Azusa Kubota

UNDP Resident Representative in Sri Lanka

Azusa Kubota joined UNDP in Sri Lanka as the Resident Representative in January 2023.

Prior to her appointment in Sri Lanka, Ms. Kubota served as the Resident Representative for UNDP in Bhutan from 2019-2022, where she led overall operations, programme implementation, strategic vision setting and representation of the office in the country.

Prior to her tenure in Bhutan, she has served UNDP in multiple leadership capacities as the Manager and Head of Office of UNDP in the Solomon Islands and the UN Joint Presence Manager for UNDP, UNICEF, UNFPA and UNWOMEN (2016 – 2019); Deputy Resident Representative, Programme and Operations for UNDP Lao PDR (2014 – 2016) and UNDP Maldives (2011-2014). She led UNDP’s independent country programme evaluations in multiple countries across regions, as well as thematic evaluations while working for UNDP’s independent evaluation office from 2008 to 2011. Her career with UNDP began as the Programme Analyst - Sustainable Economic Empowerment Unit, UNDP Malawi in 2002.

Previously, she worked in NGOs in Boston, San Francisco, Senegal and Lesotho. At the International Law Institute in Washington D.C., she was responsible for designing and executing training programmes for senior government officials in the areas of international law and economic development.

A national of Japan, Ms. Kubota holds a Master’s Degree in International Affairs in Economic and Political Development from the School of International and Public Affairs, Columbia University, New York, USA; and a Bachelor’s Degree from Smith College, Northampton, USA. She has spent a semester at Université Cheikh Anta Diop de Dakar, Dakar, Senegal.