Our team in Kuwait

Dr Ameera Alhassan is the Head of UN-Habitat GCC Office since 2019. She joined UN-Habitat in 2010 and served for five years as Assistant Head of Office since (2014-2019).
She holds a Masters degree from University of Kent at Canterbury (UK) and PhD in environmental architecture education from the University of Newcastle upon Tyne (UK) 2010.
Ameera is member of the UN Sand and Dust Storms Coalition, UNCT in the GCC countries and she currently works with UN-Habitat GCC and ROAS on preparing and implementing plans that translate the New Urban Agenda and Agenda 2030 into projects aligned with GCC and Arab regions countries strategies.

Dr Anna Paolini is the UNESCO Representative in the Arab States of the Gulf and Yemen and the Director of the UNESCO Doha Office since September 2013.
She joined UNESCO in 1992 as a specialist in the field of culture at the Regional Office in Amman. From 1997, she covered several positions within the Culture Sector in HQ in Paris, including as responsible of the Museums section, in charge of cultural heritage in the Arab Region, as well as of the response to the second Iraq war. In 2007, she became UNESCO Representative and Head of Office in Uzbekistan, followed by Jordan.
She holds a master degree in architecture and a master degree in urban and regional planning for developing countries, a post-graduate degree in cooperation for development, as well as a PhD in urban and territorial engineering.

Dr Assad Hafeez was appointed WR in State of Kuwait in March 2021. Prior to this he served as Director-General of Health in the Federal Ministry of Health, Pakistan in addition to several senior policy and leadership positions in the government. He has been Professor & Vice Chancellor of National Public Health University and held a Professorship in Global Health Department at University of Manitoba Canada.

Dr Hafeez remained Chair, Vice Chair and member of Executive Board of WHO for a number of years. He was Commissioner in WHO EM Region SDH Commission and member of Global Gavi Board in Geneva since 2019. He was also member of many EMRO regional committees in addition to performing several other international assignments. He has been working in various capacities with UNICEF, UNFPA, ADB and USAID.

Dr Hafeez is a physician and a public health practitioner with extensive clinical, academic, management and policy level experience in various capacities, spanning over last 30 years. He has been trained in medicine and public health in Pakistan, UK and US with a Masters degree in Epidemiology and a PhD from UK. Dr Hafeez has specific expertise in public health, policy & planning, academics, epidemiology and health diplomacy. In recognition of his services at national and regional level he was awarded AT Shousha Award of excellence in Public health by World Health Organisation in 2018.

Dr Dino Francescutti Motis is the FAO Sub-regional Coordinator for the GCC States and Yemen and also the FAO Representative in the UAE since 2019.
Mr Francescutti joined the FAO in 1991 as Food Security Officer. From 1995 to 2019, he worked as an Economist and Senior Economist at the FAO Investment Centre in Rome (Italy) and Santiago (Chile). He was often Officer-in-Charge for the Investment Centre Service, covering Latin America and the Caribbean, Europe, North Africa and the Middle East. Currently,
Mr Francescutti is Mexican and Italian. He holds a PhD in Economics and an M.Sc. in Agricultural Economics from the USA and a B.Sc. in Animal Husbandry from Mexico.

As UNICEF Regional Representative for the Gulf States since April 2018, Mr Adam is responsible for managing and supervising UNICEF’s work, providing leadership and vision to the UNICEF country programme teams in planning and implementing local programmes and in managing and leveraging resources for the achievement of results and fulfilment of the rights of children. He was previously UNICEF Chief Field Office for several operations in Mogadishu and Garowe, Somalia; in Qamishly, Syria; and in Sanaa, Yemen (2012-2018). Before joining UNICEF, Mr Adam has worked with UNDP in Abu Dhabi and Khartoum, and with Oxfam in Djakarta and Sana'a.

Mr Alkhoja, a US National, has been working with the World Bank since 1993. He has worked extensively on social protection and jobs programs in Jordan, Lebanon, United Arab Emirates, Saudi Arabia, Kuwait, Bahrain and Oman, as well as Education, Higher Education, and health programs in several countries, including Jordan, Lebanon, Syria, Kuwait, Egypt, and Iraq.
Mr Alkhoja holds an MSc in Information Management (with minor in Economics) from the George Washington University in Washington, DC.

Judge Hatem Aly, a former Senior Judge and Chief Prosecutor in Egypt, has over 20 years of experience in the areas of criminal justice and crime prevention. He previously served as a Senior Crime Prevention Expert at UNODC Headquarters in Vienna. He was also a Representative for the Siracusa International Institute for Criminal Justice and Human Rights (SII) for the Middle East region and for Afghanistan. He holds a degree in International Criminal Law (ICL) from the Siracusa International Institute for Criminal Justice and Human Rights in Italy as well as an ICL Diploma in International Cooperation in Penal Matters from the International Human Rights Law Institute in Chicago, USA

Ms Hideko is the Resident Representative in the State of Kuwait since March 2019. Working with UNDP since 2006, she served as Deputy Country Director (Programme) in Khartoum, Sudan, Management Advisor in New York, Deputy Resident Representative in Thimphu, Bhutan, UNDG Policy Network Manager for MDGs in New York, Programme Specialist in Iraq, and Programme Officer Sarajevo in Bosnia and Herzegovina.
She holds a Master degree in public administration from Harvard University Kennedy School of Government, and Executive Education from Stanford Graduate School of Business on Leading Change and Organizational Renewal.

