Meet the B+HR team

Livio Sarandrea is a Human Rights lawyer with 20 years of field experience in Southeast Europe, Africa and Asia, Livio has advised and managed programs on Business and Human Rights, in support of National Human Rights Institutions, Access to Justice, Conflict Prevention, Transitional Justice and Security Sector Reform for OSCE, DPKO/OHCHR and UNDP.
Aparna Basnyat is the Programme Advisor for Rule of Law, Security and Human Rights with the UNDP Bangkok Regional Hub. She leads regional initiatives on people-centred justice and security, judicial integrity and effectiveness, and business and human rights and advises country programming on access to justice and human rights for the Asia Pacific region. Previously she worked on governance and SDG 16 research and data analytics as well as on rule of law and human rights policy and programming, including in crisis contexts.
Harpreet provides technical and advisory support to governments and businesses on how to mitigate and address human rights risks and impacts in operations and supply chains in Asia. Previously, Harpreet led Genpact Centre for Women’s Leadership at Ashoka University where she steered the Women, Workplace & Rights agenda and designed cutting-edge programs that enabled women to lead with equality and dignity. At the Business and Human Rights Resource Centre, Harpreet highlighted corporates’ human rights impacts through her research and writing. In her early years, Harpreet led governance projects in the conflict-ridden Jammu and Kashmir in India using media and communication and supported the track-II diplomacy process. Harpreet serves as a Council Member of the World Economic Forum Global Future Council on Human Rights.
Ha has more than nine years of experience in policy analysis, advocacy, government affairs and corporate responsibility. Prior to joining UNDP, Ha worked as a consultant at global and regional business advisory and government relations consulting firms in Vietnam and Singapore. Previously, she was a coordinator for the Vietnam Business Forum (VBF) Secretariat, and a program assistant at the World Bank Viet Nam. Ha holds an MA in public management and a BA in international business administration.
Akiko is Liaison Officer for the Business and Human Rights project funded by the Government of Japan at UNDP. She has been working on business and human rights over the last 10 years with exceptional experience in Asia. Before joining UNDP, she worked as a lawyer and provided advice on human rights due diligence for Japanese companies. She also worked on advocacy with the Business & Human Rights Resource Centre and Human Rights Now. Akiko holds an MA in Development Studies with a major in Human Rights from the International Institute of Social Studies at Rotterdam’s Erasmus University in The Hague and a JD from Hitotsubashi University.
Siniša is responsible for developing programming and providing expertise to colleagues and partners globally. He has over 20 years’ experience as a human rights lawyer, advocate and researcher. He has worked for OSCE, UNDP and other UN agencies and civil society organisations in over 30 countries and territories in Asia, Africa and Europe. Siniša has a doctorate on business and human rights from the University of Oxford, as well as degrees from the Fletcher School and LSE.
Victoria is the Business and Human Rights Specialist responsible for the Africa region, based at the UNDP Regional Service Centre for Africa in Addis Ababa. Victoria previously served as the Regional Analyst and Coordinator for UNDP’s pioneer project on business and human rights in Asia. She also consulted for UNDP in women, peace and security and youth and civic engagement. Previously, she focused on skills development of marginalized youth in Latin America and the Caribbean and managed human rights advocacy programs in 20+ countries. Victoria started her career at the UN Environment Global Headquarters in Nairobi, supporting NGOs engaging at the UN Environmental Assembly. Victoria is a Brazilian licensed lawyer with 10 years of work experience and a MA in International Law and Human Rights from the University of London (United Kingdom).
Seán is supporting implementation of UNDP’s global Environmental Justice Strategy, including on business, human rights and the environment. Seán is a lawyer who previously worked with UNDP in South East Asia, focusing on governance, human rights, business and human rights and rule of law. Before joining UNDP, Seán worked with the Department of Foreign Affairs of Ireland and the Department of Justice of Ireland on human rights and refugee law.
Olga (she/her) is a Business and Human Rights Specialist responsible for providing research and developing programming on human rights due diligence and the environment for UNDP Country Offices and partners.
She has over 6 years of experience as a human rights specialist with the UN Development System. Before joining the UNDP Rule of Law, Security, and Human Rights Team, she worked with UNDP, OHCHR, and UN Resident Coordinator’s Offices in Lao PDR, with a focus on the UN Human Rights Mechanisms, civic space, diversity and inclusion, and B+HR.
