Locations
UNDP Ghana
Our Team
The UNDP Resident Representative in Ghana is supported by a Deputy Resident Representative.
They are supported in the senior management team by Cluster Team Leaders, Operations Manager, the Programme Management Support Unit Lead, and the Communications and Partnership Team Lead.
Our Senior Management
Resident Representative – Niloy Banerjee
Niloy is a Development Economist with expertise in effective institutions and capacity development. Before joining us in Ghana in 2024, Niloy was the Resident Representative for Malaysia, Singapore, and Brunei Darussalam from March 2019 to August 2024. Prior to that, he led the UN System Affairs Group in UNDP, based in New York. In this role, he managed UNDP’s interface with UN agencies, funds, and programmes, as well as with Member States in the realm of intergovernmental affairs. He also played a significant role in leading UNDP’s engagement in the 2016-2018 round of UN reforms. Throughout his career, Niloy has held various key positions, including Director of Knowledge, Innovation and Capacity Development Group and Team Leader and Policy Advisor for Asia-Pacific at the Bureau for Development Policy in UNDP. He has deep experience in the Asia-Pacific region, where he served as a regional policy advisor and was instrumental in establishing the Singapore Policy Center for UNDP. He holds a master’s degree in economics from Jawaharlal Nehru University in New Delhi and is a Fellow of the City University of New York.
Deputy Resident Representative – Shaima Hussein
Shaima Hussein brings over 24 years of experience in international development, leadership, and programme management across the UN Common System and other international organizations. Previously, she held senior leadership roles at UNCDF, including Deputy Director for Inclusive Digital Economies and Special Advisor to the Executive Secretary, where she led key corporate initiatives and policy reforms. From 2019 to 2022, she was Deputy Resident Representative at UNDP Eswatini. Shaima has also held technical roles focused on rule of law, justice, and security within UNDP’s Crisis Bureau, Bureau for Development Policy, and the UNDP Regional Centre in Cairo, supporting governance and human rights initiatives. Earlier to that, she led human rights programmes in Iraq with UNDP and the UN Assistance Mission to Iraq (UNAMI) and contributed to emergency response efforts with international NGOs. She started her UN career with the United Nations Relief and Work Agency for the people of Palestine (UNRWA) as a social worker in refugee camps at Jordan Field Office (2000-2004).
Head – Transformative Governance Cluster- Dr. Edward Ampratwum
Dr Edward Fokuoh Ampratwum serves as Programme Specialist and Head of the Transformative Governance Cluster at the United Nations Development Programme (UNDP) in Ghana. With more than two decades of experience in governance, peacebuilding, inclusive growth, and policy research across Ghana, West Africa, and the United Kingdom, he provides strategic policy and program advice to government institutions, the UN system, and development partners, focusing on transformative governance, Preventing Violent Extremism (PVE), social cohesion, and economic transformation. Dr Ampratwum has overseen the conception and execution of complex governance and peace initiatives, including regional programs addressing spillover risks from the Sahel to coastal West Africa. He has successfully mobilized resources for peacebuilding, social cohesion, and inclusive growth, and formerly led the Inclusive Growth and Accountable Governance portfolio. Before joining UNDP, Dr Ampratwum was a researcher at the Effective States and Inclusive Development (ESID) Research Centre and the Global Development Institute (GDI) at the University of Manchester. Previously, he served as Senior Researcher at the Ghana Center for Democratic Development (CDD-Ghana), contributing to significant governance and data projects such as Afrobarometer, the African Governance Report, the African Peer Review Mechanism (APRM), and the Mo Ibrahim Index on African Governance. Dr Ampratwum has published in peer-reviewed journals, edited volumes, and led policy reports. He holds a PhD from the University of Manchester (UK) and an MPhil from the University of Cambridge (UK).
Head – Environment and Climate Cluster - Dr. Abdul-Razak Saeed
Dr. Abdul‑Razak Saeed serves as Programme Specialist and Head of the Environment and Climate Cluster at the United Nations Development Programme (UNDP) in Ghana, where he provides strategic oversight for climate action, green economy, and circular and blue economy initiatives. He is a senior development and climate professional with over eighteen years of experience spanning climate and natural resource policy, resilience and adaptation, sustainable land use, and green development across Africa and internationally. Prior to joining UNDP in 2022, Dr. Saeed served as Global Climate Lead at Rainforest Alliance, where he provided strategic leadership on climate‑smart agriculture, landscape‑level risk and resilience planning, corporate emissions management, and sustainability standards across cocoa, coffee, and tea supply chains in Africa, Asia, and Latin America. Earlier in his career, he worked as a Climate Resilience Specialist on an ICF‑led, USAID‑funded energy programme, providing technical support on climate risk, adaptation, and resilience planning. He has also served as a Technical Advisory Panel Member under the World Bank’s Forest Carbon Partnership Facility, and with the Ghanaian civil society organization Civic Response, where he led research‑based policy advocacy on climate action. Dr. Saeed brings extensive expertise in climate finance, UNFCCC processes, resource mobilization, partnership development, and multi‑stakeholder engagement, alongside technical strengths in climate risk and vulnerability assessment, REDD+, climate‑smart agriculture, energy and energy efficiency, socially just forestry, and research‑based policy engagement. He holds a PhD from the University of Reading (UK), an MSc in Environmental Change and Management from the University of Oxford (UK), and a BSc in Land Economy from KNUST(Ghana), and has published widely including in peer‑reviewed journals and policy platforms.
