Dr Maxime Houinato is UN Women’s Resident Representative in Mali since 2014, where he piloted several young women leadership programmes in the areas of governance, business as well as peace and security. He also served for 6 years as UN Women’s Deputy Regional Director for West Africa, based in Dakar.

Before the UN, he worked for several international NGOs including Oxfam UK, Catholic Relief Services and Africare, in his home country Benin, as well as in Rwanda, Ghana, Senegal, South Africa, the UK and Thailand.

Maxime Houinato holds an MBA from Benin National University, an MA in International Development from Brandeis University in the USA, and a PhD in Sociology from Cheikh Anta Diop University in Senegal.