Montenegro

Profiles of decision makers in UNDP Montenegro

Mr. Alexander Avanessov has been UN Resident Coordinator and UNDP Resident Representative to Montenegro since 4 July 2008. Prior to his appointment in Montenegro he served as Deputy Resident Representative at the UNDP Armenia from September 2004 to June 2008. He also served from 1994 to 2004 as Regional Program Manager and Program Specialist at the UNDP Regional Bureau for Europe and the CIS, and as Senior Regional Adviser at the UNDP Country Office Russia.
Mr. Avanessov earned a Master’s Degree and a Doctorate in International Economic Relations at the Moscow State Institute of International Relations, Russia. He continued at the Moscow State Institute of Foreign Affairs as an assistant professor teaching courses on Economy of Japan and Economic Geography of the USSR.

Between 1984 and 1986 Mr. Avanessov served as Second Secretary at the Ministry of Foreign Affairs, Department of International Economic organizations where he contributed to the formulation and promotion of several key initiatives of USSR in the UN bodies. Between 1986 and 1994 he worked at the Russian Mission to the United Nations, Department of UN economic agencies as their First Secretary.

alexander.avanessov@undp.org

 

 

Ms. Kristine Blokhus joined the Montenegro country office as Deputy Resident Representative in July 2010. Her work focuses on four main responsibilities: ensuring the strategic direction of the UNDP programme; managing the programme practice areas; strategic partnerships with Government officials and civil society, other UN agencies and multilateral and bilateral donors; and provision of policy advice to the Government and facilitation of knowledge building and management. She joined the Montenegro team from UNDP Belize, where she oversaw programmes and operations as Assistant Resident Representative for two years.

Prior to working for UNDP, Kristine worked with the UN Population Fund (UNFPA): In Indonesia she worked in Aceh and Java on tsunami and earthquake response respectively, with a focus on prevention of Gender Based Violence; and in Laos, on capacity strengthening for institutions such as the Lao National Commission for the Advancement of Women. She has also worked for NGOs and research institutions in the UK and her native Norway. She holds a Masters Degree in Development Studies from the London School of Economics, and a Bachelors in Politics and French from the University of Warwick, UK.

kristine.blokhus@undp.org

 

Mr. Miodrag Dragišić started his career at UNDP in 2002 as Programme Associate for Civil society Development programme. Following rapid growth of the UNDP’s programme in Montenegro, especially in the socio-economic area, Mr. Dragišić was promoted into a position of a Social Inclusion Team Leader, which covers the issues related to human development, vulnerable population, employment, access to social security services, Millennium Development Goals, health, gender equality. Currently, the Social Inclusion Cluster consists of 10 staff with a portfolio of around $5 million being implemented through 6 projects and programmes, with the main aim to contribute towards capacity development of both Government and civil society partners in achieving social inclusion.

Since 2002 Mr. Dragišić has led and worked on a number of reports and studies, including the Human Development Report on Multiculturalism (2005) and the Report on the Millennium Development Goals in Montenegro (2006). He also participated in developing a number of studies concerning poverty, gender equality, environmental protection  and anticorruption. Since 2008 Mr. Dragišić has chaired the UN Thematic Group on Social Inclusion whose main task is to work on joint UN Programmes in Montenegro. In addition to the UN related work, Mr. Dragišić serves as a voluntary member of the Board of Fund for Active Citizenship (fAKT), a local non-governmental foundation that supports the citizens of Montenegro in taking active participation in political, economic, civic and cultural life. Mr. Dragišić holds a Bachelors Degree in Economics with specialization in Team Management.

miodrag.dragisic@undp.org

 

In 2007, Dr Milica Begović Radojević assumed the position of a cluster leader for Economy and Environment Cluster at UNDP Montenegro where her work is focused on achieving sustained economic development through effective natural resource management and environmental protection –environomics. Jointly with the Government, Economy and Environment Cluster seeks to align poverty reduction and employment creation in the northern Montenegro with a broader set of investments in climate change adaptation and mitigation, environmental conservation, rehabilitation of pollution and industrial hot spots, and spatial planning. 

