Our Leadership

Bintia Stephen Tchicaya, FAO Representative ad interim in Liberia

Ms Stephen Tchicaya was appointed as the FAO Representative ad interim in Liberia on 1 May 2023. She has over twenty-five years of professional experience in the United Nations System, 18 of which have been in FAO Country, Sub Regional and Regional Offices in Africa. She is a seasoned professional with a background in agricultural economics.

She currently serves as the Senior Policy Officer for the FAO Sub-Regional Office for West Africa in Senegal, leading highly specialized multi-disciplinary teams and providing technical leadership in high-level policy analysis, policy assistance, and governance work to member states at the regional level.

She is also the Programme Leader for Social Protection for Africa in the FAO Regional Office for Africa.
Ms. Stephen Tchicaya has extensive experience in social and agriculturale economic policies, strategic planning, and economic analysis. She possesses a good knowledge of the United Nations system and international development, focusing on regional and sub-regional integration organizations. She is familiar with procedures for mobilizing resources with partners and donors and has participated in the formulation of strategic planning of several documents in the fight against poverty, the formulation of food security projects, and sustainable management of resources and the environment.

She has served previously in several positions within the FAO, including Strategic Planning Officer in the Regional Office for Africa in Ghana and Programme Officer in the Sub regional Office for Central Africa in Gabon. She has also served as Programme Lead in the Office of Support to Decentralized Offices at FAO Headquarters in Rome, leading the UNDS reform for the Decentralized Offices Network.

Before joining FAO, she served as Advisor and Grant Officer at USAID, and Programme Officer for the United Nations Peace Keeping Mission in Haiti. She holds master’s degrees in Economics and International Finance from the American University in Paris, France, and in Human Development, Food Security and Sustainability from Roma Tre University, Italy.