Azusa Kubota

UNDP Resident Representative in Sri Lanka

Azusa Kubota joined UNDP in Sri Lanka as the Resident Representative in January 2023. 
Prior to her appointment in Sri Lanka, Ms. Kubota served as the Resident Representative for UNDP in Bhutan from 2019-2022, where she led overall operations, programme implementation, strategic vision setting and representation of the office in the country. 

Prior to her tenure in Bhutan, she has served UNDP in multiple capacities as the Manager and Head of Office of UNDP in the Solomon Islands and the UN Joint Presence Manager for UNDP, UNICEF, UNFPA and UNWOMEN (2016 – 2019); Deputy Resident Representative, Programme and Operations for UNDP Lao PDR (2014 – 2016) and UNDP Maldives (2011-2014); Evaluation Specialist (2008 – 2011) and Evaluation Analyst (2006 -2008) at UNDP Evaluation Office; and Programme Analyst- Sustainable Economic Empowerment Unit, UNDP Malawi (2002 –2006), to name a few key roles over the years.  

She has also previously worked with the Government of South Africa in organizing the second international conference on the use of evaluation for public policies, and has also worked for NGOs in Senegal, Lesotho and Washington D.C. where she was responsible for organizing training programmes for senior government officials in the areas of international law and economic development.

A national of Japan, Ms. Kubota holds a Master’s Degree in International Affairs in Economic and Political Development from the School of International and Public Affairs, Columbia University, New York, USA; and a Bachelor’s Degree from Smith College, Northampton, USA. She has spent a semester at Université Cheikh Anta Diop de Dakar, Dakar, Senegal and studied French at Middlebury College, Vermont, USA.