Our Team in Jamaica

Vincent Sweeney is the Head of the Caribbean Sub-Regional Office for the United Nations Environment Programme, since 2016. He holds both a Bachelor's Degree and a Master’s Degree in Civil Engineering, from the Technical University of Nova Scotia. He was admitted to the Association of Professional Engineers of Nova Scotia (APENS) as a full Member in 1989. He has served in Nairobi, Kenya for 4 years as the Coordinator of the Global Progamme of Action for the Protection of the Marine Environment from Land-based Activities (or GPA), located within UNEP's headquarters. He also served for 5 years as Regional Project Coordinator for the GEF-funded IWCAM project on Integrating Watershed & Coastal Area Management in 13 Caribbean SIDS. Prior to joining the UN, he served for 10 years as Executive Director of the Caribbean Environmental Health Institute and has worked with water utilities in the Caribbean and in private consulting firms.

Christopher Corbin is Senior Coordination Officer and Head of UNEP’s Cartagena Convention Secretariat.

He joined UNEP in September 2004 and has served as the Programme Manager for the Assessment and Management of Environmental Pollution (AMEP) Sub-Programme. Since 2015, he has also managed the Secretariat’s Communication, Education, Training and Awareness (CETA) Sub-Programme where, among other responsibilities, he has coordinated the organization and delivery of intergovernmental meetings of the Secretariat.

Mr. Corbin, a Saint Lucian national born in Barbados, has over 30 years of national and regional programme and project management experience.

Dr. Anna Paolini is the UNESCO representative in Anguilla, Antigua and Barbuda, Aruba, The Bahamas, Barbados, Belize, British Virgin Islands, Cayman Islands, Curaçao, Dominica, Grenada, Guyana, Jamaica, Saint Kitts and Nevis, Saint Lucia, Montserrat, Sint Maarten, Suriname, Trinidad and Tobago, Saint Vincent and the Grenadines and the Director of the UNESCO Office in Jamaica.

Previously, Dr Anna Paolini was UNESCO Representative in the Arab States of the Gulf and Yemen and Director UNESCO Doha Office for the Countries of the Gulf and Yemen from September 2013 – June 2022. She was also UNESCO Representative and Head of Office in Uzbekistan from 2007 to 2009 and later she covered the same position in Jordan. In 1992, she joined UNESCO as a specialist in the  field of culture at the Regional Office in Amman.

In 1997, she moved to UNESCO HQ covering several positions within the Culture Sector including being responsible for movable heritage activities and heritage in conflict response in the Arab region. Prior to that, she held a research associate role at the Institute of Architecture of Venice, worked in restoration in Italy and carried out research in the field of urban rehabilitation in several Arab and African countries. She holds a Master’s degree in Architecture and a master's degree in Urban and Regional Planning for Developing Countries, a post-graduate degree in Development Cooperation, as well as a PhD in Urban and Territorial Engineering. Mrs Paolini is a member of the International Council of Museums (ICOM) and the Italian Association of Professional Architects and an author of several papers on different cultural heritage subjects.

Ms Elizabeth Talbert has a strong background in population and statistical development with over 30 years of experience in the Caribbean and East Africa. She has led population and housing censuses, poverty assessments and other social and economic surveys in several countries.

Prior to her appointment as Director at the UNFPA Sub-Regional Office for the Caribbean and Representative to Jamaica, Ms Talbert served as Senior Statistician with the World Bank Poverty and Equity Global Practice in Dar es Salaam, Tanzania where she managed the Statistical Development Project (2014-2021). Under her leadership, this project resulted in the improvement of the statistics law, the strengthening of statistical and administrative data, and the enhancement of statistical infrastructure and human resource capacity. During her tenure in Tanzania, she also provided technical support to statistical offices in Zanzibar, Mozambique, Somalia and other East African member states.

In previous jobs, Ms Talbert served as Chief Statistician, Government of the Cayman Islands, (2009-2014); Statistical Consultant, Government of Guyana (2007-2008) and; Deputy Chief Statistician, Government of Belize (2001-2007). She has also served as a consultant to CARICOM Statistical Unit in analyzing and preparing 2000 Census Country Reports.

Ms Talbert is a native of Belize. She holds a BSc in Sociology and Public Administration, Minnesota State University, Mankato; MPhil in Population and Development, Centre for Development Studies, Kerala State, India and; MS in Demography, Florida State University. She was also a participant in the UNFPA Global Training Programme in Population and Development (1993-1994).

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.

