (ITU) (Geneva, Switzerland). He represents ITU in Europe and directs actions, projects, initiatives and experts groups targeting 46 countries of the Europe Region. His portfolio includes set of Regional Initiatives for Europe, designed by the European Member States and focusing on the ICT Infrastructure, Digitization, Digital Inclusion, Accessibility, Innovation and Cybersecurity.
Along the professional career, Mr. Ponder held official positions in the public sector and was a contributor to the legislative projects having the impact on the public policy. Since 2014, Mr. Ponder has been working for ITU holding diverse positions in the General Secretariat, Telecommunication Development Bureau, and Regional Presence, addressing complexity of information society development and digital transformation at national, regional, international level, including United Nations level. For several years he has managed ITU’s work on the United Nations World Summit on the Information Society (WSIS) process, leading towards the establishment of the flagship platforms, including WSIS Forum, WSIS Prizes, WSIS Stocktaking, others.

Mr. Lars Johan Lönnback assumed the position of IOM Chief of Mission in Moldova in September 2018.
Mr. Lars Johan has worked with IOM since 2010, where he started as Head of Division and Senior Migration Policy Advisor at HQ in Geneva. Mr. Lönnback was most recently posted in Bangkok, Thailand where he was Program Manager within the Bali Process, and Senior Migration Policy Advisor on Migration and Development at the IOM Regional Office for Asia Pacific. Prior to working with IOM, Mr. Lars Johan worked for the Swedish Ministry for Foreign Affairs posted in Brussels at the Swedish Permanent Representation as Counselor, and at the European Commission as National Expert. Prior to his time in Brussels, Mr. Lönnback was posted in Sarajevo at the Office of the High Representative for the Dayton Peace Accords as political officer. Mr. Lars Johan has also prior experience of working with UNHCR in Northern Iraq and the Russian Federation.
Mr. Lönnback holds a Master’s Degree in International Law from the University of Stockholm in Stockholm, Sweden. Lars Johan is a Swedish national and speaks English, Italian and French.

Maha Damaj joined the UNICEF Moldova Country Office in February 2021.
As the new UNICEF Representative, Ms. Maha Damaj will contribute to advancing children’s rights to protection, development and wellbeing as established by the Convention on the Rights of the Child. She will provide leadership and vision to the UNICEF Moldova and leverage resources for the achievement of results for children, heading UNICEF strong collaboration with the government and other partners.
Prior to this current assignment, Ms. Damaj was the Chief of the Zanzibar Field Office for UNICEF Tanzania (2018 – 2021) where she represented UNICEF with the Government of Zanzibar and provided leadership in running UNICEF programmes and innovations in child protection, education, emergencies, health, HIV/AIDS, nutrition, social policy and WASH in Zanzibar.
As Deputy Representative to the UNICEF Oman Country Office (2015 – 2018), she led the formulation, management and oversight of UNICEF’s programmes, government and private partnerships, and operations.
Predominantly a practitioner, Ms. Damaj has worked in community development and rights issues for over 20 years, specifically in the areas of child protection, non-discrimination, forced migration, community mobilization, social innovations with youth in decision making, active learning, policy development, and disability and inclusion.
Ms. Damaj is a national of Lebanon. She holds a PhD in Social Health Policy from the London School of Hygiene and Tropical Medicine, UK, a Master’s degree in Public Health from the American University of Beirut, Lebanon, and a BSc in Biomedical Engineering from the Johns Hopkins University.

Dr Miljana Grbic has been appointed as the WHO Representative and Head of WHO Country Office in the Republic of Moldova in July 2021.
Dr. Grbic has extensive experience in medicine and public health. In the work of the UN, she has worked in multicultural and multidisciplinary teams, in many areas related to health and development, human rights, social determinants of health, refugees and other vulnerable groups.
Dr Miljana Grbic has been working for the WHO since 2002, first as a consultant and since 2013 as Head of the WHO Office for Serbia. Between 2016-2021 she led WHO Office in Romania, contributing to the implementation of numerous initiatives that reflect WHO and national priorities, in particular communicable and non-communicable diseases, environment, strengthening the health system, emergency response.

