JUBA—The United Nations Development Programme welcomed Samuel Gbaydee Doe to South Sudan as the agency’s new Resident Representative after presenting his credentials to Minister of Foreign Affairs Hon. Beatrice Khamisa Wani on Monday 18 January 2021. 

“Our partnership [with UNDP] has grown from strength to strength over the years and we look forward to furthering this good relationship we have cultivated with you on board,” said Minister Wani during the presentation of credentials at the Ministry of Foreign Affairs.

“As you all know the UNDP has been with the people of South Sudan since before independence. We are determined to remain your trusted partner as we strive towards building this young state and ensuring sustainable development for all people here in this beautiful country,” said Mr. Doe to press gathered at the event.

Mr. Doe joins the South Sudan country office after serving as Resident Representative in Sierra Leone. Originally from Liberia, Mr. Doe is a conflict, peace, and development professional with wide ranging international policy advisory and country office management experience. In addition to leading the Sierra Leone office, he also served as Senior Policy Advisor and Team Leader, on Fragility, Recovery and Resilience for the Bureau for Policy and Programme Support and Team Leader in the Policy and Planning Division, both of UNDP in New York. Mr. Doe began his career with UNDP as Senior Conflict Prevention and Civil Society Development Expert with the Pacific Regional Center in Fiji. In 2007, he was named Development and Reconciliation Advisor for the UN in Sri Lanka where he worked to resolve the conflict in Sri Lanka between Tamil and Sinhalese communities and later joined the Secretary General's Advisory Panel on Sri Lanka as Senior Political Officer in New York. 

Prior to joining the UN system, Mr. Doe was a cofounder of the West Africa Network for Peacebuilding (WANEP), the largest civil society peacebuilding network in West Africa.  He also lectured at the Center for Justice and Peacebuilding in Virginia, United States.  Mr. Doe possesses a Bachelor of Science in Economics from the University of Liberia; a Master of Arts in Conflict Transformation from Eastern Mennonite University (USA); and a Ph.D. in Social and International Affairs from Bradford University (UK).

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For further information, please contact: Kymberly Bays, Communications Officer, kymberly.bays@undp.org, +211 920 580 239

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