Victoria Valenzi and Lenyara Fundukova

Victoria Valenzi is presently a volunteer at FAO, where she co-leads the design of MasterClasses linked to the Innovation Track of the World Food Forum.  Prior to joining FAO, Victoria was an intern with the International Fund for Agricultural Development (IFAD) Staff Association, where she contributed to the re-launching of the IFAD Youth Network in late 2020, and continues to volunteer her time with some of its initiatives, including moderating the “Fireside Chats with IFAD Leaders” monthly event.

She is also an active representative of the International Plant Protection Convention (IPPC) Secretariat at FAO’s youth group for plant health, responsible for drafting the International Year of Plant Health (IYPH) 2020 youth declaration, one of the key legacies of the IYPH 2020. 

Prior to her involvement with the United Nations, Victoria obtained her bachelor’s degree in Political Science, Philosophy and French at Rutgers University. Following graduation, she was a paralegal in New York City, with experience in both immigration and employment law firms. Victoria has also a master’s degree in International Relations with a certificate in International Diplomacy from St. John’s University, Rome Campus. 

Lenyara Fundukova is Senior Knowledge Management Specialist at the Strategy and Knowledge Department (SKD) at the International Fund for Agricultural Development (IFAD). SKD provides IFAD’s analytical leadership capacity, on the one hand by enabling the Fund to effectively participate in, and contribute to, the international policy dialogue on agricultural and rural development (in particular, on smallholder agricultural development), and on the other helping to ensure that IFAD’s policies, programmes and projects are informed by state-of-the-art thinking on these issues.

Lenyara has dedicated her life to serving people, and has demonstrated her firm commitment throughout the two decades of her national and international service at UNDP, UNOPS and IFAD.  She has managed UN regional and country operations that tackled poverty, inequality, unemployment, migration and climate change, while supporting countries’ resilience and recovery from shocks and conflicts. She has worked in nearly 20 countries in 4 geographic regions: Asia, North Africa, Arab States and Eastern Europe. 

Since 2019, she has been serving as Chair of IFAD’s Staff Association representing IFAD staff around the globe. In that capacity, she repositioned the Staff Association as a potent and constructive force within the global IFAD, while ensuring that every staff’s voice counts and every concern matters.

Her academic background includes a Master’s degree in Economics followed by a Doctorate in Management from the University of Liverpool, UK. Her studies focused on management of organizational reforms and quality of leadership - the areas of greatest attention of the UN nowadays.