From 2005 to 2007, Dr Begović Radojević worked as a programme officer and assistant to the Deputy Head of Mission at the Organization for Security and Cooperation of Europe, Mission to Montenegro. She earned a bachelor’s degree in Public Relations, master’s degree in Political Science, and a doctorate in International Relations at the University of Alabama, USA. She continued at the University as a teaching assistant/lecturer in the area of Comparative Politics. Including her doctoral dissertation, Dr Radojević Begović is the author of a number of academic articles in the peer-reviewed journals in the area of conflict prevention and resolution.    

milica.begovic@undp.org

 

 

Ms. Sanja Bojanić, Team Leader of the Democratic Governance cluster which is supporting European and Euro-Atlantic integrations of Montenegro through assisting the institutional reform and developing capacities of selected national, local institutions and other partners.
Before the above position, in November 2007 Ms. Bojanić assumed leadership in the implementation of the biggest regional environmental programme that UNDP has managed in the South Eastern Europe - the $US15 million programme that has successfully addressed priority environmental issues at 8 selected environmental hot spots in six countries/territories of the Western Balkans.
Ms. Bojanić started her career in UNDP in June 2003 as Programme Associate for Environment and Energy. By growing her portfolio from $50,000 to $3 million, from one to six fully funded projects, from one programme associate to a cluster employing twelve people, in January 2006 she “grew” into a position of a Team Leader of the Economy and Environment cluster.  She led preparation of two strategic UNDP publications that influenced further UNDP interventions as well as published articles and provided inputs for the books on private sector development, sustainable tourism and sustainable development.
Prior to her engagement with UNDP Ms. Bojanić worked for eight years with the Government where as an economist with MA in entrepreneurship she worked on supporting private sector development including co-authoring the book  “Business plan – methodological guide” published in Podgorica, July 1999. As a Ron Brown Fellow Ms. Bojanić graduated in 2002 as the best MBA (Master of Business Administration) in class at Brandeis University, Boston MA.

sanja.bojanic@undp.org

 

Ms. Snežana Dragojević has been Acting Regional Programme Manager of the Western Balkans Environmental Programme (WBEP) since January 2010. Her main tasks are to provide leadership to the Programme Management Unit, to coordinate preparation and implementation of regional activities, and to coordinate management and operational aspects of the Programme between participating UNDP country offices. The Programme is dealing with: i) remediation of high priority environmental hop spots at eight locations in six Western Balkans countries/territories, ii) raising awareness and enhancing capacities for good environmental management and iii) enhancing regional cooperation through improved information sharing and supply of professional consultancy services.  

Ms. Dragojević joined UNDP as WBEP Coordinator for Capacity Building in December 2007. Her main duties were to coordinate the capacity development and public awareness raising components of the programme in all six participating countries/territories.

Before joining UNDP, between 2000 - 2007, Ms. Dragojević worked as Project Manager with the Regional Environmental Centre for Central and Eastern Europe (REC) on the projects related to enhancing cross-border cooperation between neighboring countries in SEE over management of shared protected areas. 

Ms. Dragojević graduated from the Nikšić Faculty of Philosophy at the University of Montenegro, with major in English Language and Literature.

snezana.dragojevic@undp.org

 

Ms. Snezana Doljanica has been working as UNDP Operations Manager since May 2008, with the main focus on advising Senior Management on all aspects of CO management and operations. This includes strategic financial and human resources management, efficient procurement and logistical services, ICT and common services consistent with UNDP rules and regulations. Her main role is to lead the operations, ensuring smooth functioning of the CO/programmes/ projects operations.

Ms. Doljanica’s first employment at UNDP was in 2004, as Programme Assistant to Capacity Development Programme. Between 2006-2008 she worked as Project Manager on different Capacity Development Projects.

Ms. Doljanica graduated from the Faculty of Economics in Podgorica in 2001 as the best student in her class, after which she obtained a Master’s Degree in Public and International Management at University of Lecce, Italy.

snezana.doljanica@undp.org