Kishan Khoday is Resident Representative for the United Nations Development Programme (UNDP) Multi-Country Office in Jamaica, from where he represents UNDP in The Bahamas, Belize, Bermuda, Cayman Islands, Jamaica and Turks and Caicos Islands.

For over two decades, Kishan has been a champion for inclusive and sustainable development, serving with UNDP for the past 25 years in Asia and the Pacific as well as the Middle East and North Africa. This included 15 years with UNDP Country Offices in China, Saudi Arabia and Indonesia, advancing UNDP's mandate to accelerate action on economic diversification and transformation, climate change and ecosystem conservation, empowerment, disaster risk reduction, and human security. In recent years, Kishan served in UNDP s regional offices for the MENA region based in Egypt and Jordan, overseeing the UN's largest programme of assistance in the region to address the climate emergency and trends of multi-dimensional crisis. Prior to joining the UN, Kishan worked with government and community organizations in his home countries of Canada and India on issues of poverty reduction, ecological resilience and community empowerment.

Kishan has been a thought leader on the development agenda, publishing extensively on the planetary crisis, strategic policy and governance responses, with a focus on postcolonial and decolonial pathways for the Global South. He has served as a visiting scholar and research fellow at the Advanced Consortium on Cooperation, Conflict and Complexity at the Earth Institute, the Center for International Sustainable Development Law, and Tsinghua University; and a member of the International Law Association, the Indian Society for International Law, and the European Society of International Law. His work has been recognized by Time Magazine as a Global Principal Voice on the climate and energy transition, and as an Olympic torch runner on behalf of the UN and the cause of climate action.

Kishan is a Canadian of Indian origin, has travelled to over fifty countries, and has lived and worked across Africa, Asia, Europe, the Middle East, and North America. Kishan is a scientist and lawyer, with expertise in planetary systems, climate change, ecosystem resilience, constitutionalism, postcolonial and decolonial theory, and resilience-based approaches to development. He holds a Juris Doctorate (Vermont Law) specializing in constitutional, international and environmental law; a Master of Science (Antioch New England) in resource management specializing in water and land governance; and a Bachelor of Science (McGill) in agriculture specializing in biodiversity and ecological change.

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.

Mr. Stein joined the Pan American Health Organization / World Health Organization as an Advisor within the department of Budget and Planning in 2004, where he focused his efforts on project management and organizational planning. During this initial position he served as a part of the rapid response team to the 2010 Haiti earthquake. Since August 2016, he has served as the Senior Advisor for resource mobilization and project management in the Department of External Relations, Partnerships, and Resource Mobilization, and during this period he also worked with the Organization’s Health Emergencies department, serving as the Deputy Incident Manager for Zika, the Coordinator for Emergency Medical Teams as a part of WHO’s Ebola response in Sierra Leone, the interim Incident Manager in Venezuela, the interim Chief of Staff to WHO’s Assistant Director-General for Emergencies Response (deployed to WHO’s response to the Ebola outbreak in the Democratic Republic of the Congo), and the Deputy Incident Manager for COVID-19. Mr. Stein assumed the position of PAHO/WHO Representative to Jamaica, Bermuda, and the Cayman Islands in September 2021.

Mr. Mendoza is the ASYCUDA Regional Coordinator for the Americas at UNCTAD. Prior to this role, he was the Chief Technical Advisor to UNCTAD, based in Bolivia, and held other similar roles.

Michael W. Lodge has over 28 years of experience as a public international lawyer, with a strong background in the field of law of the sea as well as ten years’ judicial experience in the UK and South Pacific. Mr. Lodge has extensive knowledge of the United Nations and other intergovernmental organizations and has facilitated high-level multilateral and bilateral negotiations at international and regional level. His significant achievements include his pivotal role in ISA from its inception in 1996 and in helping to create and implement the first international regulatory regime for seabed mining.

Ms. Diane Quarless assumed responsibilities as Chief of the ECLAC subregional headquarters for the Caribbean on 2 November 2011.

Since 2019, Ms. Schloegl has assumed the position of Programme Management Officer in charge of the International Atomic Energy Agency’s (IAEA) technical cooperation programme in Jamaica.

Olga Isaza is the Representative of UNICEF Jamaica. Her appointment became effective in February 2023.

She previously served as Acting Representative for UNICEF in Peru and Deputy Representative in Argentina and Peru. With 15 years of experience in UNICEF, Ms. Isaza has also worked as a Public Policy Specialist. Over the years she has developed extensive skills in formulating and executing social policies, programmes, and projects, which specially target children’s rights.

Ms. Isaza’s career has spanned the public, private and international cooperation sectors and includes her role as an Executive Director of the Bogota Department for Social Integration.

