Meet the Global Support Team

Marie-Hélène Kyprianou

Marie-Hélène Kyprianou joined the global Food Security Cluster in August 2022. She has been working for the United Nations for the last 22 years, primarily with the UN World Food Programme accumulating diversified experiences. She has spent part of her career in the field, namely Iraq, Egypt, Jordan, Kenya and Sudan, managing complex emergencies and portfolios. She has also served at WFP Headquarters in Rome and in WFP’s Geneva Global Office overseeing a number of partnerships. She has acquired diverse humanitarian experience in the areas of operational, emergency preparedness and response, project design and implementation, fundraising, external relations and advocacy. 

She has an MSc in Political Science from the University of Rome La Sapienza and an MSc in Development Studies from the School of Oriental and African Studies (SOAS) in London. Recently as part of a mid-career break, she completed an Executive Master at the Graduate Institute of Geneva on International Negotiations and Policymaking.

Abdul Majid

Mr. Abdul Majid, a national of Pakistan, has joined global food security cluster as Global Coordinator food security cluster, effective 1 November 2021.  

Mr. Abdul Majid holds master’s degree in development from COMSATS university, Pakistan. He also holds Master of Business Administration degree from his studies in Pakistan. 

Mr. Abdul Majid has almost 15 years of experience in design, implementation and coordination of emergency responses in food security and livelihoods, resilience and climate-change adaptation sectors in the following countries: Pakistan, Philippines, Afghanistan, Syria and South Sudan. 

During last two years, he was based in FAO regional office Bangkok as regional coordinator IPC for Asia and NANE region. He supported food security analysis in Pakistan, Afghanistan, Bangladesh, Yemen, Sudan and Ethiopia.  

Before this regional role, he remained associated with food security and agriculture cluster in South Sudan and Afghanistan for 6 years between 2014 to 2019 working with multiple partners to support/coordinate large-scale humanitarian responses.

Cristina Majorano

Italian national, Cristina holds an undergraduate degree in public administration (Bocconi University, Italy) and a master in development economics (University of East Anglia, UK). Cristina has worked for 12 years for NGOs, both in emergency and development contexts, and both in the field and in the HQ. Eclectic professional, her field experience ranges from needs assessment and programme planning, to coordination, monitoring and evaluation, as well as programme support functions, while her thematic expertise includes food assistance and livelihoods support, but also nutrition, health, WASH and protection. She has been deployed to Sudan, Myanmar, Indonesia, Kenya, DRC, Chad and Jordan, and more recently supported operations in Ethiopia, Uganda, Cote d’Ivoire, Rwanda, Afghanistan and Yemen. Cristina is fluent in English, French and Spanish. Beside languages, Cristina enjoys nature in all its forms, traveling, music and dancing. She has joined the gFSC team in February 2020. 

Damien Joud

Damien holds a master in agronomy (Ecole Supérieure de Purpan, Toulouse, France).  He joined the gFSC team in Rome in March 2019. 

He has more than sixteen years of experience in humanitarian response in the field, mainly in the food security & livelihoods sectors with International NGOs (CARE, Action Against Hunger/ACF, Solidarites International, RedR UK, CAFOD, HelpAge International), and UN (FAO and WFP) in various contexts (conflicts, refugee/IDP, natural disaster – tsunami, floods, earthquake, waterlogging and cholera outbreak), and countries (Bangladesh, Indonesia, Niger, UK, Haiti, Myanmar, Guinea, Gambia, Serbia, Fiji).

He worked with the FSC in Bangladesh as the cluster coordinator from 2015 to 2018, at national level and in Cox’s Bazar.

Davide Rossi

Davide holds a Master degree in Social Sciences (Paris 8), and one in Political Science (Roma TRE), with a special focus on human rights & international relations. He has worked in the humanitarian sector since 2008, working for NGOs and UNs (WFP and FAO) mainly in the field of food security, livelihoods and nutrition. He has been deployed to various countries and crisis – both conflict and natural disasters related - in the middle east (oPt, Whole of Syria, Turkey), Cox’s Bazar (Rohingya emergency) and DPR Korea. He worked as Food Security Cluster coordinator from 2014 to 2018, and has joined the gFSC team in Rome in September 2019. He is fluent in English and French.

