Zambia
Our Team
Senior Management
The UNDP Resident Representative is the UNDP Administrator's representative at the country level, and head of the country office being ultimately accountable for UNDP’s programme and operations, including for the quality and sustainability of UNDP interventions on the ground.

James Wakiaga
UNDP Resident Representative for Zambia
James Wakiaga is currently serving as the UNDP Resident Representative in Zambia. He previously served as the UNDP Resident Representative in Eritrea from 2019 – 2023 and as a Senior Economist at the United Nations Development Programme (UNDP) in Ethiopia and Zimbabwe, respectively. Prior to these roles, he worked as Chief Economist/Director in Kenya’s Foreign Service and served as Economic Counsellor at the Kenya Embassy in Washington DC. He has contributed to several knowledge products on Poverty, MDGs, SDGs, Human Development and Economic Growth with a focus on Africa.
He is also a Member of External Reviewers Group (ERG) and Strategic Studies Group (SSG) for the African Capacity Indicators Report (ACIR). He holds a graduate of Economics Honours degree cum laude from University of Nairobi and a Master’s degree in Economics from Renmin University of China (RUC). He is currently pursuing his Doctorate studies with a focus on Social Transformation.
His most recent publications include: (1) An examination of the structural linkages between households and community health services in realization of accelerated primary healthcare delivery in Kisumu County, Kenya by F1000 Research (2021); (2) A systematic review the authorship of Chapter One on “The post-2015 development agenda: building global convergence on policy options” - in the book entitled - Development in Africa: Refocusing the lens after the Millennium Development Goals, published by Policy Press. He takes a keen interest in African development policy discourse and writings.
He is married to Dr. Lucy Wakiaga and they are blessed with two children.

Roland Seri
UNDP Deputy Resident Representative for Zambia
Roland Seri is the Deputy Resident Representative for UNDP Zambia. Prior to his new appointment Roland served as Operations Manager for the Emergency Community Development Programme (PUDC) where he coordinated the implementation of the programme executed by UNDP Togo whilst overseeing a budget of USD 265 million spread over 3 years.
Roland served as Finance Business Partner in UNDP Office of Financial Resources Management (OFRM), Bureau for Management Services in New York from 2013-2017. From 2009 to 2013, he was respectively Operations Manager (2011-2013) and Programme Analyst (2009-2011) with UNDP Côte d’Ivoire.
He has also worked in other capacities as Funding Officer for Arms-Length Management Organization (AMLO) in the United Kingdom (UK) and as Administrative Officer for a national Non-Governmental Organisation (NGO) that focused on gender, women empowerment, HIV and children issues in Cote d’Ivoire.
Ivoirian by birth, Roland holds a Master’s Degree in Development Economics and Policy from the University of Manchester (UK) and a Master’s Degree in Corporate Finance from Salford Business School (UK)