Before joining B+HR Asia Belinda served as Women, Peace and Security Coordinator (UNDP), Researcher for the International Criminal Court Tools, and as a Researcher for the Judicial Services Commission of Zimbabwe. A lawyer by training, she has worked in Africa and Asia on inclusive governance, access to justice, gender-sensitive Results-Based Management and women’s empowerment. She holds a BA in French Language and Literature, a Bachelor of Laws, and a Master of Laws specializing in International Law.
Ononuju has extensive experience in public policy, global diplomacy, and international development, having worked with the United Nations, regional organisations, private sector, and civil society organisations. He has successfully implemented and coordinated several multi-stakeholder interventions and projects related to education, peacebuilding, and youth development.
In his most recent role with the UNDP Regional Service Centre for Africa, Ononuju provides programmatic coordination and support for implementing programmes and activities on Business and Human Rights (BHR) in Africa and the African Union Treaties Project. In his previous roles as a Partnership Associate at the African Union Commission (AUC) and a Programme Consultant at UNESCO IICBA, Ononuju supported the technical implementation of continental policies, developed and implemented continental youth and education programmes, fostered and strengthened shared-value partnerships, oversaw programmatic coordination for developing and executing concept notes, work plans, and budgets, and contributed to knowledge management, research, reporting, communication, and dissemination of reports, publications, articles, and policies.
Amy is a creative and strategic communications specialist with more than 10 years of experience living and working in Asia. Prior to joining UNDP, she supported international agencies, NGOs, and private sector clients on development challenges related to climate change, health, and resilience through the development and implementation of communication and digital engagement strategies and the production of targeted knowledge products and communications campaigns.
Warunpon has been working with UNDP for four years. She supported UNDP Thailand as a Project Assistant under the Social Innovation Project, Anti-Corruption and Being LGBTI in Asia programme. She also worked as a Team Assistant with the Transaction Services Team in the Bangkok Regional Hub. Before joining the UN family, she worked at The Embassy of Austria in Thailand. Warunpon holds a master's degree in International Relations and a bachelor's in German language.
Yoko is a Project Manager for health projects under the Inclusive Growth and Accountable Governance Cluster with the UNDP Ghana Country Office. She also supports the Cluster as Programme Associate and Liaison for Japan. She obtained a PGDiP in Development Studies and PGDiP in Development Research from IDEAS, under the Institute of Developing Economies, Japan External Trade Organization (IDE-JETRO) and MSc in Global Health from London School of Economics and Political Science (LSE).
Jennifer has 21 years of work experience. She has been a Programme Analyst responsible for the Governance, Gender and Human Rights portfolios at the UNDP Ghana Country Office since September 2012. Since August 2017, she has also served as a Monitoring and Evaluation focal person. Prior to joining UNDP, Jennifer worked as a Senior Project Officer for the Ghana Counter Trafficking Project at the International Organization for Migration (IOM) from 2007 to 2012. She holds a BA in Economics and Sociology from the University of Cape Coast, Ghana, and an M.Phil in Social Work from the University of Ghana.
Bokayo Sora
Programme Officer, Kenya
Bokayo joined UNDP in 2014 and has served in different capacities in the Governance and Inclusive Growth Unit. She worked as Peace and Cohesion Coordinator, Prevention of Violent Extremism Project Officer, and is currently the focal person for the AU Treaties and Business and Human Rights projects. Before joining UNDP, she worked with civil society organizations in Kenya with a focus on peace building, cohesion, and women/youth empowerment. Her interests cover a wide spectrum of conflict prevention, peace building, governance, prevention of violent extremism and women, youth empowerment and human rights. She holds a BA in Sociology and a MA in Development Studies.
Amel serves as Justice and Human rights Program Coordinator in UNDP Morocco. She is a senior advisor with a record of accomplishment of almost of 12 years overseeing interventions, providing strategic advice, and programming priorities in support of justice reform and gender equality across North Africa. She served in advisory roles to international NGOs in the region, and United Nations agencies, including UNDP and IOM. Prior to that, she held positions as judge in the administrative court of Tunisia, and she was lawyer with international law firms.
Amel is a member of the international association of women judges (IAWJ), and IACA (International association for court administration). She also serves as member of the North African coalition for women’s access to justice. And was nominated by the Institute for African Women in law IAWL, as a “Woman to Watch in law” Amandla series.
