Luca Renda: Resident Representative

Mr. Luca Renda is the UNDP Resident Representative in Sudan as of 25 April 2024. He comes from New York, where since 2020 he has served as Head of the Recovery Solutions and Human Mobility Team, at the UNDP Crisis Bureau.
Luca has over 25 years of experience working in a variety of development settings, in roles of increasing responsibilities since his first assignment with the United Nations as UN Volunteer in Liberia back in 1997. 

In UNDP, Luca has served as Program Manager in the Emergency Response Division (1999-2000) and Regional Bureau for Latin America and the Caribbean (2000-2004). He has been Deputy Resident Representative in Ecuador (2004-2007) and Honduras (2007-2012), and Country Director in Lebanon (2012-2017), where worked on the UN response to the Syrian crisis. 

Between 2017 and 2020, he has undertaken special assignments such as Head of the UN Crisis Management Unit in Dominica, coordinating UN and UNDP post-disaster recovery efforts; Resident Representative in Guyana; and Special Advisor for the UN transition in Haiti. 
Luca graduated in Political Science/International Relations at LUISS in 1994. He also holds a Master of Science in Development Studies from the London School of Economics. He is married with two children.

Surayo Buzurukova: Deputy Resident Representative for Programme

Surayo Buzurukova brings a wealth of experience to her new role as UNDP Deputy Resident Representative for Programme in Sudan. With over 20 years in international development, her expertise spans institutional capacity building, policy development, negotiation, democratic governance, and rule of law. Her deep understanding of development challenges has been honed through her work across Russia, the Middle East, Asia, and Africa.

Ms. Buzurukova joins the Sudan office following a successful tenure as UNDP Deputy Resident Representative in Afghanistan (2020-2024), where she played a pivotal role in developing seven sectoral programmes. Her leadership positioned UNDP as a key partner in joint initiatives focused on crucial areas like private sector growth, solar energy, healthcare, education, and agricultural value chains.

Prior to her work in Afghanistan, Ms. Buzurukova served as Team Leader for the Governance and Peacebuilding Unit for UNDP Yemen (2017-2020). In this capacity, she demonstrated her expertise by designing, developing, and overseeing the implementation of the Rule of Law and Justice programme portfolio.

Ms. Buzurukova's extensive experience includes previous positions with UNDP Sudan, UNDP Tajikistan, UNDP Timor-Leste, and the World Bank.

Surayo Buzurukova holds a Master's Degree in International Economy from the Academy of International Relationships, Moscow (Russia), and is educated as international sustainable development practitioner at the Universities of Brandeis (USA) and Lund (Sweden). She speaks Russian, English, Persian and Swedish. Twitter @sbuzurukova