NEW UNITED NATIONS RESIDENT COORDINATOR/ UNDP RESIDENT REPRESENTATIVE ARRIVES IN THE GAMBIA

16 May 2008 – Ms Chinwe Diké the new UN Resident Coordinator/UNDP Resident Representative for The Gambia, presented her credentials to His Excellency Alh. Dr. Yahya A. J.J. Jammeh, The President of the Republic of the Gambia today in a ceremony at the State House, Banjul.

UN Secretary-General Mr. Ban Ki-moon has appointed Ms. Diké as his designated representative in The Gambia and as the most senior UN official in the country.

Ms. Diké will lead the UN Country Team comprising UNDP, UNFPA, UNICEF, WFP, FAO WHO and UNHCR.

The UN Secretary-General Mr. Ban Ki-moon in his letter addressed to H. E. The President of The Republic of The Gambia expressed his confidence that Ms. Diké's appointment would further strengthen collaboration between the Government of The Gambia and the UN System.

Ms.Diké has sixteen years experience working within the UN system in New York, Zimbabwe and Nigeria. Ms. Diké began her career at the UN as UNOPS Programme Management Officer, managing UNDP Agricultural projects for the Consultative Group on International Agricultural Research and in this capacity has worked both in Asia and Latin America.

At the time of her appointment to The Gambia, Ms. Diké was the UN Resident Coordinator and UNDP Resident Representative in Swaziland. There she developed strategies for and facilitated provision of technical co-operation and capacity development to the Government, CSOs and primary national stakeholders to engender capacity for service delivery in various areas such as: HIV/AIDS, Decentralization, Gender, Poverty Reduction and Governance.

She has also played a key role in promoting and enhancing UN cohesion through joint programming and joint activities in furtherance of UN Reform, and also strengthened resource mobilization, improved strategic partnership with government and national stakeholders working closely with partners such as European Commission and World Bank.

Prior to her appointment in Swaziland she was the Principal Interagency Officer, UN Chief Executive Board for Coordination (CEB) UN Secretariat, UN DESA New York.

Before joining UN/UNDP, Ms. Diké worked with City of New York Office of the Corporation Counsel Economic Development Division (EDD), Barclays Bank PLC New York, Chase Manhattan Bank Nigeria, The Federal Republic of Nigeria Ministry Of justice, and Csaplar and Bok Law Firm, Boston. Ms Diké is a lawyer by profession

A citizen of the Federal Republic of Nigeria Ms. Diké holds a LLM- Corporate Law from Harvard University Law School, USA, LLB/MA from Cambridge University, Girton College UK, and Bachelor of Arts degree from Wellesley College USA. She was admitted to the Bars of the Federal Republic of Nigeria and New York State in 1981 and1990 respectively.

For more information please contact: registry.gm@undp.org