UNDP WACA
Leadership
Senior Management
Njoya Tikum is the Director of the United Nations Development Programme (UNDP) Sub-Regional Hub for West and Central Africa (UNDP WACA) and Resident Representative of UNDP Senegal. As head of UNDP WACA, he leads and coordinates UNDP’s regional policy and programmatic efforts, fostering collaboration among regional institutions and development partners and providing dedicated support to 24 country offices in West and Central Africa.
For decades, Njoya has championed initiatives that foster good governance, peace and security, anti-corruption, regional cooperation and sustainable development.
Before his current role, he served as Manager and Head of the Regional Office for East and Southern Africa at the United Nations Volunteers (UNV) programme, where he led the UNV's East and Southern Africa organisational transformation and established an entirely new and effective regional team and operation in 23 countries.
Njoya has also served in Ethiopia, Liberia, South Sudan and at the United Nations Headquarters in the United States of America.
Before joining UNDP, Njoya worked as an attorney and was a Senior Human Rights Fellow at the Human Rights Institute, Columbia University School of Law. He also served as a Legal Associate at the African Services Committee and as Co-Founder and Director for the Centre for Public Interest Law in Cameroon.
Njoya is a Maurice Greenberg World Fellow at the Jackson Institute for Global Affairs, Yale University, USA and holds an LLM in International Contracts and Human Rights Law from Columbia University School of Law, an LLM in International Business Law from the Central European University, and a Licence and Maitrise en Droit from the University of Yaoundé II SOA.
Luc Gnonlonfoun is the Deputy Resident Representative (Operations) for the UNDP Sub-Regional Hub for West and Central Africa and UNDP Senegal.
As Deputy Resident Representative (Operations), he oversees various processes that ensure optimal efficiency and delivery across the sub-region, including the successful merger of the regional hub and country office operations team.
Together with the UNDP Senegal Resident Representative, he presides as Chair of the Operations Management Team (OMT) for the United Nations in Senegal, where he actively contributes to establishing the United Nations House and the ‘Common Back Office’.
Before this role, Luc served as UNDP's Deputy Resident Representative (Operations) in Mali, Senegal and Côte d'Ivoire. During his tenure at Côte d'Ivoire, he supported the transfer of outstanding activities of the United Nations Peacekeeping Mission to the United Nations System during its closure. In this capacity, he also worked within UNDP to develop initiatives related to social cohesion, inter-communal dialogue and justice, poverty reduction, and environmental protection. Furthermore, he supported the government in setting up a Regional Secretariat to support African states.
His 23-year UN experience and expertise have allowed him to contribute to several UN Reforms and the writing of the book "United Nations Reform in Africa: United in Action."
Before UNDP, Luc started his professional career as an auditor and administrative and financial manager for the Law & Order Trust Fund for Afghanistan and the Community & Reconciliation Trust Fund for the Democratic Republic of Congo.
Luc holds a Bachelor’s Degree from the University of Lancashire (UK) and a Master's in Business Management from the University of Montpellier (France).