Our Team in Iraq

Mr. Isaczai took up his role in Iraq as the Deputy Special Representative of the Secretary ‎General, UN Resident and Humanitarian Coordinator in October 2022, after serving as UN ‎Resident Coordinator and Humanitarian Coordinator in Jordan. ‎
Prior to that, he served as the Ambassador and Permanent Representative of the Islamic ‎Republic of Afghanistan to the UN in New York. ‎
Mr. Isaczai brings to the job over 30 years of work experience in the UN system covering ‎complex humanitarian, development, recovery, and peace-building issues in different parts of ‎the world, including serving as UN Resident Coordinator to the Republic of Azerbaijan (2016) ‎and the Democratic People’s Republic of Korea (2013). He also served as the UNDP and UNFPA ‎Resident Representative in both countries.‎
Mr. Isaczai served in other senior leadership and management positions within the UN system, ‎including as Director of Program at the United Nations Volunteers in Bonn, Germany; UNDP ‎Senior Advisor and Country Director a.i in Tajikistan, UNDP Deputy Resident Representative and ‎Head of Program in Nepal, and Assistant Resident Representative in Yemen. He also served in ‎Afghanistan, and Syria with the UN system. ‎
Before joining the UN system, Mr. Isaczai held positions with the Swedish Committee for ‎Afghanistan and Save the Children-US in Peshawar, Pakistan, and worked with the private ‎sector in the United States.‎
Mr. Isaczai holds an M.A. in Public International Law from the Fletcher School of Law and ‎Diplomacy, Tufts University, a BSc in Business Administration from Midland University, a ‎Diploma in Human Development from Jones International University, and courses on ‎negotiations and conflict resolution from Harvard University.‎
He is fluent in Pashto, Dari/Farsi, and English and has a working knowledge of Arabic.‎

Mr. Abdel Mageed Yahia is the WFP Representative and Country Director in Iraq, based in Baghdad.
Prior to taking up this position, Mageed was the WFP Representative to the GCC Region, spearheading efforts to enhance WFP’s engagement with Government entities as well as the Private and Public sector in the Region. Prior to that Mageed served as the WFP Representative and Country Director in Jordan, responsible for one of the largest WFP emergency operations in the Middle East Region.
Prior to Jordan, Mageed served as Deputy Director of WFP Human Resources where he was directly managing major projects transforming HR services. Before joining HR, Mageed worked as the Deputy Country Director for WFP Pakistan.
Mageed has more than thirty years’ experience working in the humanitarian field in both emergency and development settings. He served in various operations in areas devasted by conflict, genocide, famine, as well as natural disasters.
Mageed started his career with WFP in Rwanda in 1997 and has since served in a variety of Headquarters and Field Offices in Africa, Middle East and Asia.
Mageed’s humanitarian career with the UN began in Sudan under Operation Lifeline Sudan (OLS); the first under the UN jurisdiction to operate in both rebel and government-controlled zones to provide humanitarian assistance throughout the war-torn and drought-afflicted regions in the then south Sudan.
Mageed, a national of Sudan, holds a University Degree in Law, mastering Political Sciences from Morocco and is married with three children.

Adel Darwish serves as Director of the ITU Regional Office for Arab States, covering 22 Arab countries. He has more than 20 years’ experience in the field of telecommunications, spanning incumbent operator, startup operator, and regulator. In his different roles, Mr. Darwish has been involved with international relations, including ICANN, GSMA, the GCC Council, the League of Arab States, Arab Regulatory Network (AREGNET), and SAMENA Council.

Mr. Ali El-Bereir is the United Nations Office on Drugs and Crime (UNODC) Senior Programme Coordinator and Head of its Iraq Office in Baghdad. He brings to his role substantive and managerial experience in developing, negotiating, implementing and monitoring technical assistance programmes, as well as in building and maintaining close partnerships with relevant stakeholders in government, private sector and civil society organizations.
Mr. EL-Bereir joined UNODC in 2014 as Programme Coordinator & Head of the Sub-Regional Programme Office for the Maghreb Countries with ROMENA, based in Tripoli, Libya, and since then served in various capacities, including as UNODC Deputy Regional Representative for the UNODC Regional Office for the Middle East and North Africa (ROMENA) a.i.
Before joining UNODC, Mr.El-Bereir worked as: Human Rights Officer with the United Nations Support Mission to Libya (UNSMIL); Human Rights Officer and Human Rights Officer (Investigator) with the Office of the UN High Commissioner for Human Rights (OHCHR) in Geneva; Rule of Law/Judicial Affairs Officer with the United Nations Mission In Sudan (UNMIS); with the Judiciary in Sudan; in the private sector and with a Sudanese NGO. He earned a post graduate degree in Human Rights Law from the University of Khartoum, Sudan. He is fluent in Arabic and English.

