Dr. Matthias Z. Naab
Dr. Matthias Z. Naab is the Director of the United Nations Development Programme (UNDP) Regional Service Centre for Africa (RSCA), situated in Addis Ababa (Ethiopia). He has an oversight on the Africa Sustainable Finance Hub (Pretoria, South Africa), the Resilience Hub for Africa (Nairobi, Kenya) and the Sub-Regional hub for West and Central Africa (Dakar, Senegal).
As the Director, Dr. Naab leads the Regional Service Centre’s strategic engagement and programmatic partnership with regional and continental bodies on behalf of the UNDP Regional Bureau for Africa. He also leads a multidisciplinary team of experts who provide technical, policy, and programmatic advisory services to 46 countries of the Regional Bureau for Africa (RBA).
Dr. Naab brings extensive expertise in international development, spanning over 20 years. Prior to this appointment, he served as the United Nations Resident Coordinator in Cameroon, leading the United Nations Country Team, and previously held the same role in Comoros. He has also held several senior United Nations positions in Mozambique, Tanzania and Rwanda.
Before joining the United Nations, Dr. Naab worked with the International Republican Institute, a non-profit organisation, as the Resident Country Director in Liberia and Nigeria, where he managed the implementation of governance programmes in partnership with the United States Agency for International Development (USAID).
Dr. Naab holds a doctorate in International Affairs and Public Policy from the Graduate School of Public and International Affairs at the University of Pittsburgh in the United States of America (USA), where he also obtained a Master’s degree in Public and International Affairs.