Our Team in Serbia

Ms. Deyana Kostadinova assumed her duties as the UNICEF Representative in Serbia in October 2020.

Prior to this assignment, she was the Permanent Representative of the Republic of Bulgaria to the United Nations Office at Geneva.

The new UNICEF Representative in Serbia has many years of experience on child rights, both as an expert and as a politician. She was the Deputy Prime Minister and Minister of Labour and Social Policy in a caretaker government in Bulgaria. Ms. Kostadinova has also worked as the Head of the Cabinet of the President of the Republic of Bulgaria and as an advisor to the Prime Minister. Her main achievements were always focused on the advancement of the child rights agenda.

Ms. Kostadinova held the position of Director-General of the "Monitoring on Child Rights" Directorate. During her term as the Director-General, she provided overall monitoring of the Child Protection Departments, specialized institutions, schools, hospitals, and NGOs.

Ms. Kostadinova has a Master of Law degree and she began her professional development as a lawyer specialised in human rights.

Mr. Yakup Beris has been appointed as UNDP Resident Representative in the Republic of Serbia in August 2022. Before the Republic of Serbia, he was the Resident Representative in Kazakhstan, leading UNDP country programme focusing on public institutions, social policy, economic diversification, and green transition, with a forward-looking development agenda on digitalization, innovation, and green finance.

Mr. Beris has 25 years of work experience in various international organizations at headquarters, regional, and country levels.

Prior to his assignments in Serbia and Kazakhstan, Mr. Beris led UNDP’s Regional Programme for Arab States based in Amman, Jordan and served as Regional Programme Adviser for the UNDP Regional Bureau for Arab States in New York. He led a team delivering various regional projects in diverse development settings across the region, which included work on economic integration, social cohesion, anti-corruption, gender, climate resilience and crisis response.

Mr. Beris also worked in senior positions in UNDP country offices in Khartoum, Sudan, during the finalization of the Comprehensive Peace Agreement as well as in Amman, Jordan, leading a programme focusing on policy advise and capacity support.

Prior to UNDP, Mr. Beris worked for the World Bank in its several departments in Washington, D.C. focusing on social development, governance and decentralization in Africa and Middle East. He also worked for Turkish Business Association (TUSIAD), a CSO/think tank, established by business leaders in Turkey, both in its Istanbul and Washington, D.C. offices.

Mr. Beris co-authored book chapters and articles on governance and decentralization and wrote on political and economic reforms in Turkey.

He holds an MA in public management from Maryland University, College Park in the USA and a BA (double major in political science/international relations and sociology) from Bogazici University in Turkey. He is married and is a proud father of two kids.

Dr Scano has over 20 years of experience in public health programme management and policy development in areas ranging from disease control, outbreak response, to regulatory strengthening. Dr Scano took up many important assignments with WHO Headquarters in Geneva and in the field including South Africa to assist the country with the outbreak of extensively drug-resistant TB in 2007.

In China, Dr Scano supervised all communicable and noncommunicable disease programmes in the WHO China Office, and supported strengthening of the National Regulatory Authority for medicine, vaccines and other health products. Since Jan 2020, Dr Scano has been at the forefront of the WHO COVID-19 response in China
first and then he provided support to the WHO European office on COVID-19 response. Prior to his assignment in Serbia as WHO Representative and Special Envoy of the
WHO Regional Director for the Western Balkans, Dr Scano was acting WHO Representative for WHO in Bosnia and Herzegovina.

Dr Scano is a public health specialist and holds a M.D. from University of Padua, Italy; a post graduate degree in Infectious Diseases and Tropical Medicine; and he is a Yale World Fellow.

Ms. Borka Jeremic is the Head of the UNFPA Country Office in the Republic of Serbia. Before joining UNFPA in 2020, Ms. Jeremic worked at the UN World Food Programme (1992-2004), the UN Development Programme (2004-2006) and as the Head of the UN Resident Coordinator's Office in Serbia (2006-2020).
Ms. Jeremic has expertise in humanitarian and development programming, with a focus on the social inclusion of vulnerable and marginalized populations. Her skills extend to strategic planning, policy and analytical work, coordination and coherence building in the spirit of Delivering as One, development cooperation in line with the Agenda 2030 and fostering strategic partnerships.
Ms. Jeremic holds a Master’s degree from the Faculty of Philology at the University of Belgrade, Serbia, and is fluent in Serbian, English, French and Italian.

Jovan Protic has been the National Coordinator of the ILO in Serbia since 2008, responsible for the representation of the ILO in Serbia and for implementation of the ILO Decent Work Country Programme for Serbia.

Prior to assuming that role Jovan has worked for the UNDP as the Project Manager in charge of the drafting of the National Sustainable Development Strategy of Serbia on 2005-2008.

Earlier in his career Jovan has worked for the ILO in 2003-2005 as the Coordinator of the Reform of the Labour Inspectorate of Serbia, and for the UNDP as the Project Manager of the Capacity building of the Ministry of Labour and Employment of Serbia in 2002-2003. He started his career at the Agency for Public Administration Development under the Cabinet of the Prime Minister of Serbia in 2001.

