The Cameroon Government welcomes the new UNDP Resident Representative, Mr. Aliou Mamadou DIA, to Cameroon
April 13, 2023
The new UNDP Resident Representative (RR) for Cameroon assumed duty on Monday, April 10th 2023, and is duly settling in. Within the first three days of his arrival in Cameroon, he engaged with the UN Resident Coordinator, Heads of UN Agencies, colleagues at the UN Building, and the Government of Cameroon.
He was officially welcomed to Cameroon by the Minister of External Relations, His Excellency Lejeune Mbella Mbella, in an engaging meeting. The RR, Mr DIA, presented his letter of credence to the Minister, and the Minister welcomed him warmly and assured him of the Government’s unceasing collaboration for a successful mission in Cameroon. The two officials discussed the state of cooperation between Cameroon and the UNDP and the prospects of the UNDP’s support for the implementation of the National Development Strategy 2030 (NDS30) across the country.
"I had the honour to present my credentials to H.E. Lejeune Mbella Mbella, Minister of External Relations, Republic of Cameroon. We discussed the excellent collaboration between UNDP and Cameroon in the implementation of the NDS30 and priority programmes." Mr. Aliou Mamadou DIA, Resident Representative, UNDP Cameroon.
During Mr. DIA’s first working hours in the UNDP Country Office, the UN Resident Coordinator, Mr. Matthias Z. Naab, warmed up his arrival to the UN Country Team (UNCT) and introduced him to colleagues in the UN Building in a cordial session. With a welcoming smile, the RR expressed his happiness to join and lead the team towards a lasting impact in Cameroon.
Moving forward, Mr. DIA had an engaging introductory session with staff of the UNDP across the country to set an energetic foundation and team spirit for scaled-up engagement with the Government and partners for a greater impact in the lives of vulnerable youths, women, and their communities across Cameroon. During the interactive session with the RR, the Deputy Resident Representative, Mr. Alasane presented an overview of the Country Programme for his appreciation. Mr. DIA commended the team for the remarkable work and results they have been achieving, assured the staff of his open-door style of work and accessibility to everyone, and encouraged the reinforcement of initiatives for staff well-being while encouraging and challenging them for continued scaled-up productivity. The staff appreciated his kind words and encouragement and assured him of their unflinching commitment to the organisations’ priorities.
"There is a clearly cut appraisal that first impressions can note: Mr. Aliou Dia is an engaging and very dynamic person who is extremely well-versed with the realities of our organization based on the experience he has. Also, I perceive a lot of energized youthfulness in his mindset, which is a big opportunity for us, UNDP Cameroon, to leverage on and address our challenges and sustain the highly saluted performances that have been recorded this far. I foresee a UNDP office that is going to deliver even more and better." Denis Emmanuel Matute Esunge, President of the UNDP Cameroon Staff Association.
Mr. Aliou Mamadou DIA’s journey so far.
The strategic international development and humanitarian leader, Mr. DIA, has over 20 years of experience working in Africa with various UN agencies. In his previous assignment, he served as UNDP Resident Representative in Togo.
He also served as Team Leader of the Africa Region to lead the Disaster Risk Reduction, Resilience, Climate Change, and Energy team at the UNDP Regional Centre in Addis Ababa, Ethiopia. Previously, he served as Senior Regional Advisor on Risk Reduction, Crisis Prevention, and Recovery for Eastern and Southern Africa, based in Johannesburg, South Africa. He also worked with the United Nations Office for Disaster Risk Reduction (UNDRR) as the Regional Disaster Risk Reduction Advisor for West Africa, based at ECOWAS in Abuja, Nigeria. He has also worked with the UNOCHA Regional Office for West and Central Africa as the Humanitarian Geographic Information Officer, based in Dakar, Senegal.
In recent years, he has worked with and supported over 30 UNDP offices and their government counterparts in Africa in the implementation of their country programmes and national development plans through a sustainable development approach.
Prior to joining UNDP, he had successful experiences with other UN System agencies, including UNOCHA, UNDRR, etc., where he worked and led programmes on humanitarian coordination, disaster risk reduction and resilience, and environmental sustainability.
Mr. Dia holds a "Diplôme d'Études Approfondies Es Lettres", specialising in physical geography, from the Cheikh Anta Diop University in Dakar, Senegal.