Our Team in Islamic Republic of Iran

Ahsan Habib Sheikh, brings over 35 years of experience in the field of security risk management. He joined UNDSS in 2006 in Khartoum, Sudan and thereafter has worked in Philippines, Somalia, Indonesia, and most recently in Pakistan. Ahsan received the highest gallantry award "UNDSS Bravery", for extraordinary demonstration of bravery in saving lives of staff during a suicide attack endangering own. Prior to joining UNDSS, Ahsan has worked with Unilever and Head of HR and Administration in business company.
Ahsan is a national of Bangladesh and army veteran. He holds a Master’s degree in Defense Studies from National University, Bangladesh and a graduate of the Defense Services Command and Staff College. During his stint in the army, he did a tour of duty as the Operations Officer in UN Assistance Mission in Sierra Leone (UNAMSIL). Ahsan has keen interest in training and conducted several trainings on different subjects and authored a few journal articles.

Alexander Fedulov has worked in the drug control field for more than 26 years, including senior managerial positions with UNODC in Kyrgyzstan, Iran and in the Federal Drug Control Services of the Russian Federation. He was FDCS Representative in the Republic of Austria with a diplomatic post as the Counsellor of the Embassy Russian Federation in Austria. He was a Chief of Unit, Department of International Cooperation FDSC of the Russian Federation and Chief of Forensic section at the police service of the Forensic Department of Moscow Main Directorate of Interior, Ministry of Interior. During his law enforcement service at the Ministry of Interior (MoI) of the Russian Federation, he served as member of the UN peace keeping contingent of the Russian MoI in Bosnia and Herzegovina in UNMIBH (UN Mission in Bosnia and Herzegovina) in 2000-2003. Among different positions within the UN peacekeeping mission to BiH, the latest was the IPTF Chief of Logistics of the UN Field Mission at HQ of UN mission to BiH in Saraevo. He holds a PhD in Political Science.

Ayshanie Medagangoda-Labé, from Sri Lanka, assumed the role of Resident Representative ad interim for UNDP in the Islamic Republic of Iran in October 2024. She is a seasoned development professional with over 25 years of leadership and management experience across various country contexts, including Low-, middle- and high-income counties.

Her expertise spans policy advisory, program management, and research, with a focus on public and private sector collaboration. Within the UN/UNDP She served as Resident Representative (and stepping in as acting UN Resident Coordinator) in Nepal; Country Director ai/Deputy Country Director in Nepal (2018- 2019), Deputy Resident Representative in Morocco (2012-2018) and Algeria (2008-2012). Prior to that, she held policy advisory, portfolio management and coordination positions in Agriculture, Climate, Food Security, Rural Development, Development effectiveness/ UN (Bangladesh) and, crisis and Tsunami Emergency Coordination, (Sri Lanka) as well as research and teaching in Vietnam and Belgium.

Ayshanie holds a Msc in Agro-Economics, Sociology and Rural Development from the Faculty of Agriculture, Gembloux/(Liege), Belgium. Completed Executive Education programmes (IMD Lausanne, Switzerland/INSEAD Paris-France). Speaks Sinhalese, English French and is a debutant in Arabic and Spanish.

Having over 23 years of diplomatic and professional UN experience, Bojidar Vassilev Dimitrov (Bulgaria) assumed duties as the Head of UNAMA Liaison Office in Tehran in April, 2025.
Mr. Dimitrov previously served as the Head of UNAMA Field Offices in Kunduz and Baghlan Provinces in Afghanistan. He was Peace and Reconciliation Desk Officer and Political Affairs Officer in Kandahar, Afghanistan and was with UN DPKO for three years as well.
Before joining the UN, Mr. Dimitrov served as Head of office with Organization for Security and Co-operation in Europe (OSCE) in Tajikistan, Georgia, and Kyrgyzstan and was Senior Liaison Officer and Head of Protocol Department at Bulgarian Defence Ministry. He was seconded by Bulgarian Government to Ethiopia, Eritrea, and Tajikistan.
He holds two Master's degrees in Electronic and Computer Science as well as Administration and Management. His mother tongue is Bulgarian. He is fluent in English and Russian, and has working knowledge of German, Serbian, and Tajik languages.

