Director, Africa Regional Office: Bunmi Makinwa

Mr. Bunmi Makinwa is the Director of the UNFPA Africa Regional Office, responsible for the oversight and management of UNFPA regional policy and programmes, and offices in 46 Sub-Saharan African countries. He brings to this post 25 years of service in international development in various parts of the world.

From 2006 to 2008, Mr. Makinwa was Director of UNAIDS New York Office, where he successfully re-positioned the UNAIDS New York Office as the source of policy, information and partnerships on AIDS for Ambassadors, political leaders, UN and large civil society organisations.

From 2003-2006, Mr. Makinwa was UNAIDS Representative to the African Union Commission and the UN Economic Commission for Africa in Addis Ababa, Ethiopia, developing and implementing the strategic positioning of AIDS with heads of state and governments of Africa. Between 2000 and 2003, he served as Team Leader of the UNAIDS Intercountry Team for Eastern and Southern Africa.

Mr. Makinwa worked previously with the World Health Organization, Family Health International and Program for Appropriate Technology in Health. He speaks several international languages.

Follow Mr. Makinwa on Twitter

Director, Sub-Regional Office for West and Central Africa: Faustin Yao

In February 2009, Faustin Yao was appointed Director of the UNFPA Sub-Regional Office for West and Central Africa, which covers 23 countries. He is responsible for the management of technical support to country programmes, and regional and sub-regional institutional and development partners.

Mr. Yao was the UNFPA Representative in Cameroon for the four years prior to his current appointment. Before that he spent seven years as the UNFPA Regional Adviser in the Country Support Team based in Dakar.

He has worked as a lecturer/researcher at Université d’Abidjan, Cote d’Ivoire, Chief of the Youth Unit and also as Chief Prevention Unit at the World Health Organization's Global Programme on AIDS, and as UNAIDS Inter-country Adviser in Geneva, Switzerland. He holds a PhD in Development Communication from Stanford University, California.

Director, Sub-Regional Office for East and Southern Africa: Edwin Huizing

Mr. Edwin Huizing joined UNFPA as Director, Sub-Regional Office for East and Southern Africa in June 2010. Between 1989 and 2001, he worked for the Netherlands Development Organization SNV as a District officer in Botswana and an Adviser in Niger.

He was the Country Director for SNV in Mali from 1996 to 2001. In 2001 he joined the Dutch Council for Refugees as Director of Operations, becoming its Managing Director in 2006, a position he held until joining UNFPA.

Mr. Huizing holds a Master's in Geography of Developing Countries, with a minor in Development Planning from Wageningen University.

Statements