Jovan holds two BA Degrees (BA in Economics from the University of Belgrade and BSc in Politics & International Relations from the University of London), two Master Degrees (in Economics of European Union from the College of Europe, Bruges, and in Law and Economics, Faculty of Law, University of Belgrade) and a PhD in Labour Law from the Faculty of Law, University of Belgrade.

Mr Milicevic has served with the United Nations since 2021 as Regional Specialist at the UNODC Programme Office in Belgrade. He is engaged in the UNODC-led Action against Human Trafficking and Migrant Smuggling, under which, as a globally recognized initiative for its standard-setting tools and materials, provides policy guidance and technical assistance to Serbia and other jurisdictions in South-Eastern Europe, contributing to the advancement of crime prevention and criminal justice responses at national, regional, and global levels. Prior to joining UNODC, he held several positions within the Prosecution Service of Serbia for more than a decade, where he served as focal point for multiple projects implemented domestically, regionally, and internationally. He was also appointed as a member of negotiating and working groups of the Government of Serbia in various processes aimed at strengthening the criminal justice framework to effectively combat transnational organized crime.

Michela is the Director of UNOPS Multi-Country Office, and Representative to Bosnia and Herzegovina, Montenegro, North Macedonia, and Serbia since 2018. Michela brings a wealth of expertise in humanitarian affairs, conflict analysis and resolution, and team management in insecure environments. Prior to joining UNOPS, she held various senior positions as a director with the ICRIC in conflict-affected countries in Africa, Latin American and Asia. She also worked in the humanitarian policy and advocacy sectors in the UK and Canada, and in the financial sector in the City of London.

Michela holds a PhD in International Relations, a Doctorate in Languages and Literature, and a Masters degree in Development Studies. Her research interests include international relations, the link between development and security, and Security Sector Reform.

She is fluent in English, Italian, French, and Spanish.

Ms. Rikanovic has more than 20 years of professional experience with international organizations in the Western Balkans and Tajikistan, including UN organizations, World Bank and EU initiatives, where she has been leading diverse, complex and multi-sector programmes. This included the Women Economic Empowerment portfolio in Serbia and MNE where her engagement in the area of women's labour rights and gender-based discrimination was featured as the model programme of the economic empowerment of women inclusive of CSOs and local communities. She developed gender responsive governance portfolio in UN Women, where she initiated the programme at the local level and started the process of gender mainstreaming of the EU assistance and accession process and sectoral strategies and budgets.

Soufiane Adjali is a jurist with more than 30 years of experience with the United Nations and international organizations.
Mr Adjali started his career in 1994 as a Human Rights Officer at OHCHR in Rwanda whereafter he worked as a Civil Affairs Officer for the United Nations Peace Keeping Operation in Bosnia and Herzegovina, UNMIBH - DPKO.

He joined the United Nations High Commissioner for Refugee (UNHCR) in 1996 and occupied several positions in International Protection, in Oversight (Inspector General Office in the Executive Office of the High-Commissioner), in the Management of Operations and as Liaison / Representative of the High-Commissioner in operations in the Americas, Africa, Europe, and the Middle East.
Mr Adjali speaks Arabic, French, English, Serbian and Persian.
Soufiane Adjali assumed the duties of the Representative of UNHCR in Serbia in February 2023.

Viorel Gutu has over 30 years of experience in agricultural development, enterprise restructuring, structural reforms, and private business development through his involvement in the public and private sector, and implementation of international projects.

Before joining FAO, Gutu was Deputy Minister of Agriculture and Food Industry in the Republic of Moldova. He also served as an economic affairs officer with the United Nations Transitional Administration in East Timor, where he dealt with peacekeeping operations, poverty alleviation and the prevention of emergency situations. He holds a doctoral degree in economics.

Mr. Zeynal Hajiyev, a national of Azerbaijan, has officially assumed the position of the Chief of Mission at IOM Serbia on 01 Oct 2024. With over 28 years of service at IOM, he is an experienced professional in humanitarian-transition-peace nexus. He also specializes in sustainable development, particularly in technical cooperation and capacity building in migration and border governance.
Prior to this appointment, Mr. Hajiyev served as IOM Sub-Regional Coordinator for Central Asia/ Chief of Mission in Kazakhstan, Kyrgyzstan, Turkmenistan and Uzbekistan (2019-2024). Before that he was Chief of Mission in Belarus (2012-2019) and in Tajikistan (2008-2012). From 1996 to 2008, Mr. Hajiyev worked as Admin/Management Specialist and Programme Manager at IOM in Azerbaijan, Kosovo (UNSC Resolution1244) and Iraq. Prior to that, he worked as Scientific Researcher (1986-1996).
Mr. Hajiyev holds Advanced Diploma in Public Administration from the Nottingham Trent University, UK, as well as Diploma in Engineering from Moscow Bauman State Technical University, RF. He is fluent in several languages, including Russian and Turkish.