Dr. Elziq (UK) has 30 years of experience in the field of health development, policy, planning and management. Prior to his current role, he worked as UNICEF regional representative in the Gulf countries, UNICEF Chief of Immunization in Denmark, Chief Health and Nutrition at UNICEF Pakistan, Senior Health Advisor to the European Union, Deputy Director at Harvard Institute for International Development, Harvard university and Senior Health Advisor to DFID. In addition to overseas experience, he worked as a clinician and a medical manager in several London teaching hospitals.

A German national, Mr Kulessa has worked with UNFPA since 1992. Since 2004 he has been UNFPA Country Representative in various countries in Eastern Europe and Central Asia (EECA).
As a Representative to Turkey, aside from the regular country program, his office managed a major humanitarian portfolio covering support to Syrian refugees inside Turkey and cross-border operations. Mr Kulessa has also covered Georgia and Azerbaijan as Country Director.
Mr Kulessa holds a Master of Arts in History (specializing in American foreign policy).

A national of Lebanon, Ms El Helou is the Director of UNIC in Beirut since August 2018, covering Lebanon, Jordan, Syria and Kuwait, and the Representative of the UN Department of Global Communications (DGC) in Lebanon. She has more than 20 years of experience in public information, communications and international relations, acquired at the United Nations and externally, including 10 years at UNIC Beirut.
From 2000 to 2007, she provided support to strategic communications projects and senior communications officials in the Office of the Executive Secretary of ESCWA.
Ms El Helou holds a bachelor’s degree in agriculture engineering from the American University of Beirut.

Mr Mazen AboulHosn, a Lebanese national, has been appointed Chief of Mission for IOM Kuwait as of September 2020. He has been working with IOM for more than 13 years, including in Lebanon, Haiti, Chad, Congo, Turkey to where he moved in 2011 to respond to the Van earthquake, but then was assigned to work on the Syria Crisis.
Mazen obtained a BA in Psychology and Master’s degree in Psychosocial Support in war torn societies from the Lebanese University. He is also a holder of BA on Tourism and Travel Management and a Master’s degree in Cultural Management from the University of Perpignan in France.

Mr Akram has over 20 years of experience in the UN system, governmental and non-governmental sectors in humanitarian and development affairs. Before joining UNOPS in 2015 as the Regional Advisor on the United Nations Development Assistance Frameworks for Asia, the Middle East and Europe, Mr Akram worked in the United Nations Development Operations Coordination Office in New York. Before that, he was the acting Head of the Resident Coordinator Office for Iraq while officiating the function of the Monitoring and Evaluation Advisor for Iraq. Before that, he worked as Regional Monitoring and Evaluation Advisor for United Nations Development Programme serving the Arab States Region and the Europe and Commonwealth of Independent States.

Nour Alqattan is the Humanitarian Affairs Officer in the Office for the Coordination of Humanitarian Affairs (OCHA). She has previous project management and strategic planning experience working in UNDP Kuwait and Kuwait University. She holds a BA in English Language and Literature and an MA in Library and Information Science from Kuwait University.

With over 20 years of experience in human rights, Ms El Hage has extensive knowledge of international law and political affairs with the United Nations, in particular in conflict context in MENA, Asia and Africa regions.
Prior to this appointment, Ms El Hage notably served as Coordinator of the Secretariat of the Group of Eminent Experts on Yemen; Deputy Director of the Human Rights Component (UNAMI) in Iraq and Chief of the UNAMI Human Rights Regional Office in Northern Iraq, Acting Chief of MENA Section at OHCHR in Geneva.

Dr Ruba Jaradat was appointed in this role in November 2015. Previously, she had managed a USAID economic growth portfolio exceeding US$ 300 million, leading a team of more than 250 multinational staff. Prior to joining the ILO, Dr Jaradat established the Jordan Strategy Forum, the most influential private sector-funded think tank in Jordan.
Dr Jaradat holds a PhD in Management and International Development from the UK.

Dr Samer Haddadin was appointed as the Head of the UNHCR Office in the State of Kuwait in January 2019. He served with UNHCR for over 25 years in several capacities including in Jordan, Saudi Arabia, Pakistan, Yemen, Egypt, Libya and Hungary.
Dr Haddadin holds a bachelor’s degree in Law from Jordan University. He attained his master’s in law from Sagesse University, Lebanon, and his PhD in law from Cairo University.
 

Ms Susanne Mikhail brings over 20 years of experience in development and humanitarian work in the Middle East, Asia and Africa, including with the UN. She notably served as the Director, Humanitarian Affairs, Department of Middle East, Asia and Humanitarian Affairs at SIDA; Head of Office and Resident Programme Coordinator with UNICEF in South Sudan; Regional Advisor for MENA at ‘End Child Prostitution and Trafficking International’ (ECPAT).
A national of Sweden and Egypt, Susanne holds a master of arts degree in political science from the Uppsala University of Sweden.