She holds a master's degree in legal, political, and social sciences and a master's degree in public and financial law from the University of Carthage, Faculty of Legal, Political and Social Sciences of Tunis. She also holds a project management certificate from Darden School of Business, University of Virginia.
Takoua Tayari is UNDP Tunisia’s Business and Human Rights project administrator. She started working for UNDP in 2019 in charge of knowledge management before specializing in Business and Human Rights. Takoua previously worked for two years as a public and international law university lecturer within Carthage University (2018-2020). She is a PhD candidate, a United Nations System Staff College graduate and has contributed to multiple legal research documents on international humanitarian law and democratic transition in Tunisia. She was also active within youth and civil society organizations raising awareness on human rights among youth.
Mehruna has over twelve years of experience in research and policy advocacy in the areas of macroeconomic policy, labour rights and migration, gender and environmental issues. Her PhD thesis is based on social and environmental compliance in the supply chain of the apparel sector of Bangladesh. Mehruna has worked with ILO, BRAC and Centre for Policy Dialogue, one of the leading think-tanks in Bangladesh. She has several publications as book chapters, policy briefs and research reports.
Nusrat is a lawyer by training with a master’s degree in Public International and Human Rights Law. She worked on UNDP’s Access to Justice programme and consulted the Ministry of Law & Justice of India as a Senior Legal Consultant on legal literacy and empowerment initiatives. Nusrat has also worked as a Human Rights Researcher with Amnesty International and a legal trainee with the UN International Criminal Tribunal for Rwanda. Nusrat is interested the translation of human rights research and advocacy into legal frameworks.
Sagita Adesywi has experience working on a wide range of development initiatives including reducing the impact
of HIV/AIDS in the workplace and wider communities, children’s rights and business, water and sanitation, and government transparency and accountability. She holds a MA in Globalization and Development and worked with UNAIDS, UNICEF, ChildFund International, the World Bank and USAID prior to joining UNDP.
Inthavath recently joined UNDP as a Responsible Business Officer, supporting the IMPACT Biz project under the Governance Unit. Before joining UNDP, Inthavath worked as a Communications Consultant for the World Bank and interned in IOM, working on safe migration projects. In his new role, Inthavath will be contributing his knowledge and experience to coordinating fruitful engagement with businesses, governmental agencies and civil society organizations to ensure that issues regarding internal aspects of doing business such as human rights, diversity and inclusion, as well as external aspects such as environmental impacts are highlighted, discussed, and addressed.
Roman joined the UNDP team in Lao PDR in 2023 as Programme Analyst to support the human rights and rule of law work of the Governance Unit. This includes among other engagements the management of the B+HR project. Before his deployment to Lao PDR, he worked in Colombia for Terre des Hommes on child protection and in Nigeria for the UN Resident Coordinator Office on conflict prevention. He holds a master degree in International Development.
Jehan Wan Aziz is a public policy and international development practitioner, with a background in public sector reform, project management and human rights protection. Jehan began their career with the Government of Malaysia. They then shifted to project implementation in various thematic areas working with UNDP, IOM and the World Bank. Jehan holds master’s degrees in Public Policy and International Affairs with a specialization in Economic and Political Development in East Asia.
Ariunaa has been working in the field of human rights for over 10 years. Previously, she worked as a multilateral cooperation referent at National Human Rights Commission of Mongolia (NHRCM). She engaged with various stakeholders to implement a wide range of human rights projects, including ones covering the right to reproductive and sexual health of herder women, the rights of assistant herders, and the rights to health care. She also contributed to shadow reports by the NHRCM to UN committees, especially UPR and CEDAW, in addition to the annual status report on human rights and freedom in Mongolia. Ariunaa holds a MA in Development Studies from the University of Melbourne.
Tek has been working with UNDP since 2008 as a rule of law and human rights and governance practitioner. He is a lawyer by training and has managed projects in the areas of human rights, rule of law, access to justice and federalism in Nepal. He has extensive experience working with the government, State bodies, parliament, the judiciary, civil society organizations and the private sector in Nepal. He has produced and published numerous articles and studies on human rights, access to justice, and rule of law in Nepal.
