Our team in Bosnia and Herzegovina

Ardanela Ridzalovic, UNV Country Coordinator, Bosnia and Herzegovina. Leading and managing the UNV Field Unit since august 2018. Responsible for effective strategic planning, leading to mobilization and placement of UN Volunteers, operational support to volunteers, and advocacy and positioning of UNV interests in the country. Holds MA in International Relations and Diplomacy, from Faculty of Political Sciences, University in Sarajevo. Prior to joining UNV Field Unit, gained expertise in project management, while working for British Embassy in Sarajevo, BiH Ministry of Defence, and NGO engagement.

Mr. David Saunders has 20 years of experience with the United Nations. He has served as UN Women Representative since 2013, currently in Bosnia and Hercegovina, and previously in Albania. He held key roles working for government in Oman, with IRC in The Netherlands and the private sector in Brazil, Malaysia and the UK. David joined the UN in the early 1990s when he led a range of operations with UNOPS, UNDP, UNFPA, OCHA and UNMIS. His experience in 11 countries includes information services for humanitarian coordination in crises around the world; UN coordination across Southern Sudan where post conflict, humanitarian and development efforts were simultaneously ongoing; and in Afghanistan, focused on census operations, the health sector and establishment of the first government information systems.

Professional experience: 21 years of humanitarian work experience, mainly with UNHCR, in protection of refugees and displaced persons in protracted situations and in management of emergency response. Worked in various operations in Africa (Dadaab, Darfur and Khartoum, Uganda, Angola), Asia (Pakistan, Afghanistan), Europe (Serbia, Bosnia and Herzegovina) and the Americas (Brazil). Her experience with private sector partnership, gained at the UNHCR headquarters in Geneva, engaged her in the promotion of socio-economic integration and development of innovative solutions for refugees. In 2018, she worked at the Venezuelan-Brazilian border managing the emergency response to the Venezuela situation. Since September 2015, Ms. Bonelli has been engaged in the Western Balkans in response to the challenges of the mixed movement of refugees and migrants.

John Mosoti is a national of Kenya, and holds Bachelor of Laws degree, Post-Graduate Diploma in Law, a Master’s Degree in Criminal Justice and Diploma in International Environmental Law.
John is an established diplomat, having served as Senior Adviser for Human Rights, Social and Humanitarian issues at the Permanent Mission of Kenya to the United Nations from 2004 to 2013. He was also charged with the work relating to the functional commissions of the Economic and Social Council (ECOSOC), the Executive Boards of UNDP/UNFPA/UNOPS, UNICEF and UN Women. He specialized in Peace and Security issues, particularly in the Great Lakes region of Africa and on UN Reform. John represented his country and region in numerous negotiations of the major UN conferences and meetings. John served two years in the Partnership Division of UNICEF as Public Partnership Adviser between 2013 and 2015. John brings with him twenty-five years’ experience in the private sector, civil society, the United Nations as well as government. Most recently, he was appointed and served as Deputy Global Coordinator on ICPD 25 charged with the organization of the Nairobi Summit: Accelerating the Promise.

Lejla Tanovic has joined the ILO in 1997, and since 1998, she has served as ILO National Coordinator for BiH. Ms. Tanovic is responsible for a variety of national coordination duties, including liaison duties to support the Decent Work Technical Teams (DWT) in facilitating the strengthening and implementation of the Decent Work Country Programmes (DWCPs). She has 30 years of professional experience, including in international development cooperation, with wide knowledge in strategic planning and management, and International Labour Standards. Prior to joining the ILO, Ms. Tanovic worked with public companies on labour relations. Ms. Tanovic holds a Bachelor degree in Legal Science of the University of Sarajevo and the University of Trieste, and a Master in “State Management and Humanitarian Affairs” from the University of Sarajevo, Belgrade, and University of Rome “La Sapienza”.

Peter Van der Auweraert is currently Western Balkans Coordinator and IOM representative in BiH. In this capacity he leads and oversees the national offices of IOM in the Western Balkans. He is also the IOM Global Lead in Transitional Justice and Post-Crisis Land Issues. Prior to his current position he coordinated IOM's response to the 2015-2016 European and Western Balkans Migration Crisis, oversaw IOM's humanitarian and Post-Crisis programming at the IOM Regional Office in Vienna and, as Chief of the Land, Property and Reparations Division at the IOM HQ, participated as senior advisor in peace processes in Colombia, Iraq and the Philippines, amongst other countries. Prior to joining IOM, Peter Van der Auweraert was the Global Director of Lawyers without Borders and Lecturer in International Public and Criminal Law in the University of Turku, Finland. He holds a Masters Degree in Law from the University of London and a Law Degree from the University of Antwerp, Belgium.

