Mr. Innocent Modisaotsile serves as the UNFPA Officer-in-Charge in Kenya.
A visionary international development leader, Mr. Modisaotsile brings more than three decades of progressive leadership experience managing complex country programmes, high-impact public health portfolios, and multi-country initiatives across Southern and East Africa. Throughout his career, he has successfully navigated the humanitarian-development-peace nexus, delivering transformative results in public health, gender equality, and human rights in both stable and fragile contexts. His expertise spans strategic leadership, partnership development, programme management, and policy advocacy, with a proven track record of driving sustainable development outcomes at national and regional levels.
He joined UNFPA in 2016 as the SRH/HIV Advisor for the Regional Office for East and Southern Africa. Since then, he has served as the Officer in Charge for the UNFPA Country Office for South Africa and interim Country Director for Botswana and Eswatini. Subsequently, he led the UNFPA Country Office of Lesotho as a Representative. Before his current role at the Kenya country office, he was the UNFPA Representative ad interim in South Sudan, where he provided critical humanitarian leadership in a complex crisis context, overseeing the delivery of life-saving Sexual and Reproductive Health and Rights (SRHR) services, Gender-Based Violence (GBV) emergency response, and programmatic mitigation against ongoing conflict and displacement.
Prior to his work at UNFPA, he spent over 13 years with the SADC Secretariat, where he is credited with significant achievements in regional policy harmonization, health cooperation, and multi-country program management. He has extensive experience within the United Nations system, having also worked for UNDP and UNICEF, and as a country focal person for UNAIDS and UNIFEM. He has also led multi-country initiatives funded by the European Union and the African Development Bank.
Innocent began his career in 1988 with the Ministry of Health of Botswana, holding various roles, including heading the maternal child health and family planning unit. He holds two master's degrees in Business Administration and Public Health.