Dorina Andreev-Jitaru is the UNICEF Representative to the Islamic Republic of Iran. She brings over 20 years of experience in international development and humanitarian programming, with a strong background in leadership, strategic planning, and partnerships across diverse global contexts.
Prior to her current role, Ms. Andreev-Jitaru served in the UNICEF Regional Office for South Asia, where she oversaw program support to eight countries, including Afghanistan, Bangladesh, Bhutan, India, Maldives, Nepal, Pakistan, and Sri Lanka.
Ms. Andreev-Jitaru has held multiple leadership roles within UNICEF and other UN agencies, including Chief of Program in Niger, Advisor for Afghanistan, and Senior Program Advisor supporting initiatives across Africa, Eastern Europe, Central Asia and the Middle East. She has managed large multidisciplinary teams, led multi-country programs, and played a pivotal role in strategic partnerships with governments, donors, the private sector, and civil society—including faith-based and youth organizations.
With extensive experience in resource mobilization, her technical expertise spans health, immunization, nutrition, education, social protection, and civil registration systems. She has developed global guidelines, authored manuals, strategies and researches used currently across many countries.
A Romanian and Moldovan national, Ms. Andreev-Jitaru holds degrees in finance and strategic communications and is pursuing doctoral studies in social psychology. She speaks fluent English, Romanian, Russian, and French.

Dr Awad Mataria is the Director of “Universal Health Coverage/Health Systems” at the WHO Regional Office for the Eastern Mediterranean and Acting WHO Representative for the Islamic Republic of Iran. Dr Mataria has more than twenty years of experience in health systems, health economics and health financing. For the last fifteen years, he supported countries of the Eastern Mediterranean Region to reform their health systems with focus on health financing reforms to move towards Universal Health Coverage based on the Primary Health Care Approach. With COVID-19, Dr Mataria got interested in clarifying the conceptual linkages between Universal Health Coverage and Health Security through the lens of Essential Public Health Functions. Since his early life, Dr Mataria developed special interest in working in fragile and conflict-affected settings. Dr Mataria has a Ph.D. in Health Economics and a Masters in Health Systems Analysis, following his undergraduate degree in Pharmacy. His areas of expertise are: Universal Health Coverage; health systems financing and organization; Social Health Insurance; using economics in health care priority setting; measuring the benefits of health care mainly using stated preferences techniques; economic evaluation of health care interventions; and National Health Accounts. Dr Mataria has close to a hundred publications in high impact journals, including, Journal of Health Economics, Health Economics and The Lancet; and is co-editor of a landmark Book on: “Making Health Systems Work in Low- and Middle-Income Countries”. He also presented at several international and regional conferences. Dr Mataria is fluent in three languages: English, French and Arabic (mother-tongue).

Mr. Farrukh Toirov, national of Tajikistan, brings over 20 years of experience in international development and agricultural programming to his role as FAO Representative to the Islamic Republic of Iran. With dual master’s degrees in economics and social sciences from Tajik State University of Commerce and Mahidol University of Thailand, he has successfully led multidisciplinary teams and managed portfolios across diverse regions including Tajikistan, Kyrgyzstan, the Russian Federation (Chechnya), Somalia, Ukraine, and Pakistan.
His extensive career includes roles such as Deputy FAO Representative in Pakistan and Senior Programme Officer heading FAO provincial office in Peshawar, where he oversaw more than 40 active projects with substantial budget. Prior to FAO, Mr. Toirov worked with CARE International, UNDP, the World Bank, and the private banking sector.
This wealth of experience, combined with his fluency in English, Russian, Persian, and Tajik languages equip him with a deep understanding of the complexities of agricultural value chains, donor engagement, and effective programme implementation.
His leadership in implementing innovative initiatives—ranging from climate-smart agriculture and integrated natural resource management to enhancing market connectivity for high-value crops—has played a vital role in strengthening agricultural sectors and food systems across the regions he has served.
As he embarks on this new chapter in Iran, Mr. Toirov is committed to leverage his vast experience and diplomatic skills to enhance FAO’s engagement with national stakeholders, drive impactful communication strategies, and support Iran’s agricultural development priorities.

Ieng Srong is the UNESCO Representative to Islamic Republic of Iran since December 2023. Prior to joining this position, he exercised from 2019 to 2023 the functions of Chief of the Human Resources Strategic Support Section in the Bureau of Human Resources Management, leading the development and update of human resources strategies, policies and procedures and providing strategic and operational leadership of the Human Resources Strategy and UNESCO strategic transformation initiatives falling under the Section's purview.
Meanwhile, from May to September 2021, Ieng Srong was entrusted with a short-term assignment in UNESCO Antenna in Myanmar with the functions UNESCO Representative and Education Senior Programme Specialist.
From 2016 to 2019, Ieng Srong exercised the functions of Secretary of the 1970 Convention on the fight against the illicit trafficking of trafficking of cultural property and of the Intergovernmental Committee for the return and restitution of cultural property, while assuming the responsibilities of Chief of Movable Heritage and Museums Section in the Sector of Culture of UNESCO.
Prior 2016, Ieng Srong occupied divers functions and responsibilities in the Education and Culture Sectors and well as in UNESCO’s central services.
Ieng Srong holds a master’s degree in international law and a post graduate degree in International Administration from the Sorbonne University, Paris (France).