Prior to her current appointment, from 2014, Dr. Khan served as the Deputy Representative in UNICEF Nepal, providing strategic guidance, leadership, implementation and monitoring of UNICEF supported-programmes including humanitarian action. She also served in New York with UNICEF, providing overall leadership on a joint UNICEF, WHO and UNFPA Global Programme for Elimination of Maternal and Neonatal Tetanus, in the Polio Eradication Programme at UNICEF's NY Headquarters, and implementing health and nutrition programmes in UNICEF Afghanistan. Dr. Khan first joined UNICEF in 1996 as Project Officer in Bangladesh. She has a Master’s degree in Public Health from the London School of Hygiene and Tropical Medicine, London and a Bachelor’s degree in Medicine from Dhaka Medical College, Bangladesh.

Sinisa is Head of the Antenna in Sarajevo of the Regional Bureau for science and Culture in Europe and responsible for the implementation of UNESCO’s core programmes and activities in Bosnia and Herzegovina. He also supports the development and implementation of programmes and participation in UN development/cooperation frameworks in Serbia and Montenegro, as well as in other countries of the region, as required.
He has an academic background in civil engineering. He joined UNESCO in 1995.

Sonja Jakic, UNDSS Security Advisor in Sarajevo, Bosnia and Herzegovina, originally from Slovenia. Read Law at the University in Belgrade followed by master’s degree in Anthropology, University of Ljubljana, Slovenia. Joined UNDSS in 2009 after 27 years of work experience in national diplomatic and security services. Before being appointed to Sarajevo, served in Darfur Sudan and Dadaab Kenya. As SA in UNDSS Office in Sarajevo she has regional responsibilities (Moldova, Croatia, Czech Republic and Poland).

Mrs. Steliana Nedera assumed her duties as UNDP Resident Representative in Bosnia and Herzegovina in May 2019. Prior to this, Mrs. Nedera undertook three separate assignments as UNDP Deputy Resident Representative in Serbia (2014-2019), in Kosovo* (2011-2014) and in Kazakhstan (2007-2011). She joined UNDP in 2004, as Assistant Resident Representative with the UNDP office in Moldova. Mrs. Nedera’s experience prior to joining UNDP was with DFID as Head of the DFID office in Moldova (2000-2004) and with private foundations on the development of civil society and the media (1996-1999). Mrs. Nedera holds a Master's in Development Management, currently studying towards a second Master’s in Global Diplomacy and has a Bachelor in Law. *All references to Kosovo should be understood in full compliance with United Nations Security Council Resolution 1244 (1999)

Dr. Victor Olsavszky is Romanian physician specialized in Public Health, holding a master degree in management of social and health services and a PhD in medical science. His career in Public Health began in the Ministry of Health of Romania as the director of international cooperation representing, and was involved in and contributed to health care reforms in his country from that position. Afterwards he joined WHO and led the WHO office for Romania. Since January 2016 Dr. Olsavszky is representing WHO in BiH, where he manages the country office in Sarajevo, is part of the UN Country Team, facilitates and provides technical support to health authorities, and acts as a focal point to the international community on health matters in BiH.

Mr. Pijunovic was born in Zavidovići on 29 March, 1970. He holds a Bachelor of Economics, Faculty of Economy, from the University of Banja Luka. He was a Team Leader with CARE International (1997-2000), and then Director of the Economics Department with Mercy Corps Scotland (2000 - 2003). He was then senior programming officer at the European Union Delegation to BiH, Cross Border and Agriculture Programme (2004-2011), and is presently the National Programme Coordinator at UN’s FAO, a role he began in 2012.

Dr. Yulia Minaeva has over 10 years of leadership experience in the Canadian Federal public service, serving in the Federal Department of Justice and, earlier in the Canada School of Public Service where she supported the research of the former Clerk of the Privy Council of Canada. Internationally, she also represented Canada at the Organization for Security and Cooperation in Europe (OSCE) to Kyrgyzstan as the head of the Economic and Environmental Department. Dr. Minaeva attended the John F. Kennedy School of Government at Harvard University and received three certificates of completion for the Emerging Leaders Program (2016), the Senior Executive Fellows Program (2016) and the Senior Executives in National and International Security Program (2018). She holds a Ph.D. degree in Public Administration from the University of Ottawa (2012), Canada, her home city, where she had earlier earned her Master’s degree in Economics (2008).