Effective from 1 November, the UNFPA Country Technical Services Team (CST) in Bangkok and UNFPA Country Programme Office in Thailand have been merged under the direction of Mr. G. Giridhar, currently Director, UNFPA CST, Bangkok. Also effective from 1 November, Dr. Sheila Macrae, former UNFPA Representative in Thailand has been named UNFPA Representative (a.i.) to Cambodia.

Mr. Peter Chen arrived at the end of October to take up his new assignment as Adviser on Adolescent Reproductive Health focusing on behaviour change communication (BCC) with UNFPA CST, Bangkok. Mr. Chen is a specialist on BCC and advocacy and has worked for over 20 years with UNICEF in various duty stations. Prior to his current appointment in Bangkok, he was the Programme Coordinator and Deputy Representative for UNICEF Turkey.

Ms. Nobuko Horibe was recently appointed as UNFPA Representative in the Lao People’s Democratic Republic. After working in the private sector and with the United Nations Development Programme, Ms. Horibe joined UNFPA in 1987 and held various positions in the field and at Headquarters. Prior to her current appointment, she was Senior Evaluation Officer in the (then) Office of Oversight and Evaluation, New York.