The United Nations Development Programme’s (UNDP) newly appointed Resident Representative for Bermuda, Kishan Khoday, presented his credentials to Deputy Premier and Minister of Home Affairs, the Hon. Walter Roban, yesterday.

As Resident Representative assigned to the UNDP Multi-Country Office in Jamaica, as of 22 January 2024, Mr. Khoday represents UNDP in Bermuda, Belize, Cayman Islands, Jamaica, The Bahamas and Turks and Caicos Islands.

Mr. Khoday, a Canadian national of Indian descent, is currently leading a team from the Kingston office on an official mission to The Bahamas and Bermuda. While in Hamilton, he also met with Minister of Youth, Social Development & Seniors, Hon Tinee Furbert; Minister of Tourism, Culture and Sport, Hon. Owen K. Darrell; Minister of National Security, Hon. Michael Weeks; Minister of Economy & Labour, Hon. Jason Hayward; as well as officials of the Bermuda Economic Development Corporation (BEDC) and communities representing Persons with Disabilities.

In welcoming the new Resident Representative, Deputy Premier Roban thanked Mr Khoday for visiting Bermuda so early in his tenure and said he anticipated rewarding and productive partnerships on Bermuda’s development priorities. He acknowledged the ongoing joint UN and Bermuda partnership on the Building Back Equal project as a promising vehicle for economic empowerment of marginalized groups such as women, youth and persons with disabilities, and said Bermuda looked forward to expanding the scope of the UNDP’s engagement with his nation.

Mr. Khoday pledged continuing support for Bermuda’s development aspirations anchored on an inclusive and sustainable approach that leaves no one behind. He commended the Government’s commitment to widening access to small business financing among marginalized groups in key growth sectors through the Joint SDG Fund. He said that through the current Country Programme (CP) (2022-2026), UNDP offers a strategic approach to combating multidimensional poverty and advancing climate resilient, nature-based pathways, leveraging UNDP’s capacities in innovation, digitalization, and sustainable finance. “I look forward to building on our ongoing partnerships and expanding cooperation in a way that builds resilience to multi-dimensional crises and advances results under the SDGs. This includes priorities such as social inclusion and community empowerment; climate resilience and biodiversity, disaster management and sustainable finance,” he stated.

Mr. Khoday has served with UNDP for 25 years, having coordinated over USD $1 billion in country programming to help partners and communities around the world advance inclusive and sustainable development pathways. This included tours of duty with UNDP Country Offices in China, Saudi Arabia, and Indonesia and with UNDP’s regional offices for the Middle East and North Africa based in Egypt and Jordan. Prior to joining the UN, Mr. Khoday worked with government and community organizations in his home countries of Canada and India on issues of poverty reduction, ecological resilience, and community empowerment.

Mr. Khoday is a scientist and lawyer, holding a Juris Doctorate specializing in constitutional, international, and environmental law; a Master of Science in natural resource management focused on land and water systems, and a Bachelor of Science in agriculture specializing in biodiversity and ecological change. The UNDP Resident Representative is a frequent speaker at international conferences and policy dialogues on the development agenda and a recognized thought leader on strategic issues such as climate change, ecosystem resilience, constitutionalism, postcolonial and decolonial theory, and resilience-based approaches to development, having published extensively on these and other issues.