Mr. Keita Ohashi was appointed as the UNFPA Representative in the Islamic Republic of Iran and officially assumed his duties as of June 2025.
Mr. Ohashi brings over 25 years of leadership and technical experience in international development, with a strong track record in programme management, humanitarian coordination, strategic partnerships, and inter-agency collaboration. Throughout his career with UNFPA, he has led efforts to advance maternal health, adolescent reproductive health, and population data systems, particularly in complex and fragile contexts.
Prior to his appointment in Iran, Mr. Ohashi served as the UNFPA Representative in Eritrea and Gabon, and as Deputy Representative in the Democratic Republic of the Congo and Chad. He also held technical and advisory roles at UNFPA Headquarters in New York and the Africa Division, and worked with the Japan International Cooperation Agency (JICA) as Programme Director for health and water sector projects in the Democratic Republic of the Congo.
Mr. Ohashi holds a Master of Arts in International Development Studies from Ohio University and a Master of Arts in Economics from the University of East Anglia. He is currently pursuing a Ph.D. in Demography at the University of Montreal, with a focus on fertility transitions in sub-Saharan Africa. He earned his Bachelor's degree in Geography from Rikkyo University in Japan.
Fluent in English, French, and Japanese, Mr. Ohashi is committed to advancing UNFPA’s mandate in partnership with the Government of Iran, the United Nations Country Team, civil society, and international development partners.

Letizia Rossano was appointed as the Director of the Asia and Pacific Centre for the Development of Disaster Information Management, APDIM, in ESCAP in March 2019. Ms Rossano is a permanent staff member of the United Nations Secretariat with over 24 years of service. Between April 2014 and February 2019 she was the Chief of Resource Mobilization in UN Office for Disaster Risk Reduction, UNDRR. In 2014 and 2012, she was assigned as the only humanitarian advisor to the Syria mediation efforts of the Joint Special Representative for Syria, Mr. Lakhdar Brahimi, and the Joint Special Envoy for Syria, Mr. Kofi Annan. In 2013 Letizia headed the System-wide resource mobilization unit in the Office for the Coordination of Humanitarian Affairs (OCHA) in Geneva. Between 2010-2011 she held the position of Senior Coordinator for the Mid-Term Review of the Hyogo Framework for Action with UNDRR, then UNISDR, in Geneva.
At the UN Headquarters in New York, in 2005-2009 she headed the IASC/ECHA Secretariat in OCHA and served from 2002 to 2005 with the Department of Peacekeeping Operations (DPKO) as the Special Assistant to the Director of the United Nations Mine Action Service, dealing with issues related to antipersonnel landmines and cluster munitions.
Between 1999 and 2001, Letizia served with OCHA Afghanistan, based in Islamabad, Pakistan as Emergency Coordination Officer. She started her career at the United Nations in 1994 as an Associate Expert/JPO with the then UN Drug Control Programme where, for two years, she worked in the Regional Office for South Asia, based in New Delhi, India. Letizia’s professional experience prior to joining the UN was in external relations and communications.
Letizia holds a Masters degree in Humanitarian Action and Conflict Resolution from the Fletcher School of Law and Diplomacy, Tufts University, (1999); received a full Language Fellowship from Mount Holyoke College, in the United States where she lectured Italian and obtained a Certificate in Leadership and Complex Organizations (1991); and holds a degree in Political Science from the University of Bari, Italy (1989). Letizia is fluent in English; Italian (her mother tongue) and French and speaks conversational Urdu/Hindi.

Marlene Nilsson is the Deputy Regional Director at the United Nations Environment Programme (UNEP) Regional Office for Asia and the Pacific, a role she has embraced since April 2023.

With over 20 years of experience supporting United Nations leadership, Marlene has a deep commitment to advancing environmental sustainability and international cooperation. Prior to her current role, she served as Senior Programme Management Officer and Special Assistant in the Office of the UNEP Executive Director, where she played a key role in strategic programme management and policy coordination. Throughout her tenure at UNEP, spanning more than a decade, Marlene gained invaluable experience across multiple divisions, including the Executive Office, Ecosystems Division, and Policy and Programme Division.