Mr. Christian Skoog brings over 30 years of extensive experience in international development, humanitarian response, and human rights, with a distinguished career in leadership, advocacy, and the strategic management of UNICEF operations across diverse country contexts. Throughout his service, he has championed the rights and well-being of children and adolescents, engaging effectively with governments, civil society, and international partners.
Prior to the assumption of his duties as UNICEF’s Representative in Iraq on 31 July 2025, Mr. Skoog served as UNICEF Representative in Sri Lanka (May 2021– June 2025), Mexico (2016–2021), Guatemala (2012–2016), and Mauritania (2007-2011). He also held the position of Deputy Representative in Haiti from 2005 to 2007.
Earlier in his career, Mr. Skoog served as the UNICEF focal point to the Inter-Agency Standing Committee (IASC), collaborating closely with UN agencies, the Red Cross Movement, and international NGOs on global humanitarian coordination and response mechanisms.
Before joining UNICEF, Mr. Skoog worked with the United Nations Office for the Coordination of Humanitarian Affairs (OCHA), where he served as Regional Coordinator for Eastern Afghanistan and the Maluku region of Indonesia. He also held positions at UN Headquarters in both New York and Geneva.
Mr. Skoog holds a master’s degree in Economic Development and a bachelor’s degree in Quantitative Economics, both from Stanford University, California, United States. A national of Sweden, he is married and has two children.

Dr. Alexandros K. Makarigakis took up his role in Iraq as UNESCO Representative a.i. in June 2025 bringing in a total of more than 30 years of experience in the field of environmental sciences, 23 of which on the international platform on issues of development in developing and developed countries with focus on natural resources management (water and environment) and climate resilience, and transboundary groundwater in particular.
Since June 2022, Dr. Alexandros Makarigakis has held the position of Regional Hydrologist and Head of the Natural Sciences Sector in the UNESCO Regional Office for Eastern Africa, located in Nairobi (Kenya). Additionally, he has acted as Officer in Charge of the UNESCO Office in Nairobi from July 2023 to September 2024.
Prior to this position, Dr. Alexandros Makarigakis held several leadership and technical positions within UNESCO as he was Officer-in-Charge of the UNESCO Office in Tashkent (Uzbekistan) from 2021 to 2022. He served as Programme Specialist in Natural Sciences from 2016 to 2022, following his role as Chief of the Unit for the Sciences Sector at UNESCO Headquarters from 2012 to 2016. From 2008 to 2012, he was based at the UNESCO Office in Addis Ababa (Ethiopia) as Programme Specialist in Sciences and also served as Officer­ in-Charge. Dr. Makarigakis started his UNESCO career in 2003, as a Programme Specialist in Natural Sciences Sector at the UNESCO Cluster Office in Windhoek.
Dr. Alexandros Makarigakis holds a PhD in Environmental Engineering from Stevens Institutes of Technology (Hoboken, USA), as well as a Master's Degree in Civil Engineering from the City College of New York (USA), and has authored and co-authored several scientific journal papers and book chapters.
He is fluent in English and has a working knowledge of French, while his mother tongue is Greek.‎

Eric Buchot leads ITC’s operations in Iraq which primarily focuses on strengthening agribusiness value chain and improving trade policy. With two decades of experience in the public and private sectors supporting trade competitiveness and development, he has worked on projects in more than 40 countries and across a range of economic sectors. Mr. Buchot has led some of ITC’s largest trade-related technical assistance (TRTA) initiatives, including in complex and post-conflict environments. Most recently, these have included the national trade strategies for Iran and Afghanistan.
Prior to joining ITC in 2006, Eric Buchot worked at UNCTAD’s Advisory Services on Investment and as a business unit manager for a global trading corporation. Mr. Buchot is also an Associate Professor at Grenoble Alps University, Faculty of Economy, European and International Studies.

Gazi Shbaikat is the IMF Resident Representative for Iraq and Yemen since January 2021. Previously, Mr. Shbaikat worked in several countries in the Middle East and Central Asia Department in the IMF since 2010. Between 2006-2009, he worked in the Government of the Heshemite Kingdom of Jordan as Head of the National Statistics Office and Minister of Labour. Mr. Shbaikat holds Ph.D. in Economics.

