Ms. Shoko Noda (Japan) is UNDP Resident Representative in India. Previously, she was the UN Resident Coordinator and UNDP Resident Representative in Maldives. Ms Noda was pivotal in taking forward the development agenda of the Maldives in a politically fluid and charged context. Effectively engaging key national political interlocutors, she has coordinated analysis, engagement and diplomatic action, in addition to strong resource mobilisation at a crucial transitional post-elections phase. She is a strong advocate for gender equality and climate action.
Before that, Ms Noda was UNDP’s Country Director in Nepal from 2011 to 2014. She was UNDP Deputy Resident Representative in Mongolia from 2006 to 2011 and Recovery Coordination Advisor to the UN Resident Coordinator in Pakistan from late 2005 to 2006. From May to October 2005 Shoko served with the UN Mission in the Democratic Republic of Congo as Chef de Cabinet to the Deputy Special Representative of the Secretary-General. She worked in the HQ as Programme Specialist to the Administrator from 2002 to 2005. She was Assistant Resident Representative in the Federal Republic of Yugoslavia (2001-2002) and joined UNDP as a JPO where she served in Kosovo (2000-2001) and Tajikistan (1998-2000). Ms Noda’s working career began in 1995 when she was Researcher in the Behavioural Sciences Department with Mitsubishi Research Institute Inc. in Tokyo.
Ms Noda holds a B.A. and an M.A. in Political Science from Keio University, Japan.
Lazima Onta-Bhatta (Nepal) brings more than 20 years of experience in international development. She has worked extensively in the areas of poverty, youth employment, gender equality, livelihoods, inclusive governance, climate change, community resilience, crises response, results-based management and monitoring. She has worked as the Deputy Resident Representative in Timor-Leste (2019-2022) and Mongolia (2022-2023) and brings lots of experience of developing programmes and projects, partnership and resource mobilization, and managing UNDP country office.
Prior to assuming the Deputy roles, Lazima worked as the Country Programme Specialist (2018-2019) and RBM Specialist (2016-2018) in the Bangkok Regional Hub and supported all UNDP Country Offices in the Asia Pacific region.
Between 2006 and 2016, Lazima worked in UNDP in Nepal and assumed three roles: Assistant Country Director heading the Strategic Planning unit, Assistant Resident Representative heading the Poverty and inclusion portfolio, and Gender and Social Inclusion Specialist supporting in mainstreaming gender in the entire programme. Prior to joining the Country Office, Lazima was the Project Manager for a UNDP project in 2005 and she worked with DANIDA’s advisory team to the Ministry of Education in Nepal from 2002-2005 for school education.
Lazima Onta-Bhatta holds a Ph. D. in Anthropology from Cornell University in Ithaca, New York, USA.
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