Maxime Houinato Regional Director, UN Women West and Central Africa

Dr. Maxime Houinato is the UN Women's Regional Director for West and Central Africa.

Before his appointment in 2024, Houinato was UN Women's Regional Director for East and Southern Africa since 2021. From 2018-2021 he was UN Women’s Uganda Country Representative where he contributed to a significant growth of programme through the successful implementation of a robust resource mobilization strategy. Prior to joining the Uganda Country office, he served for six years as UN Women's Deputy Regional Director for WCARO stationed in Dakar (2008-2014). For four years, he was Mali Country Representative from 2014-2018 based in Bamako.

Houinato has been an active member of the UN Regional Quality & Support Assurance (QSA) team of the UNDG in West Africa and a key contributor to UN’s "Deliver as One" (DaO) model. He has supported the design and implementation of a series of positive legislation, public policies, and large-scale programs to promote women’s leadership, the involvement of women in business and critical value-chains as well as ending violence against women and girls. Between 2000 and 2008, Dr. Houinato held the roles of Deputy Regional Director (West Africa), and Regional Director (Southern Africa) for Oxfam UK.

He has also worked for other International NGOs including Catholic Relief Services, Africare, and the Academy for Educational Development – in various capacities and locations including Benin, Ghana, Senegal, Niger, the UK and Thailand. Dr. Maxime Houinato holds a Master of Business Administration (MBA) from Abomey-Calavi University in Benin, a Master of Arts (MA) in International Development from Brandeis University in the US and a Doctorate (PhD) in Applied Sociology from Cheikh Anta Diop University in Senegal.