Walter Leoni

Walter is an experienced graphic designer with a vast educational and work experience in Australia where he moved in 2000. With a specialization in Graphic Arts at RMIT University, Melbourne, he spent over a decade in the graphic field, working on a wide range of project and clients, nationally and Internationally. A background as Art Director for a large Media Company, he also has a strong passion for marketing and completed further studies in Marketing and Business. Experienced in print (editorial, branding, typography, packaging) and online communication projects (web, social). He joined WFP in 2016 and his strenght is his adaptability, he is able to jump easily from being graphic designer, social media expert, helping out in IT issues or supporting IMOs.  A creative thinker that likes bringing ideas to life.​ When he is away from design, he enjoy sports, socializing and travelling.

Wenceslas Ntumba

Citizen of Democratic Republic of Congo (DRC), Wenceslas Ntumba have several years of experience in Information Management Systems, GIS, Naturals resources and Agricultures at National and International level.

Before joining the gFSC, he worked for 2 years as IMO for Food Security Cluster in Mali, in Bangladesh (Cox’s Bazar) to support humanitarian response to the Rohingya with IOM as IMO for the WASH cluster, at Logistics Cluster (WFP-DRC) as GIS Officer and Information & Knowledge Management (IMKM) between 2011-2017 and for WFP in the Philippines between 2013-2014 during response to Typhoon Haiyan.

Wenceslas has extensive knowledge of cluster coordination mechanisms, food security analysis, capacity building, data collection and GIS as to support better decision making.

He holds a master’s degree in Natural Disaster Management from University of Liège, Belgium and a degree in Agricultural Engineering (Soil and Water Management) from university of Kinshasa, DRC.

Lorena Viladomat

Lorena has an MSc in Food Security and Sustainable Agriculture from the University of Exeter and has experience working in humanitarian, development, public, and private sectors in countries such as Egypt, Honduras, Jordan, Mozambique, Palestine, Poland, South Sudan, Ukraine, and the United Kingdom, to mention some. She has conducted research in Thailand, Mexico, Libyan desert, Israel, and Palestine. She has worked in the Food Security and Livelihoods sector as a manager, technical advisor, consultant, and specialist, particularly in emergency contexts. She is resourceful and passionate about finding better and more sustainable ways to make a positive impact in people's lives. Lorena’s passion for land and water rights, as well as conservation, led her to create a Community Interest Company to cycle across countries to raise money for supporting, building, and running farming projects in the Middle East. Lorena is fluent in Spanish, English, and Portuñol 😊 and is looking forward to improving her French, Arabic, and Italian. 

Giovanni La Costa

Giovanni has worked in a variety of contexts in the private, public, and humanitarian/development sectors. He joined the UN in 1991 as Hydrologist and Soil/Water Conservation Specialist with WMO. Then he worked as Hydrogeologist in Colorado and after that he got a master’s degree in Natural Resources Management at the Arizona State University. During the last civil war, he joined WFP in Angola as GIS Specialist and then, as Head of VAM, he led a team of national and international officers. In Headquarters, Giovanni led a team of developers and business analysts to design the first Common Monitoring & Evaluation Tool for WFP. On behalf of WFP, he supported the Government of Cape Verde in developing a food security database and a multiyear performance planning and implementation monitoring platform. In 2016, he joined WFP Regional Bureau in Southern Africa as regional resilience advisor. He enjoys hiking, tennis, sailing, and ...cooking

Gabriel Arroyo

Gabriel is originally from Ecuador but moved to Rome, Italy in 1999. He completed a Bachelor's degree in foreign languages at La Sapienza University of Rome, and a Master’s degree in Interpreting and Translation at the University of International Studies in Rome. Prior to working at the Global Food Security Cluster team at the Office of Emergency and Resilience, from 2022 he worked at the Forestry division mainly in the Forest Dryland and Forest Health & Protection team, and from 2020 to 2021 at the Finance Division. He is passionate about foreign languages, geopolitics, and current affairs. In his spare time he enjoys training, do outdoors activities and watch football.

