Our Team in Micronesia

Alpha Bah is WFP’s Country Director for the Pacific Multi-Country Office based in Suva, Fiji. In the Pacific, WFP works towards improving the capacity of Pacific Island Countries and Territories to reduce risk of, prepare for, and respond to disasters with a view of building a more resilient Pacific Community. Since joining WFP in 2000, he has been stationed in several countries including North Korea, Cambodia, Sri Lanka, Italy, Senegal, Kenya, UAE, and Bangladesh, responding to and supporting several high-profile emergency missions around the world.

Prior to joining WFP, Alpha worked for UNDP and for the private sector as a network engineer. Prior to his assignment in the Pacific, Alpha was the Deputy Country Director for WFP in Bangladesh with overall responsibility for operations and support services for WFP’s development and humanitarian assistance programs. He had also previously served as WFP’s Chief of IT Emergency Preparedness and Response, responsible for managing WFP’s IT emergency team and leadership of the global Emergency Telecommunication Cluster (ETC).

Ms. Andie Fong Toy was appointed Head of the ESCAP Subregional Office for the Pacific, effective 1 August 2022.
Ms. Fong Toy brings over thirty years of experience in the Pacific. She previously served as Legal and Political Advisor, International Legal Advisor and Director, Political and Security Programme at the Pacific Islands Forum Secretariat before being appointed as its Deputy Secretary-General. In this capacity, she oversaw political and security, economic governance, and trade policy issues, including economic integration and reform in the Pacific.
In her more recent capacity as Labour Mobility Advisor for the Australian Pacific Training Coalition, Ms. Fong Toy provided strategic advice to countries of the Pacific on ways to optimize labour mobility and produce the best employment outcomes.

Andrea Sandoval Baez journey with the United Nations began in 2009, during which she has gained extensive experience across various roles in missions including Afghanistan, Thailand, Colombia, and Papua New Guinea. She has worked with key UN agencies such as UNFPA, UNAMA, and UNDP, focusing on HR, administrative support, and program management.

Andrea's experience includes managing complex logistical operations, volunteer management and mobilization, coordinating with UN agencies, supporting emergency evacuations, and contributing to country and regional priorities. She holds a Master’s degree in Modern Languages and Teaching.

Ms. Bidisha Pillai is the Director & Representative of the United Nations Population Fund (UNFPA) Pacific Island Countries, a position she assumed in March 2025.Ms. Pillai brings over 30 years of leadership and expertise in advocacy, strategic partnerships, programme management, and policy influence. Previously, she served as UNFPA’s Representative in Liberia, where she led efforts to advance sexual and reproductive health and rights, gender equality, and youth empowerment.

Before joining UNFPA, Ms. Pillai held multiple leadership positions, including as Global Policy, Advocacy, and Campaigns Director at Save the Children International, where she spearheaded global advocacy initiatives. She also served as the Chief Executive Officer of Save the Children India, leading a team of 400 professionals and overseeing large-scale development programmes across the country.

Earlier in her career, she worked with the UK Department for International Development (DFID) in India, the United Nations Office on Drugs and Crime (UNODC), and various civil society organizations, focusing on child rights, gender equity, and public health.

Over the years, Ms. Pillai has consistently delivered impactful results at scale, especially by fostering strategic partnership with governments, local communities, and other key stakeholders including the private sector and media. Through a collaborative approach, she has facilitated collective ownership, optimized resource utilization, and enhanced programmes and policies through technical assistance.

She is a passionate advocate for women and children's rights, quality education for all, gender equity, ending violence against women and children, and ensuring access to sexual and reproductive health rights for all.