Samad works as a Research Analyst in UNDP Pakistan’s Decentralization, Human Rights and Local Governance Project and is the focal point for the project’s Business and Human Rights initiatives. Prior to joining UNDP Pakistan, he worked at Management Systems International Pakistan on several monitoring and evaluation assignments. He holds a BA and MA in International Relations from Bond University, Gold Coast, Australia, where he was also a guest lecturer and teaching fellow for undergraduate and post-graduate courses in the field of international relations and global development.
Myanthi has experience in resource mobilization, communications, and advocacy. At UNDP Sri Lanka she has worked in the areas of Peacebuilding and Reconciliation. Prior to joining UNDP, she was employed at World Vision in their Grants Acquisition team. Myanthi is a Chevening Scholar and holds a master’s degree in Social Policy and Development from the London School of Economics and Political Science and a Bachelor’s degree in Psychology from the University of Nottingham.
Tarinee has been working in the field of human rights for more than eight years. Previously, she worked as a sustainability consultant, specializing in human rights due diligence. She had engaged with companies in Thailand and overseas on capacity building on business and human rights as well as the establishment of internal human rights management systems. Tarinee holds a MA in Public Policy with a specialization in Social Policy and a BA in Political Science.
Dina joined UNDP Kazakhstan in 2022 to coordinate activities under the Business and Human Rights project. Before joining UNDP, she worked for 7 years in the civil society sector promoting the business and human rights agenda in Kazakhstan by raising awareness on the UNGPs and human rights due diligence, including organizing a summer school on business and human rights in 2019 and increasing capacity of national institutions on the concept of responsible business conduct. She has also worked with national and international organizations on various human rights topics in Central Asian, including the rule of law, independence of judges and lawyers, transparency and accountability.
Nurlan has more than 20 years of experience practicing law in the Kyrgyz Republic, a significant part of which was devoted to the rule of law and public interest law. He has substantial experience working in the area of human rights project management. In 2020-21, he contributed to UNDP’s Spotlight Initiative as a legal expert supporting legal research and analysis of Kyrgyzstan’s legislation. He also contributed to the first UNDP training on “Business and Human Rights: Global Trends and National Policy in Kyrgyzstan” in January 2022. He holds an LLM in US Legal Studies from the University of Connecticut. He is also an alumnus of International Advanced Courses on Human Rights Protection by the Helsinki Foundation for Human Rights. In July 2022, he rejoined UNDP in the Kyrgyz
Republic as a Project Analyst for the Business and Human Rights Project.
Olena joined UNDP in 2022. She also provided consultancy support to UNDP during pre-inception project research on business and human rights in Ukraine as Business and Human Rights Research Assistant. Prior to joining UNDP, Olena worked for five years as a Reform Specialist at the Ukranian Ministry of Justice within Public Administration Reform in Ukraine on strategic planning, development, and implementation of public policy on human rights, access to justice and legal awareness. Olena holds a Ph.D. in Law. Her research covered the issues of human rights policy development with a focus on business and human rights.
Svitlana joined UNDP Ukraine in 2015 to coordinate the development of the Action Plan for the National Human Rights Strategy. Since then, she has been leading human rights projects, one of the focuses of which is on developing and strengthening the capacities of the National Human Rights Institution and its regional network.
Prior to her work at UNDP, Svitlana had more than 10 years of experience working at the Ministry of Justice, where she focused on international cooperation and international law. Svitlana holds an MA in International Public Law from the Kyiv Institute of International Relations, Taras Shevchenko National University.
Daniel is Project Coordinator of the United Nations Development Program - UNDP and Professor at the Pontificia Universidad Catolica del Perú and at the Universidad Ruiz de Montoya. He has an MA in Constitutional Law from the University of Seville. Lawyer by the PUCP. Author of several publications on Human Rights and Indigenous Peoples Law. He has been Vice Minister of Human Rights and Access to Justice (2018-2021), Vice President of the Working
Group of the OAS Protocol of San Salvador (2019-2020), Director General of Intercultural Citizenship of the Ministry of Culture (2018) and Head of the Indigenous Peoples Program of the Ombudsman’s Office (2013-2016).
Edna has four years of experience in UNDP as a project administrator, in a project with themes related to the 2030 Agenda, eradication of violence against women, youth and human rights. She also worked as a project assistant in the Effective Governance and Governance, and Social and Economic Development Units in UNDP Mexico, managing a portfolio of 10 projects. Before joining the United Nations, she worked in the private sector managing budgets and identifying risk. Edna holds a Master´s Degree in Risk Administration and a Bachelor´s in Business.
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