Alexander da Costa is a highly well-developed and organised Strategic and Corporate Communications Specialist, with 30 years working at Senior levels in Government,/Public, Not-for-Profit and private sectors. His studied Law at Cardiff University, Wales, UK; Post Graduate studies in Public and Private Sector Strategy at Kingston University, Surrey, UK; was certified a practitioner in Alternative Dispute Resolution (ADR) by the Gambia Judiciary and also certified by the Public Utility Research Centre (PURC) and the World Bank (WB) in Utility Regulation and Strategy at The University of Florida, USA.
Alexander’s knowledge and experience spans across International development processes of the UN, EU and other multilateral agencies coupled with adept skills and abilities in International Relations, Diplomacy, Governance, Regulatory Affairs, Media & Public Relations. He is also a member of the Chartered Institute of Public Relations UK, Vice President of The Public Relations Association, The Gambia, a member of The Gambia Press Union (GPU), a member of The National Union of Journalists (NUJ), UK and a member of the International Federation of Journalists (IFJ). In addition, Alex was the Head of Media, Information & Technology at the Coordinating Secretariat for the African Union (AU) Banjul Summit of Heads of State and Government held in Banjul in July 2006.
Alexander was also Special Assistant and Adviser to late Sir Dawda Kairaba Jawara – The first and former President of The Republic of The Gambia. He travelled extensively with Sir Dawda Jawara to numerous international meetings whilst managing his private, and official public engagements. Prior to becoming Managing Director at Prudent Trust in August 2014 and subsequently Chief Executive Officer of The BEST Co Ltd in November 2014, Alexander worked at the UN in The Gambia.
He served in multiple positions, first as Head of Finance, Resource Mobilization and Communication Specialist for UNDP, and subsequently as UN Coordination Specialist and Special Assistant to UN Resident Coordinator in The Gambia. In August 2017, after the transition and change of Government in The Gambia, Alexander was appointed to the Foreign Service of The Gambia. He is now posted as Deputy Head of Mission and Deputy Permanent Representative of The Gambia to the United Nations Office in Geneva (UNOG), Switzerland and accredited to the Swiss Confederation as Minister- Counsellor. Alexander doubles up as The Mission’s expert on Migration IOM), Humanitarian Affairs (UNHCR), Human Rights (OCHR) and Intellectual Property (WIPO) as among others.