Dr. Roderico H. Ofrin currently serves as the World Health Organization (WHO) Representative for Northern Micronesia, covering the Federated States of Micronesia (FSM), Palau, and the Republic of the Marshall Islands (RMI). Based in Pohnpei, FSM, Dr. Ofrin assumed this role in October 2025, bringing with him over two decades of experience in public health, emergency response, and health systems strengthening across the WHO South-East Asia and Western Pacific Regions.
Before his current appointment, Dr. Ofrin served as WHO Representative to India (2020–2025), where he led a team of over 3,000 personnel supporting the Government of India’s COVID-19 response. Under his leadership, WHO India played a pivotal role in administering over 2 billion vaccine doses, deploying 4,000 oxygen concentrators, and strengthening health logistics across all 36 states and union territories.
He championed the development of real-time disease surveillance tools, including the Integrated Health Information Platform (IHIP), and helped restore routine immunization to record levels of post-pandemic. His tenure also saw WHO India advance digital health, expand NCD care at the primary level, and support disease elimination efforts for TB, measles-rubella, kala-azar, malaria, and trachoma. Dr. Ofrin prioritized equity, directing cross-programme support to India’s most underserved “aspirational blocks,” ensuring health goals reached those who needed them most.
Earlier, as Regional Emergencies Director for WHO South-East Asia, he led responses to major crises including Cyclone Nargis in Myanmar, the 2015 Nepal earthquake, the Rohingya refugee crisis, and the beginnings of the COVID pandemic. During his stint in the regional office for the emergencies program, he contributed to shaping emergency preparedness and response in the Region through the development of key regional mechanisms such as the South-East Asia Regional Health Emergency Fund (SEARHEF) and the Regional Benchmarks for Emergency Preparedness and Response.
Dr. Ofrin began his WHO career in 2000 as a Public Health Officer in Timor-Leste, where he helped establish foundational health systems in a post-conflict setting.
Dr. Ofrin is a specialist in public health emergencies and disaster risk management. He holds a Doctor of Medicine degree from the University of the Philippines and a Master’s in Public Health from the Hebrew University Hadassah, Israel. He has been recognized with the WHO Director-General’s Reward for his work in the response and recovery for the 2015 Nepal Earthquake (2016) and for his leadership of WHO India during the pandemic (2021).
Dr. Ofrin continues to be a strong advocate for integrated, resilient, and equitable health systems, particularly in vulnerable and underserved communities across the Pacific.

Eri Taniguchi joins the UN Women Fiji MCO with over 16 years of experience in gender equality and Gender-Based Violence (GBV) across development and humanitarian settings. Since joining UNFPA in 2011, she has worked in Mongolia, Somalia, Iraq, and Myanmar, leading gender equality and GBV programming as well as inter-agency coordination mechanisms.

Most recently, Eri served as the Gender Equality/Gender-Based Violence Programme Specialist at UNFPA Myanmar from 2019 to 2025, where she played a pivotal role in ensuring access to quality GBV services during the COVID-19 pandemic and subsequent political crises. She also expanded partnerships with civil society and women-led organizations. From 2022 to 2023, she acted as the Deputy Representative for UNFPA Myanmar.

Before her UN career, Eri worked with a non-governmental organization in Nepal and at the Royal Thai Embassy in Japan. A Japanese national, she holds a Master of Philosophy in Development Studies from the University of Oxford. In her spare time, Eri enjoys reading, traveling, and exploring diverse cuisines.

With an extensive career in humanitarian response and migration management, Ewa Naqvi served as Head of Office in Qatar since July 2023 heading IOM’s response during the relocation of Afghan refugees and migrants to the United States, where she also held the position of Chief of Mission ad interim for one year. Her experience further extends to her role as Deputy Chief of Mission in IOM Somalia from April 2020 to June 2023, and as Programme Coordinator in IOM Libya from July 2018 to April 2020 supporting humanitarian response for internally displaced persons and migrants. Prior to this role, Naqvi served in IOM Turkiye for over three years coordinating cross border humanitarian response in Northern Syria.
She holds dual citizenship in Poland and the United Kingdom. She earned a Master of Science degree from the University of Salford in Manchester, UK.

Guangzhou Qu (Mr.) is the Subregional Coordinator for the Pacific Islands, Food and Agriculture Organization of the United Nations (FAO), since 1 February 2025. He is based in Apia, Samoa.

The Subregional Coordinator is also the FAO Representative who oversees FAO’s initiatives across 13 member nations - the Cook Islands, the Federated States of Micronesia, Fiji, Kiribati, the Marshall Islands, Nauru, Niue, Palau, Samoa, Solomon Islands, Tonga, Tuvalu, Vanuatu, as well as the territory of Tokelau, an Associate Member.