Ms. Isaza is a Social Psychologist and has a master’s degree in Public Policy from Los Andes University in Colombia.

Ms. Isaza is a national of Colombia.

Mr. Regis Chapman has over 20 years of international development and humanitarian experience, having served with the United Nations World Food Programme in various contexts since 2005.

He is the Representative and Country Director for the WFP Caribbean Multi-Country Office, overseeing WFP’s work throughout the English and Dutch-speaking Caribbean. Having opened the Caribbean office in Barbados in July 2018 he has strategically led the growth of an innovative portfolio of support designed to strengthen emergency preparedness and response capacities covering regional entities and 22 countries and territories.

Mr. Chapman has extensive field experience in humanitarian and development programmes around the world in a variety of programme leadership roles, including in the Regional Bureau for Latin America & the Caribbean (2013-18), Somalia (2010-13), Afghanistan (2008-10), Regional Bureau for East and Central Africa (2007-08), Timor Leste (2006), Regional Bureau for Asia and Pacific (2006) and Indonesia (2005).

Prior to joining the World Food Programme, he worked with the Red Cross Movement on food security programmes and emergency responses and with the United States Peace Corps on community development efforts at a grassroots level in rural El Salvador.

Regis is a national of the United States of America. He holds a graduate degree in Marketing from Arizona State University.

Richard is a medical doctor by training and brings into this position several productive years of professional experience in Global Health. He believes in the goal of ending AIDS as a public health threat by 2030 the urgent need to improve the health and wellbeing of people especially vulnerable women and girls as well as marginalized and underserved key populations.

He joined UNAIDS in 2014 and has wealth of experience in developing public health policies and programs to shape health investments in countries. He previously worked at the Regional Support Team of West and Central Africa as the Regional Investment and Efficiency Advisor and supported countries to mobilize resources from multi-lateral and bilateral donors, conducted several efficiency studies for sustainability planning, and coordinated technical support and capacity development programs for health systems strengthening.

His last duty station was in Nigeria where he supported the setting up of a US$100 million HIV Trust Fund for the elimination of vertical transmission of HIV, establishment of continuous quality improvement initiatives for the HIV program, governance reform of the Country Coordinating Mechanism and the mobilization of the largest grant for a single country of about US$1.2 billion from the Global Fund for HIV/TB/Malaria/COVID19.

He was a member of the core team that developed the current Global AIDS Strategy 2022-2026. Richard is a strong advocate for civil society, gender equality and human rights and a champion for the meaningful engagement of people living with HIV to be at the centre of the HIV response.

Prior to joining UNAIDS, he worked on regional technical support projects based in Burkina Faso and in Ghana his home country, he was the Technical Director in-charge of strategic planning, HIV program planning and implementation, performance monitoring and donor coordination at the Ghana AIDS Commission.

Stacey Ann Clarke is the Head of Office of the International Organization for Migration in Kingston, Jamaica. She has more than 20 years of public sector experience, providing invaluable oversight of social protection and migration-related projects and programmes implementation in Jamaica. Prior to her appointment as Head of Office for IOM Jamaica, she served as the Programme Director of the Civil Registration and Migration Project Policy unit within the Planning Institute of Jamaica. Mrs Clarke championed initiatives such as the establishment of the National Working Group on International Migration and Development and sub-committees and the tabling of the National Policy on International Migration and development as a White Paper. She holds a master’s in business administration from the Mona School of Business.

As a certified Project Management Professional and the Head of Office, Mrs Clarke is responsible and accountable for the development and promotion of IOM’s Strategic Vision and programming in Jamaica within the overall Regional Framework and Strategy. Mrs Clarke is the principal interlocutor with the Government of Jamaica and relevant diplomatic and UN representatives, local and international NGOs as well as private sector.

Tonni Brodber is the Representative of the UN Women Multi-Country Office- Caribbean. Prior to her appointment in August 2020, Ms. Brodber served as Deputy Representative from 2015 -2020 with the MCO Caribbean. Before this Ms Brodber was the Team Leader for the Advancing Gender Justice in the Pacific Programme with the UN Women Fiji Multi-Country Office. Ms Brodber served as the Gender Specialist for the United Nations Development Programme in South Africa, as well as briefly with the UN Women South Africa Multi-Country Office and established what is now the UN Women Country Office in Haiti. Ms. Brodber received her first degree from the University of the West Indies, Mona Campus and has post-graduate degrees in Development Studies and Business Administration from the London School of Economics and ESADE Business School in Barcelona.