Domitilla Armeni

Domitilla has a keen interest in international cooperation and humanitarian issues. She holds a bachelor’s degree in Political Science for Cooperation and Development and a Master’s Degree in Development Economics, both from Università degli Studi di Roma Tre. 

Domitilla describes herself as a hard-working, dynamic and proactive person. Domitilla has recently worked as administrative assistant at the Swiss Mission to the UN in Rome and as an assistant customer service for a pharmaceutical company in Rome, validating agreements with public and private clients. She has also worked as a conference messenger at WFP and IFAD, providing support to formal or informal meetings of the Executive Board, and assisting delegations and with other conference arrangements.

Domitilla is 26 years old and an Italian citizen. During her free time, she loves reading, writing and taking long walks.

Rama Suleiman

Rama Suleiman holds master’s degree in Business Administration and for the last 8 years has been working with both FAO and WFP mainly in Information Management, Vulnerability Assessments, Geographic Information Systems and Reporting. She worked both in the field in Syria, Jordan, and Turkey and managed operational information pertaining to crisis countries in the MENA and Latin America regions including Yemen and Ukraine. Her field and HQ experience enabled her to support global reporting on food security crises. Rama speaks Arabic, English and Spanish.

Angelina Virchenko

Angelina is a national of Ukraine with 8 years of experience in information management and socio-economic research. She holds a PhD degree in Economics obtained at Taras Shevchenko National University of Kyiv (Ukraine). Before joining the gFSC team, she served as an Information Management and Data Visualization Officer with WFP Niger. She has also prior information management experience with Food Security Cluster and Gender-Based Violence Sub-Cluster in Ukraine and had been working as a researcher at institutions for sociological and economic studies. She has joined the gFSC team in August 2022. She speaks English, French, Ukrainian and Russian.

Angelique Grondin

French national, Angelique holds a master of business administration (ESSEC Paris, France) and a master of civil law (University of Cergy-Pontoise, France). She first started her career the private sector in the United States (Chicago, IL) and later on in Europe (Rome, Brussels) where she developed a solid experience in communications and marketing, as well as expertise in event management. Passionate about human rights, she also provided pro-bono support to NGOs expert in the field of migration. In 2018, she joined UNICEF (3 years in Italy, 1 year in Eastern and Southern Africa), where she coordinated the implementation of digital platforms and interagency programmes aiming at providing strengthened accountability to affected population (focusing on youth on the move, more particularly unaccompanied and separated children), ensuring access to protection services, and fostering impact through youth-led advocacy initiatives. She has joined the FSC in March 2022. Communications is not only her work expertise, but her way of life: passionate about people and culture, she is always happy to pause and connect with others, sharing her love for languages, dancing, traveling, tasting and/or cooking all kinds of food and world spices.

Herve Sorrel

Herve holds a master degree in International Affairs and a Master in Humanitarian Programme Management from the Bioforce Institute. His experience in both, the private and the humanitarian sector, allowed him to develop strong skills in: assessment methodologies, information and knowledge management. Herve worked in several emergency contexts covering different roles, including reporting and communications in Haiti in 2018, IMO for the DRC food security cluster in 2020, and more recently as assessment officer for the cash and market working group in CAR.

He joined the global FSC support team in November 2021.

George Kassab

George is a national of Lebanon and holds a Master in International Cooperation in Urban Development (TU Darmstadt, Germany) and a Master in Sustainable Emergency Architecture (UIC Barcelona, Spain). He works in WFP since 2011 mainly in information and knowledge management in emergencies, in HQ as well as Lebanon and Mozambique offices. He joined FSC in Libya in July 2019 as an IMO and gFSC in October 2021 as Data Analyst. He enjoys creatively bringing together analysis, information and design to communicate the messages.