Ghaliah Faraj is a Programme Officer at Arab Bureau of the United Nations Industrial Development Organization (UNIDO). She is from Kuwait where she was born and raised and holds an advanced degree in Global Management from the University of San Francisco. She joined UNIDO headquarters in Vienna as a JPO from Kuwait in 2015 in the Donor Relations department and moved on to the Arab Bureau in 2018.

Hind Jalal joined Iraq as UNFPA Representative in February 2025. She brings extensive experience in technical and managerial positions in North, West and Central Africa together at the UN System and at the Government.
Prior to that, she served as UNFPA Representative in Equatorial Guinea (2022-2025) and UN Women Representative ai for Cameroon (2018-2022). She previously worked for UNFPA West and Central Africa Regional Office in Dakar (2016-2018) and for UNFPA Morocco CO (2011-2016) where she implemented impactful interventions, driving progress in youth and women empowerment and strengthening data systems for population and development.
Prior to UNFPA, Hind held several leadership positions within the Moroccan Ministry of Economy and Finance, where she worked in Economic, Sector, Trade and Social Policy formulation and analysis.
Hind authored and co-authored books and specialized papers in Taxation, Feminist Economics and demographic dividend.
National of Morocco, she holds a PhD in Law and Economics of Development from Nice Sophia Antipolis University-France and two Masters in management (Nice Sophia Antipolis University France and ISCAE Morocco).
She is fluent in Arabic, English, French and Spanish.

Dr Jamela Al-Raiby was appointed as WHO Representative to Iraq on 1 April 2025. Dr Al-Raiby is a pediatrician with 30 years’ experience in public health, health policy and management prior to her current assignment.
Dr Al-Raiby served as WHO Representative to Jordan from 7 Nov 2021till 31 March 2025 and as the Regional Advisor for Child and Adolescent Health from 2015 to 2021, and Medical Officer for Reproductive and Maternal Health from 2012 to 2015 at WHO’s Regional Office for the Eastern Mediterranean.
She served as Deputy Minister of Public Health and Population of Yemen for the Population Sector from 2008 to 2012 and General Director of Women’s Health Affairs from 2004 to 2008 at the Ministry of Public Health and Population in Yemen.
Dr Al-Raiby holds a bachelor’s degree in medicine and surgery, a master’s degree in pediatric endocrinology and a master’s degree in public administration. Early on in her career, she worked as a pediatric consultant from 1999 to 2004, and a family physician from 1992 to 1994 in primary health care.
She has actively contributed to the development of WHO technical guidelines and research and authored/co-authored several regional and global level technical publications. Dr Al-Raiby has had various functions throughout her career, including support reproductive, maternal, neonatal, child and adolescent health, leading multi-stakeholder policy dialogue for equitable and quality health service strategies with a focus on universal health coverage.
She is a strong advocate for equity, women, and youth engagement through building national capacities. Her professional aspiration is to promote global health and development of effective partnerships towards peace and sustainable development.

Katharina Lumpp assumed her functions as the UNHCR Representative to Iraq in late 2024.
After graduating in law, Katharina Lumpp started her career, spanning three decades, with the UNHCR.
She served as the UNHCR Representative in Germany and Türkiye and worked in different leadership functions in Greece, Italy, Egypt and Afghanistan. Her extensive field experience includes emergency deployments to the Democratic Republic of Congo, to North Macedonia and Côte d’Ivoire.
Katharina Lumpp has contributed to shaping UNHCR’s legal and protection strategies in several functions, including as Senior Legal Officer at UNHCR Headquarters and as the Head of Protection Service of UNHCR´s Regional Bureau for the Middle East and North Africa (MENA).

Mr. Mounir Tabet (Canada) took up his official functions as Deputy Executive Secretary of the United Nation Economic and Social Commission for Western Asia (ESCWA) on the 7th of September 2018.
Prior to this, Mr. Tabet served as the UNDP Country Director for Iraq (2016-2018) where he oversaw the program on stabilization and transition.
From 2013 to 2016, Mr. Tabet served as the UN & UNDP Resident Coordinator in Tunisia, providing support to the transition including on electoral support, constitution making, parliamentary effectiveness and anti-corruption.
Previously, Mr. Tabet was the Country Director of UNDP Egypt (2007-2013) where he led support to development efforts. From 2004-2007 he was the Senior Program Advisor in the Regional Bureau for Arab States in UNDP HQ in New York.
Previously, Mr. Tabet was Edward S. Mason fellow at Harvard University – the Kennedy School of Government. There, he completed a Masters degree in Public Administration. He also holds a Masters degree in Economics from the University of Ottawa.
Between 1989 and 2003, Mr Tabet served in a variety of country and HQ positions with UNDP. Prior to joining UNDP, Mr. Tabet worked with the North South Institute and the International Development Research Centre in Ottawa and the University of Ottowa.