Mr Qu joined FAO in 2019 as Special Adviser to the Director-General and was subsequently appointed Deputy Directeur de Cabinet in the Office of the Director-General. Since December 2020, he has been serving as Director, FAO Liaison Office with the United Nations in New York (LON). Prior to joining FAO, he served consecutively from 2013 to 2019 as Deputy Chief of Mission in the Embassy of the People’s Republic of China in Bangladesh and in New Zealand.

Mr Qu started his career in the Ministry of Foreign Affairs, People’s Republic of China, and held increasingly senior positions on Arms Control and Non-Proliferation at home and abroad. He was posted in The Hague, Netherlands, and in Vienna, Austria, then served as Director of the Department of Arms Control and Disarmament within the Chinese Foreign Ministry.

Mr Qu, a national of the People’s Republic of China, holds a Master of Arts in World History from Nankai University and a Bachelor of Science in Chemistry from Anhui Normal University in China. He was also a Visiting Fellow at the Monterey Institute of International Studies in California, United States of America.

Gulbahor brings with her over 20 years of experience with UNDP, having served in diverse development and humanitarian contexts, including politically constrained and sanctioned environments across the ECA and Asia Pacific regions.

In her recent role in Iran, she has served as the Deputy Resident Representative, overseeing programmes focused on Global Fund grants, health procurement, wetlands conservation, renewable energy, access to water etc. Prior to that, she led a complex Local Governance programme in conflict-affected states in Myanmar, and in Tajikistan, she built a robust portfolio in Governance, Rule of Law, and Human Rights portfolio.

Gulbahor holds a Master’s degree in Governance and Development from the Institute of Development Studies, UK.

Heike Alefsen has almost 30 years of human rights, legal, political and development work experience with the United Nations, the Council of Europe and civil society. Until 2020, she was Senior Human Rights Adviser to the UN Country Team in Bangladesh and to the UN Development Group Asia-Pacific in Bangkok.

Jayvee is the Regional Coordinator for the Pacific for ASYCUDA, the largest UNCTAD technical cooperation programme. He has 20+ years experience in customs automation and modernization working in 20 country projects in Asia-Pacific. Jayvee’s office currently supports 12 Pacific countries and territory.

Mr Jinhua Zhang assumed the position of Senior Coordination Officer, UNEP Pacific Office as of 1 January 2024.

A national of China, Mr Zhang has extensive experience in UNEP particularly in the Asia-Pacific region where he has worked for the last 19 years. Prior to this role, he was Regional Sub-programme Coordinator responsible for the implementation and delivery of the UNEP Science-Policy foundational programme in Asia and the Pacific. With an educational background in land resources inventory and quantitative land evaluation, Mr Zhang has been working on integrated environmental assessment, environmental indicators, data, and information management, and building partnerships.

With this new role, Mr Zhang is based in UNEP Pacific Office in Apia, Samoa to coordinate UNEP work in the Pacific Region, covering Cook Islands, Fiji, Federated States of Micronesia, Kiribati, Nauru, Niue, Palau, Republic of the Marshall Islands, Papua New Guinea, Samoa, Solomon Islands, Tonga, Tuvalu, and Vanuatu.

Ms. Marie Pegie Cauchois has worked for the UN since 2012, first in UN Peace Keeping operations in South Sudan, Afghanistan, Central African Republic and Somalia, she then joined UNODC in 2017 and worked in Myanmar as Anti-Corruption Programme manager. She is now Regional Anti-Corruption Adviser and manages the Anti-Corruption Project in 14 Pacific Island countries.

Tokumitsu Kobayashi is the Pacific SIDS Advisor who represents UNOPS to the Pacific. His most recent assignment was as the Director of the UNOPS Jerusalem Office. Before that, he worked with the Government of Japan, UNDP and JICA in several countries including Kenya, Thailand, Iraq and South Sudan. He holds a Master's degree in International Relations and a BSc in Engineering.