Resident Representative

Louise Chamberlain

Ms. Louise Chamberlain, a native of Sweden, joined UNDP in 1999. She has joined UNDP in the Kyrgyz Republic in May 2019.

From December 2018 to May 2019 Ms. Chamberlain worked as Resident Representative a.i. in Ethiopia coordinating UNDP Ethiopia. Between 2012 and 2018 Ms. Chamberlain worked as Country Director in UNDP Viet Nam Ha Noi(Aug 2012-Jul 2017) and UNDP Ethiopia Addis Ababa(July 2017-Nov 2018). From July 2008 to July 2012 Ms. Chamberlain worked as Deputy Country Director (Programme) in Tanzania coordinating UNDP Tanzania Dar es Salaam.

Between 2003 and 2008 Ms. Chamberlain worked as Assistant Resident Representative (Programme) in UNDP Sri Lanka Colombo(Aug 2003-Aug 2005) and UNDP Somalia Nairobi(Mar 2006-Jul 2008). From September 2000 to July 2003 Ms. Chamberlain worked as M&E Specialist,  in the World Bank, in Global ICT Department Information for Development Programme, in Washington D.C. From June 1999 to June 2000 Ms. Chamberlain worked as Project Evaluator and Monitoring Assistant (UNV Specialist) in Palestine.

Ms. Chamberlain started her career in 1994 as Investment Advisor and she has worked in Newsec AB (JSC) till 1999 in Stockholm. Ms. Chamberlain holds Master of Science M.Sc. equiv. (Business and Economics) from the Stockholm School of Economics (SSE) of Sweden.

Deputy Resident Representative Monica Rijal

UNDP Kyrgyzstan’s Deputy Resident Representative Ms. Monica Rijal brings 20 years of conflict prevention, peacebuilding and recovery experience, working across the humanitarian, development and peace nexus in NGOs, Government, human rights institutions, and the UN. 

Ms. Rijal joined UNDP in 2009 in Nepal, leading conceptualization of the conflict prevention, dialogue and conflict sensitivity portfolio having previously served as a Political Affairs Officer at the UN Mission in Nepal (UNMIN) supporting political analysis, outreach, good offices for the SRSG, and monitoring the implementation of the Comprehensive Peace Agreement and supported the establishment of the UN Peace Fund for Nepal in the UN RCO. During 2013 - 2015 she worked in UNDP Myanmar as a Recovery Specialist (2013-2015), leading UNDPs programmatic response to humanitarian situations.

Since 2015, Ms.Rijal has led UNDP’s work at HQ on strengthening social cohesion, conflict sensitivity and conflict analysis in both policy and programming, and through partnerships. During this time, Monica has also represented UNDP within the UN system for coordination and partnerships on Recovery and Peacebuilding Assessments (RBPA) with the World Bank and European Union.

In her most recent role as the Team Leader for Conflict Prevention and Peacebuilding in the UNDP Crisis Bureau, Monica has been instrumental in developing UNDPs Prevention offer, launching the flagship Prevention Forum and supporting/capacitating country offices to act early and at scale to prevent conflicts and build sustainable peace.

She holds an Master’s degree from the Eastern Mennonite University (USA) in Conflict Transformation and Peacebuilding as well as a Masters in Economics from University of Pune (India).