Dr. Nigina Abaszadeh has 20 years of experience in the area of population and development, gender equality, programme management and policy advocacy. She joined the United Nations Population Fund in 2005, and has served in Azerbaijan, Afghanistan and at the Regional Office in Istanbul covering 17 countries in Eastern Europe and Central Asia Region. She has worked closely with policy makers, private sector, non-governmental organizations and leaders from all sectors to champion women and girls’ rights, including in humanitarian and emergency settings. Prior to joining UNFPA, Dr. Abaszadeh worked for the USAID, American Councils of Education and as adjunct professor at several Universities. Ms. Abaszadeh is a Medical Doctor by training. She holds a PhD in Social Psychology and Master's Degree in Gender and Child Studies from Linkoping University, Sweden.

Roland Schilling started his assignment as Representative for Central Europe in October 2020, covering the Czech Republic, Hungary, the Republic of Moldova, Slovakia and Slovenia. Based in Budapest, Mr. Schilling is responsible for overseeing and supporting UNHCR’s activities in the Republic of Moldova.
Mr. Schilling has worked in many positions with UNHCR, including as Regional Representative (2019-2020) and Deputy Regional Representative (2014-2018) for Southern Europe in Roma, Italy. There he coordinated UNHCR’s activities aimed to manage better the arrival of persons of concern in the region via the central Mediterranean route.
Between 2009 - 2014 Mr. Schilling was the UNHCR Representative in the UK. He arrived in the UK after working for four years in Ankara, as the Refugee Agency's Deputy Representative, where he oversaw refugee protection activities and supported the Turkish Government in establishing a national asylum system.
As Senior Programme Officer for UNHCR in Sri Lanka from 2002 – 2005, Mr. Schilling has coordinated the UN humanitarian work following the tsunami. He has also served for UNHCR as Deputy Representative in Germany and held positions in Hong Kong and Yemen. In 1997, Mr. Schilling opened the UNHCR Liaison Office in Chisinau, Moldova.
Mr. Schilling is a national of Germany and the Netherlands.

Prior to joining the Programme Management Department in IFAD, Samir served as Policy and Information Management Officer in the Coordination Team of the UN High Level Task Force on Global Food and Nutrition Security.
Further to promoting in-country coordination and alignment mechanisms for UN Coordination Teams, he supported national capacity to map food security and nutrition actions at country level. Bejaoui managed several portfolios in a wide range of contexts from fragile and post-conflict to lower-middle income countries.
His earlier positions include Project Officer at the International Organization for Migration (IOM), Advisor to the Egyptian Embassy to the Holy See and Information and Knowledge Management Officer at the International Development Law Organization (IDLO).
Bejaoui is a Computer Science Engineer and holds two Master’s degrees, one in International Relations and European Integration from the University of Liege, Belgium and another in European Interdisciplinary Studies from the College of Europe, Poland. He has an extensive experience on public procurement, value chain development and farmers organizations support.
He has received specialized training in public procurement and is UNDP/CIPS certified.

Ms. Svetlana Plămădeală serves as UNAIDS Country manager as of November 1st, 2013. Prior to this appointment, Svetlana was the HIV project director with Public Institution "Unit for Coordination, Implementation and Monitoring of Health Projects" (September 2011 – October 2013). She was the Communication/Stakeholder Coordination Advisor with the TB/HIV Country Coordination Mechanism led by Ministry of Health (2008 -2011) and the Government of Moldova (2005-2008). Svetlana worked as the Coordinator of Communication and Public Relations Department with the TB/HIV Prisons Project funded by Caritas Luxembourg (2002-2005).
Svetlana holds a master’s degree in Management of Public Health with “Nicolae Testemiteanu” State University of Medicine and Pharmacy, Moldova and Post-academic diploma in Communication and Public Relations with National School of Political and Administrative Studies, Romania. She holds a Bachelor of International Relations with State University of Moldova. She also holds a diploma of primary school teacher with the Pedagogical College “Vasile Lupu”, Orhei, Moldova.

Tudor joined FAO in 2014 having over 15 years of experience in economic and development policies. Previously he worked for the Ministry of Agriculture, European Union Delegation in Moldova, Ministry of Economy. Mr. Robu as well lectured at the State University of Moldova. Tudor holds a Phd in Economics.