Meet the Decision makers

Mr. Stephen Rodriques
UNDP Resident Representative in Rwanda.

Mr. Stephen Rodriques (Jamaica) is the UNDP Resident Representative for Rwanda. Prior to this appointment, Stephen served as Country Director for UNDP Rwanda (2015-2018) and was UNDP Deputy Country Director in Indonesia (2010-2015). From 2005-2010, Stephen worked as Programme Advisor in the Operations Support Group/Executive Office in UNDP New York. He was also Head of the Governance and Poverty Unit in UNDP Jamaica (2002-2005) and a part-time Lecturer in Political Science at the University of the West Indies (2004-2005). Prior to joining UNDP, Stephen occupied various positions in the Jamaican Government, serving as Director of Social Policy in the Ministry of Local Government and Community Development (1999-2000), Head of Planning and Development in the Jamaica Social Investment Fund (1996-1999), and Assistant to the Director General of the Planning Institute of Jamaica (1993-1995).
Stephen holds a Master’s degree in Business Administration from the IESE Business School in Barcelona, Spain and both a Master’s of Philosophy in Government and Bachelor’s degree in International Relations from the University of the West Indies, Kingston, Jamaica.
He speaks English and Spanish. Stephen took up him new assignment on 15 February 2019.

Ms. Varsha Redkar-Palepu
UNDP Deputy Resident Representative, Programme & Operations in Rwanda.

Ms. Varsha Redkar-Palepu (Canada, Sri Lanka) is the UNDP Deputy Resident Representative, Programme & Operations in Rwanda.

Prior to this appointment Varsha served as Head of the UN RC Office & Senior Policy Advisor for Ethiopia 2018-19, and was UNDP Head of the Regional UNDG Secretariat Arab States/ MENA in New York 2013-2017. Varsha served as UNDP Assistant Resident Representative for Armenia 2011-13 and UNDP Governance Advisor for Somalia 2009-12. Varsha supported the first generation One UN pilot countries as Programme Specialist UNSSC 2007-09, prior to that she was UNDP Learning & Capacity Development Specialist at HQ in New York 2003-07. Varsha has worked as an educator in Community Health promoting youth and women’s empowerment and with the Canadian Ontario College of Teachers 1998-2002. She was a Gender Researcher in Sri Lanka with the Canadian International Development Agency, CIDA, and the University of Guelph 1996-97.

Varsha holds a Masters of International Public Administration, New York University, Bachelors of Education from the University of Toronto and a Bachelors of International Development & Philosophy, University of Guelph, Canada.

Our Team

UNDP team in Rwanda is made of 56 people. They come from different corners of the world and drew their expertise together to support Rwanda attein its vision.

Meet UNDP Rwanda Team

UNDP advisory Team

UN Volunteers Coordination Office

UNDP Programme

Transformational Governance Unit

Sustainable Growth Unit

Finance

Human Resources

Procurement Unit

Information Technology

General Administration