Meet the Representative

Dr. Joan Matji serves as UNICEF’s Country Representative to Botswana and SADC. Dr. Matji, a national of South Africa has worked with UNICEF since 1998 and has held several senior positions including as Head of the Nutrition programme in Ethiopia (2011 – 2014) and as the Regional Nutrition Advisor in Nairobi (2015 – 2020) providing technical support and oversight for 21 countries in Eastern and Southern Africa. She has also served in a representational role on behalf of the Regional Director in the UNICEF Regional Hub for Botswana, Namibia, Eswatini and Lesotho (BNLE) from 2017 - 2018.
 

In addition to UNICEF work, Dr. Matji has experience working with the Southern Africa Regional USAID office on Nutrition and HIV as an Advisor. She has also served as a lecturer for both undergraduate and post graduate courses and research management with the Medical University of Southern Africa. Dr. Matji has conducted a doctoral research through a joint partnership with the Universities of Yale and Pretoria focused on the nutritional status of HIV positive mothers and assessment of infant feeding practices. She has written extensively about nutrition issues in Eastern and Southern Africa in both academic journals as well as regional reports and frequently serves as a Reviewer for the South African Journal of Clinical Nutrition.
 

Dr. Matji holds a Master of Science degree from the University of London (London School of Hygiene and Tropical Medicine) and obtained her Ph.D. degree in Public Health Nutrition in 2009 from the University of Pretoria. She speaks Southern Sotho, Setswana and is literate in French.