Adama Bocar SOKO is the Acting Director of the United Nations Development Programme (UNDP) Sub-regional Hub for West and Central Africa, a position he assumed on July 18, 2026.

Since April 2025, he has served as the Deputy Resident Representative in charge of Operations at both the UNDP Senegal Country Office and the UNDP Sub-regional Hub for West and Central Africa (UNDP WACA). He possesses over 35 years of distinguished experience spanning the United Nations (UN), the Mauritanian government, and the private sector.

From April 2023 to March 2025, Mr. Soko was seconded by the UNDP to the UN Convention to Combat Desertification (UNCCD COP16) in Riyadh, Saudi Arabia. Serving as a Senior Liaison Officer, he played a pivotal role in preparing for the Conference of the Parties held in December 2024.

Concurrently, from December 2022 to March 2023, he supported the UNDP Côte d’Ivoire Country Office as the Acting Deputy Resident Representative for Programmes and Operations.

In his home country, the Islamic Republic of Mauritania, Mr. Soko held several high-level ministerial portfolios. Between August 2019 and September 2022, he served as Minister for Basic Education and Reform of the National Education Sector, Minister and Secretary-General to the President of the Republic, Minister for Agriculture, and Minister for National Education and Reform of the Education System.

Prior to his governmental service, Mr. Soko dedicated nearly 20 years to the UNDP (from 2000 to 2019). During this tenure, he served as Deputy Resident Representative for Programmes and Operations in Benin, and Deputy Country Director for Operations in Chad and Burundi. His extensive UNDP career also includes successive roles as Operations Manager at the UNDP Treasury in New York and the UNDP Office in the Democratic Republic of the Congo (DRC). Additionally, he served as the Financial Controller for the project supporting war-wounded ex-combatants, Budget and Finance Officer at the local office, and Operations Manager for the Global Fund programme to combat HIV, malaria, and tuberculosis. He originally launched his UN career with UNDP Mauritania as the Head of the Programme Management Support Unit (PMSU) and Finance.

Before his UN tenure, Mr. Soko worked for 10 years in Mauritania's private sector. Notably, he served as the Director of Management Control at the Mauritanian Bank for International Trade (BMCI) and as a junior economist at the African Office for Studies and Control in Mauritania (AFRECOM).

He holds several prestigious academic credentials, including:

•  A Postgraduate Diploma (DESS) in Management from the University of Paris 1 Panthéon-Sorbonne.
• A Diploma from the Centre for Financial, Economic and Banking Studies (CEFEB) in Paris, France.
• A Master’s degree in Economics from the University of Nouakchott.
• A professional certificate from the Finance Leadership Academy, Corporate Executive Board (San Francisco, USA, 2009).

Mr. Soko is fluent in French, English, Arabic, and Pulaar.