Mr. Akram has over 24 years of experience in the UN system, governmental and non-governmental sectors in humanitarian and development affairs. Before joining UNOPS in 2014 as the Regional Advisor on the United Nations Development Assistance Frameworks for Asia, the Middle East and Europe, and later as the Head of Programme for UNOPS Operational Hub in Amman, Mr. Akram worked in the United Nations Development Operations Coordination Office in New York. He also acted as the Head of the Resident Coordinator Office for Iraq while officiating the function of the Monitoring and Evaluation Advisor for Iraq. Before Iraq, he worked as Regional Monitoring and Evaluation Advisor for the United Nations Development Programme serving the Arab States Region in Cairo and the Europe and Commonwealth of Independent States in Bratislava. Prior to joining the UN system, Mr. Akram worked in the Aga Khan Rural Support Programme in Pakistan and Save the Children UK in Pakistan as well as Central Asia. Since January 2019, Mr. Akram has been the Director for the UNOPS Operational Hub in Amman.

Mr. Muslim Qazimi (Kosovo) has been the Head of UN-Habitat ad interim since September 2023. Previously he was working as Deputy Head of UN-Habitat in Iraq. He joined UN-Habitat in 2018, serving as Chair of the Housing, Land and Property Sub-cluster under humanitarian response and also as Programme Manager managing various projects. He holds a postgraduate/master’s degree in Public Administration and Political Sciences.

Mustafa Al-Kadhimi assumed the role of Country Coordinator for the United Nations Volunteers (UNV) program in Iraq in 2023. With 18 years of experience in the professional sector, Mr. Al-Kadhimi has expertise in Program Management, Procurement, Finance, Administration, and Human Resources. He most recently served as HR Associate at UNDP Iraq for 8 years, and prior to that, he worked as Senior Administrator/Finance at IOM Iraq for 7 years.
Mustafa holds a Bachelor's degree in Technical Analysis from Technical University in Baghdad, Iraq.

Pascal Andre A. Reyntjens, a Belgian national, assumed the position of Chief of Mission, IOM Iraq, in September 2025. With over 30 years of experience in migration management and humanitarian operations. He has previously served as IOM Chief of Mission in Chad, Mali, Algeria, and Belgium, and has held senior roles in Brussels, including Head of Unit for Assisted Voluntary Return, Reintegration and Movement.

Earlier in his career, he worked with IOM in operational roles in Brussels. Before joining IOM, he was a psychosocial worker with the Belgian Ministry of Justice and a Computer Programmer at Unisys.

Mr. Reyntjens holds a Master’s degree in Political Sciences from the Université Libre de Bruxelles and is fluent in French, English, and Dutch.

Mr. Pehr Lodhammar is the Chief Mine Action Programme in Iraq, managing all international and national staff in the program, in addition to donor relations and resource mobilization. As a key advocate for the mine action sector in Iraq, he is often involved with coordination with the highest levels of the Iraqi government, and represents UNMAS at international venues and conferences. Mr. Lodhammar holds a Master’s Degree in International Cooperation and Humanitarian Aid, and has more than 31 years of military and humanitarian mine action experience.

Rupert has over 20 years’ experience working for a wide range of international and non-governmental human rights organizations

Mr Hajj Hassan, a national of Lebanon, holds a Ph.D. in Plant Production from the University of Agriculture, Damascus, Syria; a Master of Science degree in Plant Production and a Bachelor of Science degree in Agricultural Engineering, both from the American University of Beirut, Lebanon.
He started his career in 1984, as Senior Research Assistant in the Agricultural Research and Education Centre (AREC), American University of Beirut. From 1987 to 1991, he was Coordinator of the Student Training Programme, and also Agriculture and Horticultural Teacher for the Faculty of Agriculture, at the Lebanese University.
From 1991 to 1995, he worked as Agricultural Engineer at the Ministry of Agriculture, Bekaa Regional Office, Zahlah and was then assigned to the Agricultural Research Institute in the Tal Amara station, first as Head of the Crop Production Department and subsequently in charge of the Plant Protection Laboratory. From 2002 to 2006, he was Director of the Kfardane Research Station (Agricultural Research Institute). In 2008, he became Visiting Scientist at the International Maize and Wheat Improvement Centre (CIMMYT) and Coordinator of a project with the International Centre for Atomic Energy Agency, Vienna.
In 2010, he served as Advisor to the Minister for Agriculture of Lebanon. In 2011, he became President of the Pesticide Scientific Committee, Head of the Phytoplasma Committee and Director of the Agriculture and Rural Development Programme (ARDP) (EU-funded project). From 2010 to 2013, he represented Lebanon in negotiations with EU, Egypt, Jordan and Iraq. During his career, Mr Hajj Hassan also carried out a number of other functions. He represented the Lebanese Agricultural Research Institute (LARI) in several research programmes with the International Centre for Agricultural Research in the Dry Areas (ICARDA) and the American University of Beirut. He was Coordinator of the Mashreq/Maghreb project with ICARDA, representing Lebanon in the Steering Committee, as well as being the Head of the Sugar-beet Delivery and of the Wheat Delivery Committees. For a number of years, Mr Hajj Hassan worked for the preparation of FAO TCP projects and served as the National Director of a TCP project. He joined FAO in January 2014 as FAO Representative in Yemen. Mr Hajj Hassan succeeds Mr El Zubi as FAO Representative in Iraq.

