Dr. José Gabriel Vitória Levy is a national of Cabo Verde and holds a PhD in Plant Physiology from the University of California at Davis, USA. His expertise lies in Programme management and natural resources management, having occupied several positions since 2001 at the Cabo Verde UN and other UNDP offices. He is currently the Deputy Resident Representative for Programm at the UNDP Office in Nigeria. In Guinea-Bissau, he was UNDP’s Deputy Resident Representative for Programme and Resident Representative a.i. (July 2019 - August 2023). Before Guinea-Bissau, he served as Deputy Resident Representative for Programme and Resident Representative a.i. in Mauritania (February 2013 – July 2019). He also served as Climate Change and Knowledge Management Expert (January 2010 – January 2013) at the Dakar, Senegal-based Africa Adaptation Programme (AAP), with task management responsibilities in 20 participating African country projects.

He started his professional career as a researcher at the Cabo Verde National Institute for Agricultural Research and Development (INIDA), having served for several years as Director of the Institute. He is fluent in Portuguese, English, French and Spanish. His hobbies are music (jazz), gardening and sea sports.