Ivo Freijsen, Representative
Ivo Freijsen is the United Nations High Commissioner for Refugees (UNHCR) Representative in Lebanon. He previously served as the UNHCR Representative in the Islamic Republic of Iran.
Ivo brings with him over 30 years of experience in the humanitarian field at the country, regional and HQ levels, including with Médecins Sans Frontières (MSF), CARE International, the Directorate-General for the European Civil Protection and Humanitarian Aid Office (ECHO) and the United Nations Office for the Coordination of Humanitarian Affairs (OCHA), working across a wide range of situations, including Rwanda, Sudan, Eritrea, Iraq, Egypt and Syria.
Ivo Freijsen holds a Master’s degree in Arabic and Middle Eastern Studies, and a graduate diploma in International Relations. He speaks Dutch, Arabic, English and French.
Tracey Maulfair, Deputy Representative (Protection)
Tracey Maulfair has joined the United Nations High Commissioner for Refugees (UNHCR) in Lebanon as Deputy Representative (Protection) on 1 July 2021.
She has worked for UNHCR since 2001 in various field Operations and at Headquarters. Her latest assignments in UNHCR include Senior Policy and Guidance Coordinator in Geneva, Senior Policy Advisor, Development and Solutions in New York, and Assistant Representative (Protection) in Pakistan.
Tracey holds a BA with distinction and honors in Political Science with Spanish and Women’s Studies Minors; and a Juris Doctorate from New York University Law School.
Ioli Kimyaci, Deputy Representative (Operations)
Ioli Kimyaci joined UNHCR, the UN Refugee Agency, in Lebanon as Deputy Representative (Operations) in January 2021. Ioli has 37 years of experience working for the United Nations. She has worked for UNHCR since 1993 in various field Operations and at Headquarters. Her latest assignments in UNHCR include Representative in Burkina Faso, Representative in Ghana, Deputy Representative in Liberia and Chief of the Career Management Support Section at UNHCR’s headquarters.
Prior joining UNHCR, she has worked at the Economic Commission for Europe (ECE) and the United Nations Office for the Coordination for Afghanistan (UNOCA) in Geneva, Switzerland.
Ioli holds a University Diploma in Technology from the University Institute of Technology in Strasbourg, France and a First Certificate of Cambridge in English Language and Computer from Bletchington Park College in the United Kingdom. She speaks Greek, Turkish, English, French and Spanish.
Francis Teoh
Francis Teoh is the Head of Field Office in Tyre since August 2020.
He joined UNHCR as a Field Officer in Saudi Arabia 1992-95 in the aftermath of the 1st Gulf War. He then moved on to the next crises in the Balkans as Resettlement Officer in Serbia 1995-98 and Head of FO in Kosovo 1998-2000. He also served inTurkey as Senior Durable Solutions Officer 2001-05; Senior Protection Officer in Bangladesh 2006-08; Senior Regional Protection Officer in Indonesia and China 2008-15. From 2016, he assumed the role of Representative in China before joining the Afghanistan operation in 2018 as Sr. Operations Manager prior to his arrival in Lebanon.
Francis has also led three emergency deployments as the Team Leader at the Turkish/Iraqi border, Darfur and in Aceh during the Asian Tsunami response. With a career spanning some 27 years, he brings to the team a rich UNHCR experience having worked in various operations in Europe, Middle East, Africa and Asia.
Gwendoline Mensah
Gwendoline Mensah joined the Lebanon operation as the Head of Sub-Office Zahle in August 2020.
Gwendoline has 15 years of experience with UNHCR in a variety of operations, including in Africa, Asia and the Middle East. Gwendoline has a protection background, having served, as Repatriation Officer in the Republic of Congo, Field Officer (Protection) in Central African Republic, Head of Mogadishu Office/Senior Protection Officer in Somalia, Protection Cluster Coordinator in Afghanistan, Senior Protection Officer in Pakistan, and Assistant Representative (Protection) in Yemen.
Prior to joining UNHCR, Gwendoline worked as a Solicitor in a corporate law firm in the City in London.
Anne Dolan
Anne Dolan is the Head of the Tripoli Sub-Office: Anne joined UNHCR in 1999, as Associate Repatriation Officer in Monrovia, Liberia. Since then, she has had a varied career. She worked in Sierra Leone as Associate Field Officer and then became Head of Office in Tabou, Cote D’Ivoire, and later in Kibuye, Rwanda.
She worked as Programme Officer in Kabul, Afghanistan, and then as Senior Donor Relations Officer in UNHCR’s headquarters in Geneva. In 2014, she worked in the Lebanon operation as Snr. External Relations Officer, which she continued in Amman. For the last four years she was Head of Office, first in Suleimaniyah, followed by Duhok, Iraq, before joining the Lebanon operation in June 2019.
Frederic Cussigh
Frederic Cussigh joined the UNHCR operation in Lebanon on the 1st of January 2022 as Head of Sub-Office for Beirut and Mount-Lebanon.
He is an engineer in town planning and has more than 20 years experience with UNHCR, working across Africa, Asia, Middle East and Europe.
He served as Head of Office in Chad, South Sudan, DRC, Lebanon, and Iraq. He also worked as Registration Officer in Sudan, or IM/GIS Officer in Sierra Leone, Côte d’Ivoire, and Burundi.
Frederic also has extensive experience in emergency operations working to respond to refugees’ influx, IDPs crisis, natural disasters and repatriation and worked in Pakistan, Bangladesh, Côte d’Ivoire, Iraq, Liberia, Armenia, Syria, South Sudan, Lebanon, DRC to mention a few.
Prior to joining UNHCR, Frederic worked with NGOs in development (Cambodia) and mine action (Chad).