Ms Amakobe Sande took office as interim United Nations Resident Coordinator in China on 25 September 2020.
Before this assignment, she has been an international civil servant for the last 12 years, serving the
United Nations in senior leadership positions including most recently as Country Director &
Representative of UNAIDS in China. Her work entailed the coordination of 11 agencies of the United
Nations system on HIV and AIDS and the multi-sectoral engagements that national HIV responses
necessitate across government entities, civil society and the private sector. She has engaged in
collaborative work at the highest levels of Government as well as ensured effective country support for
multilateral initiatives at the regional and international levels.
With a total of 26 years of progressively senior leadership experience in international development, Ms
Sande has worked in a career that started in grassroots community development in Kenya. Beyond her home
country, she has successfully managed large scale humanitarian, peace and development programmes across
a number of African countries, the Middle East, Eastern Europe and the Former Caucasus (Azerbaijan,
Armenia and Georgia); led complex strategic planning and change management processes; provided high
quality technical support to countries and inter-governmental institutions; successfully mobilized
resources; and built the capacity of civil society organisations in the important complementary role
they play in development.
Ms Sande is renowned as a trusted broker and has served as chairperson of Development Partner Groups in
Uganda and Malawi and was also appointed chair of a number of civil society initiatives on behalf of
Government in Malawi. In China, she serves as Vice Chair of the Advisory Committee of China AIDS Fund
for Non-Governmental Organizations (CAFNGO). In all her efforts, she has ensured that country partners
align to national priorities and joined-up delivery of the Sustainable Development Target of ending AIDS
as a public health threat. As an ardent Pan-Africanist and gender equality campaigner, she has also
worked with political, traditional, and civil society leaders to contribute to issues of interest to the
African continent and its people and has facilitated a number of positive south-south and trilateral
engagements.
Ms Sande holds a BA in International Relations and an MA in Development Studies. She has served on
several boards including the Global Campaign for Microbicides, the Southern Africa AIDS Information
Service as well as the Africa Public Health Rights Alliance. Ms Sande has good working knowledge of
French and has had a short stint as a broadcast journalist.
