Sam Kambarami is the Director, Finance and Accountability. He joined UNAIDS in September 2024 from the UN Climate Change/ United Nations Framework Convention on Climate Change (UNFCCC) secretariat where he served as Chief, Financial Resources Management Unit leading the Finance and Budget sub-division.
Mr Kambarami provides leadership to the Department of Finance and Accountability in its delivery of services to UNAIDS. This includes planning and managing UNAIDS’ financial resources for maximum effectiveness, efficiency, and impact, as well as ensuring the integrity of resource planning and financial management policies, procedures and infrastructure. Mr Kambarami is also responsible for leading on the implementing appropriate risk management, oversight and control mechanisms at UNAIDS, as well as performance measurement, monitoring and reporting on resource utilization.
Before his role at UNFCCC, Mr Kambarami worked for UNICEF in the Johannesburg Hub (South Africa) of the East and Southern Africa Regional Office as Chief of Operations/Deputy Representative, Operations BNLE Hub, leading the Operations function of 4 UNICEF country offices (Botswana, Namibia, Lesotho, Eswatini) from 2017 to 2022. Prior to that, he was Finance Manager, Financial Services at UNICEF Private Fundraising and Partnerships Division (PFP) in Geneva, Switzerland from 2011 to 2017. Before his UN career he served in senior Finance and Administration leadership roles with World Vision, Lutheran World Federation and Save the Children in the United Kingdom, Angola, and Mozambique from 2000 to 2011. Sam started his career in the private sector working in auditing roles at Deloitte & Touche (Zimbabwe), Ernst & Young (Namibia) and Namdeb Diamond Corporation (Namibia) and served in Finance Management roles in Botswana.
Mr Kambarami has an advanced degree, Master of Science in Audit Management & Consultancy from Birmingham City University United Kingdom, a Bachelor of Accountancy Honours degree from the University of Zimbabwe, and Certified Internal Auditor and Certified Fraud Examiner professional qualifications.