Head - Innovative Finance and Inclusive Growth - Dr. Allen Anie
Dr. Allen Joseph Anie is Head of the Innovative Finance and Inclusive Growth Cluster at UNDP Ghana. He specialises in public policy, and his current interests lie in optimum approaches to leveraging strategic innovation and partnerships to achieve development outcomes. He focuses on creating conditions under which innovative development finance can drive sustained and inclusive economic growth, widen economic participation and create decent and fulfilling work. His academic background includes a BEng. in Electrical Engineering from the University of Warwick (UK), MSc. in Operations Research from the University of Warwick (UK) and a PhD in Economics & Management from the University of Kent (UK), which focused on the UK public-sector’s deployment of quasi-market arrangements to drive improvements in the delivery of public services. He has published in peer-reviewed journals and led on policy reports. Dr. Anie’s previous roles in UNDP include Chief Technical Advisor (Ghana) for Young Africa Innovates (YAI) programme, funded by Mastercard Foundation, and Head of Experimentation (Accelerator Lab). Before joining UNDP, he worked in different policy roles across the United Kingdom’s Civil Service including: Assistant Director at the Department for Business and Trade and UK representative on OECD Working Party for Responsible Business Conduct; Assistant Director at the Home Office, covering UK immigration policy relating to visas, deportation and asylum-seekers; Senior Policy Advisor at the Foreign Commonwealth and Development Office, supporting strategic oversight of risks to UK information-assets worldwide and handling of data-security incidents; and Senior Research Officer at the Advisory Conciliation and Arbitration Service (ACAS), specialising in evaluation of employment relations policies.
Head – Programme Management Support Unit - Jennifer Asuako
Jennifer Asuako is the Head of Programme Management Support Unit at UNDP Ghana. She brings over 25 years of professional experience working with the United Nations system, government institutions, civil society organizations, and communities to advance gender equality, women’s empowerment, human rights and sustainable development. Her core areas of expertise include Results-Based Management, programme monitoring and evaluation, and the design and implementation of gender-responsive and human rights–based programming. Over the course of her career, Jennifer has held a range of technical and leadership roles, including as a Human Trafficking Officer with the International Organization for Migration (IOM), Graduate Lecturer at the University of Ghana, Lecturer at the school of Social Work, Osu; Social Development Officer with the Department of Social Welfare, and Teacher with the Ghana Education Service. Jennifer actively contributes to inter-agency coordination and policy dialogue in Ghana. She is a member of several UN inter-agency working groups, including the UN Gender Team, which she chaired from 2013–2015 and again in 2017; the UN Human Rights Working Group; the UN Programme Management Team; the UN Monitoring, Evaluation and Data Group; and the Common Country Analysis Task Team. She also currently co-chairs the UN Disability Sub-Working Group and is a member of the Development Partners’ Gender Equality Sector Team (GEST), the UN Network for the Prevention of Sexual Exploitation and Abuse (PSEA) and the UNOWAS working group on Women, Peace and Security in West Africa and the Sahel. She holds a bachelor's degree in economics and Sociology from the University of Cape Coast, Ghana, and a Master of Philosophy in Social Work from the University of Ghana.
Operations Manager - Kate Odzawo
Kate Odzawo is a seasoned leader with over 28 years of experience driving operational excellence and financial sustainability across international development and corporate finance. Having held key roles with UNDP and USAID, she specializes in managing complex institutional systems, high-value budgets, and diverse cross-functional teams. Kate is recognized for her ability to blend rigorous financial oversight with innovative sustainability initiatives, such as green procurement and resilient office design.
Communications Analyst - Emelia Ainooson
Emelia Ainooson has over 11 years of experience in strategic communications across international development and the private sector. Before joining UNDP, she was the Media Development and Private Sector Engagement Specialist for USAID’s Accelerating Social and Behaviour Change project. She also led regional communications for the EU-funded Enough! project across Ghana, Mali, and Liberia, and held key roles at GIZ and Impact Investing Ghana. A dedicated Design Thinking practitioner, Emelia served as an adjunct lecturer and trainer in Design Thinking and Entrepreneurship at Ashesi University, Kosmos Innovation Centre and the Ghana Climate Innovation Centre. She is a Chartered Marketer (CIM UK) and holds an MBA in Marketing Management and a degree in Journalism and Media.
Government
Theresa Onayemi, Ministry of Finance