Our Team in Bhutan

United Nations Secretary-General António Guterres appointed Gaurav Ray of Australia as the United Nations Resident Coordinator in Bhutan, with the host Government’s approval, effective on 8 November 2025.

Mr. Ray brings over 25 years of experience in humanitarian and development practice, particularly in leadership and technical positions in complex environments, to the position. Most recently, he served as Head of Office and Senior Representative of the German Red Cross in Bangladesh, where he led the country office team in strategic and policy direction, advocated for innovative programmes such as Anticipatory Action and Climate Resilience, built partnerships, oversaw operations management and represented the organization as it worked to support refugees in Cox’s Bazar. He has also worked with the International Federation of Red Cross and Red Crescent Societies (IFRC), Start Network, the Australian Red Cross, RedR Australia, Emergency Management Australia and the Asian Disaster Preparedness Centre. His assignments have spanned disaster risk management, emergency response, community resilience, surge capacity and programme development across several missions in Afghanistan, Australia, Bangladesh, India, Indonesia and Thailand.

Mr. Ray has devoted the last two decades of his career to promoting risk-informed, inclusive, sustainable development. His work has involved positioning ideas, convening diverse stakeholders and integrating new domains and themes through diplomacy, sensitisation and negotiation. He brings extensive experience in partnership brokering, inter-agency coordination, systems thinking, and high-level representation in complex settings.

He holds a master’s degree (MBA) in international business from the Asian Institute of Technology in Thailand and a master’s degree in management from ESCP-EAP, Oxford, UK. He also has a postgraduate diploma in humanitarian assistance from Fordham University in the United States, a certificate in disaster management from the Asian Disaster Preparedness Centre in Thailand and a bachelor’s degree in physics from Fergusson College, University of Pune, India.

Ms. Andrea Wojnar is the Resident Representative for UNFPA India and the Country Director for Bhutan; she took up her role on 18 January and reported for duty in Delhi on 15 February, 2022.
Ms Wojnar is a citizen of the United States of America, and holds a Master’s degree in management from McGill University (Montreal, Canada), with studies at INSEAD (France), Lancaster University (United Kingdom), Indian Institute of Management (Bengaluru, India), LG Institute (South Korea) and Japan Advanced Institute of Science and Technology (Kanazawa, Japan). She also holds a Master’s in Social Change and Development Economics from the Johns Hopkins School for Advanced International Studies (Washington D.C.).
Prior to her arrival in India, Ms. Wojnar was UNFPA Representative in Mozambique, Senegal and Country Director for The Gambia. Before joining the United Nations, she led development and humanitarian programmes both at the grassroots and at the national level for the US Peace Corps, International Federation of Red Cross and Red Crescent Societies (IFRC), and the American Red Cross Society in more than 50 countries in Africa, Asia, and Latin America.
In a career spanning thirty-six years, Ms. Wojnar has been at the forefront of programmes that have focused on the rights and health of women and girls, and giving a voice to youth and adolescents. The ‘power of data’ being her core guiding principle, she is passionate about using evidence-based results to conduct public advocacy and high-level policy dialogue to influence decision-makers on the importance of gender equality for sustainable development.
Ms. Wojnar is a strong advocate of ensuring Rights and Choices for All.

Dr. Bhupinder Kaur Aulakh is the Representative for WHO Bhutan. Prior to joining WHO, Dr Aulakh held a number of senior positions in the in WHO and also held senior-policy making positions in the State Government of Uttarakhand in India. In addition, Dr Aulakh worked as the Managing Director and Country Head of Futures Group International, India Office, an international public health consulting group.

Mr Ken Shimizu is the FAO Country Representative for Bhutan and Nepal, since July 2021. Prior to this appointment, Mr Shimizu worked as the FAO Representative for Papua New Guinea since 2013. Ken has 24 years of experience in food security, agricultural and rural development, natural resources management, climate change, disaster risk reduction and emergency coordination, primarily with FAO and other UN agencies in Asia and the Pacific. Ken is a national of Japan, and holds a Masters in Environmental Planning from Cornell University in the USA.

Mr. Mohammad Younus is the UNDP Representative for Bhutan. Prior to the current assignment to Bhutan, Mr. Younus was the Crisis Country Adviser, Country Office Liaison & Coordination at, UNDP Regional Bureau for Asia and the Pacific, New York, USA. He also served as Head of the South and West Asia Cluster (SAWA) at Bangkok Regional Hub (BRH) and covered support to UNDP in South and West Asia including Bhutan, Afghanistan, India, Iran, Myanmar, Bangladesh and Pakistan. Before joining BRH, he served as the Programme Adviser and Deputy Chief of the SAWA Division in the UNDP Regional Bureau for Asia and the Pacific (RBAP), based in New York. Prior to joining RBAP, he served as Programme Adviser of the UNDP Regional Bureau for Arab States (RBAS) (2006 to 2010) and as Programme Adviser in BCPR (2001-2006). Before joining the UN, he was a member of the Afghan civil society community in various capacities.

Mr. Peter Rodrigues is the Country Director and Representative for the World Food Programme (WFP) in Bhutan. He brings over three decades of experience working with governments, UN agencies, and development partners to advance food security, social protection, and resilient food systems.
Prior to his current role, Mr. Rodrigues served as Deputy Country Director in Sudan, managing one of WFP’s largest operations across emergency, resilience, and food systems programming. He also served as Senior Advisor at the UN Secretary-General’s Food Systems Summit Secretariat in Italy, supporting over 100 countries to align food systems policies and secure sustainable food security outcomes.
Mr. Rodrigues has led South-South cooperation efforts from WFP’s Centre of Excellence in Brazil, facilitating knowledge exchange between Brazil and more than 40 countries in Africa and Asia. He has also held senior leadership roles in Angola, Indonesia, Zambia, and WFP Headquarters in Rome, overseeing humanitarian response, recovery operations, and strategic policy development.
He holds a degree in Economics and Business Statistics from the University of Rajasthan, India, and professional certification in Conflict Management and Resolution from the Institute of Multi-Track Diplomacy, USA. Mr. Rodrigues is multilingual, fluent in English, Portuguese, Hindi, and several regional languages.

Ms. Rushnan Murtaza is the Representative for UNICEF Bhutan. She brings extensive experience in managing both development and humanitarian programmes across various contexts. Prior to this, Ms. Murtaza served as the Deputy Representative in Afghanistan, where she led UNICEF's operations, ensuring a seamless integration of humanitarian and development responses. Her focus included resource mobilization, engagement with De Facto Authorities, and fostering partnerships with donors, UN agencies, and other stakeholders, with a particular emphasis on women’s and girls’ participation and child rights.
With a 28-year career at UNICEF, Ms. Murtaza has held pivotal positions, including Deputy Representative in Nigeria, where she spearheaded initiatives in health, nutrition, and education in one of UNICEF’s largest operations in Africa. She was also instrumental in managing the transition from humanitarian to development programming in Sierra Leone and contributing to Ghana's advancement from a lower-income to a lower-middle-income country. Additionally, as Chief of HIV Prevention and Young People & Education in UNICEF Namibia, she led innovative HIV prevention programmes that resulted in a significant decline in HIV prevalence, particularly among adolescents. Before joining UNICEF, Ms. Murtaza served as a civil servant in Bangladesh’s Ministry of Women and Children’s Affairs and worked as a Magistrate. A national of Bangladesh, she holds a master’s degree in International Relations from the University of Dhaka.