Before joining UNEP, Marlene spent over 13 years with United Nations Peacekeeping, where she worked on crisis management, peace negotiations, and political affairs in challenging field settings, including Eritrea, Ethiopia, and Sudan, as well as at United Nations Headquarters in New York.

Marlene holds a Master’s degree in Political Science and is committed to leveraging her diverse experience to contribute to the achievement of global environmental goals.

EDUCATION:

• 1994-1998 Master’s degree in Statistics, Baghdad University, Baghdad, Iraq
• 1991-1995 Bachelor’s degree in Statistics, Baghdad University, Baghdad, Iraq

SUMMARY OF EXPERIENCE:

March 2022 – December 2023: Country Director/Representative, WFP, Libya
January 2022 – March 2022: Acting as Deputy Country Director, WFP, Iraq
August 2019 – December 2021: Head of Yemen Office in Jordan, WFP, Yemen
October 2017 – July 2019: Senior Government & Interagency Relations Officer and head of Area Office, WFP, Sudan
October 2014 – September 2017: Senior Government Liaison Officer & Head of Area Office, WFP, Sudan
December 2012 – September 2014, Deputy Country Director and Senior Programme Coordinator, IOM, Sudan
April 2010 – November 2012, Darfur Coordinator, IOM, Sudan
April 2007 – March 2010, IDP Tracking and Monitoring Coordinator, IOM, Sudan
February 2005 – March 2007, Monitoring & Evaluation Officer, WFP, Sudan
June 2004 – January 2005, Project Officer-Registration specialist, IOM, Sudan
March 2003 – May 2004, Data Analyst, IOM, Iraq
January 2001 – February 2003, Data Analyst Assistant, UN-HABITAT, Iraq
September 1998 – December 2000, Lecturer at Al-Rafidain University, Iraq

Ms Niki Tavakoli is the Head of UNOCHA Humanitarian Advisory Team in the Islamic Republic of Iran since mid-April 2024. In the realm of international development and humanitarian affairs, she stands as a seasoned professional with a long career within the United Nations System. Her expertise spans across various programme on sustainable development, Disaster Risk Reduction, development- humanitarian nexus, and cross-cutting issues. Ms Tavakoli holds a master’s degree from the London School of Economics and Political Science (LSE).

Mr. Ricardo Rodriguez (Spain) was appointed as Head of UNAMI Liaison Office in Tehran on January 27th, 2024. Mr Rodriguez has served for more than 25 years in different UN missions in complex political and security environments. His work has included positions as Civil and Political Affairs Officer in the UN missions in Tajikistan, Kosovo, Sudan, Darfur and Afghanistan. His latest assignments were as Head of Regional Offices in Afghanistan (UNAMA-Southeast Region from 2013 to 2016) and in Iraq (UNAMI-Kurdistan Region from 2016 to 2024). Mr Rodriguez holds a Master’s Degree in Oriental Studies from Baku University and completed several postgraduate studies. including international law, international relations and Business Management in Spain. He is fluent in English, Russian, Persian, Serbo-Croatian, and his native Spanish languages.

Mr. Salvador Gutierrez is the Chief of Mission of the International Organization for Migration (IOM) in the Islamic Republic of Iran since 2025.
He commenced working with the United Nations in 2009. Before his tenure in Iran, Mr. Gutierrez was Head of Programmes with IOM in Colombia. Previously, he served as Deputy Chief of Mission and Regional Programme Coordinator for El Salvador, Guatemala and Honduras, as IOM's Regional Liaison and Policy Officer for Central and North America and the Caribbean, and, as Ad Interim Coordinator of the Regional Conference on Migration.
Mr. Gutierrez possesses a Degree in Law, a Master’s Degree in International Cooperation and Development, and a PhD in Government and Public Management. He is fluent in English, Spanish, French, and Italian.

Dr. Yumiko Ishikawa-Takashima has joined UNHCR Iran as Representative in August 2023. She has more than 24 years of experience working with UNHCR, having served in a range of functions, including in relevant senior leadership and management roles in Sudan, Thailand, Myanmar, Kenya, Uganda, Syria, Tokyo, and Geneva Headquarters, with her most recent post as Deputy Representative in Kabul, Afghanistan. Dr. Yumiko Ishikawa-Takashima is a national of Japan and holds a Doctorate in International Relations/Political Science from Gakushuin University of Japan with a focus on reintegration and durable solutions for the Afghan refugee situation.