AKIPRESS.COM - Samman J. Thapa was appointed as the UNICEF Representative to the Kyrgyz Republic.

First Deputy Foreign Minister Asein Isaev received copies of credentials.

The parties discussed priority areas of cooperation between the Kyrgyz Republic and UNICEF. The UNICEF Representative outlined the UNICEF Country Program for 2023-2027.

Deputy Foreign Minister Isaev highlighted importance of UNICEF assistance to Kyrgyzstan in maternal and child health care, education, child poverty reduction, a range of programs aimed at protection of rights and interests of the child.

Prior to this assignment he worked as UNICEF Regional Adviser for Social Policy and Social Protection in the Middle East and North Africa (MENA) region based in Amman, Jordan since July 2019. In this role, he was responsible for strategic and technical leadership of UNICEF’s regional agenda on Child Poverty, Social Protection and Public Finance covering 20 countries spanning both humanitarian response and national systems strengthening.

Mr. Thapa joined UNICEF as a Social and Economic Policy Analyst in 2008 to help shape UNICEF’s response to the effects of the Global Economic Crisis on families and children in the East Asia Pacific Region. Subsequently, he worked in Cambodia and Viet Nam to help strengthen social sector planning and budgeting capacities at both national and sub-national levels. From 2015 to 2019, he was Chief of Social Policy and Child Rights Monitoring at UNICEF Myanmar leading technical assistance and capacity building to implement the first ever government-led social cash transfers, improve national/sub-national systems on data, birth registration, disability certification, and strengthen social sector budgeting (health, education, social protection). Prior to joining UNICEF, he worked for brief stints with the National Democratic Institute (NDI) and UNDP.

Mr. Samman J. Thapa is a national of Nepal and the father of two children. He holds a MA in International Economics and International Development from the School of Advanced International Studies (SAIS), Johns Hopkins University, and a BA in International Relations from Webster University.