Yobert K. Shamapande is a Zambian international development economist, politician and author who was born to peasant parents and raised in the rural Chibombo District of central Zambia.
[2] In 2001, Shamapande ran for president of Zambia on the ticket of the National Leadership for Development[3][4] party of which he was one of the founding members.
In the 1980s, at the height of military conflicts in Southern Africa, Shamapande undertook several trouble-shooting efforts including leading UN missions of economic assistance to the "Frontline States" – neighbouring countries impacted by the apartheid South African destabilisation activities.
From 1996 until 1999 he was appointed by then UN Secretary General Boutos Boutros-Ghali as Director – Chief of mission – to establish a new United Nations Information Center in South Africa.
[6] He was charged with the responsibility of supporting South Africa's post-apartheid transformation and serving as "the United Nations voice" in promoting that country's reintegration into the international community.