Charles Allan Kwenin

Charles Allan Kwenin has over 30 years of experience in migration management. Until his retirement in 2022, Mr. Kwenin served as the Regional Director for Southern Africa of the International Organization for Migration (IOM) from 2017 providing strategic direction and policy support and guidance to governments of 15 Countries in the Southern Africa Region as well as COMESA, IOC and SADC. Mr. Kwenin has been very instrumental in establishing various Regional Consultative Processes (RCPs) on Migration in Africa in collaboration with the various Regional Economic Communities (RECs) including; COMESA, EAC, ECCAS, ECOWAS; IGAD, IOC and SADC.

In coordination with the African Union, the RECs and AU Member States, Mr. Kwenin pioneered the Pan African Forum on Migration (PAFoM); an Africa-wide platform for informal and non-binding dialogue on migration to promote inter-state dialogue and intra-regional cooperation on migration in partnership with multi-stakeholders including; Civil Society, Private Sector, Academia and the Development Partners for exchanged of information and experience to ensure common understanding and policy coherence on migration in Africa.

Mr. Kwenin served as the Senior Regional Advisor for Africa to the IOM Director General in Geneva (HQs), Switzerland from 2009-2017; and also served in Addis Ababa, Ethiopia from 2004-2009 as the IOM Chief of Mission to Ethiopia and  the IOM Representative to the African Union, UNECA and IGAD where he was very instrumental in drafting various continental and Regional migration policies including the AU Migration Policy Framework for Africa, the African Common Position on Migration and Development and the Diaspora Declaration.

Mr. Kwenin served as IOM Regional Head of Programmes for East and Central Africa at the IOM Regional Office in Kenya from 2001 – 2004 and as the IOM Chief of Mission in Uganda from 1996-2001 as well a Programme Officer in IOM Brussels from 1993 – 1996. Prior to joining IOM, Mr. Kwenin worked as Economic Planning Officer in the Ministry of Finance & Economic Planning in Ghana and a Teaching Assistant at the University of Science and Technology in Kumasi, Ghana now the Kwame Nkrumah University of Science and Technology (KNUST).

Charles served as the Chair of the Regional UN Migration Network for Eastern and Southern Africa as well as the Chair of the Covid-19 Task Team of SADC Ambassadors accredited to South Africa until his retirement in 2022.

Mr. Kwenin holds a Masters Degree in Public Administration & Management and a Post Graduate Diploma in Development Policy from the State University of Antwerp, Belgium and a Bachelor of Science Degree in Development Economics from the Kwame Nkrumah University of Science & Technology (KNUST), Kumasi, Ghana.