Our Team in North Macedonia

Massimiliano Paolucci is an Italian national with more than twenty years of economic development experience. Before taking the current position, Paolucci was the World Bank Group Special Representative to the European Institutions, NATO, the Kingdom of Belgium and the Grand-Duchy of Luxembourg

Ms. Shalja-Plavjanska was appointed UNFPA Head of Office in 2019. She is a medical doctor and brings over 15 years of experience in managing USAID programs. Since 2013, she has managed UNFPA programs on sexual and reproductive health and youth in North Macedonia.

Mr. Armen Grigoryan was appointed as UNDP Resident Representative for the Republic of North Macedonia on October 11, 2021. Prior to this appointment, Armen was Regional Cluster Leader for Climate Change/Disaster Resilience and Global Energy Policy Advisor for Europe and Central Asia in UNDP at Istanbul Regional Hub since January 2015.

Akeem is a UK national and a specialist public health physician with more than 30 years of work experience across the globe in low-, middle- and high-income countries including small island developing states. Following initial clinical practice in paediatrics, he has worked as a frontline public health practitioner and led response to public health and humanitarian emergencies in Sierra Leone, DRC, Afghanistan, and Somalia. As acting WHO Representative for the South Pacific, Akeem led the WHO team during the COVID-19 response for the sub-region. He has expertise in healthcare reform, policy analysis, disease prevention and control, medical education and research, and strategic planning. He’s been a strong public health advocate and leader in various settings. Prior to joining WHO as a Health Systems and Policy Specialist, he led local public health authorities in the UK over a 10-year period as a Director of Public Health. Akeem moved to Skopje on 01 July from Seoul, Republic of Korea where he was the Head of WHO specialized office for Environment and Health for the Western Pacific region.

Mr. Krstanovski has been an ILO Coordinator for North Macedonia since 2009 and is responsible for the development and effective and efficient delivery of the Decent Work Agenda and successful design, implementation, monitoring and evaluation of ILO projects in the country.

Mr. Godoy has previously served as Chief of Mission in the Dominican Republic, and before that, as Senior Protection Officer of the UNHCR Office in Mexico. He has also assumed protection-related functions in Brazil, Uganda, and Costa Rica.
Juris Doctor in Theory and Philosophy of Law from the State University of Rio de Janeiro (UERJ), Brazil. Masters in Law, Anthropology and Society from the London School of Economics and Political Science (LSE), United Kingdom, Mr. Godoy has a baccalaureate in Law from the Federal University of Parana (UFPR), Brazil. He is registered as lawyer in the Order of Lawyers of the Federal District, Brazil.

Since his graduation from the Faculty of Law at Vienna University in international relations and environmental law and sciences, Mr. Egerer worked as an environmental reporter for the Austrian Press Agency. In 1996, Mr. Egerer joined UNEP with the Secretariat of the Basel Convention on the Control of Transboundary Movements of Hazardous Wastes and their Disposal. With UNEP’s Europe Office as of 2001, Mr. Egerer specialized on environmental cooperation in the European region and supported the seven Carpathian countries in the development of the Framework Convention on the Protection and Sustainable Development of the Carpathians. Since 2004, Mr. Egerer has been heading the UNEP Vienna Programme Office – SSC, acts as the Secretary of the Carpathian Convention on behalf of UNEP and represents the organization as an environmental focal point for the International Mountain Partnership.

Previously, Jacek Cukrowski was a Head of the UNIDO Institute for Capacity Development, worked for the UNDP in the capacity of an Adviser on Millennium Development Goals and a leader of the Regional Center for Europe and the CIS. Prior to that, he worked in the Center for Social and Economic Research (CASE) in Poland and with the Economic Institute of Academy of Science of the Czech Republic.

Lesley Miller has served with UNICEF for over 30 years in multiple leadership, partnership and programme positions, with a focus on children’s rights. She has worked in UNICEF country offices in Viet Nam, Serbia and Cambodia, in the UNICEF Regional Office for Europe and Central Asia, based in Geneva and in UNICEF’s New York Headquarters.

Mario Apostolov has been servicing intergovernmental bodies of experts and policy makers on trade facilitation in the framework of the UN Centre for Trade Facilitation and Electronic Business, the UN Special Programme for the Economies of Central Asia (SPECA), and networks in Southeast Europe and the Eurasian Economic Union and managing capacity-building projects for over 23 years.

Michela brings a wealth of expertise in humanitarian affairs, conflict analysis and resolution, team management in insecure environments. Prior to UNOPS, she held various senior positions with the ICRC in conflict-affected countries in Africa, Latin American and Asia; the humanitarian policy and advocacy sectors in the UK and Canada, and in the financial sector in the City of London.

Mr. Gangi has 20 years of experience with the United Nations in many different areas. He is responsible for advising and assisting the development and implementation of the FAO Country Programme in the Republic of North Macedonia by facilitating communication and cooperation between FAO and the Macedonian Government and all key national and international partners in the country.

Rita Columbia brings 20 years of experience in international development, humanitarian, and management. Prior, she served as the UN Population Fund (UNFPA) Representative in Iraq, as well as UNFPA Representative in Moldova, Country Director for Albania and as part of the UNFPA Regional Office for Eastern Europe and Central Asia’s Senior Management team. Ms. Columbia holds a master’s degree in Non-Profit and Health Management from New York University, master’s degree in Public Administration from Kazakhstan Institute of Management, Economy and Prognosis and a medical degree from Kazakhstan National Medical University.

Sebastian Sosa is the IMF Regional Resident Representative for the Western Balkans, based in Vienna. Previously, he was Deputy Chief of the Strategy Unit and the Concessional Lending Policy Division in the Strategy, Policy, and Review Department. Prior to that, he was the IMF Resident Representative for Serbia and North Macedonia, worked on several country assignments in different regions—including Spain, Chile, Mexico, Bolivia, Uruguay, and Lebanon—and served in the Regional Studies Division of the Western Hemisphere Department, conducting analysis of macroeconomic issues in Latin America and the Caribbean. Mr. Sosa’s areas of expertise include international macroeconomics and finance, and he has published several academic and policy papers in books and economic journals. He received his Ph.D. in Economics from the University of California, Los Angeles (UCLA) in 2006.

Ms. Bozinovska joined IOM in 1999 and has been working since in humanitarian emergencies, management of initiatives on migration management, including labour migration, border management, migrants’ assistance, policy, and research. She has also been a member of various inter-governmental working groups on migration.

Ms. Vesna Ivanovikj-Castarede assumed the position of the Programme Specialist and UN Women Head of Office in North Macedonia in January 2019 and brings a wealth of 20 years professional experience with international organizations, including OSCE, ICITAP and USA Peace Corps, providing strategic guidance, leadership, programming, implementation monitoring and capacity building.