Office of the Director

Ms Anne Githuku-Shongwe joins the Joint United Nations Programme on HIV/AIDS (UNAIDS) as the Director, Regional Support Team, East and South Africa, based in Johannesburg, Republic of South Africa. She brings to her role 20 years of experience as a senior international development professional including with the United Nations Development Programme across Africa and Management consulting in the United States of America.

Ms Anne Githuku-Shongwe last posting was as Representative for UN Women's South Africa Multi-Country Office (SAMCO), which is responsible for women's empowerment and gender equality in Botswana, Lesotho, Swaziland and Namibia as well as South Africa, where the office was based.

Ms Anne Githuku-Shongwe has been an award-winning social entrepreneur and founder of AROES, a Digital & Gamification Learning enterprise and a thought leader on the Future of Learning.

Ms Anne Githuku-Shongwe and AFROES received multiple awards including the prestigious Schwab Foundation/World Economic Forum Social Entrepreneur of the Year 2013 Award and a National Award – the Order of the Grand Warrior from the President of Kenya. Other awards include the PeaceAPP award of the UN, MEFFYs Award, London UK and Netexplo Award, Paris to name a few.

Ms Anne Githuku-Shongwe is an Author contributor in several books including the 2021 The Write to Speak: A collection of stories by African Women Leaders, Kenya@50 and Turning a Crisis into an Opportunity: The HIV Response in Lesotho, 2004. She is also a Board Member and Grand Juror of the World Summit Awards for the UN Information Society and a former Global Ambassador of the Vital Voices Leadership Program.

She has a Masters’ degree in International Development from The American University; a certificate in Social Innovation from the University of Cape Town, Graduate School of Business, a certificate in The Art of Large Scale Systems Change for Social Entrepreneurship from Harvard University and a Management Certificate from Jones International University.