Ms. Diene Keita, who recently served as Minister for Cooperation and African Integration with the Republic of Guinea, brings to the position nearly 30 years of experience within the United Nations  System. She started her United Nations career in 1990 with the United Nations Development  Programme (UNDP) in New York as Programme Officer, and from this point held various successful  programmatic leadership positions at country level, serving as UNDP Deputy Representative and  Acting Representative for several years. 

Ms. Keita joined UNFPA in 2006 as Representative in Mauritania, and thereafter served in  representative positions in Benin, as well as in DRC and Nigeria (two of UNFPA’s largest programmes  globally) before joining the Guinean Government as a Cabinet Minister in 2018. During this time, Ms.  Keita successfully led large and complex public health programmes, expanded strategic partnerships  and mobilized critical resources to support delivery. While serving with UNFPA, Ms. Keita also acted  as United Nations Resident Coordinator in Mauritania, Benin and DRC where she oversaw the United  Nations system at the national level. All throughout her career, Ms. Keita has worked extensively on  the empowerment of women and youth, inclusive growth, demographic issues, sustainable human  development, addressing sexual and reproductive health, as well as gender-based violence in  humanitarian settings. 

Ms. Keita, who is fluent in French and Italian amongst other languages, and holds a doctorate in Law,  a DEA in International Economics and Development Law and a DESS in International Relations from  the University of Paris 1 Sorbonne. Ms.Keita considers the rights and choices of the 10 year old girl  as central to her work and hopes to do everything possible to ensure that the adolescent girl is given  all the opportunities and support required to enable her to fulfill her potential.