Stephen Rodriques, Resident Representative, UNDP Bangladesh

Mr. Stephen Rodriques has joined UNDP Bangladesh as the Resident Representative.

Prior to this role, Mr. Rodriques served as Resident Representative for UNDP Afghanistan. He also held the position of Resident Representative in UNDP Liberia and UNDP Rwanda, where he additionally served as Country Director for several years. Earlier in his career, he was Deputy Country Director for UNDP Indonesia.

From 2005 to 2010, Mr. Rodriques worked as an Advisor in the Executive Office at UNDP Headquarters in New York. He also served as Head of the Governance and Poverty Unit at UNDP Jamaica and was a part-time Lecturer in Political Science at the University of the West Indies.

Before joining UNDP, Mr. Rodriques held various positions in the Government of Jamaica, including Director of Social Policy in the Ministry of Local Government and Community Development, Head of Planning and Development at the Jamaica Social Investment Fund, and Assistant to the Director General at the Planning Institute of Jamaica.

Mr. Rodriques holds a Master of Business Administration from IESE Business School, Barcelona, Spain, and a Master of Philosophy in Government, as well as a Bachelor’s degree in International Relations (First Class Honours), from the University of the West Indies, Jamaica.

He is married and has two daughters. He speaks fluent English and Spanish.

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Sonali Dayaratne, Deputy Resident Representative, UNDP Bangladesh

Sonali Dayaratne joined UNDP Bangladesh as the Deputy Resident Representative in August 2023. She is a seasoned development and governance practitioner, with nearly 20 years of experience in public law and policy, human rights and governance, as well as cross-cutting issues such as inclusive growth, and youth empowerment. Sonali is a Fulbright Scholar, and holds a Master's Degree in Law from the Harvard Law School.

As the former Deputy Resident Representative at UNDP Cambodia, Sonali led teams to provide integrated solutions for inclusive growth, climate action, gender equality, and good governance. She also jointly led or contributed to systems design, portfolio development, adaptive programming, as well as monitoring, evaluation and learning processes for UNDP Cambodia’s Country Programme.

Before UNDP Cambodia, Sonali was a Policy and Design Specialist at UNDP Sri Lanka, where she led UNDP’s support to constitutional and parliamentary reforms; strengthening of the independence of commissions; the enactment and implementation of the right to information law; and SDG localization.

Sonali practiced law for a brief period in Sri Lanka, as well as worked with non-government organizations on public law reforms.

FOLLOW HER ON X @SonaliDayaratne