Regional Centre in Bangkok

Capacity Development Programme Asia Team

Dipa Bagai , CD Team Leader and CD Advisor

Dipa supports Country Offices’ efforts to mainstream capacity development into programming, and provides advice and technical backstopping on capacity diagnostics, designing capacity development strategies and monitoring at the local and national levels. She also assists Country Offices by developing guidelines and toolkits for capacity development, including targeted initiatives such as leadership development.

Dipa has undertaken numerous assignments and conducted studies for UNDP, donors and international organizations on capacity development, public administration reform, technical cooperation, donor coordination and harmonization issues and strategic planning. Prior to this assignment, she worked with the World Bank as Senior Partnership Specialist. She had worked for over fifteen years as a civil servant in India. She has also provided consultancy services including policy advice and partnership building support, and was involved in the development, management, and evaluation of capacity development programmes particularly in the Asia and Pacific Region.

Robert Gonzalez Bernardo, Capacity Development Specialist

Bob has a background in environmental management, coastal zone management and socio-economic policy/institutional assessment. Prior to joining UNDP, Bob was the Programme Manager for the South East Asia Technical Advisory Committee for the Global Water Partnership in Bangok.  He has undertaken a number of assignments and published reports in the areas of integrated water resources management, coastal resources management, socio-economic and policy/Institutional assessments in the region.

Arndt Husar, Capacity Development Programme Specialist

Arndt contributes to programme development and policy advisory services with a particular focus on Public-Private-Partnerships for Local Service Delivery (PPP-LSD) and Capacity Assessments. Prior to joining UNDP RCB, Arndt was with the India Country Office where for the past 2 years he handled a portfolio of projects in the Governance Unit encompassing capacity development in the areas of Decentralisation (mainly elected representatives and public officials of urban local bodies and rural self governance institutions), Public-Private-Partnership for Urban Environment (PPPUE) and Access to Information (A2I).

Seonghye Heidi Han, Capacity Development Policy Analyst

Heidi conducts comparative research and related policy analysis for the programme, supports programme formulation, and backstops policy advisory services, capacity assessments and related advocacy activities. She also provides support to the design and rollout of training initiatives for country teams and regional offices of other UN agencies. Prior to joining UNDP, Heidi was with the National Human Rights Commission of the Republic of Korea and at the United Nations Crime Congress for the Institute of Criminology in Korea.

Ashley Palmer, Capacity Development Research Analyst

Ashley conducts research and analysis in support of the regional programs being implemented in cooperation with SNV (Dutch Development Organisation). She also supports the CD team’s Local Development Management line, capacity assessments, and research support. Prior to joining UNDP, she was a project coordinator with The American Society of International Law in Washington, DC. She also spent a year as a Fulbright Fellow, conducting independent research in rural Japan.

Diana Brandes, PPP Local Service Delivery Programme Specialist

Diana supports the Public Private Partnership for Local Service Delivery Portfolio. Prior to joining UNDP, Diana worked as a consultant for different practice UNDP teams in Bangkok and Colombo Regional Centres and at SNV (Netherlands Development Organization) and VSO (Voluntary Services Overseas, a UK based INGO) providing advisory services in the public and private sectors.She has provided extensive capacity development support in different countries such as Nepal, Cameroon and Lithuania, and also worked for several years as senior manager in the corporate financial private sector at ING Group in the Netherlands.

Pranee Threekul, Programme Assistant

Pranee has been with UNDP since 1997.  She provides programmatic support to Capacity 2015 Asia and assists as well the Asia Advisors from the Public-Private Partnerships for the Urban Environment (PPPUE) and the Bureau for Crisis Prevention and Recovery (BCPR).  She has previously worked with the Governance and Poverty Alleviation Programme of UNDP Thailand.