Our Team in Timor-Leste

Dr Arvind Mathur is a results-oriented leader, a team player who encourages initiative, promotes open communication and transparency, and helps accelerate progress toward sustainable gains in healthcare diplomacy and leadership.
Dr Mathur has long experience with the WHO South-East Asia Regional Office and the Country Offices in India, DPR Korea, Sri Lanka, and Bangladesh and, most recently, Maldives. He has been actively involved in policy advocacy, programme management, relationship-building, partnership-development, and technical assistance to the Member States within the Region and beyond. At a global, regional and country-level he has been an active contributor as a member on various Expert Groups and Task Force Teams to formulate and implement technical guidelines, especially in maternal and reproductive health.
Before joining WHO, Dr Mathur worked for several years with International Organizations including Aga Khan Foundation as Health Program Manager for India and Bangladesh; and CARE International as its first State Coordinator for the state of Bihar. He also worked as a Scientist with the Human Nutrition Unit of the All India Institute of Medical Sciences, New Delhi, India.
He is a Medical Graduate with a post-graduate degree in Community Medicine from LLRM Medical College, Meerut, India and Diplomat in the same field with specialization in Maternal and Child Health, with courses in Hospital Administration, Area Development and Management from Asian Institute of Management, Manila, Philippines, Negotiation Skills, Results-based Management and Primary Health Care.

Prior to joining UNICEF Timor-Leste, Mr Durrani served as the Head of UNICEF’s South Korea Office. He brings to this job 20 years of progressively responsible expertise in international development with UN agencies and international NGOs at the Headquarters level as well as in complex humanitarian, emergency and development settings in Asia and Africa. A national of Pakistan, Mr Durrani holds a Master’s Degree in International Development from the International Institute of Social Studies in the Netherlands, a Master’s in International Public Policy from the Central European University in Hungary, and a Master of Business Administration (MBA) degree from Bahria University, Pakistan.

Claudia Diaz is the Human Rights Adviser for the UN in Timor-Leste. She has been working with the UN for 18 years at the HQ in New York, as well as in different conflict and post-conflict settings, including in Guatemala, Nepal, Sudan (Darfur), Timor-Leste (2001 and 2010-2012) and Venezuela. Ms. Diaz has vast experience on international human rights and humanitarian law issues, particularly advising and building the capacity of national institutions and atrocity prevention mechanisms. She has an advanced degree in Law and a Masters in Human Rights and Democratization.

Fabiano Franz is the Country Coordinator Analyst for UNCDF Timor-Leste. He takes on this new role with 21 years of progressively professional work experience leading development and humanitarian programs in some of the most challenging context around the world. Prior to joining us in the Pacific, he was working with an International NGO and leading a large humanitarian response in 7 countries in Latin America.

Fabiano is a passionate and visionary leader who is very enthusiastic about financial inclusion projects and specially the applications of blockchain technology and how to bring decentralize finance to the most vulnerable people of the world.

👨‍👩‍👦‍👦🏀🤿✈ “I’m a father of two handsome boys aged 12 and 14 and I’m married to an amazing wife who also loves to serve the underprivileged around the world. We as a family, like to play sports, scuba dive, and travel whenever we can.”

Ms. Olufunmilayo (Funmi) Abosede Balogun-Alexander has more than 30 years of international development and humanitarian experience, including leading policy and programmes and experience with government, UN, international NGOs and on board of not-for-profit organizations to drive impact and results. She has a proven track record leading successful UN interagency coordination and resources to support governments in developing and implementing transformational initiatives, including conducting successful elections, facilitating constitutional reviews, supporting the inclusion of marginalized communities' voices in developing Peace Agreements, strengthening institutions, including for gender-responsive budgeting and promoting women's leadership in the public sector and in elected positions. She has facilitated innovative financing from the private sector for Second Chance Education for 'out of school' women and girls to develop new skills.

Ms. Balogun has led solutions on inclusion and equality in development and humanitarian, with a focus on gender equality, sexual and reproductive health and rights and Gender-Based Violence. She has successfully established and maintained strategic partnerships with governments, intergovernmental commissions, bilateral donors, media and the private sector for innovative financing and programming.
She was, until her appointment, UN Women's global Head for Humanitarian Action, where she led UN Women's global response to the humanitarian crisis. Prior to this, she was UN Women's Country Representative to South Sudan, Deputy Country Representative, Ethiopia and Director, External Relations and Advocacy, International Planned Parenthood Federation, Africa Region.
Ms. Balogun has a master's degree from the Institute of Development Studies (IDS), University of Sussex, UK and a Bachelor of Arts degree from the University of Lagos, Nigeria. She has two children.

Prior to joining IOM Timor-Leste, Ms Aishath Ihma Shareef was the Regional Border and Identity Solutions Officer for the IOM Regional Office for Asia and the Pacific. In 2018, Ms Shareef was based in Nepal providing technical support to a member state-driven Regional Consultative Process on the management of overseas employment and contractual labour for countries of origins in Asia (The Colombo Process). Ms Shareef also served with IOM Maldives from 2015 to early 2018.
Ms Shareef, a national of the Republic of the Maldives, holds a Bachelor of Arts (International Relations and Sociology) and Graduate Certificate in Law from Victoria University of Wellington, New Zealand.