“With over 20 years of experience in management, Mr. Dimassi has extensive experience in multi-lateral and international relations, corporate and policy reform, intergovernmental affairs, strategy design and private sector engagement. Mr. Sami Dimassi joined the UNEP Regional Office for West Asia as Director and Regional Representative in 2017. He held several senior positions in the UN System, such as Senior ICT Advisor, Head of the Innovation Branch, Deputy Director of the Science division, Director of Private Sector Engagement, and Acting Director of Corporate Services all within UNEP. A Lebanese-Canadian national, he holds a bachelor’s degree in Information Technology from Ottawa University and a master’s in Management from Waterloo University in Canada.”

Mr Tawfiq El-Zabri is IFAD’s Country Director for Iraq and Yemen since October 2022. Prior to this assignment, Tawfiq managed IFAD country programmes in the Pacific Island countries, Philippines, Pakistan, Jordan, Somalia and the occupied Palestinian territories. He brings a global development practitioner experience covering more than 35 countries in the Middle East, Horn of Africa, Eastern Europe, South and East Asia and the Pacific region; and engagements with the World Bank, IMF and the International Food Policy Research Institute (IFPRI). Areas of expertise include rural development, agricultural commodity chains and agricultural advisory services, inclusive financial services, migration and remittances, organisational capacity building and adaptive management in service delivery projects. Tawfiq is based in Cairo, at IFAD’s multi-country office for Near East and North Africa.

Titon Mitra, an Australian national, is the Resident Representative of UNDP Iraq and a senior development professional with over 30 years of experience in humanitarian, peacebuilding, and sustainable development.
Prior to this role, he served as UNDP Resident Representative in Myanmar and the Philippines. He also held key positions with the United Nations, including Senior Strategic Planning Adviser and Head of the Integrated Coordination Office for Development and Humanitarian Affairs at the United Nations Assistance Mission for Iraq (UNAMI), and Senior Strategic Adviser to the UN on the Bangsamoro Peace Process in the Philippines.
Before joining the UN, Mr. Mitra was a senior official in the Australian Government, serving as Minister Counsellor and Head of the aid programme to the Philippines, and as Assistant Secretary with AusAID, managing large and complex bilateral programmes across Sri Lanka, the Maldives, China, Indonesia, and Timor-Leste.
He also brings extensive humanitarian leadership experience, having led emergency responses in Africa, South Asia, Southeast Asia, the Middle East, and the Pacific as Global Emergency Director for CARE International.

Mr Zeeshan Amin is Chief of UNOCT’s Strategic Coordination Section and Head of UNOCT Programme Office in Baghdad. He also supervises UNOCT Programme Office in Nairobi. Mr Amin supervises UNOCT coordination and cooperation with UN agencies and partners in Iraq, as well works toward channeling capacity-building support on counter-terrorism and PCVE topics to countries in need at the national and regional levels. His Section also includes the UNOCT Global Programme on Prosecution, Rehabilitation and Reintegration (PRR) that supports Member States around the world on policies and procedures relating to foreign fighters returnees.
Mr Amin has almost 20-years of experience working at UNHQ on a wide range of topics, including counter-terrorism and PCVE policy-making, capacity-building, advocacy and inter-agency coordination, as well as on inter-governmental consultations on General Assembly resolutions. Mr Amin has a Masters degree in International Security Policy from Columbia University in New York, and a Bachelors degree in Philosophy, Politics and Economics from the University of Pennsylvania in Philadelphia.