Katyna Argueta, a Honduran national, has been appointed as UNDP Resident Representative in Timor-Leste in October 2023. She joined UNDP as an Adviser at the Honduras Country Office, later becoming a Human Resources Coordinator within the framework of the Office's realignment. Later, she served as Deputy Country Director in Panama (2009-2012), Deputy Country Director in Haiti (2013-2015), Country Director in Mexico (2016-2018), and Resident Representative in Brazil (2019-2023).



A career diplomat with the rank of Ambassador, before joining the UNDP, she worked in the Ministry of Foreign Affairs of Honduras as Alternate Representative of the Mission of Honduras to the Organization of American States in Washington; General Director of Foreign Policy; Chief of Staff of the Minister; Second Secretary in the Honduras Embassy in the United Kingdom; and as Protocol Officer. In the private sector, she has held the positions of Director of Public Relations and Communications; Manager of Corporate Planning; and Director of Human Resources in the financial sector. Katyna Argueta has management and administration studies and is a graduate of the "Andres Bello" Diplomatic Academy in Chile. She is fluent in Spanish, French, English, and Portuguese.

Ms. Maki Katsuno-Hayashikawa brings experience of nearly 30 years with UNESCO, UNICEF and JICA, at global, regional, and country levels. She assumed her role as the Director of UNESCO Multisectoral Regional Office in Jakarta, and UNESCO Representative to Indonesia, Brunei Darussalam, Malaysia, the Philippines, and Timor Leste in July 2023. Prior to her current assignment, she served as the Director of the Division for Education 2030 at UNESCO Headquarters overseeing UNESCO’s global programmes on Gender and Inclusive Education, Higher Education, Education in Emergencies and led the global SDG4 coordination mechanism. In addition, during 2022, she served as the Executive Secretary of the Secretariat for the Transforming Education Summit convened by the UN Secretary-General in September 2022. Ms. Katsuno-Hayashikawa holds Master’s degrees in Educational Planning from the Institute of Education, University College London, and in Early Childhood Education from the South Australia University; and a Bachelor’s degree in International Relations from the London School of Economics and Political Science.

Marco Kamiya is UNIDO Representative for Indonesia, Timor Leste and ASEAN Affairs.
He was Chief of the Division of Digital Transformation and AI Strategies at UNIDO in Vienna. Chief of
the Urban Economy and Finance Branch at UN-HABITAT in Nairobi, Kenya. Senior staff at CAF
Development Bank for Latin America in Caracas and the Inter-American Development Bank in
Washington, DC. Senior economist for a development consulting firm in Tokyo.
He speaks English, Japanese, Spanish, and Portuguese and publishes on development. He studied
International Development at Harvard University (MPA-ID) and possesses a PhD in Economics.

Since January 2020, Mr. Ximenes is in charge of the UNV Field Unit as the UNV Country Coordinator, overseeing over 50 UN Volunteers and managing day-to-day operations. He ensures that the UNV Field Unit is operational in three domains including mobilizing volunteers, advocating for volunteerism, and pursuing the integration of volunteerism across policy, legislation, and programming. Mr. Ximenes is engaged with other Volunteer Involving Organizations and government partners to establish the first National Volunteer Scheme in the country. Mr. Ximenes graduated from the University of Adelaide in 2015 with a degree in Psychological Science.

Nishtha Satyam was appointed as the Head of Office for Timor-Leste in UN Women, the entity of the United Nations that is dedicated to working towards Gender Equality and Woman's Empowerment in September 2021. She was the former Deputy Country Representative for UN Women in India and served as the Officer in Charge starting January 2018. As the youngest woman to head a country office for UN Women amongst 193 countries, Nishtha Satyam is an unapologetic feminist, a trained economist with a keen interest in applied macroeconomic and fiscal policy. In her long-standing career in the United Nations, she has managed the UN Women Office for a geo-politically diverse group of countries including India, Bhutan, Maldives and Sri Lanka. Nishtha has also served as the Private Sector Partnerships Specialist with the Office of the Resident Coordinator of the United Nations and UNDP.
Nishtha holds a Master's Degree in International Business from the University of Nottingham, UK and a Bachelors in Economics from Delhi University.

Dr. Palmira is an internationally recognized Senior Expert in Quality Infrastructure and Competitiveness with a Comprehensive and Systemic Approach, with over 25 years of professional experience in 65 countries, with special emphasis in the South-East Asia Region.
Her extensive career included Leadership and Top Management positions in international organizations (EU, UNIDO) and private enterprises, and the implementation of multiple projects in an articulated and participatory/collaborative way, with a wide range of public and private organizations and activity sectors/value chains. Her Specialized Areas are: Quality Infrastructure, International Trade, Quality Management and Excellence, Strategy, Social Responsibility and Sustainability, with focus on Innovation and Strategic Communication.
She is Professor of “Strategies for Managing Competitiveness” at Eastern Finland University in Finland since 2009, and Professor of “Leadership Abilities” at EAE Business School in Barcelona since 2022, with extensive experience in research and in awareness and training programs. To date, she has delivered more than 160 conferences in 24 countries, and authored over 170 publications, including eight books in her field of expertise. She speaks several languages.
Dr. Palmira is PhD in Economics and Business, with comprehensive training in Engineering; Master’s Degree in Logistics and International Trade; Master’s Degree in Business Administration; and Master’s Degree in Finance. She also has Executive Education in Business Management (ESADE), Leadership in Innovation (STANFORD), Negotiation and Influence (STANFORD), Strategies of Sustainability for the Industry (Massachusetts Institute of Technology, MIT), Strategic Communication (Massachusetts Institute of Technology, MIT), Neurosciences for Management (MIT), Higher Education Teaching (HARVARD), and Business Writing and Storytelling (The Economist).

Pressia Arifín-Cabo, a Filipino national, has recently joined UNFPA as Representative for Timor Leste. Prior to this position, she served as the Deputy Representative for UNICEF in Mexico, where her work was instrumental in the seven-fold increase in programme budget through public and private sector fundraising, strategic positioning of the youth and adolescent agenda with the government, building the country office’s emergency capacity and the scale-up of UNICEF’s work at the federal and state levels.

Pressia comes to UNFPA with 20 years of professional experience in development and humanitarian work, and with specific expertise working in conflict-affected countries, having worked as Regional Emergency Specialist in the UNICEF Regional Office for South Asia, where she helped manage important emergencies such as the 2015 Nepal earthquake and the 2016 Afghan returnee crisis. She also served as Technical Adviser for Conflict Sensitivity for the United Nations Development Programme (UNDP) in Nepal and for the German International Development Cooperation (GIZ), first as Peacebuilding Adviser in Mindanao and later as Land Conflict Adviser in Guatemala. Pressia has also worked for the United Nations Educational, Scientific and Cultural Organization (UNESCO) in Paris HQ in the communication and information sector and for the UN Office for Drugs and Crime (UNODC) in Vienna HQ, in the areas of corruption and organized crime.

Pressia has an MSc in Public Financial Management from the School of Oriental and African Studies, University of London; Magister in International Relations and in American Studies from the Eberhard-Karls-Universitaet Tuebingen in Germany, as well as a Bachelor of Arts in Political Science from the University of the Philippines.

Rajendra Aryal is appointed as FAO Representative in Indonesia in mid-August 2021. Prior to his current appointment, he was FAO Representative in Afghanistan since September 2018; and he was the Senior Programme Advisor for Resilience Building in FAO Emergency Operations Division in Rome, Italy from 2015 to September 2018. Since mid-March 2003, he has held various positions within the Food and Agriculture Organizations of the United Nations (FAO), such as senior programme advisor for global Food Security Cluster (gFSC) in Italy; Senior Resilience Manager for Eastern Europe in Serbia; Deputy Representative in South Sudan; Senior Resilience Coordinator in Pakistan; Senior Regional Recovery Coordinator for Asia in Thailand; Representative a.i., in Sri Lanka and Maldives; Senior Rehabilitation and Recovery Coordinator in Indonesia; Recovery Coordinator in Bangladesh, and Area Manager in Afghanistan. Mr. Aryal also worked as Programme Officer with UNCDF/UNDP and GIZ International Services. He has nearly 26 years of work experience that also includes his experience with public and private sectors. He holds a Master’s degree in Civil and Infrastructure Engineering from Leibnitz University, Hannover, Germany, and a bachelor’s degree in Civil Engineering from National Institute of Technology, Trichy, India.

Mr. Salil Dutt is currently the Chief Technical Advisor (CTA) at the UNIDO Jakarta office since 2018. He has 25+ years of cross-functional experience and vast exposure in the area of energy and environmental management, focusing on the implementation of programs and projects, conceptualizing and implementing consulting/ technology development/ transfer/commercialization projects, setting up new business entities and business operations in south-east Asia and North Africa, strategic business planning and management, policy analysis and capacity building.

He completed his Master of Business Administration (MBA) from the Faculty of Management Studies (FMS), the University of Delhi, after a Master of Technology (M.Tech) in Energy & Environment Management from the Indian Institute of Technology (IIT), Delhi, after attaining B. Tech (Mechanical Engineering) from G. B. Pant University, Pantnagar in India.

Ms. Simrin Singh was appointed as the new Director of the International Labour Organization (ILO) Country Office for Indonesia and Timor-Leste in February 2024. Previously, she served as the Director for the ILO Country Office for Sri Lanka and the Maldives for six years from 2017 to 2023. Prior to that, Ms. Singh has worked across ILO since 2000 in Tanzania, Geneva, South Asia, and the Regional Office for Asia and Pacific. Ms. Singh holds a Bachelor’s Degree in Anthropology and Sociology from Connecticut College in the USA and a Master’s Degree in International Development Studies from the George Washington University, USA.